The true size of Africa

Africa is huge. This sounds like a blinding glimpse of the obvious but how big is not generally appreciated. Within its landmass you can fit the entire continental United States, China, India, Japan and the whole of Europe with the UK fitting neatly into Madagascar.



Quite how big is underestimated because Africa straddles the equator and our perception is formed by the warping effect of the Mercator projection used on most world maps. It's effect is to 'stretch' the landmass towards the poles - which makes Russia and Canada, no tiddlers, seem much bigger, in relation to Africa, than they actually are. Having said that, I met a Canadian general once whose command covered the Northern Territories, an area he claimed was larger than China.

You can see this map of Africa on a great website www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualisations/ that puts knowledge that is traditionally imparted in words and numbers in visual form. Check out the Radiation Dosage Chart and worry a little less about nuclear power.