Africa's Borders suck, Let's fix them

Extra Exaggerates about the severity of this problem
The borders of African countries were created due to European colonization, and aren't very accurate considering the multitude of cultures, languages and religions in Africa. Let's draw a new map to fix them.
Contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:56 About Africa
1:35 Colonization & Nation State
3:03 Empires & Climate
4:33 Welcome Problems
6:42 Previous Attempt
7:18 The Improvement
8:02 The Explanation
10:33 Outro(duction)
Subscribe so that I can escape exile.

[@ExtraInExile]

The comments lately have been getting a little more opposing, so I wanna reiterate what I said at 10:33 that these borders obviously wouldn't improve Africa and that I don't actually condone a change like this. It's only a creative exercise and a way to put African civilizations in the spotlight.

[@UH-60_Blackhawk]

ok

[@mybodyisamachine]

I believe in self-determination as a principle, but personally I tend to oppose seperatism. There are exceptions, but I usually don't agree with it. I think Africa should at least discuss a reconsideration of some of the borders. Again, it's a complicated issue but it might be able to fix some issues if approached carefully.

[@lutendomalala]

The wars are because of the borders

[@swiessen-with-a-silence-e]

ah, then the only thing that makes those borders bad is the border gore

[@omarsali2990]

Your mediocre attempt had some flaws let me correct them All north Africa is morroco except Egypt reasoning Egypt is the most square country and the rest is Zimbabwe exept for Chad just for the meme I decided north Africa be eTEAnecithy and let the square do square things and for the rest chads are chads and Zimbabwe sounds good This is how you make borders you Dingus

[@jespoketheepic]

I think that dividing the countries like this back during decolonization could have alleviated a lot of tension, but doing it nowadays would probably cause more tension than it would solve.

[@A.D.540]

I agree

[@gidi3250]

Especially how people have moved around inside the current borders of the nations such division would only leave people stranded form their people in other lands.

[@Tim_Morder]

Even before decolonisation, these countries already had many decades of political existence and development

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Yes. It's much easier to do something like this when you're dealing with African politicians in an environment hosted and supervised by mostly disinterested constitutional monarchies and advanced republics than attempting to do the same with sovereign entities that can literally break any law they want because they are the law.

[@liquidsnake6879]

"if only the whites had done it"

[@number1kenyan]

As a Kenyan I believe, especially for my country, these borders would cause more trouble than good. I believe African states should pursue national identity instead of dividing

[@ExtraInExile]

That's true, at this point it's better for these countries to just continue as they are now, that has worked out for countries like Botswana, Ghana and Kenya as well. It's just fun to speculate on what the borders would look like if they were ever accurately drawn :)

[@jmgonzales7701]

different cultural values may get in the way of that. look at israel and palestine, jews and muslims were basically middle eastern brothers back then but look at it now constant battle by the israeli and the palestinians over the land. Its simply not possible to force everyone to live in harmony.

[@number1kenyan]

@@ExtraInExile yea, nice video btw, it's well researched and has a lot of effort behind it

[@number1kenyan]

@@jmgonzales7701 I understand your point but as the above reply states it can succeed, if you ask a Kenyan who they are they'll first say "I'm a kenyan" before they say their tribe

[@Testimony_Of_JTF]

@@ExtraInExile Isn't Botswana ethinically cohesive tho?

[@logpo5402]

The worst part is that chad is no longer chad, please reconsider your life choices

[@ExtraInExile]

I have committed a grave error

[@ice8776]

but have you visited chad?

[@gidi3250]

@@ice8776 no Chad visits you on a Toyota

[@nbewarwe]

@@gidi3250 Unless you're Libyan

[@krakenmommy5169]

@@nbewarwe me a Libyan:"I don't know wat that means but alright....oooh I still don't get it"

[@The88Nomad]

As a Somali, I am impressed by your knowledge and presentation of the new map. I am glad you managed to get the Oromo in there, thpugh they would prefer their state to be called "Oromiya" not "Adal" since Adal was an ethnically Somali kingdom.

[@ExtraInExile]

Good point!

[@Giifgaaf]

Ruun 👍

[@xen0tor794]

@@Arkofpainting Somalian has somali people

[@Zeyede_Seifegiyorgis]

It's funny since Oromo's pushing the Adalites to Harar city 500 years ago. The Oromo invasion was disastrous for Ethiopia too they took Shewa, Wellega, Arsi, Bale, Harargae etc. It started 500 years ago. They aren't native to Ethiopia, they're from Kenya.

[@The88Nomad]

@@Arkofpainting Hooyoda siilkeeda.

[@jameshorsfall7306]

As a South African, dividing the country like this would cause a 'civil' war... But it is really interesting to think what Africa would have looked like if this was how the map was drawn when countries first gained their independence. Very interesting, keep going!

[@MarcoAntonio-xd1ej]

So you guys are Just going to let the whites do whatever they want to? And get your money?

[@fodetraore6957]

Right now this wouldn't work I may would have been better if the border were like that at the begging

[@kosinusify]

curious, why would it cause a civil war?

[@10hawell]

Free Cape Onafhanklikheid vir Kaapstad Fuck SA, you bunch of uncivilised assholes

[@gidi3250]

@@kosinusify a lot of people groups that have since apartheid ended moved back to their traditional home steads and now some minority's like eff are trying to get us to drop the ideas of borders and go back to pre colonial Africa state, so to suddenly try and force border changes on such groups would only lead to conflict and clashes of culture and traditions, some clashes are already happening and then spend decades in court to try and solve them peacefully like with what happened to PE and how it got a name that even locals where unsure how to pronounce it correctly and had to call their extended family I'm Gauteng to get a good pronunciation of the new name, while most just went on calling it PE.

[@dgw237]

It’s impossible to make “perfect borders”. Just drawing new lines in the sand to create nations that are effectively monocultures (as in same religion, geography, ethnicity, and so forth). Making monoculture nations won’t fix African borders. It may solve some problems but it’ll cause more as well.

[@Black-it7el]

and that can all be solved organically by the Africans just like it took the Europeans a couple of world wars to settle on there borders. Africans never got that chance since they keep getting global interference and borders where made for them against there will. it will only lead to further suffering in the long term instead of solving it now and resetting the borders because eventually its going to happen anyways might aswell get it out of the way early.

[@1Fye]

I think African Monoculture borders, or a combination of a few monocultures to make a true state, would work much better than the current systems. Remember, Africa in the past had it's own nations, kingdoms, and empires before colonization, meaning the European style of governance(or lack of understanding of the land they're governing) doesn't apply all that well at all to the geography and history of African nations. Let's take Ethiopia as an example of a successful African state(pre 20-21st century), with at least 30 different ethnicities and nationalities, and around 5 or 6 majorly populated ones out of the 30, it has existed for centuries without totally collapsing. Because of it's geography, being mainly mountainous, it is extremely hard to invade externally. However, as per it's civil war you can see it is susceptible to internal conflict(Note that the nation never seemed like it was going to cease to exist, much like the American Civil War). Being a nation that has been able to naturally form over the centuries and take on many forms has molded it's identity, much like European countries, and formed a loose cohesion between the peoples who have lived there making it a place where the tensions between the peoples aren't as extreme as most other African states. A great example of a modern(20-21st century) African state is Botswana. Not only have they banded together to petition the U.K in the past to be an independently governed territory(to avoid being apart of Rhodesia), which did succeed, after they gained their independence(When the U.K released most of their colonies and territories) they once again banded together to vote for what would be best for the people there. Botswana itself is a very desolate place, which is primarily why Britain allowed it to be independently governed, however because of their geography there wasn't much to fight over so a democracy was naturally the most stable choice to have. Of course precious gems being discovered in the territory did a lot to boost the nations economy, but because of it's history of banding together, they were able to keep the few mines they had safe from corruption(partially because they invited a private company to invest, harvest, and protect said resource too). The main troubles these African nations are facing are implementing modern forms of governance with their given borders, which don't conform to any of their historically defined cultures. This is why corruption and wars are so prevalent, these people are fighting to secure a healthy life for themselves and their followers rather than for the whole nation, because in simple terms, the nation they are apart of is not at all their people, it's an amalgamation of cultures mashed together for convenience. Breaking up many of these states to form smaller culture-based nations would help stabilize the region and also provide a want to form mutual pacts of aid, like the East African Federation is attempting to do. As you said, this wouldn't fix all of Africa's problems, new problems would for sure arise from this, but the severity of said problems would be a much lighter burden on the people governing and living in these regions. It would go a long way to being able to actually develop the region naturally rather than the self destructive exploitation(material or otherwise) it currently has.

[@MarcoAntonio-xd1ej]

Well, If itll solve some problems i would say is a good thing...

[@Cooom]

@@MarcoAntonio-xd1ej Will cause more than it solves

[@MarcoAntonio-xd1ej]

@@Cooom I don't see How Africa can prosper with todays borders...

[@EchoSnake999]

Plz don’t ever let this happen I spent too long learning all the current African countries

[@oooshafiqooo4722]

true at least rather unite some nations with similarities

[@krakenmommy5169]

Me who already know them from a long time ago:"do it NOW"

[@chrisca]

As a student in Geography and Territory Management (which include geopolitics, infraestructure, social and physical geography...) most of the countries would be a pain in the ass to manage, basically Songhai and all those plastidoo shapes. Either too large to properly connect the peoples in them, or too large countries without many natural resources that can prop up nation development and improvement of their conditions. Based on the ideas of nuclear zones in Europe and Asia, modern socioeconomic structures (and then nation-states) appear from resource rich zones where industry and trade can develop from (Ile de France, Francfurt, London, Piamonte...) therefore, countries in Africa should have a decent territory and population, as well as either a lot of raw materials or access to navegable rivers or the sea. In this process, which seems that Africa never reached, small communities banded together, began to speak the same tongue and ended up integrating into bigger groups (the process repeating itself). You can see that in how medieval Europe, full of small, disconnected duchies, princely states... turned into kingdoms. More resources available, freedom of commerce (since you don't need to pay/negotiate to get goods from point A to point Z and through all the alphabet) and more manpower to generate revenue, defend said resources... In this way, many of the proposed states would fall short on either one of multiple of the points. This is why the current push in African states is not for separatism but inter-state political structures which share some common traits. Namely, the East African Federation. Mostly christian; same language group, even with all the differences; same administrative language, same (now) coin, geographical proximity and together they all have access to the sea, ending regional disputes between countries for water resources. This EU of Africa should be the way to work towards and to fix the problems caused by european colonial powers and african idiosyncrasy. In this way, we could see unions of south african states, the french speaking west, a bantu christian confederation and a saharan muslim one, fixing the problems with the former Spanish Sahara, french exploitation of their former colonies, the muslim part of Nigeria... with many raw resources like basic materials for electronics, oil and gas... allowing them to grow on the short term and to develop and create a common culture on the long run. Sorry for the wall of text but thought it would be a very informative and discussion-provoking mental exercise

[@wildfire9280]

Worst come to worst these ethnic borders could always form a Holy Roman Empire of their own.

[@decuno1663]

please man where you can study that, that sounds like a perfect career for me

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

It is possible to manage a navigable river across multiple sovereign jurisdictions. The Rhine and Danube rivers in Europe are great examples of this, as is the Mekong in Asia.

[@CountingStars333]

Your way is better.

[@chrisca]

@@decuno1663 Idk, many universities in your country should give have a learning career similar to mine. Its always geography(mother branch)+something else, be it environmental studies, urban development... you name it

[@jamussifan633]

Honestly , how this channel is currently under the radar is beyond me lol

[@ExtraInExile]

The start is always the most difficult part, thank you for the support!

[@brokkrep]

I can feel the break-through is just around the corner.

[@Neversa]

@@ExtraInExile Bruh make the sound slower it honestly hurts to listen. But the content is pretty good.

[@tennoki]

Cause he started 2 weeks ago. Good news is the algorithm picked it up! I'm here for the long haul :)

[@fatalalchemy602]

Because it's hard as hell to understand a word he's saying. Idk if it's a bad lisp, the sound is sped up if it's just his cadence or what but it will unfortunately stay underated if that doesn't get fixed. Good video besides that one issue I hope he gets it fixed

[@SillyUwUBilly]

As a person living in Poland I have no idea what's going on here I just hope everybody will get along in the end.

[@johngifts8688]

Yeah South Africa is trying but we have literally nothing in common with each other the British just drew lines and said live together we have 11 official languages like bro 😭 but we trying

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic1139]

@@johngifts8688 It sounds bad. We Poles are sometimes mad about borders. They were artificially created after WW2, drawn by Stalin. It was basically moved west to give more lands to USSR and take land from Germany. Millions of Poles were relocated to the previously German lands from modern Ukraine and Belarus. But in the end 96% of Polish citizens are ethnically Polish and we have no border issues with neighbours. Africa got it much worse. I wish you good fortune.

[@johngifts8688]

@@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic1139 thanks bro but we will learn to live with each other it's just we at a point where we say to one another you not South African because you white or you brown or you too black 😕 but it will soon pass

[@mybodyisamachine]

@@johngifts8688 As far as I know the ethnic groups in South Africa live in relative peace with each other and there's very little ethnic conflict.

[@johngifts8688]

@@mybodyisamachine bro the EFF ☠️

[@florianmaier104]

I think the religion part is good - but language families, once you leave the close related family it just gets odd. So grouping Songhai languages together works out, but spreading further doesn't make any sense as those languages are far apart. Similar to Indo-European languages in Europe: to group Latin, Germanic and Slavic together somehow makes sense but for a non-linguist the difference between English and say Albanian or Greek is as far as between English and Hungarian. Also Watersheds have been used IN Europe quite often to mark borders, in quite a few places in Africa that would make sense too, as people usually dwell arround Rivers and spread out from there.

[@PresAlexWhit]

"How many panhandles should there be?" Extra in Exile: "Yes."

[@nicolaszan1845]

Some of these countries have untennable borders. Adal, for example, has long potrusions snaking into the territories of larger neighbors. Or just, the entirety of Chaussa. I can't imagine they would survive very long with their current borders intact simply due to how vulnerable such regions would be and how easily neighbors could just take them by force for their land, resources, or people.

[@Zeyede_Seifegiyorgis]

Adal isn't even populated by native people, they're from Kenya. It should have been named Oromia

[@resentfuldragon]

They would have allies though, the somalis in particular identify with the oromo as close neighbors and fellow muslims. It would not be alone in a war.

[@resentfuldragon]

@@Zeyede_Seifegiyorgis It should have been oromia for sure, the actual adalites were somalis. That being said the native point is irrelevant, after 500 years they are a part of the area.

[@Azurethewolf168]

Well they can’t because western powers would intervene

[@abineryebiohadgu8461]

As an ethiopian I would hate to see these new borders 😭

[@kyureevs]

as a somalian i love my countries borders

[@kyureevs]

@Вертиго as a somalian i didnt ask

[@thecarrierpigeon6657]

@@kyureevs half your country isn't even part of your country bro

[@kyureevs]

@@thecarrierpigeon6657 wdym most of country is a part of the country (not including somaliland cuz they wanna do their own thing)

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Ethiopia's a bit of a different critter too. The modern country is essentially equivalent to the fabled precolonial Kingdom. This is also true of Swaziland, I would add, and I believe Lesotho is too.

[@eaturcookiescookie7462]

As a Portuguese I feel pan Africanism is what should fix africa and I hope our brothers from Guiné Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Cabo Verde try to pursuit this idea, stay determined africa

[@easytiger6570]

Let me guess🤔 United Africa with its capital in Lisbon

[@axlr8deathpls294]

@@easytiger6570 Well portugal did claim the entire continent of africa at one point. The big wtf however comes when king leopold of belgium wanted to claim west virginia and portugal as his own property.

[@friendlywobbly9903]

@@axlr8deathpls294 Can I have a source for that please so that i can look it up

[@KongoMuller69]

Nah i dont think tho because some places are just unstable and corrupted as hell and some ethnic groups hate each other

[@Prodigi50]

@@friendlywobbly9903 Look up the Treaty of Tordesillas. Everything east of certain point was supposed to belong to Portugal, everything west to Spain.

[@waffle5422]

I love Polandball! And your drawings are great. Combined with your commentary and interesting topics makes this channel a winner! Subbed!

[@peterkovecs4020]

That was very interesting video and your style is awsome! It’s really good and respectabel that one of your first videos is about african geography which is a very difficult subject. Well done!

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you so much! I've always wanted to share some of the maps that I've made, so I wanted to do this video as soon as possible.

[@sdprz7893]

Great Video, I should add that the Adal Empire was largely Somali with some Afar and Harari people but you've labelled the Oromo inhabited regions Adal. The Oromos themselves would probably prefer the name Oromio. Aside from that, Solid Video.

[@ExtraInExile]

Good point!

[@oooshafiqooo4722]

@@ExtraInExile you really destroyed ethiopia from big too small

[@wildfire9280]

@@oooshafiqooo4722 If you think that’s bad just look at a map of the Zagwe Empire. Went from Axum to yikes.

[@oooshafiqooo4722]

@@wildfire9280 zagwe empire? Whats that nation?

[@kh7736]

@@oooshafiqooo4722 the size it should be

[@alternateaccount4673]

Great video! I'll give you some feedback, not sure how much of it will be useful but here it goes: Things that are already good and need no improving: - The music choice and the music volume, it isn't distracting whatsoever while also not being too quiet. Good job! - The visuals are outstanding, kind of like B4B like many others have pointed out; great word, it well and truly paid off - The passion is pretty clear just looking at it, and even if it can't be pointed out directly it does truly make it nicer to watch - Thumbnail/Title work is really good Things that could be better: - Your English technically speaking is good, the grammar and sentence structure is completely natural, and throughout *most* of thr video it sounds like free speach rather than a script reading. This is very good. The sole issue is the pronunciation and at some parts slight mumbling caused by fast speach, this isn't a big issue since its mostly understandable and due to the subtitles being in place. I recommend you practice doing hard R's rather than rolled R's, this would make sentences with a lot R's easier to hear. I also recommend doing an exercise before recording where you say the script louder than intended and with emphasis on saying each individual word clearly, this is a good strategy for preventing any sorts of mumbling, and despite it not being that big of an issue it would simply make the quality better - I recommend finding a way to have fewer transition still-frames, the ones you do use are well done but the raw amount of them at times disturbs the flow of the video, replacing every other one here with a verbal transition of some sorts "And speaking of *insert word here*..." would make it flow naturally - Not a complaint, but look more into sharing your videos around. Maybe there are platforms like reddit or such where you can publish your videos, or maybe some other creators will be willing to let you advertise on their community with permission. Look into it! It won't make the videos better but it'll help make the growth happen faster That's all, overall the video is very well done and only has some minor mistakes, I believe it is important with feedback early on especially as this will after a while become the core content of your channel, the thing people will be watching after seeing the popular videos Keep the good work up and looking forward to seeing more from you, always pleasant to see new Polandball related content on the scene :)

[@ExtraInExile]

Damn that's really really helpful, thank you! Honestly I've thought of sharing some of these on Reddit, but to them it might seem like an outsider is shamelessly self-promoting, so I've stayed away from it so far.

[@lad_elusive]

That was some comprehensive feedback! Very well written. I wanted to address the issue with the reading speed as well, which caused a little bit of confusion in an otherwise excellent video. Glad that you put it so vividly and detail-oriented.

[@easyestentertainment3753]

Note that the African Union wanted to keep the borders this way because having borders based on ethnicity would result in never ending conflicts, and it would be better for national unity to create the nations of the country through their history of colonialism and the values they wrote in the constitution of independence

[@TheWoollyFrog]

Yes, and that worked so well...

[@Azurethewolf168]

National unity? There’s no unity in Africa since the start, uniting a country based on meaningless values like colonialism is BS. You need actual unity between cultures and ethnicity, the African union is just full of westernized Africans who want to keep their country with old borders to continue being exploited.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

It's half true, the issue is that they replaced one boogie man with another, the reason there's tons of corruption now isn't because of "muh ethnicity" now it's because of "muh colonialism". Many Africans who speak up on the Internet all admit that corruption is main issue and it's mostly domestic issue, can they solve it? Who knows. Sadly EU has it's own batch of corrupt nations that need reform so we can't exactly go out and help Africa, better we focus on our neighbours and let Africa decide their future for themselves 😅

[@leratking8842]

I’m not sure this would be THAT good of an idea but I’m sure it would be hell to add more countries to my knowledge

[@caytonlive]

This is still one of my favorite videos to go back to. While dividing now wouldn't make much sense, it's fun to speculate what would've happened if colonization didn't screw over the entire continent. Honestly makes me curious about what it would be like in the case of other continents (South America, Oceania, North America...)...

[@Muszy]

Wow! I love your illustrations and how you provide your sources for media throughout the video! Hope you keep growing! :D

[@worldwidethings1597]

Great video! I found you through my recommended page, so hopefully you'll start seeing more traction soon. Best wishes for your channel, and your uni studies.

[@ExtraInExile]

Thanks, I appreciate the support for the studies!

[@gdtacos7082]

Interesting. I hadn't actually seen alternative maps of Africa (which are desperately needed after they were fucked by colonialism/ de-colonialism) before. Earned a sub.

[@vulturesmusic1617]

I'm very impressed by this this is great. I need to geek out over these new nations and their flags, capitals and alternate histories!

[@swagmund_freud6669]

Africa's borders are not actually much of a problem. Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Indonesia, the Philippines and others prove that a country can be multi-ethnic and diverse with relatively little civil strife and conflict. Ethnic tensions is *not* the main cause of Africa's problems. Exploitation by corrupt governments and Western businesses on the other hand - changing the lines on the map won't help that. It should be Africans who decide what the borders of Africa should look like.

[@Azurethewolf168]

Well Africans want it to change. The only reason those countries are that way is because of western influence. In Europe it’s the peace after WW2 that America has held up, in Indonesia and Philippines it’s colonialism making them have to unite together to be their own country.

[@andriusgimbutas3723]

Indonesia? Rather bold of you to use them as an example

[@swagmund_freud6669]

Yeah good point now that I think about it given recent events haha. I mean, they've been able to keep it together for longer than Yugoslavia ever did so I guess they do still count. @@andriusgimbutas3723

[@samw7998]

people in switzerland are all ethnically swiss tho, even if they speak different languages

[@user-cw3wm9lx7w]

@@andriusgimbutas3723 didn’t the philippines and indoesnia both have ethnic cleansing.

[@emmanuelbanda21]

As a person living in Zambia I can tell you that the country's boarders are ok just the way they are right now

[@johngifts8688]

No we want you back 🇿🇦🙋🏾‍♂️

[@izzylevi.]

@@johngifts8688 💀

[@fullmetaltheorist]

@@johngifts8688 Let's colonize Zambia.

[@bitshox1215]

What about Barotseland

[@emmanuelbanda21]

@@bitshox1215 there's no problem with it, what have you heard about it?

[@zypherx1891]

Hey man, I just thinking if you can share your map of your newly drawn borders of africa, it would be really cool. Also you're doing a great job on your videos and the research. You're also a great artist and super underrated. PS: get a better mic lol, i had to use subtitles for this one.

[@Giifgaaf]

This was perfect. I don’t know why but after decolonisation us Somalis were denied our ethnic lands. You did a good job on East Africa but for west Africa some slight improvement could be needed

[@user-gq4hs7xx7w]

As a somalian, I can confirm we should be better than a civil war destroying us, and become a better, stronger and better so we can become one of the best

[@martynaskasys2012]

very cool video. I would take more consideration of modern day politics and include states such as the East African Federation. I'd say this map would be better suited for Africa post-WW2 than for the modern day

[@shafsteryellow]

Lool somalia would never accept

[@ELIASKball]

I love this video, you are clearly an underrated KZbinr But considering that you have 3 videos and more than 400 subscribers you are not in bad shape, if for each video you get more than 100 subscribers you will become famous and you deserve it

[@pinkcyno2380]

your video was recommended to me by the algorithm and I see great potential for your channel to grow. this video was also fun to watch

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you! I guess we'll always need to pray for the algorithm to notice us at the start huh.

[@dymaxion3988]

The countries I’m most skeptical of are the atlantic and red saharas. Countries with a huge amount of land but small populations make targets for neighbouring countries who want resources and/or trade routes, and these two are positively surrounded. In particular, the part where red sahara cuts across the nile wouldn’t last long at all.

[@luckyyy6510]

983rd subscriber. Keep it up this is quality content! Very educational and fun to watch.

[@FairyCRat]

I once made a similar map, essentially "what if after decolonization, there was a pan-African effort to redraw the borders?" except I did mine on MapChart and was thus limited to merging or splitting 1st level subdivisions, although I did make minor manual adjustments. Mine has fewer countries too, since I'm quite a fan of massive federations, most of the small countries are clustered near the Gulf of Guinea. Thus on my map there is only 1 border between Libya and northern Mozambique, as they are respectively part of the United Arab Republics and the East African Federation.

[@bee-fs3vb]

very underrated, I really like kraut and basically any channel that is a countryball explaining things. hope your channel progresses further, goodluck!

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you!

[@johnroach1101]

Africa needs to unite not divde , (regional integration is a good start )(like EAC in east Africa ,economic union and joint military

[@urdadbob9160]

Great job, you did amazing 🤩 never have seen a video so simple but so explanatory.

[@etho7351]

It would be cool if you made a video about future alliances and conflicts based on these new boarders

[@DanielMesq]

promising channel here hopefuly getting more recognition

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you very much! I'm sure that the algorithm can't ignore me forever.

[@TheDaneAKATheSigma]

Good job bro instant sub from here this is good content it deserves more

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you very much!

[@felixb6]

Just a small correction. If Nigeria split up, it would probably be on Arewa (Hausa-Fulani)/Oduduwa (Yoruba)/Biafra (Igbo) lines. Those three regions have heavy beef with each other, to the point where ethnic separatist groups are already fighting for independence.

[@justsomeguy7294]

True but the Yoruba and Igbo could still somehow coexist the tension mostly happens with the Islamic north and the mostly Christian south but I could be wrong

[@osclips2561]

@@justsomeguy7294 Yoruba and hausa Fulani actually work together only Benin and Igbo would work together that’s how I’d split it

[@lu881]

As a South African, I would say it is more appropriate to have Xhosas and Zulus (in _Ngunizwe_ ) have their own separate countries. Or perhaps, a federation with the two other Nguni speakers.

[@nkululekomolokomme5132]

And he shouldn't have included Indo-European because it's overlooking the Dutch conquest.

[@yalieyal4362]

It seems like your channel is criminally underrated... I don't really agree with some of the borders, but the video itself was very well made and honestly I couldn't have done a better job

[@Spinna720]

As a mandinka, i feel like some of the coast of Guinea would be part of manding too but Fulanis would have a bigger country too, they’re pretty much everywhere inland in west africa, great video tho

[@emolohtrab3468]

I like a lot you introduction, your concept and you jokes, briefly I like a lot your video, keep doing like that you are doing a great job 😊

[@xelabadman5824]

Cool video it would be interesting to see how the economies and populations would be in these new countries

[@atriox7221]

Obviously a radical change in africas borders would be very damaging now, but imagining an alternative history where these were the borders formed by Europe in a cleanup attempt before allowing national independence, as a strategy to minimise serious conflict that could and keep the majority of the continent broken into weak enough nations that Europe could maintain unbalanced trade and relationships with the nations in the lands they each once ruled. At the same time a HRE type situation could form to counter foreign abuse, a number of nations may turn their weaker neighbours into puppets or annex them entirely, who knows what the continent would look like if it had the last century to go from this alternative map into a fairly unimaginable adaptation

[@samaalehiil3221]

The Horn of Africa countries actually would work - I also really liked that you created a country in the eastern Sudan region for the Beja & Atlantic Sahara ( just makes so much sense) - Triple thumbs up to you good sir

[@UnknownFortune]

No they wouldn't. First off the names don't even make sense, "Djibouti" for an Afar state and "Adal" (the name of a Somali sultanate) for an Oromo state is nonsensical. The Afar state would fail because of a lack of resources. The Oromo state includes so many different groups of Oromos that would fall into infighting and Greater Somalia historically failed because Somalis are divided over regionalism and clans. And the Ethiopian state is just a rump state that would collapse.

[@user-jb7kv3nd9o]

⁠@@UnknownFortunegreater Somalia was broken up by imperialism not infighting

[@suushwin]

this is a really good video!! i also really like the splatoon music now and then, i thought i was the only one that likes geography and splatoon!!

[@manumccool56]

It seems like your channel is pretty young, around a month old, but I subbed immediately when I watched this video. I am anticipating your future videos, because they are funny, informative and seem to have a lot of effort put in!

[@Khaliesahra]

As a Somali I love what you’ve done with the place. One day!

[@austin_ballaz]

Keep up the good work!

[@ExtraInExile]

Of course!

[@lonwabolungaselaledi9189]

I love how you paired the South African languages with their "cousin languages" (if that makes sense). e.g. Zulu, Swathi and Ndebele are very similar but differ in dialect.

[@cbrauts707]

Never would I ever have expected to hear Splatoon music as background for a video on African borders.

[@tomasroma2333]

This video really succumbs to the liberal concept of nation states. Not every country is or should be a nation state. Many Borders in Africa are designed in a way that ethnic conflict is inevitable but that doesn't mean the solution is a top down redrawn of Africa in a style which is entirely based on Western and European philosophy.

[@Qolk4jx]

Great video! You might want to turn up your voice just slightly, but I’m excited to see what comes next!

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you so much! I'll pay attention to that in the future, since it doesn't sound perfect right now.

[@Qolk4jx]

@@ExtraInExile Do you have a discord? Also you have a nice voice lol

[@ExtraInExile]

Yeah, it's Arnoob#3251, but I don't use it too often.

[@landon8214]

I was waiting for someone to do this idea.

[@Estebanf259]

just earned a sub cuz i love this kind of stuff :)

[@gahelo]

Putting the CSA as "coping" made me laugh and subscribe really fast

[@lucasqualls5086]

Dividing people along ethnic lines isn’t a solution for a problem, since it assumes that racism/ethno-nationalism is the cause of issues, and the way to solve it is to give people ethno-states. We need to be advancing towards a more integrated unified world, not a more separated Balkanized one.

[@sergicb1533]

very easy to say, very difficult to keep internal balance among majorities and minorities

[@lucasqualls5086]

@@sergicb1533 That's true, but as societies advance, and wealth is gained, and less stratified, generally peoples insecurities lessen, and their need to hate and blame everything on another group tends to recede. We know how to fight the problem generally.

[@wiegraf9009]

Honestly all the responses like this to the video give me some hope for humanity.

[@00fgytduydrtu]

No.

[@vicenzostella1390]

4:55 I see you have good taste in map projections. I personally prefer the Gall-Peters, but Equal Earth is a good one too.

[@Vandal12143]

As an Ethiopian, the Kenyan "Ian" is correct, this will create more problems and instability because colonization took down big empire and made them weaker; taking some land or giving other the same land will just bring more misunderstanding and tension among States. We may have redrawen tape-worm nations (Gambia/ Malawi) but we have more of them here. Ethiopians once used to have Eritrea until Italy conquer it as a plan to take the entire Ethiopia, 140 years later it's still source of uncertainty whether it will be best to ask Eritrea to be federated or stay independent as they fighted for 30 years during the emperial and communism period. That is why the map won't be valid due to the fact that history should be a topic here too. But I like your idea, thanks.....

[@user-qo6co7yq2x]

Lol I once got called racist by saying that africa has too many straight borders. Just look at Equatorial Guinea, or even the most square country in the world Egypt!

[@rehanakhund2578]

Both of those countries are the ⬛est of the⬛est.

[@Ali2885.]

I see that the situation in Africa is stable and does not need a new division

[@ExtraInExile]

That's very true, it feels kinda disingenuous for another European to split up Africa again lol, this map is just for fun though of course!

[@Ali2885.]

@@ExtraInExile Let time divide Africa Very cool video , I wish you success 👍

[@scipion34]

I swear, this is brain4breakfast reincarnated. Ya got my like, sub and boost for the algorithm!

[@master.9202]

sad...

[@barsguzel7559]

All Africa united as single federal country would be more plausible.

[@quartztemplar3676]

I'd love to see border fixes or all other continents. It'd be so interesting to see how borders would look. (I just pray for an independent Northern England)

[@Azurethewolf168]

Europe really wouldn’t change that much, due to the world wars and ethnic cleansing a lot of Europe is pretty much accurate to the modern borders. Asia and Africa would really be a shit show, America wouldn’t change that much but just unite into a few countries.

[@onejuan3340]

@@Azurethewolf168 as a latin american i think Colombia, venezuela and ecuador uniting would make sense. after all they began as just one country.

[@Azurethewolf168]

@@onejuan3340 yeah, but hard to control

[@zdoko2490]

Drawing borders based on Ethnic divisions is probably even more problematic since ethnic identities tend to mix and mingle through a population and blur with interracial marriages. Dividing countries by ethnicity leads to ethno-nationalism and perpetuates attitudes of racism because a given tribe can claim a territory as "our land" and insulate itself from outsiders, resulting in an echo chamber of tribal homogenization. A better way to draw borders is by city-states. An large urban center where people centrally gather and it's surrounding suburban tentacles where it's natural resources are harvested from should be the foundational building block of a state. Many of these city-states can then unite together for their common defense and form a common free trade zone and that basically amounts to a Federal system of government.

[@MILOPETIT]

This guy's solution to those arbitrary borders is *ethnostates??*

[@wiegraf9009]

Yes, the nation state is ONE theory of how countries should be organized, and it only "worked" in Europe thanks to an enormous amount of ethnic cleansing through the world wars.

[@Azurethewolf168]

@@MILOPETITlmao

[@creativefantasybox2462]

That's what Africa really need Ethno-States

[@omarsali2990]

​@@creativefantasybox2462if we talk genetically then morroco takes over most north Africa lol

[@sgtpetergreen]

Great video! Happy to say I am your 559th subscriber now!

[@bong7438]

I subbed and liked ,I hope your channel grows :-)

[@Cxesar]

As a Somali I like these borders

[@boosterh1113]

My most serious concern about this plan is the number of geographically untenable countries. Real life countries rarely have serpentine shapes (in the absence of very strong natural barriers), because it is far too difficult to administer and trade along a single, snaking route, not to mention that they are completely indefensible in a conflict. No actual country could support or defend borders that Adal, Nyama, or Chaussa has on your map, and Songhai, Furarilluk, Mutapa, Malawi and Nilotica would likely panhandles quite quickly, either to local separatist movements or to their neighbours.

[@wiegraf9009]

Yes, defensibility is just as important as the other factors considered. Also resource allocation.

[@steampunknord]

Before watching this I feel like the last thing the continent needs is others from outside saying what is best for the continent. The problems with the borders and states as they are now are exactly caused by this.

[@nduduzoblose4355]

One important suggestion, the name Ngunizwe sound really off. I figure you were going for the meaning of Nguni Nation (Nguni + Sizwe) but it doesn't work like that, it's very unnatural. The name eNgunini or eMaNgunini (which means Land of the Nguni) is what the country would've been named. Ngunizwe just sounds weird like isfanakalo( aka bastard isizulu). P.S. A real would example with the same structure is eSwatini (Land of the Swati) formally known as Swaziland. It's the same e____ini structure. Hope that was helpful

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you! It's a nice that I came up with for the map that I made last year, and while I knew it probably wasn't accurate, I was hoping for someone to correct it if I just kept the name lol.

[@maavet2351]

I'm against ethno states or theonationalism or whatever, and they do not prevent war, humans always find a reason to be devided and united, so that's not the problem of Africa. In addition, African people groups as different and diverse as they seem are mostly united by common problems that were solved in most of the rest of the world, that's why we see all those unification movements now a days, the east african initiative and the west african initiative are things we should support.

[@thalitasillah354]

The West African initiative will never work it'll just be a Nigeria Square. Muslim-Christian conflicts, ethnic conflict, terrorism ,banditry etc will be be the norm if it happens.

[@hstochla]

I think we should let them figure it out rather than meddle any more than we already have. Regarding unification of African nations together, I personally think the East African Federation might have been a good idea before South Sudan and the DRC got involved, two extremely unstable and poor states that would tear the rest of the union apart.

[@maavet2351]

@@hstochla true

[@Kromiball]

Katanga and Zambia are very close to being double-landlocked

[@blessingmasawi3616]

*As a Zimbabwean I'm surprised he ACTUALLY got the map showing our ethnic groups right.* *1) Ndebele, people often forget they are the second largest group, 20% of Zimbabwe is Ndebele* *2) There are Shona people in Mozambique especially around Beira and in Botswana. So many maps of the great Zimbabwe empire exclude it's most important territory which was the ocean region around Beira, the port of Sofala*

[@fatalalchemy602]

This was a good video, your channel has a lot of potential. But damn I have no idea what's going on with your voice/audio but you've got to get that fixed. I can't tell if it's a lisp, your cadence, some speech disability or just the audio being sped up to an awkward pace but please get that fixed man it took away a lot of the enjoyment of the video and I'd love to keep seeing you make videos like this because it was really good outside that one issue

[@josephstalin331]

Great video! Amazing content. You are gonna go far, keep it up. 👍

[@tldredhistory8391]

This would destroy any ability for these countries to develop.

[@Satkng]

Can you explain ?

[@PossessedPotatoBird]

My jaw actually dropped when I saw that you only had 770 subscribers

[@MrSomervillen]

Do you have population estimates for these countries? Which would be the five biggest and five smallest?

[@ExtraInExile]

These are only estimates, but I'd think that the five biggest populations would be Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kongo and Tanganyika. The five smallest ones would be Atlantic Sahara, Red Sahara, Namibia, Khoikhoiland and Chokluzi.

[@MrSomervillen]

@@ExtraInExile thanks!!

[@goose9515]

Great art style

[@ExtraInExile]

Thank you! I hope that I can improve the art in the future as well, since it can be rough around the edges sometimes, but that's very reassuring.

[@ahumanwhodoesntlikenoobs395]

Hey great job ! that was very fun to watch and I'm from the Sara tribe in the 4d area lol. There is already existing tensions between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south in Chad ( at a point where northerners call southerners ''kirdi'' which means slave in their language ) so cutting us from Chad just to put us in a country with a bigger Muslim majority after all that is just not gonna work lol. Ubangia or even Nigeria would be a far better choice in my opinion

[@ExtraInExile]

Damn if you actually are that ethnicity then that's insane, didn't think I'd see that ever happening. On the map I made last year I had the christian Sara's as an independent country, but I didn't accept it here because it was double landlocked. I prioritized language families over religions when merging them with another country, but you've probably got better insight than me on this. I'll definitely make a change there, thank you!

[@fancydirtblock9196]

Bruuuuuh I thought this channel would easily have hundreds of thousands of subs, it's entertaining asf, im deffo following

[@danielsurvivor1372]

Honestly the only "correct" map would be the map made by those nations themselves, we can't uncross the rubicon so to speak, so we should look at current African nations and see which one's are most compatible with cooperating and *optionally* joining. It can be either becoming USA style nation where each state is an ex African country that joined for economic benefits or political benefits. I heard East African Federation, or atleast it's very first members seem to cooperate pretty well, maybe they can eventually become the USA of Africa, maybe they can concede some territories to fix ethnic/religious divides etc. Honestly if US or EU gets involved, North Africa, East African Federation and South Africa should be probably the only territories they should focus on, it's just a hard ask to help every single African nation so we should cut out loses somewhere. Some exceptions can be Botswana which I heard is actually pretty well off compared to other Arican nations so they can get help as well. Also there are ru mercs in Central Africa n some other regions, we'd give Africans a service by making sure those mercs stop destabilising the region but again even that is a delicate matter

[@AnimeJuggz_]

it is cool to think how the borders would naturally form but knowing reality the countries would probably not be this cleanly religiously or ethnically separated atleast thats what i think, aside that cool video

[@guppy719]

Borders "naturally" form through war and conquest. They get cleaned up through assimilation and ethnic cleansing

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Yeah and I would point out also that having separate countries on religious or ethnic grounds DOES NOT guarantee they won't fight each other. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was mostly fueled by fighting between Christian Ashanti and Muslim Mali & Songhai, as well as similar conflicts in Angola. Contrary to a common myth, it was actually NOT the product of colonialism, but in fact mostly occurred in the era prior to African colonialism, which was the final (and least successful) stage of European colonization.

[@guppy719]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 Most of those African Groups were distinct Pan Africanism was invented in like the early 1900s. Those groups all viewed themselves as distinct entities. Its even more complex when you add in tribal relations. Current Day Somalia is a good is a better example really ethnically and religiously homogenies but is heavily divided on tribal lines.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

@@guppy719 Personally I think what's really needed in Africa is libertarianism. Less government spending, regulation and taxes means less opportunity for bribes, and a government that basically stays out of peoples lives except to enforce criminal laws could establish a reputation for being a neutral peacekeeper that doesn't impose on tribes but only is interested in the prevention of violence and gross injustices. I realize that we would have to sacrifice a few social and infrastructure programs to bring such a thing about, but long-term, it would be overall far less suffering than our current path. It might also lead to an Africa that is built primarily on railroads, as private corporations are much more able to run and maintain railways (both long-distance and mass-transit) than highways.

[@ammazer1229]

Ethiopia existing for thousands of years ain’t keeping them together apparently

[@tech_red4277]

tbh ethiopia should stay as how it is but keeping these djibouti borders, Afar people are being oppressed

[@shafsteryellow]

That's a myth it's a european invention

[@bismarckfamily277]

Would be nice if you made a map of a united federative africa and showing how a union of all the continent would make it's states

[@zircon256ua]

Ver interesting video, now I can fix Africa's borders. Thanks for the info!

[@eyesoftomorrows]

This is a good take besides Egypt which could still be mostly united due to Sa’idic Arabic which is basically a Arabic Egyptian Dialect and also Western Egyptian Dialect within the West which Libya now owns in this map which I don’t know why they would own it?

[@ExtraInExile]

It was because the Libyan dialect of Arabic is spoken there, so I put it in Libya, of course. Also just to make sure that Egypt looks less like a damn square ya know B)

[@Aboda._03]

Libyan dialect to be precise the Libya-Cyrene dialect is spoken there..

[@mahmoodali5043]

it is not a very good idea to further divide countries in africa. the kingdom of egypt and the sudan was divided into the republic of egypt and the republic of sudan; and they both never saw a day as good as their unified golden age in the 1800's afterwards. Then sudan was further divided into north and south and they are suffering now even more than before. it is also redundant to want sexy curvy lines for borders when the area we speak of is a vast featureless desert. the non-linear borders of europe are that way because they are based on rivers and mountains. What do you do in an area with no distinctif natural borders? The borders of egypt for example were not drawn by colonial powers but are the results of multiple treaties; the northern eastern border with the levant was drawn ater the peace treaty between the egyptian and the ottoman empires in the 1800's following the first and second egyptian-ottoman wars. The western border was drawn via a treaty with the italians, and the southern border was an internal administrative line separating the two nations of the united kingdom, and was used when the two split the kingdom into two republics. politically, socially and economically; division or "sexy curvy lines" do absolutely no good. taking the example of egypt and sudan again; to this day they immigrate to the north for work opportunities (egypt houses 4-5 million sudanese refugees), and the egyptians are still lamenting the loss of the arable land in the south. if these two republics were still unified; the northern nation would face absolutely no food, water or oil shortage and the southern nation would face no shortage of funding, work or industrialization. What makes the united states basically play on ultra-easy mode since day one is that it is a union of states with co-benefits (with straight lines for days btw), not that every single race and micro culture has its own national borders. your model of countless micro-nations doesn't make anyone happy. There is a reason why african borders largely stayed the same since their conception; if it was beneficial for them to change, they would have been changed.

[@elmasterdice4476]

When Africa becomes Yugoslavia. Jokes aside you did a great job!

[@austria-hungary4981]

Wow. This must be the new EU IV mod that no one expected!

[@averagecamelenjoyer6708]

I am from North Sudan, and Nubians and Beja are a minority in Egypt and Sudan. Although there are many differences between Egypt and Sudan, I feel it would make more sense if you made them both the same country and included eastern Libya. Also, eastern chad has lots of Arabs there, and they are very similar to Sudanese Arabs, and they should also be a part of this new country. The country's name should be called Mashriq. The Maghreb area, Morroco, Algeria, Tunisia, western Libya, and Mauritania should all be one country called the Maghreb because they all share the same language and culture.

[@vergesserforgetter2160]

No, these all belong to Allah, not the people.

[@Aboda._03]

Bro what?.. Eastern and western libya r closer to eachother than anyother Country.. as a Libyan this is the true map of libya when it comes to language and culture

[@ariannevenancio8994]

Usually, these kinds of videos are very bad, but as an Angolan, your division of Angola is surprisingly accurate, the eastern and northern part of the country have been fighting for independence for decades now, the FLEC an armed group fighting for the independence in the northern Cabinda Province killed 15 Angolan soldiers just before this year's elections, several citizens in the eastern provinces of Moxico, Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte were killed on a number of riots in favor of independence, they are very culturally different from the southwest and central parts of the country, because while the central and southwest were colonized for longer an adopted several traits of Portuguese culture, becoming homogenous due to mostly speaking Portuguese, the north and the east took much more time to colonize, and they fiercely resisted assimilation in the colonial times, and also the southwest and central parts are mostly ambumdu an ovimbundu the largest and most dominant ethnicities in the country, while the north and the east are bakongo and tchokwe, keep the good work^_~

[@ExtraInExile]

Hey, thank you for the insight! I've always thought that the Angolan exclave looked strange, but I didn't know about the violence that has been occuring there. Hopefully that conflict gets resolved soon.

[@ariannevenancio8994]

@@ExtraInExile You're welcome. The MPLA Government has done a tremendous effort trying to keep these problems a secret, so not even some people in the country know about this. Hopefully😌

[@ethanminja]

3:15 Press F for respect for this guy giving credits to the map creator!

[@Junior-zf7yy]

You actually did a pretty good job. At least for Nigeria. A lot of us southerners would be very happy if we were to split from the north.