Follow up on the U.S. Africa Map Fiasco

I recently highlighted the embarrassingly bad map shown by the U.S. State Department in a post. The American Geographical Society just posted their response with the title State Department Africa Map Fiasco: Geography Matters. So Does Africa.The article was written by Dr. Lee Schwarz, former Geographer of the U.S. Department of State - a position also know as the GOTUS (Geographer of the United States). This position has been empty for a while. I just want to highlight a few quotes and this map from the BBC, that I had not seen before. It does a good job of showing exactly where the mistakes are.

The article states that while maps occasionally have errors “the fact that this map made it to the light of day may be more reflective of failures and shortcomings in our institutions charged with representing U.S. foreign policy than a cartographer’s slip of the pen.” Continuing “It points to a breakdown in basic oversight and, more troublingly, an assumption that no one would notice—or that it wouldn’t matter if they did.“ While Africa’s well known problems may be the first impressions westerners have it is also “home to over 1.5 billion people, thousands of languages, critical mineral resources, and some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. It is a continent central to global supply chains, climate policy, technological innovation, public health, migration, and international security. Africans are pioneering digital financial services, producing globally recognized entrepreneurs, expanding renewable energy, negotiating free-trade agreements, and flexing their muscles in international institutions.” 

There’s much more to read in the article plus a call for posters for their upcoming National Geography Awareness Week symposium Geography 2050: Africa Shaping Tomorrow.