Africa: Could You Fit Your State Inside It?
Putting Its Size in Perspective
To help visualize its size, comparing Africa to something familiar is helpful; let's compare Africa to Maryland, New York City, Ohio, Alabama, and Greenland.
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Africa's Size Compared to Maryland
Maryland's area is approximately 25,314 square kilometers. Africa's area is about 30.3 million square kilometers. So, you could fit Maryland into Africa about 1,197 times.
Nairobi in New York City
New York City boasts a vastly larger land area compared to the capitals of Lesotho, Ghana, and Togo—Maseru, Accra, and Lomé, respectively. While Maseru, Accra, and Lomé each have smaller urban footprints, New York City's extensive metropolitan region encompasses numerous boroughs, expansive parks, and a diverse array of neighborhoods. In contrast, Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, presents a comparable size to New York City, though its urban layout and geographic features differ significantly.
Distance from Northernmost to Southernmost Point in Africa
The distance from Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia (northernmost point) to Cape Agulhas in South Africa (southernmost point) is approximately 8,000 kilometers, or about 5,000 miles. This is roughly equivalent to a round trip between New York City and Los Angeles, as a one-way trip between these U.S. cities is about 2,500 miles.
Traveling from Cairo to Cape Town
The straight-line distance (as the crow flies) between Cairo, Egypt, and Cape Town, South Africa, is approximately 7,241 kilometers (about 4,500 miles). Driving distance is longer, around 9,860 kilometers (about 6,127 miles), which would take approximately 5 days and 13 hours of continuous driving. This distance is greater than the flight distance from London to New York, which is about 5,570 kilometers (3,460 miles).
Size of the Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert covers approximately 9.2 million square kilometers. The contiguous United States covers about 8 million square kilometers. Therefore, the Sahara Desert is slightly larger than the contiguous U.S.
Fitting Multiple Countries into Africa
Africa's vast landmass of about 30.3 million square kilometers can indeed encompass the areas of the United States (9.8 million km²), China (9.6 million km²), India (3.3 million km²), Japan (0.38 million km²), and much of Europe combined.
Ohio in Africa
Africa is substantially larger than Ohio, measuring approximately 261 times its size. Africa is about 43.5 times larger than Texas, covering roughly 30.2 million square kilometers (11.7 million square miles) compared to Texas's 695,662 square kilometers (268,596 square miles).
Alabama inside Africa
Huntsville, Alabama, is a much bigger city than Maseru, which is the capital of Lesotho, Accra, the capital of Ghana, and Lomé, the capital of Togo. But Huntsville is still smaller in land size and population when compared to Nairobi, the busy capital city of Kenya. Huntsville is growing making it an important city in the southeastern part of the United States.
Africa Compared to Greenland
Africa's area is about 30.3 million square kilometers, while Greenland's is approximately 2.166 million square kilometers. This means Africa is roughly 14 times larger than Greenland.
Driving Across Africa vs. the U.S.
Driving from the northern to the southern tip of Africa (e.g., Cairo to Cape Town) covers about 9,860 kilometers (6,127 miles) and would take approximately 5 days and 13 hours of continuous driving. In contrast, a coast-to-coast drive across the United States (e.g., New York to Los Angeles) is about 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) and can be completed in approximately 40 to 50 hours of continuous driving. Therefore, traveling Africa by car would indeed take significantly longer, potentially weeks when accounting for rest and real-world conditions, compared to a coast-to-coast U.S. road trip, which can be done in a few days.
