Triple Layer Maps

Before I get into my investigation of Durban, some general practice with AfricaMap is clearly needed.  To get familiar with the layering feature, I've created layered maps of four countries from different regions of the continent - Botswana, Sierra Leone, the DRC, and Tunisia.  On a google terrain base, my maps show population density (2006), armed conflict locations (1997-2010), and major rivers.

These maps do not show the countless small rivers that may exist in each state, but it is immediately noticeable that the DRC is the only one of these four countries to contain a major river.  The Congo traces a large curve across the country such that it can serve as a major lifeline for much of the land, supporting irrigation and facilitating trade and transport to and from the Atlantic.  Neither Tunisia nor Sierra Leone have a major river but their locations on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts respectively make this a less serious potential problem than that faced by landlocked Botswana.  Botswana lacks the coastal trading opportunities of the other nations but may benefit from the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers, each serving as a tiny portion of the northern border. 

The limited water access may be at least a partial explanation for Botswana’s small and dispersed population.  Large sections of the country, particularly around the Kalahari Desert, are sparsely populated while the southeastern regions around capital city Gaborone show greater densities.  The map of Botswana shows fewer armed conflict locations than in most other Sub-Saharan African states, possibly a direct reflection of population size or density.

The map of Sierra Leone shows a much greater population density and highly populated areas spread across the country, with the north and parts of the southwest as notable exceptions.  Urban life therefore plays a greater role in Sierra Leone than in Botswana, particularly on the coast where trading opportunities would have encouraged city growth.  There are considerably more markers of armed conflict in Sierra Leone and the country’s map suggests once again that population and armed conflict are correlated.  The fact that armed conflicts occurred in regions across the nation and with greatest frequency around the capital, Freetown, suggests violence on a national scale, rather than just local disputes.

Similarly, armed conflict in the DRC is also pervasive across the whole territory.  The markers of conflict, however, are clearly most concentrated on the borders with Uganda and Rwanda, a reflection of the volatile relationships the DRC has had with its neighbours and the disruptive role that both refugees and militant rebel groups from other countries have played.  Population is notably heavier in some regions such as the country’s corridor to the Atlantic Ocean than in others, and it is interesting to see that high population density does not necessarily follow the path of the Congo River.  Like Sierra Leone, the DRC has more, and more heavily populated, urban areas than Botswana.

The same could be said for the northern half of Tunisia where big coastal cities give way to more sparsely populated regions as one moves further inland.  At about the midway latitude point, however, Tunisia becomes a little-inhabited desert suggesting some similarities between Tunisia’s Saharan regions and Botswana’s Kalahari.  Also like Botswana, Tunisia has seen relatively little armed violence since 1997 by continental standards.  The occurrences that have registered on the map appear in the more densely populated north, another connection between population and armed struggle.