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The true size of Africa

StinkyPinky

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
No comment, just an interesting map. Sometimes it's hard to see the true size of a place with the maps we use.

True-size-of-Africa-950x693.png
 
You know with goldfish how they keep growing depending on how large the tank is?

Same deal with African men's wangs.
 
The image seems to imply that schoolchildren answering that the U.S. is the biggest country in the world is egregious. It's third, although a fair bit behind Russia obviously. And I have no idea how comparing the size of a country to the size of a continent shows anything about that question.

Answering that the population is 1-2 billion is a bit worse, but I can think of just about that number of things that are more important for kids to learn.
 
Fritzo said:
You know with goldfish how they keep growing depending on how large the tank is?

Same deal with African men's wangs.
Click to expand...

And it must be based on personal experience right? Surely people are smart enough to not believe in pornography induced stereotypes... oh wait.
 
The unfortunate thing about that map is that it might confuse people into thinking Africa is a country. I have heard reports of people (like on notalwaysright.com) thinking Africa is a country.
 
Where's Alaska?

The numbers are with it included (9.6 million sq km includes Alaska's 1.4 million), so I guess it would fit in the blank areas, but it wouldn't work out so neatly if they tried to include it and whole.

alaskasize.png
 
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Gee comparing a country to a continent, what is this thing trying to prove? What did they expect? How does the US fit into Nigeria?

How about true size of Asia?
 
If that's the true size of Africa, why is it always so small on all maps?

On google map, America is more than half the size of it, not a third.
 
stargazr said:
If all people originated in Africa and spread out all over the world, creating a myriad of 'advanced' civilizations how come the ones who stayed behind never 'progressed' (with the exception of Egypt in ancient times)? Seems like outside of the cities life is very much unchanged.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070718-african-origin.html
Click to expand...

I think it has to do with natural resources and outside influences. Tribes in Africa tend to be small due to food, disease, and other dangers of jungle living, leading to an isolationist lifestyle. This way of life tends to stagnate.

People that moved to temperate zones had more resources as the land is easier to work with, less disease and predators, and because moving around is easier they had more outside influences.
 
rcpratt said:
The image seems to imply that schoolchildren answering that the U.S. is the biggest country in the world is egregious. It's third, although a fair bit behind Russia obviously. And I have no idea how comparing the size of a country to the size of a continent shows anything about that question.

Answering that the population is 1-2 billion is a bit worse, but I can think of just about that number of things that are more important for kids to learn.
Click to expand...

Third or fourth, we're very close to China in terms of land area and which one is larger depends on whether we count certain disputed areas in China as being part of their land area or not. Of course the US government counts all disputed areas as NOT belonging to China, while the Chinese government counts all of them as belonging to them (and they probably count Taiwan in their total land area as well).

If you use the fairly sensible guideline of whoever administers an area gets to add it to their country's land area, then China is #3 and the US is #4.
 
darkxshade said:
Gee comparing a country to a continent, what is this thing trying to prove? What did they expect? How does the US fit into Nigeria?

How about true size of Asia?
Click to expand...

I think it's trying to show you that Africa is a lot bigger than most people thing it is, because the Mercator projection that we're all familiar with makes land masses appear bigger when they are farther from the equator. Also, [edit: Americans, Europeans and Asians] are mostly uneducated and don't have any idea how their country compares to the rest of the world.

You know why I think that? Because it's written right on the image.
 
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Zeze said:
If that's the true size of Africa, why is it always so small on all maps?
Click to expand...

Because the Mercator projection preserves shape but not area. Many rumor it also has to do with white colonial rule trying to add importance through false size on this projection, which is still the standard in schools today.

For a more accurate projection that preserves size:
http://www.petersmap.com/

or check out the Mollweide/Eckert here:
http://www.equal-area-maps.com/mollweide.php

Unfortunately there isn't a way to preserve all four aspects (shape, distance, area, direction) which is why there are so many projections that will accentuate one or two of the 4 aspects. Mashing a round surface onto a flat surface will always have distortion (3D-->2D plane).
 
mugs said:
Also, Africans are mostly uneducated and don't have any idea how their country compares to the rest of the world.

You know why I think that? Because it's written right on the image.
Click to expand...

I think you better go read that part again
 
SP33Demon said:
Because the Mercator projection preserves shape but not area. Many rumor it also has to do with white colonial rule trying to add importance through false size on this projection, which is still the standard in schools today.

For a more accurate projection that preserves size:
http://www.petersmap.com/

or check out the Mollweide/Eckert here:
http://www.equal-area-maps.com/mollweide.php

Unfortunately there isn't a way to preserve all four aspects (shape, distance, area, direction) which is why there are so many projections that will accentuate one or two of the 4 aspects. Mashing a round surface onto a flat surface will always have distortion (3D-->2D plane).
Click to expand...

Its amazing how small Europe is.
 
SP33Demon said:
Because the Mercator projection preserves shape but not area. Many rumor it also has to do with white colonial rule trying to add importance through false size on this projection, which is still the standard in schools today.

For a more accurate projection that preserves size:
http://www.petersmap.com/

or check out the Mollweide/Eckert here:
http://www.equal-area-maps.com/mollweide.php

Unfortunately there isn't a way to preserve all four aspects (shape, distance, area, direction) which is why there are so many projections that will accentuate one or two of the 4 aspects. Mashing a round surface onto a flat surface will always have distortion (3D-->2D plane).
Click to expand...

Dymaxion projection is still the coolest/most mind blowing.
 
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