In 2021 the General Conference of UNESCO proclaimed 7 July World Kiswahili Language Day. UNESCO describes Kiswahili as the first African language to receive this kind of United Nations recognition. According to UNESCO, Kiswahili connects more than 200 million speakers across East, Central and Southern Africa and beyond. The day celebrates its literature, music and history and its role in bringing people together across borders.
The ‘Benin Bronzes’ are plaques, commemorative heads, figures and regalia made from at least the 1500s by a specialist guild working for the Oba (king) of Benin in Benin City. Benin City, the capital of the historic Kingdom of Benin, is today in Edo State, Nigeria; it is not in the present-day Republic of Benin. Many pieces were looted during the British expedition to Benin City in 1897. Their ownership and return are contested; the British Museum alone holds over 900 objects from the kingdom.
At 5,895 metres, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the highest point in Africa. It is a volcanic massif with three main peaks, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira, standing alone above the surrounding plains. Its slopes pass through distinct vegetation zones, from montane forest to alpine desert and the summit glaciers, and are home to many mammals, several of them endangered. Kilimanjaro National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, with an area of about 69,484 square kilometres, and the chief reservoir of the Nile. It lies mainly in Tanzania and Uganda and also borders Kenya. Among the world’s freshwater lakes, Britannica notes that only Lake Superior in North America is larger. The lake fills a shallow basin on the plateau between the western and eastern branches of the East African Rift.
The Nile is the longest river in Africa, about 6,650 kilometres long according to Britannica. It rises south of the Equator and flows north through north-eastern Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. Its main streams are the White Nile, whose headwaters feed Lakes Victoria and Albert, and the Blue Nile and the Atbara, which flow from the Ethiopian highlands. Britannica lists ten countries in its basin, from Burundi, where its most distant source rises, to Egypt.
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