Map of Africa, 1977–1978

On 1 July of every year from 1977 to 1978, IntMap’s historical map draws the same 70 names within Africa. The borders come from CShapes 2.0 (day by day), then Cliopatria, Seshat Global History Databank (by year) — each drawn only where the records before it are silent.

Names on the map

As the map labels them, largest first by the area of the outline drawn inside this view. Areas are of the drawn outline, rounded, and approximate.

NameDrawn area in view (km²)
Sudan (incl. South Sudan)2,500,000
Zaire2,340,000
Algeria2,320,000
Saudi Arabia1,830,000
Libya1,620,000
Chad1,280,000
Mali1,260,000
Ethiopia (incl. Eritrea)1,250,000
Angola1,250,000
South Africa1,220,000
Niger1,190,000
Mauritania1,140,000
Tanzania946,000
Egypt940,000
Nigeria913,000
South West Africa (South Africa)827,000
Mozambique790,000
Zambia755,000
Somalia640,000
Central African Republic621,000
Madagascar596,000
Kenya585,000
Botswana580,000
Morocco576,000
Cameroon467,000
Imperial State of Iran463,000
Iraq436,000
Rhodesia391,000
Congo346,000
Cote D'Ivoire323,000
Upper Volta273,000
South Yemen265,000
Gabon263,000
Guinea246,000
Uganda243,000
Ghana240,000
Turkey217,000
Senegal197,000
Syria187,000
Tunisia156,000
North Yemen137,000
Malawi119,000
Benin117,000
Liberia96,500
Jordan89,300
Israel88,900
Spain86,100
Sierra Leone72,900
Togo57,300
Greece34,500
Guinea-Bissau33,600
Lesotho30,600
Burundi27,300
Equatorial Guinea27,200
Rwanda25,300
Italy22,900
Djibouti21,600
Swaziland17,100
Kuwait17,000
Portugal13,700
Qatar11,200
Gambia10,900
Lebanon10,300
Cyprus9,300
Comoros1,770
São Tomé and Príncipe1,490
United Arab Emirates1,190
Bahrain690
Malta292
Oman<1

Open the map on 1 July of

1977 1978

What changed since 1976

Now drawn

Djibouti

No longer drawn

French Somaliland (France)

The same date elsewhere

World map · 1977–1978 Map of Europe · 1976–1978 Map of the Middle East · 1977–1978 Map of South Asia · 1977–1978 Map of East Asia · 1977–1988 Map of Southeast Asia · 1977–1983 Map of Central Asia · 1972–1978 Map of North America · 1974–1991 Map of Central America and the Caribbean · 1976–1978 Map of South America · 1976–1986 Map of Oceania · 1977–1978

Source and method

Borders and names: CShapes 2.0 (Schvitz et al. 2022, icr.ethz.ch/data/cshapes) · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 + Cliopatria v0.2.1 (Seshat Global History Databank, github.com/Seshat-Global-History-Databank/cliopatria) · CC BY 4.0 · adapted by IntMap: simplified, BC years made astronomical, and the ground OpenHistoricalMap (1689–1885, and from 1886 where CShapes is silent) and CShapes (1886–2019) state removed on their own dates.

Listed: every name whose outline IntMap draws inside 20°W–52°E, 36°S–38°N on this date, with the name the map writes on it. The list is worked out when the site is built, from the same records and the same code the map uses, so it says what the map shows — not more. Names are the source’s own, translated where the source or IntMap’s name table has a translation.

All data sources →

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