The richest person in the history of mankind was an African from Mali called Mansa Musa. He was the 9th Mansa of the Mali Empire – which was made up of the territories that are now Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia and Mali as it is today. He ruled from 1312 until his death in 1337. When his wealth at the time is adjusted into today’s value, his net worth is estimated at US$300 billion – $400 billion, which is significantly worth more than any of the richest people today.
Caesarean Sections and Autopsies were performed amongst the Banyankole people in South-Western Uganda many years before the arrival of Christian Missionaries or people from other continents. R.W. Felkin, a British traveller to Uganda, was the first European to witness a caesarean being performed by local people in 1879. The traditional but well developed techniques a special banana wine formula as anaesthesia, other combinations to clean the hands and abdomen before the procedure, to make the incisions, minimise haemorrhaging as well as the dressing after the procedure – which was a very advanced one.
A country in Africa has the 6th largest amount of retail property space in the world. There are only five countries – US, China, Canada, Japan and UK that have more shopping centres than South Africa. So it has more shopping centres (24 million m2) than every single country in Europe other than the UK (28 million m2), whose total space is not very significantly more that of South Africa
Nigeria and Benin have the highest ration of Twin Babies in the world. With a twins ratio at birth being 32 out of every 1,000 babies born – this is more than double the world average.
Some scholars have linked this high occurrence to the diet that is specific to certain areas, especially the east of Nigeria – which is higher than other parts of the country.
While pyramids are usually associated with Egypt, neighbouring Sudan has more pyramids. This territory that was the Kush Kingdom and ruled by Nubian Kings has 223 pyramids, which is twice the number that Egypt has.
Lake Malawi has more species of fish than any other lake in the world. With a variety of more than 1,000 different types of fish, no other place on earth comes anywhere close to it. It is a fish lover’s paradise, and is renowned for all kinds of fish delicacies. It has 56,000 fishermen who harvest over 100,000 tons of fish annually.
According to UNESCO and the Guinness Book of World Records, Africa is home to the oldest continually operating university in the world. The University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco has been operational since 859.
Africa has the highest percentage of a young people. Over 50% of the continent’s population is younger than 25 years old.
Malawi (formerly Nyasaland), Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) were at one stage one country called the Central African Federation. They had one government and one Prime Minister (Sir Roy Welensky), and the capital was Salisbury (now Harare). The federation broke up on 31st December, 1963.
