1. Fact or Fiction? Sub-Saharan Africa Edition

2. Poverty 10 of the 20 poorest nations in the world are African.

3. FICTION Answer 18 out of 20. The eight poorest are in Africa. Afghanistan and Haiti are the only non-African nations among these poorest

4. Fact or Fiction? There are 1200 languages spoken in Africa.

5. Africa! Over 1 billion people. Over 2100 languages.

6. Fact or Fiction? Slavery has been completely eradicated.

7. Fiction The Australian-based Walk Free Foundation estimates there are nearly 30 million people worldwide in slavery including victims of human trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, child labor and serfdom. The nation with highest percentage of people enslaved is Mauritania in West Africa where 4% of the nation’s 3.4 million people are slaves.

8. FACT OR FICTION? The United States, India, Argentina, Europe, China, and New Zealand would ALL fit within the African continent.

9. FACT All of those places fit inside of Africa!

10. FACT OR FICTION? Between the years of 1492 and 1870, 5 million human beings were shipped from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

11. FICTION Between 1492 and 1870, 11 million human beings were shipped from West Africa to the Americas.

12. FACT OR FICTION? Apartheid was a legal system of segregation in South Africa that lasted until 1994.

13. FACT Apartheid in South Africa officially ended in 1994, thanks to the leadership of Nelson Mandela and many others.

14. Fact or Fiction? Africa has 10 X the prevalence of AIDS as any other continent. It is estimated that 12 million children in the Sub-Saharan African countries have been left orphans because their parents have died of AIDS.

15. Fact

16. FACT OR FICTION? In Zambia, the life expectancy is only 50 years.

17. FICTION The HIV/AIDS epidemic is ravaging Zambia. Nearly one million Zambians are HIV positive or have AIDS. An estimated 100,000 died of the epidemic in 2004. Over a half-million Zambian children have been orphaned. Life expectancy at birth is just under 40 years.

18. FACT OR FICTION? Slavery in Africa began when the Europeans arrived.

19. FICTION Rulers in the Mali and Songhai had thousands of slaves that were acquired through village raids. Often slaves could work for their freedom. In the 1400s, however, Europeans introduced a form of slavery that changed and devastated African life and society.

20. FACT OR FICTION? In 1884, European and U.S. leaders met in Berlin to discuss how to divide up African countries. No Africans were consulted for the conference.

21. FACT No Africans were consulted during the Berlin Conference in 1884. Over the next 20 years, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Ottoman Empire all established colonies in Africa. By 1912, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent.

22. FACT OR FICTION? When Europeans divided up Africa, they ignored traditional borders between Africa’s ethnic groups.

23. FACT Europeans used other factors to draw the new maps, such as the location of rivers or lakes. This resulted in the split of ethnic groups and historically united areas, making stability difficult.

24. FACT OR FICTION? Europeans worsened conflicts among ethnic groups.

25. FACT For example, the Belgian rulers of Rwanda insisted the Hutus and the Tutsis carry identity cards. Many didn’t know which they were. The divide deepened, which led to the 1994 genocide.

26. FACT OR FICTION? Between 1951 and 1980, most African nations regained their independence.

27. FACT For some colonies, the path to nationhood was smooth. For others it was not. Many of these movements came from Africans who were educated in Europe and the United States. Nationalism grew strong.

28. FACT OR FICTION? Today, about 60% of Southern and Eastern Africans practice Islam or Christianity.

29. FICTION Today, about 85% of Southern and Eastern Africans practice Islam or Christianity. Only 15% practice a traditional African religion.