This document summarizes the evolution of maps of Africa over time and how they reflected changing European perspectives. Early maps from sources like Ptolemy, the Hereford Mappamundi and Chinese maps depicted Africa as an integral part of the known world. Later European maps from the 15th-16th centuries added increasing detail from explorers. By the 18th-19th centuries, maps omitted interior African details and reflected growing colonial ambitions. The final maps showed the political divisions imposed by colonial rule, many of which still exist today.

1. A Cartographic and Historiographic Essay
Introduction
Maps are complicated things
They both reflect and inform our understanding of the world
Images of Africa and the world have changed radically over
time
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
15th century: new cartographic techniques & maritime
technologies redraw the world
Modern field of history took shape in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries
Early European attempts at world history were deeply
influenced by these new notions of identity and difference
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
While maps of the world were becoming more “correct,” world
history may very well have been becoming more “wrong”
Africans (and other non-whites) were literally written out of
history
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
The 20th century saw the advent of a concerted challenge to this
Eurocentric model of history

2. “Area Studies” movement
In the late twentieth century, a new perspective on world history
developed
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ptolemy’s Map of the World (circa 170 C.E.)
This is one of the most commonly cited “ancient maps” of the
world. The only problem is that it isn’t really Ptolemy’s map.
No actual copies of Ptolemy’s map actually exist. What we
have, instead, are a host of later reproductions (many dating
from the early fifteenth century) that are based upon Ptolemy’s
system of coordinates. The result is that this map sometimes
better represents late medieval European notions of the world
than that of the ancient Greeks. The map does accurately
represent, however, that educated members of Mediterranean
society during the period very much saw the ancient world as
being more or less a single body of land that surrounded major
inland seas. Note that what we now think of as Africa was
labeled more clearly as Libya and Ethiopia, than as Africa,
which actually denotes just a small region of the northern coast.
6
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Hereford Mappamundi (1290 C.E.)
This medieval English map provides an insight into the world as
viewed through a biblical lens. Jerusalem occupies the center of
the map, which is oriented to the east (which is, after all, where
we get the term “oriented”). There are a number of notable

3. elements in this map. Chief is that even at this date,
cartographers conceived of the world as a whole, largely as a
single landmass that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea. Also,
much of the detail ascribed to Africa appears to have been
drawn from Roman sources, with the names of Roman provinces
such as Numidia and Mauritania appering clearly on the map.
This is a good example of the power of “convention” in
informing maps and people’s conceptions of the world. And, to
show that even some of the most famous cartographers can have
a bad day, what we now think of as Africa is labeled as
“Europe” and what we think of as Europe is labeled as
“Africa”—in big gold letters, no less.
7
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Da Ming Hun Yi Ta (1389 C.E.) Great Ming Amalgamated Map
This is a Chinese world map dating from the Ming Dynasty. The
fact that it is north oriented has been attributed to the fact that
it was the Chinese who first developed and utilized the
magnetic compass, although the Chinese saw magnets as
pointing south, rather than north. China and Japan are visible to
the right, with Africa and Europe blending on the left-hand side
of the map. This is a good example of the relative accuracy of
early Chinese maps, and of how Africa was very much a part of
the Chinese image of the world, even before the voyage of
Zheng He’s treasure fleet to the East African coast in the early
1400s. Note that the interior lakes of East Africa are clearly (if
not somewhat overly dramatically) pictured.
8
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Al-Idrisi’s Tabula Rogeriana (1456)
This map is a good example of Islamic cartography from the
fifteenth century, with this particular map having been one of
many produced for the Norman king of Sicily, Roger, by the
Islamic scholar al-Idrisi. The map is notable for its heavy debt
to Ptolemy, and also for its southern orientation, with Africa at
the top and Europe and Asia at the bottom right and left,
respectively. Indeed, many maps from this era were south
oriented, with the convention of being oriented north not having
yet been established. The map offers considerable detail of
African river systems, although it makes the mistake of
combining the Senegal and Niger Rivers into one, and having
them flow into the Nile in the east. This was an error common
to Islamic geographies from the ninth to eighteenth centuries,
and this error was later transmitted to European and American
maps of Africa, as well.
9
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ramusio/Gastaldi (1554)
This south-oriented Italian map offers a sharp contrast to works
from the previous century. Drawing upon extensive data from
voyages along Africa’s western and eastern coasts by the
Portuguese, we now see Africa taking a more familiar shape.
What is perhaps more interesting, however, is the degree of
interior detail which the map provides. Despite the fact that no
European travelers or traders had ventured past the
coastline, this map offers extensive interior detail, providing the
locations of numerous rivers and states. What is apparent is that
European traders had clearly enquired of African merchants and
rulers as to what lay in the hinterland. This is a clear indication
that during this early period European merchants and

5. cartographers trusted African knowledge regarding the
continent’s physical and political geography. Note also the
frequent references to “Reg.,” meaning “Kingdom of,” a sign
that Europeans recognized the existence of numerous African
states.
10
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mercator (1607)
Gerardus Mercator is, of course, one of the best-known
cartographers of the modern period. This beautifully rendered
map reflects much of the same interior detail as that found in
Ramusio/Gastaldi, but with some interesting additions. Note the
presence of “Prester John” in the Upper Nile region of
“Abbisini” (Abyssinia). Placing this mythical Christian king in
Africa was a common element of European cartography during
the period, and reflected the belief that many Africans were,
like Europeans, Christians. This is a powerful example of the
degree to which maps of this period depicted Africa not in terms
of the exotic, but in terms of the familiar. Also, note that the
South Atlantic is here identified as the “Oceanus Aethiopicus”
or Ethiopian Ocean. What we now think of as the “Atlantic” was
once known by another name, and that at least up to the
seventeenth-century Africa was still exerting a significant
enough “cartographic sphere of influence” that one of the
adjoining oceans was being named for the continent.
11
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
H. Moll “Negroland and Guinea” (1729)

6. This map provides a stark contrast to those of the previous
century. Note that a significant amount of African interior
detail, particularly as it relates to political geography, has not
been included. Also, the Ethiopian Ocean has been replaced by
the Atlantic, a convention established by English cartographers.
Note also the identification, in the title box of the map, of
“European Settlements, explaining what belongs to England,
Denmark, Holland & [others].” These settlements are actually
trading posts, mostly along the Gold Coast. Nonetheless, it is a
powerful marker of a growing Western willingness to lay claim
to portions of the continent, however small. Also significant is
the first appearance of an overtly racial characterization of the
continent, with a large swath of the savannah region being
defined as “Negroland.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, this map also
contains a reference to the slave trade, with the region of
southern Nigeria being identified as the “Slave Coast.” When
the nature of this map is compared to the roughly
contemporaneous quote by Hume found in the essay at the
beginning of this section, it is clear that dramatic changes were
afoot for the representation of Africa and Africans during this
period.
12
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Arrowsmith (1802)
Maps from the early nineteenth century, as typified by this one
prepared for the British Committee and Members of the British
Association for the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, are
notable for an even more dramatic absence of interior detail.
This development reflects a growing perspective on the part of
many Westerners that if information about territory had not
been obtained “first hand” by a trained European observer, then
it was not reliable. Thus, large swaths of Africa which had once

7. been filled with information gleaned from African sources were
now left blank. The result is that maps from the early 1800s are
often typified by areas of extreme detail and areas that are
completely empty. The very fact that there is a “British
Association for the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa” is
foreshadowing of the coming conquest and colonization of the
African continent.
13
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Granger Map of Colonial Africa in 1914 (1934)
Dating from 1934, this map shows the results of the “Scramble
for Africa” and the colonization of the continent as it stood in
1914. The transformation of the African political map is
particularly dramatic, showing a continent that has been almost
completely occupied by foreign powers. Only Ethiopia
(“Abyssinia”) and Liberia are identified as independent states.
What the map does not show is also telling. For example, the
new colonial boundaries also reflect the beginning of linguistic
and cultural changes in the areas under the control of different
colonial powers. Also,
reflect on what sort of impact maps like this one might have had
on the world view and self-image of European and African
populations. What sort of version of world history would a map
like this seem to validate?.
14
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Map of Independent African States
Here we see a modern representation of Africa’s political

8. divisions. Note the similarities between these boundaries and
the ones found on the map of colonial Africa. The colonial
boundaries of Africa have proven amazingly “sticky,” with
some, such as the division between Ethiopia and Eritrea, even
reasserting themselves after brief periods of amalgamation.
Notably, some countries, such as Ghana and Mali, did try to
establish links
to historical African political entities via the selection of new
names at independence. By the latter twentieth century, the
convention of referring to the continent as “Africa” was so
established that for many people it became difficult to believe
that the continent had ever been called anything else. This is an
excellent example of the power that comes from mapmaking.
The ability to impose a name on something from outside is a
powerful means to define. It is a prime example of the less overt
but nonetheless powerful influence Europe has exerted over the
continent in the last several hundred years.
15
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mercator vs. Winkel Tripel Projections
These two maps provide insight into how different map
projections can offer very different perspectives of the world
(and Africa). The Mercator projection is perhaps the more
familiar map, with its giant Greenland and generally large
representation of North America and Eurasia. Africa appears
relatively small in this projection. The Winkel Tripel
projection, conversely, offers a somewhat more accurate image
of the relative size of the continents. Note that both of these
maps reflect the common American cartographic convention of
cutting Asia in half so as to center the United States in the map.
16

9. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
See previous slide’s notes.
17
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Big Is Africa?
Produced by the Outreach Program of the Boston University
African Studies Center, this map offers a much more striking
perspective on the size of Africa, with Europe, the United
States, and China all fitting comfortably within the continent’s
boundaries. The comparison is made all the more striking if one
takes into account the relative populations of these regions.
Africa’s total population is currently around 800 million. The
combined population of the United States, Europe, and China is
over 2.5 billion— roughly three times the population of Africa.
18
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Earth at Night
This composite photograph, made from night-time satellite
photos, offers a remarkable insight into our contemporary
world. On one hand, it offers a clear insight into the global
distribution of wealth, population, and what is often called
development. Notably, there is a considerable overlap between
the most densely populated and most developed portions of the
world. Despite frequent references to “African overpopulation,”
one of the long-term challenges faced by Africa has been that of

10. sparse population. A different perspective to that of
development would be that of energy consumption. Africans, on
average, consume only a miniscule percentage of the world’s
energy, with the average American using roughly 200 times as
much energy in their lifetime as the average African.
19
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Grain Production for Selected Regions
This map is based on a map that was prepared by the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and it shows the growth
of average annual grain production worldwide over the last 40
years. According to the UNEP, because grain is a basic
foodstuff, grain production is a good indicator of overall
agricultural productivity. In the past decades world grain
production has grown significantly and Africa has participated
in that trend. During the period in question, China’s average
annual grain production more than tripled. U.S. grain
production doubled. African grain production grew by 68
percent, which is significant, but looks less impressive
compared to other world regions like China or the United
States. This is doubly true when one takes into account the
much higher rate of population growth in Africa compared to
Europe or Asia. This suggests three possibilities. First, it may
be that there is a huge potential for growth in African
agriculture if sufficient capital were available to purchase
inputs, such as fertilizer, or to improve irrigation. If so, it may
be that Africa will become a major food producer in the near
future. Second, it is possible that the widespread reliance on
cassava, yams, and bananas (none of which are grains) as staple
foods in Africa means that grain production is a less effective
metric for the broader productivity of African agriculture than it
would be for Europe and the United States, where grain is more

11. central to people’s diets and is widely used to feed livestock.
Thus, what looks like an empirical fact about African
agricultural productivity relative to other parts of the world may
obscure as much as it illuminates. A third possibility is that the
African continent has fewer regions that are well suited to
industrial agriculture than other continents and will never be
able to produce huge quantities of grain. If that is the case,
Africa’s future economic development may of necessity come
from areas other than agriculture. Above all it shows that maps,
even maps like this one that seem to present a neutral and
quantitative perspective, need to be interpreted carefully.
20
During this unit, you will learn about many different types of
graphs, which graphs are most appropriate for specific data, and
when graphs are misleading. For instance, a graph can
misrepresent the data if it does not provide a proper
representation of the data, which can be caused by the vertical
scale being too small or too large, or by not starting at 0.
Additionally, if a graph does not have the proper labels or if
data are left out, this can also result in a graph that does not
properly represent the data.
1. What story does this visual display (graph) below tell?
Describe the variables that are being compared. (Hint: There are
three). Do you think that this is an accurate and fair description
of the data? Is this graph clear or misleading? Why?
Source: https://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
2. What story does the Pie Graph below tell? Describe what
these data are representing. Do you think that this is an accurate
and fair description of these data? Is this graph easy to
understand? Name at least three things wrong with this graph
and how you might correct them?

12. Source: http://blog.jgc.org/2009/08/please-dont-use-pie-
charts.html
#DB 3
During this unit, you will learn about many different types of
graphs, which graphs are most appropriate for specific data
types, and how to create graphs in Excel. Remember that when
building a graph in Excel to fully label the graph and to think
about what information the graph should show the viewer.
A second important objective in this Discussion is to work
together as a group or team to share, compare, and improve.
Part 1:
1. Choose any Excel Discussion dataset. From that dataset,
select any qualitative variable and create an appropriate graph
that describes that variable. Use Excel to do this. Be sure to
fully label the graph.
2. From the same dataset, select any quantitative variable and
create an appropriate graph that describes that variable. Use
Excel to do this. Be sure to fully label the graph.
3. Next, open a Word Document. Paste both of your graphs into
the Word Document. Include under each graph, the name of the
dataset you chose, the name of the variable you are graphing,
and why the graph you chose is appropriate. Attach the Word
document to your main post.

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Published on Oct 8, 2012

33. With more than a billion people spread across 54 countries
speaking more than 3,000 languages, Africa cannot -- and
should not -- be limited to a single narrative. Africa Straight Up
is a more complete story about Africa and its diaspora.
Share your personal story about Africa at Africa.com or on
Twitter @Africa_com with the hashtag #AfricaStraightUp.
WRITTEN AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY
Teresa Hillary Clarke
DIRECTOR
Jaime Puerta
Warren Adams
PRODUCER
Jaime Puerta
Warren Adams
EDITOR
Jaime Puerta
EDIT ASSISTANT

34. Santho Mohapeloa
SPECIAL THANKS TO
(in order of appearance)
Chimamanda Adichie
Lira
M.I
Moss Ngoasheng
Warren Adams
"Naija Friends"
David Kobia
Ory Okolloh
Erik Hersman
Juliana Rotich
Su Kahumbu
Patrick Awuah
Ken Okoth
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Eleni Gabre-Madhin
Aliko Dangote
Farayi Chipungu
Mo Ibrahim
Youssou_N'Dour
Angelique Kidjo
Yasser Jradi,
Badiaa Bouhrizi,
Bendir Man,
Nawel Ben Kraiem,
Si Lemhaf
Armada Bizerta
George Ayittey
Tony Elumelu, MFR
Prime Minister Tony Blair
President Barack Obama

35. Herman Chinery-Hesse
Fred Swaniker
Acha Leke
Hakeem Belo-Osagie
Addis Alemayehou
Tonye Cole
Eric Kacou
Arthur Mutambara
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Jackie C. Lin / JAJ Productions
PRODUCTION COORDINATORS
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Mel Okudo
Justina Hierta
Jayanthi Daniel
Daniel Sodkiewicz
CAMERA
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Mark Chipps
Gordon "Flash" Yu
GRAPHICS
Raghul Sridharan
Jaime Puerta
Elena Salas

36. SUPERVISING SOUND EDITING
Pablo Diez Casajuana
SOUND EDITOR
Lorenzo Spagli
VOICE OVER RECORDING
George Rivera
MUSIC & VIDEO FOOTAGE PROVIDED BY
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Voice of America, USA
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McNulty Prize, Aspen Institute, USA
Children of Kibera Foundation, Kenya
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Mo Ibrahim Foundation, London
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BET, USA

37. Poverty Cure, Acton Institute, USA
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The White House, USA
MUSIC
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performed by
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under license from Columbia
licensed courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (Pty) Ltd
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licensed courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment (Pty) Ltd
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performed by M.I
licensed courtesy of Chocolate City Group
"Action Film"
performed by M.I
licensed courtesy of Chocolate City Group
"Enti Essout"

38. ("You are the Voice")
performed by
Yasser Jradi, Badiaa Bouhrizi, Bendir Man, Nawel Ben Kraiem,
and Si Lemhaf and Armada Bizerta
[under creative commons license]
"I was wrong"
performed by Mikael Karlsson
licensed courtesy of Mikael Karlsson
LOCATION STAGING
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LEGAL COUNSEL
White & Case
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
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Copyright Africa.com
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61. Technical Support
Physical Context of African History
Geography and Environment
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Physical Features of the Continent
Most prominent feature of African continent is its size
Much larger than commonly imagined
Democratic Republic of the Congo: nearly the size of Western
Europe
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Physical Features of the Continent
Northern edge of the continent is bounded by Mediterranean Sea
From Algeria to Morocco the coastal strip enjoys
“Mediterranean climate”
South of this coastal strip lies the Sahara
“Sahara” is the Arabic word for desert
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Physical Features of the Continent
South of the Sahara is a vast savannah
Rainfall here is sufficient to support mixture of grass and trees
Enfolded in this vast savannah is an equatorial forest zone
Rain forests covered much of West African coast from modern-
day Sierra Leone to the Volta River in modern Ghana
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62. Physical Features of the Continent
At southern tip of the continent, south of the Kalahari & the
Namib deserts, is a small pocket of Mediterranean climate
The Cape region has the same winter rains & mild climate found
on the north coast
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If there exists a typical African environment it would be the
mixed grass and trees of the
savannah.
6
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Map 1-1: African environments
7
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Pygmy men in the process of felling a rainforest tree. Note the
steel axe.
Pygmies do not live in isolation and obtain metal tools through
trade.
8
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Challenges of the African Environment
Despite myths about the fertility of tropical soils, most African

63. soils
Are actually rather poor
The continent is geologically inactive
Rainfall is cyclical
Intertropical Convergence Zone
Challenges of the African Environment
Disease
Malaria and yellow fever
Plasmodium falciparum attacks central nervous system- cerebral
malaria
Yellow fever has been far kinder to Africans but just as hard on
outsiders as malaria
Diseases that primarily affect animals can still exert a powerful
effect on human history, such as Trypanosomiasis (sleeping
sickness)
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Challenges of the African Environment
Economists interested in why some parts of the world are more
economically developed than others concluded that Africa’s
environment accounts for 2 - 4% drag on GDP
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The African Environment in Global Perspective
Challenges posed by the African environment vary by region
and reflect scale and diversity of the continent
Despite similarities of their environments, historical
development of Australasia and Africa are quite different

64. © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
The African Environment in Global Perspective
Other regions of Australasia follow historical trajectory similar
to Africa’s
Java and Sumatra, like most of Africa, were close enough to
Eurasia that they were able to participate in the exchange of
ideas, crops, & technology for the last 6 or 7 thousand years in
the Eastern hemisphere
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The African Environment in Global Perspective
The part of the African continent with a history most like that
of Australia is the distant southern tip of the continent.
Common misconception: the African environment is uniquely
wild, pristine, and Edenic (untouched by humans)
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The African Environment in Global Perspective
While Africa has many wild and sparsely inhabited places, these
are no more characteristic of Africa than North America
Humans have lived in Africa longer than anywhere else in the
world
Human impact on Africa’s environment is probably the same as
on other continents