Maps skew perceptions of Africa

THE actual size of Africa is far bigger than people generally would think.

- RUDI BUYS

The actual land mass of the continent is such that several countries together are needed to make up the same mass. At the heart of the everyday notion that Africa is smaller in comparison to other countries and continents is the simple but far-reaching fact of how maps of the globe portray the relative size of continents and countries. Africa, in fact, is the same size as the US, China, India, Eastern Europe, France, Italy and several other countries combined.

This is not, however, the general sense of how Africa compares to the rest of the world on maps. From the first map a child sees in school, every other world map shows that Africa seems at most the same size but generally smaller than the US, or China, or Russia and Brazil, among others. The same type of maps continues to accompany people as they move through and engage with life and society. Their basic notion of how to compare countries and therefore societies remain uninterrupted.