History of African Urbanism - AfricaMapping

AfricaMap is a wonderful resource that offers much insight about different geographical and historical elements. I looked at the diverse set of languages, environmental features, and population densities that comprise the African continent. In particular, I focused on these characteristics as they pertained to Egypt, South Africa, Madagascar, and - the country that is home to my African City of Kampala - Uganda.


The first layer I explored was that of language; AfricaMap represents 35 different languages. As expected, given the distance between the four countries I selected, there is some disparity between the languages spoken in these different areas. A goldish yellow indicates that Semitic: Arab & Bedouin is spoken in Egypt. Maroon and lime green suggest that in South Africa, San and Bantu are spoken. A melon color shows that Malagasy is spoken in Madagascar. Lastly, Bantu is also spoken in Uganda.
Secondly, I analyzed the environment of Africa by means of its major rivers and surficial geology. It is clear that the Nile River plays an important role in Egypt's environment. Given the Nile's prominent part in Egypt's environment, the surrounding areas are quite low, making sense of the notion that they are river basins. The map shows that South Africa has a river (of 0.0 - 0.5), indicating its narrow nature, which runs from west to east. Madagascar is an island country, and as such, its elevation around its perimeter is quite low relative to the central part. Madagascar is barren of rivers, which makes sense given its location in between the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean. Finally, Uganda has a small river (again 0.0-0.5 according to the map legend) that ends in Lake Victoria, which is located southeast of Kampala.
Lastly, I considered the population density of these different countries. I was not shocked to find that the areas surrounding the Nile River were the most populated areas in Egypt. Historically the Nile has been a key artery for the African continent, so it makes sense that high concentrations of people would be found in this area. Secondly, I found that the eastern part of South Africa was more densely populated than the rest of the country. Furthermore, the cities of Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town - all cities on the coastline - had much higher populations than the rest of the country. In contrast, the central part of Madagascar was its most populated area. The part of the country near Antananavo and down was its most dense area. Lastly, Uganda was pretty evenly populated - and quite highly populated at that. I speculate that this could perhaps be given its proximity to Lake Victoria.