Cindy Kendrick, age 9, of Bossie City, Louisiana, for her question:

Why Is Africa called the Dark Continent?

"Dark" is a very useful word with lots of different meanings. The world grows dark after sunset and dark grey is more sooty than light grey. There are dark haired people and dark skinned people. It is hard to see things in a dark closet and on a dark night the scenery outdoors seems to disappear. This sort of darkness tends to be mysterious and full of secrets. In fact, we often say that unexplored places are hidden away in mysterious darkness.

Several hundred years ago, Africa was called the Dark Continent. There may have been several reasons for this    but certainly Africa is not hidden in eternal night. It happens to be one of the sunniest places in the world. But few people bad traveled all through its vast deserts and many of its vast jungles were unexplored. These places were mysteries, dark and unsolved mysteries. This may be one reason why Africa was called the Dark Continent. Another reason may be that most Africans have dark skins, ranging from coppery brown to black. In any case, the name "Dark Continent" went out of style, and nowadays Africa is called Africa.