“The True Size of Africa” by Kai Krause
Accessed March 14, 2011
Topic: Wow, Africa is HUGE!
Summary: The image shows 18 countries from around the world rotated to fit (loosely) within the confines of the continent of Africa. The commentary with the image gives some data that shows that school-kids and college students from around the world have a distorted view of world geography and demographics.
Intended audience: Anyone and Everyone
Key Points:
- The USA, China, India, Japan, and all of Europe fit within Africa!
- There should be a concept such as “immappancy” (like illiteracy) meaning insufficient geographical knowledge.
Relevance: This goes along nicely with the idea of all students coming into our classrooms with previous knowledge and misconceptions. The map of Africa with all the other countries manipulated to fit within it was very striking for me. I knew that Africa was large, but if someone would have told me that all those countries would fit inside its borders, I don’t know if I would have believed it! I also really liked that the image came from the "creative commons" and is has no copyright. The creator wants everyone to be able to access and share the information- way cool!
