5 Amazing Facts About Africa And Black People

Global Black Population Africa is the second most populous continent with about 1.1 billion people or 16 percent of the world’s population. The continent’s populace will more than double to 2.3 billion by 2050. The global African population, which includes people of mixed African heritage, is approximately 1.4 billion. Over 200 million people of African descent live in the Western Hemisphere with approximately 44 million in the United States, 38 million in the Caribbean and the vast majority living in South and Central America. According to a 2011 census, Brazil alone accounts for approximately 100 million people of African descent. Africa's Wealth and Resources The combined purchasing power of Black people in the United States, sub-Saharan Africa and Caricom member states is $3.2 trillion. This pales in comparison to the fortune in Africa's natural resources, chief among them its minerals. Africa has approximately 30 percent of the earth’s remaining mineral resources. South Africa’s total mineral reserves alone is estimated to be worth $2.5 trillion. The continent has the largest reserves of precious metals with over 40 percent of the planet's gold reserves, over 60 percent of the cobalt, and 90 percent of the platinum reserves. Black Nation States Of the 193 member nations of the United Nations, 65 or just over 33 percent of them are predominantly Black. In other words, if the U.N. were a democratic organization, Black people would wield significant influence. African Origins of The Human Race The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (or homo sapiens sapiens) were excavated at sites in East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo in Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world. Skeletons of pre-humans have been found in Africa that date back between 4 and 5 million years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is thought to have been the australopithecus ramidus, who lived at least 4.4 million years ago. Asa G. Hilliard III (August 22, 1933 – August 13, 2007), an African-American professor of educational psychology who worked on indigenous ancient African history (ancient Egyptian) stated that all human beings are Africans and non-Black human beings are "de-melaninated" Africans. Ancient Africa Civilizations Africa is not only the birthplace of humanity, it is also the birthplace of human civilization. Most people are aware of the Pharaonic civilization of ancient Egypt is one of the world’s oldest and longest-lasting. However, the nation of Ta-Seti predated Egyptian civilization. According to Our Weekly, in 1962, a research team headed by Keith C. Seele, director of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition, discovered a Pharaonic dynasty in Nubia that predated the first Pharaonic period in Kemet (Egypt). The area extended from northern Sudan to southern Kemet; in some literature it was referred to as ancient Ethiopia, or as in the Bible, Kush. Today, it is called Ta-Seti. On March 1, 1979, The New York Times carried a front page article by Boyce Rensberger, with the headline: "Nubian Monarchy Called Oldest." In the article, Rensberger wrote: "Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia." He estimated that "The first kings of Ta-Seti may well have ruled about 5900 BC."

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