The True Size of Africa

[cpwill]

Now that is cool.

 

[DDD]

So big and yet so divided:

 

[spud_meister]

A continent is bigger than countries. I'm ****ing shocked.

 

[Rainman05]

Dooh, it's the second largest continent after Asia and yet, the entire economy of all african countries combined is less than 2Trillion $.

 

[marduc]

Things I learned today: We need to get the Chinese out of Florida.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

So much land and all of it is just awful. What a waste.

 

[Andalublue]

Now that is cool.

That is cool! I particularly liked the imposition of the UK over Madagascar. Forever the forgotten island! Ha!

I was in no doubt as to the size of it when I flew back to London from Cape Town and it took 12 hours, non-stop; that's longer than it took to fly back from Bangkok.

 

[Andalublue]

So much land and all of it is just awful. What a waste.

How much of it have you seen? All the bits of it I've seen have been wonderful. South Africa is just amazing for its vibrancy and variety. Morocco is one of the most culutral fascinating places you could ever wish to see. Egypt and Ethiopia are just suffused with history. Zanzibar's like everyone's image of paradise and I could easily see myself living happily in Namibia - breathtaking!

Take all of the awful things you've heard about Africa and then look at the map and tot up the awful things you've heard about all of those countries superimposed on the OP's map and then tell me that Africa's such a waste.

 

[Muhammed]

Things I learned today: We need to get the Chinese out of Florida.

Yeah. And find out what happened to Alaska. That's a serious chunk of real estate they're conveniently leaving out of the picture.

 

[shrubnose]

Things I learned today:

We need to get the Chinese out of Florida.

Who will run the Chinese restaurants and laundries if they leave?

Did you think about that?

Maybe we can bring in some Mexican people to take them over, eh?

Or would you prefer Iranians?

 

[NoC_T]

That is cool! I particularly liked the imposition of the UK over Madagascar. Forever the forgotten island! Ha!

I was in no doubt as to the size of it when I flew back to London from Cape Town and it took 12 hours, non-stop; that's longer than it took to fly back from Bangkok.

Incredible to think that such colossal distances can be covered in hours. That blows my mind.

 

[spud_meister]

I particularly liked the imposition of the UK over Madagascar. Forever the forgotten island! Ha!

Well the UK doesn't have anything cool like lemurs to help people remember it.

 

[Manc Skipper]

Did whatsisname win your election or was it the other guy?

Cool overlay though.

 

[spud_meister]

Did whatsisname win your election or was it the other guy?

The other guy.

 

[Andalublue]

Well the UK doesn't have anything cool like lemurs to help people remember it.

Aye-aye, that's true!

 

[Andalublue]

Things I learned today: We need to get the Chinese out of Florida.

By the look of the map you need to get them out of Congo and Angola too.

 

[marduc]

By the look of the map you need to get them out of Congo and Angola too.

I don't live in either Congo or Angola .

The weird thing is how I have not noticed that China had such a presence here.

 

[spud_meister]

By the look of the map you need to get them out of Congo and Angola too.

Nah, they're building all the infrastructure there.

 

[the_recruit]

China has a Part 2 now??? Oh no!

 

[Gathomas88]

So much land and all of it is just awful. What a waste.

To be fair, a lot of it is more or less useless desert. There is also the fact that the natural environment in Africa tends to be a lot more hostile towards human beings than most of the of the rest of world. Our species evolved in Africa, and so the local ecosystem has developed a level of defense against us which does not exist on any other continent.

This probably played a role in preventing local human populations from being able to quite "run the tables" on nature in the same way that they did in other regions, which slowed the pace of civilization's development in sub-Saharan Africa relative to the other continents we colonized.

 

[mbig]

To be fair, a lot of it is more or less useless desert. There is also the fact that the natural environment in Africa tends to be a lot more hostile towards human beings than most of the of the rest of world. Our species evolved in Africa, and so the local ecosystem has developed a level of defense against us which does not exist on any other continent.

This probably played a role in preventing local human populations from being able to quite "run the tables" on nature in the same way that they did in other regions, which slowed the pace of civilization's development in sub-Saharan Africa relative to the other continents we colonized.

Pretty sad attempt at apologetics.
The countries with the highest GDPs in Africa (aside from SA) are the about the most Desertified, while many of the countries with the lowest are rich in arable land and resources.

Africa is far better endowed resource-wise than Asia or Europe or Frozen rocky Scandinavia: Diamonds, Gold/other Metals, Oil, Arable land... aplenty.
Japan has virtually No resources of any kind and Alone has 3x the GDP of whole continent of Africa. China similarly non-endowed.
The UK has Less resources than similarly sized Madagascar but 500x the GDP.
Scandinavia, even before North Sea oil, was much more "hostile" than Most of Africa, but infinitely more successful.

The places in Africa that are successful were by-and-large made so by Euro colonists and were no more "hostile" than anywhere else.


Africa – the World
Africa – the World’s Potential Food Producer
November 7, 2011 by Phil Matibe

The potential for agriculture to disentangle Africa from its cycle of poverty and turn it into the world’s breadbasket is evident. Conservative estimates position Africa’s current agricultural output to increase from $300 billion a year today to $500 billion by the year 2020 and would reach $ I trillion by 2050.

However, for these figures to be attained, the current system of aid that is failing African agriculture must cease. Africa’s own agrarian expertise—a combination of the science of agriculture, indigenous knowledge and the African farmers’ entrepreneurial spirit—must become the channel for agricultural productivity and growth.

The paradoxical world we now live in finds most people in Africa thin, without enough to eat, and those in the developed world with too much to eat and fighting obesity. In 1980, the world ate 133 million tonnes of meat and drank 342 million tonnes of milk. By 2002, consumption had increased to 239 million tonnes of meat and 487 million tonnes of milk. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that by 2030 global annual consumption of meat will stand at 373 million tonnes and 736 million tonnes of milk.

Africa has 60% of the world’s Uncultivated Arable land and More arable land than the continents with the highest populations.
The continent is endowed with 733 million hectares of arable land, accounting for 27.4% of the World Total. Latin America is made up of 570 million hectares with Asia stands at 628 million hectares. In Sub-Saharan Africa if land was distributed equitably, each person would be allocated 0.3 hectares of arable land.

Africa’s current Low crop yields per hectare makes agriculture the most prospective investment with a guaranteed return once sustainable farming methods and new technology are introduced.
Case in point: the current average yield of rainfed white maize in Sub-Saharan Africa is 1.1 tonnes per hectare. By merely adapting irrigation methods and yet maintaining the work ethic, a 500% increase in yield can be attained bringing this harvest figure to 5.5 tonnes of grain per hectare."..."

You can't get rid of The Elephant in the Room. Pun intended.

 

[Gathomas88]

Pretty sad attempt at apologetics.
The countries with the highest GDPs in Africa (aside from SA) are the about the most Desertified, while many of the countries with the lowest are rich in arable land and resources.

Africa is far better endowed resource-wise than Asia or Europe or Frozen rocky Scandinavia: Diamonds, Gold and other Metals, Oil, Arable land aplenty.
Japan has virtually No resources of any kind and Alone has 3x the GDP of whole continent of Africa. China similarly non-endowed.
The UK has Less resources than similarly sized Madagascar but 500x the GDP.
Scandinavia, even before North Sea oil, was infinitely more hostile than Most of Africa.

The places in Africa that are successful were Only made so by Euro colonists and were no more "hostile" than anywhere else.


Africa – the World
Africa – the World’s Potential Food Producer
November 7, 2011 by Phil Matibe
You can't get rid of The Elephant in the Room. Pun intended.

Ummm... Chill out?

Sheesh. I wasn't aware that the opinion I offered was apparently tantamount to heresy for some people.

I didn't say a thing about "resources." I said that the initial conditions for civilization were more harsh in sub-Saharan Africa (disease, parasites, predators which naturally prey upon hominids and know to be wary of them, etca) than they were for most of the rest of the world, and that this probably played a role in holding development back in that region.

In spite of the continent's sprawling size and abundant resources, the simple fact of the matter is that the sub-Saharan African population has historically tended to be rather small and sparse in comparison to most of the rest of this world. It is also probably the only continent inhabited by human beings which has managed to retain most of its Ice-Age era mega fauna.

For some reason, humans were simply never really able to "dominate" their surroundings in most of Africa in the same way that they were in rest of the world. The fact that the human race was essentially an "invasive species" on every other continent but Africa probably isn't coincidental to this fact.

 

[CLAX1911]

A continent is bigger than countries. I'm ****ing shocked.

Except Australia.

 

[molten_dragon]

Continents are bigger than countries, who knew?

 

[Harshaw]

I've seen a lot about this lately. Talk about an answer to a question nobody asked . . .