90 Amazing Facts about Africa

During his time as President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki banned the use of antiretroviral drugs in hospitals because he did not believe HIV caused AIDS. During his presidency over 330,000 people died of AIDS.

52. The distance between Europe and Africa is only 36 miles and there are talks of creating the longest bridge ever

53. Burkina Faso students invented a soap that repels the malaria mosquito which is the highest cause of death is Sub-Saharan Africa.

54. The longest Cricket Test match was played over 12 days between England and South Africa and it was eventually abandoned, otherwise, the England team would have missed the boat for home.

55. Leka II, Crown Prince of Albania, was born in South Africa. The South African government declared his maternity ward temporarily Albanian territory to ensure that Leka was born on Albanian soil.

A Detroit musician (Rodriguez) living in poverty didn't know that in South Africa, he was more popular than the Beatles.

57. South Africa has no legally defined capital city. Rather, the country's three branches of government are split over different cities: (Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein).

58. Apartheid South Africa had a secret weapons program to develop germs that would only kill blacks or lower their birthrate.

59. Academy Award-winning composer John Williams (Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones) is the father of Toto ("Africa") frontman Joseph Williams.

60. In East Africa, albinos are persecuted because they are believed to have magical powers. They are frequently kidnapped and sold for cash to witch doctors who use them as ingredients in magical potions.

A man named Marius Els in South Africa adopted a baby hippo, domesticated it, only to be killed by said hippo in the very river from which it was rescued.

62. Every year, an estimated 33,000 elephants are killed for their ivory across Africa. That's nearly 100 a day or one every 15 mins.

63. Theoneste Bagosora was most responsible for the Rwandan Genocide. He was only sentenced to 35 years in prison.

64. In 1951 in a Disney comic titled 'Mickey Mouse and the Medicine Man' Mickey and Goofy get high and move to Africa to become drug dealers

65. The world is divided into 6 floral kingdoms. All these kingdoms encompass several countries. South Africa, which has a floral kingdom wholly contained within the country, is the one exception. The Cape Floral Kingdom has 9,600 plant species, 70% of which are not found anywhere else in the world

There is an organization that utilizes wine tastings to dig wells in Africa. They call themselves Wine to Water.

67. James Jameson, the heir to Jameson whiskey, explored Africa in 1888, where he bought an 11-year-old girl and gave her to Congolese cannibals to sketch how they ate her

68. Firms illegally dumped nuclear waste off Somalia coast, brought to the coast by a Tsunami, causing radiation sickness to the local villagers in 2005

69. Tunisia, a country that is 98% Muslim, but where abortion is legal, and women wear bikinis at the beach.

70. There was a plan (Central Lake plan) in the 1930's to totally reconfigure the interior of Africa by creating a series of huge inland seas.

R&B singer Akon founded a solar energy company in Africa. The company employs 5000 people recently closed a $1 billion credit line.

72. There are people in Kenema, Sierra Leone, Africa who think that Ebola is a hoax created by doctors to steal blood from patients and rioters are trying to break down the hospital gates and rescue the patients inside. Police are using tear gas and live bullets to disperse the rioters.

73. The removal of lead from gasoline correlated to a 56% drop in violent crime in the US and South Africa

74. Famous British explorer David Livingstone in Africa became extremely ill and then had his supplies stolen. To feed himself he let the natives put him in an exhibit and people would pay to see him as a curiosity.

75. When George Formby toured South Africa, he refused to play racially segregated venues and embraced a black girl, much to the dislike of white supremacists