Map of Africa with Ethnic Boundaries

In 1959, the renowned American anthropologist, George Murdock, published “Africa: Its peoples and their culture history.” Despite having little experience in Africa, Murdock used available resources to create a comprehensive picture of the distribution of ethnic groups throughout Africa. When you look at this map (click to enlarge), you cannot help think whether leaving those boundaries where they were and not redrawing them to the pleasure of world powers would have ended in more or less conflict, less war, less dead people…

africa ethnic map

Here’s another version with todays country borders:

africa map ethnic george peter murdock 1959 with todays countries

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    You can find some more info on how these boundaries actually seem to interact here..

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    Written by Tamás Varga
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    A sociologist and English major by degree, I've worked in the area of civil society & human rights and have been blogging in the fields of travel, nature & science for over 20 years.

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