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Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century.

Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century.

Have you ever wondered how Africa would have looked like if it had not been colonized by Europeans? The map below of African politico-tribal units circa 1844 by Swedish artist Nikolaj Cyon shows how Africa was in pre-colonial times.

For additional reading, check out Cyon’s presentation on the map and Rachel Strohm’s article on ‘The colonization counterfactual‘. They are both worth a read.

Africa Circa 1844

What Africa might look like 800

High-Res Version

Africa Now

Political map of Africa 800