The National Consortium for Study in Africa (NCSA) grew out of a concern about the paucity of high-quality study-abroad opportunities in Africa for North American undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Africa is the second largest continent in geographic size and the ancestral home of 15 percent of the U.S. population, a demographic segment that has lived in the United States longer than most European immigrants. As a result, much of American art, music, language, and culture has derived from Africa and the Afro-Caribbean cultures. Africa also is an important and growing source of U.S. trade, which is larger than that of all the Commonwealth of Independent States of eastern Europe. In spite of the country’s prominence, less than 4 percent of North American students who study abroad enroll for study in Africa.