# If Africa vanished **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 14, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733 "2002-12-14T15:39:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rider)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/1 "2002-12-14T15:39:28Z")
If the entire contintent of Africa disappeared overnight, would the world’s economy be noticeably effected? And as a supplementary question, does the world put more into Africa in terms of foreign aid than it gets out? ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/2 "2002-12-14T15:45:55Z")
I imagine there’d be a big hole that water would suddenly go rushing into. Every continent’s shorelines would be notably extended, and shipping/fishing industries worldwide would be devastated. Beachfront property would be worthless desert property. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/3 "2002-12-14T15:48:13Z")
Diamond pricing would more accurately reflect their scarcity, and not simply the whim of DeBeers. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/4 "2002-12-14T16:18:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Diamond pricing would more accurately reflect their scarcity, and not simply the whim of DeBeers. \*\* The problem is that diamonds really aren’t scarce, especially with modern means of moving dirt around. If it weren’t for DeBeers, diamonds would be about as expensive as zircons. Such a situation happened many years ago and from that DeBeers emerged. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/5 "2002-12-14T16:34:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > \*\*The problem is that diamonds really aren’t scarce, especially with modern means of moving dirt around. If it weren’t for DeBeers, diamonds would be about as expensive as zircons. Such a situation happened many years ago and from that DeBeers emerged. \*\* Isn’t DeBeers located in South Africa? We’d lose them. Also, we’d lose around 800 million people, and there’d be 53 less countries in the United Nations. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/6 "2002-12-14T16:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > **I imagine there’d be a big hole that water would suddenly go rushing into. Every continent’s shorelines would be notably extended, and shipping/fishing industries worldwide would be devastated.** Thereby counteracting the putative effects of global warming. Which raises the question: how much land mass would we have to remove to exactly counteract the projected rise in sea levels? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/7 "2002-12-14T16:44:43Z")
Where would all this land go? I have a little space in my underwear drawer you could use, but it’s going to require even more space. Can we all pitch in? P.S., if possible I’d like some dirt from Mozambique, please. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/8 "2002-12-14T16:47:50Z")
CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE WOULD BE GONNNNNNNE !!!.. \<\< weeps hysterically \>\> ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/9 "2002-12-14T16:52:56Z")
- cough \* Okay, I feel better now… Er, besides cacao, there are other equally vital resources on the African continent. Report from 1984. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/HRA.htm](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/HRA.htm) > [@](#): > > U.S. Reliance On Africa For Strategic Minerals > > CSC 1984 > > \< snip \> > > Virtually all the worlds reserves of some strategic minerals > > lie either in the Soviet Union or in Africa. Between them, > > these two areas contain over 90% of the world platinum, > > manganese and chromium ores… > > \< snip \> > This section is designed to analyze these minerals to > > determine the impact on the U.S. if the normal supply of any > > of them were disrupted. Only four will be discussed (chromium, > > cobalt, manganese and platinum) because the majority of the > > free world reserves of each is located in Africa, each has > > a major impact on the U.S. economy, and the U.S. imports a > > majority of its needs from Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/10 "2002-12-14T17:00:08Z")
Uh, cacao is grown in many places besides Africa, **Duck**. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/11 "2002-12-14T17:19:48Z")
1. [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke\_energy/Theobroma\_cacao.html](http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Theobroma_cacao.html) > [@](#): > > Two-thirds of the world’s production presently comes from Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast in West Africa, and one-third from Brazil and Dominican Republic. 1. [http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/cacao/top.html](http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/cacao/top.html) > [@](#): > > In Brazil, the production of cocoa beans has dropped from 400,000 to 100,000 metric tons in just 10 years, largely as the result of the infection by the fungus, Crinipellis perniciosa. This fungus has spread beyond Brazil into Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia in South America, and Panama in Central America. The pathogen also is on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago (28,31) [http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug01/cacao0801.htm](http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug01/cacao0801.htm) > [@](#): > > But cacao cultivation in Central and South America is threatened by two major diseases. During the past decade, Brazil’s main production area in the state of Bahia has been devastated by a fungal disease called Crinipellis perniciosa, or witches’ broom. The fungus penetrates stem and fruit tissue, inhibits pod formation, and destroys a tree’s mature pods. > > In only 12 years, Brazil, which used to export about $100 million worth of cocoa beans to the United States every year, has gone from being the world’s third largest exporter of cocoa beans to a net importer of beans. Poo. Don’t try to tell ME where my Toll House morsels come from. The American Cocoa connection is going down the tubes due to disease, and if Africa does the Atlantis thing and disappears into the sea, it takes Chocolate with it. So there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/12 "2002-12-14T17:23:28Z")
True, but the American cacao has the benefits of not being picked by child slaves. And just wait until the disease spreads to Africa, because, y’know, in this highly globalized world market we live in, these things happen. You’ll be making the switch to carob in the next few years, is my guess. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/13 "2002-12-14T17:26:59Z")
The world’s biodiversity–animal, plant, and human–would decrease by thousands of orders of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/14 "2002-12-14T17:27:35Z")
In addition, the disappearance of Africa would have untold climactic consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/15 "2002-12-14T18:09:28Z")
> [@](#): > > In addition, the disappearance of Africa would have untold climactic consequences. Such as better surfing on the west coasts of Australia and South America. With 20,000 miles of open ocean to build up height there’d be some MONSTER waves. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/16 "2002-12-14T19:31:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by monstro \* > \*\*The world’s biodiversity–animal, plant, and human–would decrease by thousands of orders of magnitude. \*\* Well, not by orders of magnitude. For biodiversity, I dunno, maybe 10-20%. The Afrotropics are in general _much_ less diverse than the Neotropics or Oriental realms. ---
**Author:** ![tisiphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tisiphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tisiphone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/17 "2002-12-14T20:53:36Z")
Along with all the other stuff mentioned, we would lose one of the most valuable pools of our own species’ genetic diversity, if I remember properly. Isn’t the African gene pool the oldest and most diverse of all? Seems to me I was watching a show on the evolution of humanity, and one of the major supports to the Out of Africa theory was much more genetic variation between the tribes left behind. This is important to our species survival - with lots of healthy genetic variation, it becomes less likely that any one pathogen can wipe us all out. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/18 "2002-12-14T21:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tisiphone \* > \*\*Along with all the other stuff mentioned, we would lose one of the most valuable pools of our own species’ genetic diversity, if I remember properly. > > Isn’t the African gene pool the oldest and most diverse of all? Seems to me I was watching a show on the evolution of humanity, and one of the major supports to the Out of Africa theory was much more genetic variation between the tribes left behind. This is important to our species survival - with lots of healthy genetic variation, it becomes less likely that any one pathogen can wipe us all out. \*\* I have been considering this problem, and I am therefore willing to let some hot African chicks come crash at my place for awhile. You never know when the floods will come 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/19 "2002-12-14T21:46:30Z")
Africa contains about [7% of the world’s oil reserves](http://www.mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/af/p0005.htm). Major exporters include OPEC members Libya, Algeria, and Nigeria, plus Egypt, Angola, Gabon, Congo, and others. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733/20 "2002-12-15T00:45:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\* The American Cocoa connection is going down the tubes due to disease, and if Africa does the Atlantis thing and disappears into the sea, it takes Chocolate with it. \*\* So, you’re saying chocolate would become more valuable than…diamonds! :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-africa-vanished/142733.md?page=2)