East Africa
Eastern region of the African continent / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:[1]
| East Africa | |
|---|---|
 Eastern Africa | |
| Countries | Sovereign states (11–19) |
| Territories | |
| Time zones | UTC+02:00 UTC+03:00 UTC+04:00 |
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Scientific consensus states the region of East Africa is where anatomically modern humans first evolved circa 200,000 years ago before migrating northwards out of Africa.
Due to the historical Omani Empire and colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term East Africa is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.[2][3][4][5] However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
- Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are members of the East African Community. The first five are also included in the African Great Lakes region. Burundi and Rwanda are at times also considered to be part of Central Africa.[13][14]
- Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia are collectively known as the Horn of Africa.[15][16][17][18][19] The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent.[20]
- Socotra - A governerate of Yemen located in the Indian Ocean.
- Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean.
- Réunion, Mayotte (geographically a part of the Comoro Islands) and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.
- Mozambique and Madagascar – often considered part of Southern Africa, on the eastern side of the sub-continent. Madagascar has close cultural ties to both Southeast Asia and East Africa, and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
- Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – often also included in Southern Africa, and formerly constituted the Central African Federation (also known historically as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland).
- South Sudan and Sudan – collectively part of the Nile Valley. They are situated in the northeastern portion of the continent.[21] Also members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area.