Afrĭca

, called Libya by the Greeks, one of the three parts of the ancient world, and the greatest peninsula of the universe, is bounded on the east by Arabia and the Red sea, on the north by the Mediterranean, south and west by the ocean. In its greatest length it extends 4300 miles, and in its greatest breadth it is 3500 miles. It is joined on the east to Asia, by an isthmus 60 miles long, which some of the Ptolemies endeavoured to cut, in vain, to join the Red and Mediterranean seas. It is so immediately situate under the sun, that only the maritime parts are inhabited, and the inland country is mostly barren and sandy, and infested with wild beasts. The ancients, through ignorance, peopled the southern parts of Africa with monsters, enchanters, and chimeras; errors which begin to be corrected by modern travellers. See: Libya . Mela , bk. 1 , ch. 4 , . — Diodorus , bks. 3, 4, & 20.— Hero dot us , bk. 2 , chs. 17, 26, & 32; bk. 4 , ch. 41 , . — Pliny , bk. 5 , ch. 1 , . ――There is a part of Africa called Propria , which lies about the middle, on the Mediterranean, and has Carthage for its capital.