Why Are Africa's Borders So Straight? (Most Aren't)

Look at a map of Africa and some borders look like they were drawn with a ruler. The usual story says European leaders carved up the continent at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, and that no African was in the room. That part is true. But a 2024 study of every border between two African countries found that only about 37% follow straight lines of latitude or longitude. Most follow rivers, lakes and older political frontiers. This video covers the Scramble for Africa, the Berlin Conference, how the lines were actually drawn, and why African countries chose to keep them at independence. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:49 1 · The Scramble 1:56 2 · Berlin, 1884 3:03 3 · Drawing The Lines 4:02 4 · The Ruler Myth 5:33 5 · Keep The Map? 6:41 6 · Who Drew Them SOURCES Wikipedia, Berlin Conference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_... Engineering News, "Myth of arbitrary boundaries" (2024), on the APSR study of African borders: https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/art... American Political Science Review (2024), supplementary material: https://static.cambridge.org/content/... Wikipedia, Scramble for Africa OAU Cairo Resolution AHG/Res. 16(I), 1964 Wikipedia, Eritrean–Ethiopian War Documents shown on screen are illustrations that paraphrase key points; they are not facsimiles. Maps are approximate. Maps: Natural Earth (public domain). MUSIC "Documentary" by DELOSound (Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/music/main-title-..., used under the Pixabay Content License IMAGES (via Wikimedia Commons) Public domain: Cartoon depicting Leopold 2 and other emperial powers at… (François Maréchal); Kongokonferenz (Adalbert von Roessler); Franz von Lenbach - Bildnis Otto Eduard Leopold von Bism… (Franz von Lenbach); Leopold ii garter knight (London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company); Portrait Caricature Of King Leopold II of the Belgians (B. (=Hector) Moloch (1849-1909)); Stanley Founding of Congo Free State 365 Political Divis… (Henry Morton Stanley); Map of Central and Southern Africa, 1880 (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions); Ewe-Gebiet 1888 (B.Hassenstein); Sultan Barghash (Francis Barrow Pearce); (1905) Monrovia, U.S. Legation to Liberia (N.); Western Union trans-atlantic cables. LOC 2013593218 (Western Union Telegraph Company); Metralhadora 1884 CC BY 2.0: upyernoz from Haverford, USA, Niger River View, Djenne (6861797); Steve Evans, South Sudan Independence CC BY 4.0: User:DaniCBP, Map of Africa in 1880; DaniCBP, Map of Africa (1880); Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel), Sand dunes in the Sahara Desert on the border of Algeria…; Vyacheslav Argenberg, Sand dune in the desert, Sahara Desert, Egypt CC BY-SA 3.0: H. Zell, Cinchona officinalis 001; Worldtraveller, Fisherman on Lake Tanganyika CC BY-SA 4.0: davidjl123 / Somebody500, Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913; Ninaras, Maasai people from Amboseli; unknown, Ethiopian painting, Battle of Adwa, 1896; Vincent van Zeijst, Niger, Youri (Tiloa), view of the Niger River (1) Photos were cropped, colour-graded and given a 2.5D camera move for this video. The CC BY-SA adaptations are shared under the same licence. #history #geopolitics #documentary