It's all relative. I live in California, US. I know how big the US is relative to Cali... so I know how big United States is. I have a point of reference. Compa

It's all relative. I live in California, US. I know how big the US is relative to Cali... so I know how big United States is. I have a point of reference. Comparing Africa to USA gives me a way to mentally model what the difference in size means. Comparing a continent to a country makes sense the same way that you might compare the size of a child to an adult. They don't have to be the same. You just know which of the two you are and get a sense of how big the other is.