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The following web sites provide an excellent introduction to this continent:
The African Online Digital Library is an excellent resource for scholars and students seeking information about this continent and its people.
The allAfrica.com web site is an excellent source of news reports and information about current events and many other topics regarding the continent.
The Arab Net and Al Bawaba web sites are additional sources of news and information about countries with Arab and Muslim populations in the Middle East and North Africa.
The African Union (formerly the Organisation of African Unity) was established with the purpose of "accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation." The web site has English and French versions and provides links to web sites for governments that are part of the Union.
The web site maintained by the Norwegian Council for Africa is a very useful guide to African web sites and source for major current events in Africa.
Travel Advisories: Travelers should check the following web sites prior to traveling to Africa to determine if any advisories apply:
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The World Health Organization web pages for International Travel and Health and Outbreak News.
Human Rights: Human rights issues can be an important part of forming an understanding of conditions in world regions and countries in those regions. The Human Rights Watch web site is one of the most respected sources of information in this area.
Recommended Reading: Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong is an excellent introduction to this religion that is a vital part of the life and culture of the Middle East and much of Africa.
Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World by Benjamin Barber, director of Rutgers University's Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy. Mr. Barber takes the position that the United States and western nations need to re-examine their policies of globalism and its consequences throughout the rest of the world.
Guides: Lonely Planet - Southern Africa | Africa on a Shoestring | East Africa | Healthy Travel Africa | Trekking in East Africa | West Africa | Read This First: Africa | Swahili phrasebook; Rough Guides - Swahili phrasebook | West Africa