The Political Map of the New Africa

Abstract

M A UCH has been written in political science and the literature of current affairs on the momentous changes wrought since World War II in the life and destiny of the Dark Continent. But since the masterly exposition of Whittlesey,' which falls strictly within the range of so-called political geography,2 little has been done on the systematic political geography of the New Africa. While the old geography of colonization is passing rapidly from political geography proper to historical geography, we are perhaps in need today of a dynamic geography of decolonization. The aim of the present paper is modestly to contribute a few pages to this urgently needed study. Analysis is limited to three major features of the political map of Africa: (1) the broad lineaments of the political landscape, their form and alignment and their political significance and implications; (2) the political situation as represented by inland states and coastal enclaves; and finally (3) the main aspects of political area and size. No attempt is made to go into internal details of economic resources, ethnic groupings, religious adherence, population distributions, and so on. Nor is it intended to trace the recent history of political change on the continent; the present political landscape is taken as the starting point for analysis.