Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World

Africa is a huge continent. Much larger than it appears on a standard world map, Africa is three times the size of the US. Five thousand miles long and 3,000 miles wide, Africa is mostly desert in the north and jungle in the middle, while the south has high plains, desert, and a semi-arid Mediterranean-type region much like that on the far-northern coast.

Despite its great size, Africa has been a difficult region for humans to develop. Aside from the isolation of the various regions, there are few natural harbors; the rivers are interrupted with waterfalls, which “has hindered contact and trade between regions” (119); and there are few arable plants or domesticable animals. Moreover, its crowded population and hot interior provide breeding grounds for such diseases as malaria, yellow fever, and HIV.

Over the centuries, European and Arab traders struggled with penetrating the African interior, but they were able to engage in trade at the edges of the continent, mainly buying salt and slaves. Europe eventually did conquer Africa’s interior, and for a time it dominated the continent, divvying it up among the various European powers into colonies with arbitrary