The 10 largest countries in Africa • Wanderlix

To get to know the Mother of Humanity a little better, find our ranking of the top 10 countries in Africa!

With an area of just over 30 million km2, Africa is the third largest continent in the world. It also concentrated a population of 1.3 billion, or nearly 20% of the world’s population. The continent is home to no less than 54 countries and countless traits of culture.

Desert plains with unknown species, lush forests planted with fruit trees, dunes of hot sand that melt under the feet, it is not for nothing if it is said that Africa has a thousand faces. Let's immediately embark on a top 10 of African countries with the largest area!

1. Algeria

All the way north of the continent, Algeria is perched in the first place of the podium of the largest African countries. Peasted by approximately 43 million inhabitants, two thirds of the French population, its size of 2.38 million km2 represents almost 4 times that of the Hexagon!

Algeria is part of the historic region of the Maghreb, which now includes its Moroccan, Tunisian, Mauritanian and Libyan neighbours. In Algeria, we speak Arabic literary and regional, but also Berber and French!

2. Democratic Republic of the Congo

The second largest country in Africa after Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a land of cultures and contrasts. Its official language is French and four Bantu languages have the status of national languages. It is lingala, Swahili, kikongo and tshiluba.

Trek followers will be delighted, as the DRC is home to Mount Stanley. Its altitude of more than 5,100 metres makes it the third highest summit in Africa. Its economy, mainly agricultural, is also based on important mining resources. The country is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a strategic ore in the automotive industry. So it’s a little thanks to the DRC that you move every day! Finally, its surface area is 2.35 million km2 .

3. Sudan

Renamed historic sites, breathtaking landscapes, incredible fauna... These are not necessarily the words that come to the minds of the general public thinking about Sudan. And yet, they describe what you can discover in the country when you go there. Her almost 1.9 million km2 enable it to rise to the third place of the largest countries in Africa.

4. Libya

With a surface area 1.76 million km2 Libya is a state of North Africa that is part of the Maghreb. Bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, it is composed mainly of desert areas. Its population is largely concentrated on the coast.

Its economy, formerly based on livestock, now relies heavily on the exploitation of oil deposits. Libyan culinary traditions, they, have preserved the trace left by these traditions. Indeed, there are many meat-rich dishes in Libyan cuisine today.

5. Chad

♪ 1.284 million km2 of Chad make this country enclaved in the heart of the continent the fifth largest in Africa! Its 8 million inhabitants among more than 200 ethnic groups make the country an unprecedented cultural mosaic.

Because of its political instability, Chad has great potential to open up to tourism. However, it is in Chad that the greatest summits of the Sahara are the Emi Koussi and the Pic Tousside. The desert of Tibesti, which is difficult to access, contains some of the greatest treasures of humanity in its lunar landscape.

Indeed, in some of its preserved archaeological sites, the rock paintings are among the oldest in Africa!

6. Niger

With an area of almost 1.3 million km2 Niger is twice as large and three times less populated than France! A true mosaic of cultures and landscapes shared between the drought of the desert and the movement of the Niger river, it houses a fauna and a flora of immense wealth. Niger shares with Benin and Burkina Faso the management of W Park, the largest untouched African wild ecosystem.

It includes the last populations of some animal species such as the North-West African cheetah. This park is therefore only a good reason to visit Niger!

7. Angola

If you were told that Portuguese speaking could be useful to you to travel to Africa, do you believe it? However, this is the case: Angola is one of the six Portuguese-speaking African countries. With 1.247 million km2 , Angola has a relatively unknown tourist potential.

The Angolan capital, Luanda, is one of the world’s most expensive cities and is totally in contrast to the rest of the country, where we can lose ourselves in the middle of the rainforest. Between spectacular waterfalls, the oldest desert in the world and musical traditions anchored in popular culture, this country is a destination not to be missed!

8. Mali

♪ 1.24 million km2 Mali allows it to appear in this top 10 of Africa’s largest countries. This enclaved territory is home to many drylands, extended by savannah landscapes, which eventually leave room in the south by a large valley irrigated by the river Niger. This is where the largest cities in the country have developed.

The ancestral traditions are still well present in Mali. For example, there are still some griots, who are present at each ceremony or great occasion. These are actually storytellers who relate to the oral the stories of the families to which they are linked.

Also, Malian craftsmanship is based on techniques such as ironwork or weaving, which differ according to regions and ethnic groups.

9. South Africa

With 1.2 million km2 South Africa is nesting between Mali and Ethiopia in the ranking of the 10 largest African countries. The country is known for its apartheid policy, which took place until 1991. But this is not all: the vineyards of South Africa are renowned throughout the world to produce excellent wines. With 130,000 hectares of vines, the country rises to the eighth place of world producers.

If these two traits of culture can be avenues to explore the country, they are not the only ones! Indeed, South Africa presents a variety of unsuspected landscapes, shared between forests, savannas, mountains, beaches and even deserts. This great wealth includes the presence of an unmatched biodiversity!

10. Ethiopia

The 110 million inhabitants in Ethiopia make the country the second most populous in Africa, nothing but that! In the Horn of Africa, this country exceeds 1.1 million km2 reserves an important architectural heritage.

The Bercheau of Humanity, the country is known to be the one where Lucy’s skeleton was discovered in 1974. Crossed by the Grand Rift Valley, the country houses an incredible diversity of landscapes, from high plateaus to the Balé Mountains.

So, have these few lines awakened in you the desire to leave to discover a great country in Africa?