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The economy of Africa consists of the trade, industry, agriculture, and human resources of the continent. , approximately 1.07 billion people〔()〕 were living in 54 different countries in Africa. Africa is a resource-rich continent but many African people are poor.〔http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/overview〕 Recent growth has been due to growth in sales in commodities, services, and manufacturing. Sub Saharan Africa, in particular, is expected to reach a GDP of $29 trillion by 2050 but its income inequality will be a major deterrent in wealth distribution.〔http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/22/get-ready-for-an-africa-boom/〕 In March 2013, Africa was identified as the world's poorest inhabited continent; however, the World Bank expects that most African countries will reach "middle income" status (defined as at least US$1,000 per person a year) by 2025 if current growth rates continue.〔 In 2013, Africa was the world’s fastest-growing continent at 5.6% a year, and GDP is expected to rise by an average of over 6% a year between 2013 and 2023.〔 Growth has been present throughout the continent, with over one-third of Sub-Saharan African countries posting 6% or higher growth rates, and another 40% growing between 4% to 6% per year.〔 ==History== Africa's economy was diverse, driven by extensive trade routes that developed between cities and kingdoms. Some trade routes were overland, some involved navigating rivers, still others developed around port cities. Large African empires became wealthy due to their trade networks, for example Ancient Egypt, Nubia, Mali, Ashanti, and the Oyo Empire. Some parts of Africa had close trade relationships with Arab kingdoms, and by the time of the Ottoman Empire, Africans had begun converting to Islam in large numbers. This development, along with the economic potential in finding a trade route to the Indian Ocean, brought the Portuguese to sub-Saharan Africa as an imperial force in the 15th century. Christian missionary activities were supplemented by economic imperialism. After the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s and the partitioning of the continent among European powers, the continent's former trade routes were replaced with new ones and its economies were radically changed. Colonial interests created new industries to feed European appetites for goods such as palm oil, rubber, cotton, precious metals, spices and other goods. Following the independence of African countries during the 20th century, economic, political and social upheaval consumed much of the continent. An economic rebound among some countries has been evident in recent years, however. The dawn of the African economic boom (which is in place since 2000s) was similar to the Chinese economic boom that had emerged in Asia since late 1970s. Currently, South Africa and Nigeria ranks among the continent's largest economies, with Egypt economically scrambling and suffering from the recent political turmoil. Equatorial Guinea possessed Africa's highest GDP per capita albeit allegations of human rights violations. Oil-rich countries such as Algeria, Libya and Gabon, and mineral-rich Botswana emerged among the top economies since the 21st century, while Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, potentially among the world's richest nations, have sunk into the list of the world's poorest nations due to pervasive political corruption, warfare and braindrain of workforce. Botswana remains the site of Africa's longest and one of the world's longest periods of economic boom (1966-1999). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Economy of Africa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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