This paper offers a geographic interpretation of Africa's economic performance since independence. Both Africa's physical geography and its human geography are distinctive. As regards physical geography, Africa is also characterized by country differentiation. The fact that a larger share of Africa's population lives in landlocked, resource-scarce countries as opposed to coastal, resource-scarce countries alone accounts for one percentage point of the gap between Africa's growth rate and that of other regions. In terms of human geography, Africa is also distinctive but not so differentiated. Almost all African countries have small populations yet are ethnically diverse. A corollary of small countries is that Africa has found both policy reform and the maintenance of internal security more difficult than other regions.
