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Do you speak African? Well, neither do the 1 billion people on the continent.Africa is home to 54 different nations, more than 2,000 languages and four of the world's 10 fastest growing economies, but is often painted with a sweeping stroke of doom and gloom. In this week's Reality Check, Mehdi Hasan exposes popular misconceptions about the African continent. 
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Botswana, the world's largest diamond producer, starts to auction its own diamonds for the first time instead of selling them in Europe.
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Many of Africa’s leaders will be in town next week attending a White House summit. The continent’s land is shared among 49 countries — many of which rarely make U.S. headlines. How familiar are you with Africa’s geography?
Jared Medeiros's curator insight,
March 29, 2015 5:21 PM
I love interactive maps like this. These are the best way to learn where things are in the world geographically. Africa is the toughest, for myself, continent in the world to be able to locate and identify where certain countries are. This is in part because Africa has so many countries and also Africa is a part of the world that is not often taught in school, therefore you have limited thoughts and ideas about these types of areas. 
David Lizotte's curator insight,
April 22, 2015 1:54 PM
I have always been fascinated with Africa and its history. Through its history one can understand why Africa is the way it is today. Its a shame that Africa does not have more of a focus in the Public School Curriculum. Its played a huge part in developing western civilization, whether it be in ancient Alexandria providing grain for the Roman Republic or the coltan extracted through inhumane means in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Africa is a continent that has been raped and torn in a repetitive manor under a variety of foul experiences brought upon by western countries. These are the same western countries that are held of high interest and regards in subject manor instituted in the Public School System. Africa has also been apart of amazing developments of human civilization, for example the Trans Saharan Trade Route which linked Kingdoms such as Ancient Ghana to dynasties far in the Middle East. It is also the birthplace of man (no big deal). In either case there needs to be a stronger push on teaching/molding "Africa" (yes, I know... broad) into the curriculum. It is important in both understanding the history of the world, specifically western civilization and how it coined itself “civilized.” Through introducing basic aspects, history, and dilemmas (both old and modern) it could inspire more interest and an expansion of knowledge from student to student. School is and will most likely continue to be Euro-centric and have large flares of Americana and other “themes” of North America. 
Taylor Doonan's curator insight,
March 24, 2018 5:31 PM
This interactive map quizzes you on the location of the states of Africa and it shows the percentage of how many people found certain countries. South Africa, Madagascar and other more recognizable countries had higher percentages, but it is still a difficult quiz as many people do not know the geography of Africa.
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This short video is full of with examples and statistics that show that many of the 'doom and gloom' perspectives and ways of thinking about Africa are outdated (at best). Here are some good facts to update how we talk about Africa.
Tags: Africa, perspective.