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Like most "big countries" or continents in this case, most of the land is useless and unlivable. We're talking 7% arable land in sub Saharan Africa. So you have
by drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Like most "big countries" or continents in this case, most of the land is useless and unlivable. We're talking 7% arable land in sub Saharan Africa. So you have all this landmass but only a tiny bit is usable.
We often see these maps with Russia or Canada or Australia, but the reality is very little of land is usable. Large countries that effectively use their land, have roads to every part, have significant settlements in every region, etc are rare. The USA comes to mind. China would qualify if they didn't annex Tibet and didn't leave the whole western side of their country largely undeveloped.
Size, while interesting to look at on a map, is a kinda useless metric. For example, Japan is smaller than California, but its one of the world's cultural and economic powerhouses. Or South Korea, which would fit between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
- smtddr 11y agoDespite your asserted uselessness, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resources_of_Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resources_of_Africa "Some economists have talked about the 'scourge of raw materials', large quantities of rare raw materials putting Africa under heavy pressures and tensions, leading to wars and slow development. Despite these abundance of natural resources, claims suggest that many Western nations like the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom as well as emerging economic powerhouses like China often exploit Africa's natural resources today, causing most of the value and money from the natural resources to go to the West and East Asia rather than Africa, further causing the poverty in Africa."
- veddox 11y agoWhat's your source? Having lived for over a decade in southern Africa, I find that somewhat hard to believe... If you say that only 7% is being used for farming, then yes, that might be accurate - the population density is way lower than, say, Europe. But I'm pretty sure a whole lot more than that is potentially usable.