Why some African countries have strange shapes

 Why some African countries have strange shapesMost of Africa's borders today were drawn up in Berlin in the late 19th century – and the consequences are drastic.Arbitrary boundaries were drawn on maps to separate European colonies in Africa. Most of those lines drawn on a Berlin Conference table between 1884 and 1885 are still in place today – with deadly consequences.

Why is the Caprivi Strip symbolic of colonial era mapmaking?It's one of the weirdest looking territories on a map, and forms part of Namibia. It looks like a pan handle, has parallel straight lines 30km (19 miles) apart, and traverses savannah and river systems – including the mighty Zambezi. It was created by European diplomats desperate to gain territory for their respective nations without causing conflict with competing European neighbors. Very few had actually visited the territory they were carving up, but they wanted to avoid other colonial powers from forming continuous, land axes going in East-West or North-South directions.

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How was the Caprivi Strip formed?After the 1884 Berlin Conference, German South West Africa was isolated from German East Africa. Separating them were the British Protectorates of Bechuanaland (Botswana today), northern and Southern Rhodesia (today's Zambia and Zimbabwe). So, in 1890 German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi negotiated with Britain for a strip of land that would allow German access through South West Africa to the Zambezi River, which Germany knew mouthed in East Africa.