If we were to assess Africa's development the way we assess that of a person, starting at the point where Africa's existence first appears in written records, rather than the geological history of the planet—from birth, naming and through all the stages to the present—Africa's identity would be much more understood and appreciated. Through the many courses of human history, the land and peoples of Africa have faced—and continue to face—many challenges. Fortunately, Africa is a huge and very resilient continent that continues to grow and change regardless of the centuries of plunder, genocides, and demeaning policies thrown at the land and people and all the beings that reside and depend on it.

In the last three or so decades, there has been an increased historical interest in Africa. As the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, Africa is home to all humankind. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans and human ancestors have lived in Africa for more than 5 million years. African diversity in genetic makeup is also uncontested. Britannica records that some of the oldest traces of life have been identified in the Transvaal region of South Africa, preserved as unicellular algae in rocks dating from 3.4 to 2.6 billion years ago, placing the life forms firmly during the Precambrian era, which extended from 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago (Windley 2020; Nicol et al. 2021).

Anthropological and archaeological records indicate that Africa is the oldest inhabited continent, the site where fossil evidence of human beings (Homo sapiens) and their ancestors, with evidence of critical evolution stages, has been found. Africa is one of the most linguistically diverse continents in the world. It has more than 2,000 languages and is home to more countries than any other continent (Brown and Ogilvie 2010).