Jill Harness
The True Size of Africa
by Jill Harness - October 26, 2010 - 4:04 PM

Africa is the world’s second-largest continent (Asia is #1), but gauging the actual size of something that seems so far away can be difficult. Fortunately, Kai Kraus has created this incredible visual aid to help put the mind-boggling size of the land mass into perspective.  It is fascinating to see that the U.S., most of Europe, China and Japan still don’t fill up the entire surface area of the continent.

It would be interesting to see a few different models that contain other countries, such as Russia, Canada and Mexico.

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Comments (54)

  1. Where is Alaska?

    posted by ajk on 10-26-2010 at 4:21 pm

  2. Just what I was going to mention.

    posted by Jon B on 10-26-2010 at 4:39 pm

  3. @Jon B
    @ajk

    Maybe they are using a pre-Alaska/Hawaii map of the US? seems a bit silly, but oh well!

    posted by Megaroo on 10-26-2010 at 4:56 pm

  4. This is six kinds of awesome.
    I’ve wanted to buy a world map for awhile, but was hoping for a somewhat more accurate one than the Mercator Projection, which distorts things toward the poles.

    Conceptually, this should really help people understand and remember that Africa is a continent.

    (Although he really should have managed to stick Alaska and Hawaii in there somewhere…they would have fit.)

    posted by tanita on 10-26-2010 at 5:16 pm

  5. Tanita- try the Peters Projection (thank you West Wing, for placing that kernel of knowledge in my head)

    posted by Jack on 10-26-2010 at 7:01 pm

  6. This map needs to add Israel. Hah.

    posted by Alan J Greenspan on 10-26-2010 at 11:02 pm

  7. So, a lot of countries fit inside Africa. If they drew the map as it actually is, the same is true.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 10-26-2010 at 11:16 pm

  8. Jack–My first thought, too. :)

    “You can’t draw it upside down–it’s freaking me out!”

    posted by Kate on 10-27-2010 at 12:07 am

  9. Alaska? Who cares?
    Sure, Alaska is great and all, but it wasn’t used in the map.

    Neither was NZ, Australia, Antarctica. The poor penguins.

    posted by Bakedpotatoes on 10-27-2010 at 12:34 am

  10. @ Bakedpotatoes – you’re mixing apples and oranges. Sure they didn’t put NZ on the map, but that is an entire country. They didn’t just put half of Germany on the map. But they put only about 2/3 of the USA on the map when they left out Alaska and Hawaii.

    posted by J on 10-27-2010 at 2:01 am

  11. It is a very interesting map. But there is a big part of Europe missing as well. Scandinavia for instance…

    posted by Björn on 10-27-2010 at 4:25 am

  12. It should be painfully obvious that Alaska simply didn’t fit nicely. That being said, it would have been better, but imo not really required, to label it “mainland USA” or similar.

    My main issue with the map is that Greg Ousuri labelled Mongolia as China #2. Yes, the Chinese are more or less buying the whole country, one mine at a time. Yet, it’s not China.

    All that being said, it’s a really nice visualization.

    posted by Richard Hartmann on 10-27-2010 at 4:45 am

  13. this map is wrong: UK is less than half the size of Madagascar while here it looks even bigger. I guess the map used to make it is somehow eurocentric.

    posted by abcd on 10-27-2010 at 5:04 am

  14. @J – 48/50 2/3!

    Anyway it’s just a way to make a point about the magnitudes involved. Nobody’s complaining about Madagascar being in there.

    posted by P on 10-27-2010 at 6:01 am

  15. All the “where’s Alaska” nitpickers are missing the point. So Alaska’s not there. Nor is Hawaii. Nor is Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam or the Virgin Islands. Revising the blurb to say “It is fascinating to see that the contiguous lower 48 states of the U.S…..” would be slightly more accurate, and unwieldy, but it would make the map no less startling or interesting.

    posted by yankeezulu on 10-27-2010 at 6:28 am

  16. I never noticed this.. Turn your head on the side and Africa looks a bit like Australia!

    posted by Tristan on 10-27-2010 at 7:48 am

  17. It’s just a way to give people an idea of the size of Africa. Why do you need Alaska for that?

    posted by Zach on 10-27-2010 at 8:06 am

  18. Just so we’re clear that’s not “all of Europe” by a long stretch either, missing Portugal and all of Scandinavia, possibly more, I couldn’t be bothered to check further.

    posted by Thor on 10-27-2010 at 8:22 am

  19. Sorry – the UK has a land mass (incl NI) of 244,820 sq km and Madagascar is over twice the size of the UK at 587,040 sq km.

    The UK is enlarged on maps as it is a small country and many people in the past didn’t believe it could have dominated world rule for so long as such a tiny island.

    http://mongabay.com/igapo/world_statistics_by_area.htm

    posted by sarah on 10-27-2010 at 8:37 am

  20. Alaska is still Russian.It will be shown on the next map with Russia.Muahhahaha!!!

    posted by Trunar on 10-27-2010 at 8:43 am

  21. It’s a VISUAL comparison, folks, not a political or statistical one. It’s obvious to see what the mapmaker intended by looking at it.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 10-27-2010 at 8:55 am

  22. It’s already been done by SCTV:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zm6HzN5YVI

    posted by JimK on 10-27-2010 at 9:33 am

  23. Why is Ireland coupled in with the UK? These are two totally separated countries.

    Its like saying the US and Canada are the same just because they are beside each other

    posted by James on 10-27-2010 at 9:44 am

  24. @James

    Northern Ireland (NI) is part of the United Kingdom. I’m not even going to get into political arguments about the validity of the partnership. My passport has “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” on the front of it.

    posted by sarah on 10-27-2010 at 10:36 am

  25. Does nobody care that the attribution in this article is wrong? Very very sloppy mental floss.

    posted by Jen on 10-27-2010 at 10:45 am

  26. Uh… Canada is almost twice the land mass of the entire United States, and only smaller than Russia. Thus Africa with the full United States and Canada would have only 6 million sq KMs left after putting in North America. That’s not a lot of space. (less than Australia)

    So this map is largely bogus.

    posted by James Hancock on 10-27-2010 at 11:45 am

  27. Here’s another amazing fact –

    The continent of North America is nearly the same size as the United States, Canada and Mexico combined!

    posted by Ego Nemo on 10-27-2010 at 12:54 pm

  28. I`ll say more:Australia is the same square as the continent Australia :P

    posted by Trunar on 10-27-2010 at 1:51 pm

  29. @James Hancock, while Canada is larger in land mass than the USA it is not even close to double in size. The difference is less than 10% or @ 300,000 sq. kms.

    posted by Brad on 10-27-2010 at 3:15 pm

  30. apples and oranges

    posted by Jonathan Frei on 10-27-2010 at 3:36 pm

  31. да заябалі піздзець ужо! =)

    posted by Trunar on 10-27-2010 at 3:54 pm

  32. @sarah

    Apologies, I meant the Republic of ireland is the same colour as the UK. I was not clear. I understand that Northern Ireland is part of the UK&NI.

    My point is that the Republic of Ireland, by definition, is not part of the monarchy of the UK, in any way.

    It is convention to call the Republic of ireland “Ireland” and the NI is called the UK.

    As you said yourself, there’s no point arguing the validity of that union, conventions arent always correct, they are just “conventions”

    posted by James on 10-28-2010 at 3:38 am

  33. Thanks for posting. Just a clarification, this image was created by Kai Kraus.

    posted by Greg Osuri on 10-28-2010 at 4:58 am

  34. I get the point, Africa; in terms of size can accomodate the top 10 industrial nations of the planet (over G7) and can have potential to be one of the leaders unitedly. Do not forget that Africa comprises of multiple countries many of them third world with signifiacnt history of exploitation, riots and conflicts.

    What African nationals need is modern education to understand their own potential and rights, rest will fall in place.

    posted by Dinesh Sharma on 10-28-2010 at 5:33 am

  35. You,are really stupid,boys))It is true,that Republic of Ireland is an independent country.But the UK divides into 4 main parts:Scotland,Wales,England and Northern Ireland.On this map not only Northern Ireland,but Repuplic of Ireland has the same colour,as UK.

    posted by Trunar on 10-28-2010 at 6:36 am

  36. @ J – Good point. Alaska is pretty big though. Maybe they could break it up and wedge it in the gaps :P

    posted by Bakedpotatoes on 10-28-2010 at 4:45 pm

  37. I’m surprised none of you map geeks could tell that “Part 2″ of China was not Mongolia, but actually Manchuria; and yes, Manchuria is definitely a part of the political PRC. @ Richard

    posted by NotaChinaExpert on 10-29-2010 at 5:22 am

  38. you forgot iran :)

    posted by yavarov on 10-29-2010 at 11:08 am

  39. Silly girl, that is far from all of Europe!

    Then again what else can we expect from Americans…

    posted by Andrew on 10-29-2010 at 6:53 pm

  40. Folks, it seems that the majority of you are missing the point. I think that the author is trying to demonstrate that Africa is huge! To comment on what is missing is to devolve into a Tea Party like diminution of the facts…

    posted by Robert on 11-6-2010 at 12:24 pm

  41. I see the UK has finally annexed the Republic of Ireland. Why didn’t anybody tell me?

    posted by Captain Earlobe on 11-6-2010 at 12:43 pm

  42. To Alan Greenspan….
    No the map should not reflect that invader. Since when do “thieves” i.e. puppet military’s become the “hero”. They are inflicting the same exact chaos that their aggressors created. Perhaps, that is where they learned to do it so well, and get away with the crime. In due time, every wall crumbles.

    posted by Ricardo on 11-6-2010 at 7:00 pm

  43. I hate myself for bothering to comment since it won’t change the point of view of the chauvinistic bigots and the purveyors of irrelevency: but did any of you who missed their own geography or who cherish picking fault with something they are unable to create. I believe that the point is that Africa is bigger than most of us realized.

    posted by Tenskwatawa on 11-7-2010 at 5:34 am

  44. It’s not a depiction of every other country, it’s a comparison of the size of some countries against the continent of Africa.

    They’ve included most of USA, but forgot Alaska, well boo hoo! nobody cares.

    If you took the old USSR and tried to fit it here, you wouldn’t, cus it’s bigger, so I guess that’s why he didn’t use Russia.

    I really can’t believe that people are so stupid to miss the point, well, with the exception of Alaska, we know they’re the epitome of stupid, they once elected Sarah Palin as Governer, nuff said!

    posted by plip on 11-7-2010 at 9:33 am

  45. Don’t think they forgot Alaska or Hawai’i. They just didn’t fit. Note that not all of India, China, the UK etc., didn’t fit either. Some people just can’t get the point. But then again, this is a pretty big “SO WHAT!” It’s still the most distressed continent on Earth regardless of its size.

    posted by Anthony on 11-7-2010 at 4:44 pm

  46. Well, it’s great to see that one or two of the commenters thus far got the point about the map being about the sheer size of Africa and not about the geopolitics of the countries depicted in the map. Clearly though this project fails somewhat as it has not really been able to rip you out of your parochialism.
    On the other hand, it’s really nice that there a few non-Africans awake out there.

    posted by Richard - ZA on 11-9-2010 at 2:34 am

  47. China split in 2 looks weird! But we don’t we talk of the population?

    http://www.hutong-school.com/africa-size-china-population

    posted by Internship in China on 11-14-2010 at 11:06 pm

  48. haha, good catch – no Alaska or Hawaii :)

    posted by Robert on 11-17-2010 at 1:59 pm

  49. Please stop. As an American I must apologize for my countrymen. They have the lucidity which is the by-product of fundamentally sterile minds. We have an education crisis beyond doubt. They do not have to struggle with the crowded pulsations of a fecund imagination. On the contrary they are almost devoid of imagination. With more than incurious minds, my compatriots might have recognized that USA-USA-USA oh my, is the exception and not the rule with extensive non-contiguous territories. Manifest Destiny or Imperialism, same result; we’re stretched like the Romans and things look tenuous. All our problems can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy by Native Americans.

    posted by James Harrison on 11-21-2010 at 4:59 am

  50. @James Harrison

    WTF? Nice use of thesaurus.com.

    You use a lot of fancy words, but you don’t say much. You’re not a poet, and you’re not an intellectual. Please stop.

    posted by Tom American on 11-21-2010 at 5:20 pm

  51. @sarah

    “The UK is enlarged on maps as it is a small country and many people in the past didn’t believe it could have dominated world rule for so long as such a tiny island.”

    LOL!! What a fertile imagination you have!

    The reason the UK looks larger than it is is because most maps use the Mercator projection. This projection distorts the size of countries the further away from the equator they are. Consequently, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Northern Europe and the UK all look bigger than they really are while Africa and India look smaller. That is in fact why this particular diagram above is so suprising.

    Most schools use the Mercator projection so kids grow up with a false view of the relative size of countries.

    posted by prustage on 11-22-2010 at 9:28 am

  52. @Richard ZA

    Unfortunately even the originator of this page is guilty of parochialism. The text states “gauging the actual size of something that seems so far away can be difficult”

    Mmm “far away”? Only if you are not African – an assumption the author seems to have made.

    posted by prustage on 11-22-2010 at 9:32 am

  53. 1. The map doesn’t really have a point. Africa is larger than several individual countries put together. Yeah, so what? What’s the point in comparing countries to a continent? Countries are a social phenomena. Continents are a geographical phenomena. Continents like Africa and Asia (that is non-european continents) are not even remotely culturally homogenous. They’re not entities in the same way as countries are (nor is Europe, North or South America either, but the differences are smaller).

    2. Even if the map doesn’t really do what its creator (or the author of this blog at least) had in mind, it does showcase the chauvunism of the rich world (not in the way intended, but still). The fact that some parts of Europe and America was left out and other parts were labeled wrongly have given rise to a lot of buthurt among people coming from the places being left out or labeled wrongly. Have anyone of you who now are whining about your lack of representation in a map which sole purpose is to visualize how big Africa is, ever thought about what it would be like to live in a part of the world where you can not take this kind of representation for granted (and get all huffy and hurt when you don’t get it)? How many countries in Africa or Central Asia can you name? How many capitals? Do you know anything about these countries and the people living there? Next time you feel angry that your country, or state, or city, or whatever didn’t get mentioned, maybe you could think about the big portion of the world (as measured in number of human beings) that never get mentioned at all.

    And I say this as a Scandinavian myself, that is, one of the parts of Europe who didn’t get to be in the map (buhu).

    posted by fredriktomte on 11-25-2010 at 7:55 pm

  54. As an Alaskan, I would like to say thank you for not including us with the rest of the US, in 1959 we were proud to be included. Lately, not so much.

    posted by Wood Gas on 5-1-2011 at 11:47 am

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