On the Size and Shape of African States

African states are both unusually large and well known for having artificial borders created during the colonial period. While African state size and shape have been previously shown to be correlated with negative development outcomes, no one has heretofore examined the origins of either phenomenon. Here, I show that African state size and shape are not arbitrary but are rather a consequence of Africa's low pre-colonial population density, whereby low-density areas were consolidated into unusually large colonial states with artificial borders. I also show that state size has a strong negative relationship with pre-colonial trade and that trade and population density alone explain the majority of the variation in African state size. Finally, I do not find a relationship between population density and state size or shape among non-African former colonies, thereby emphasizing the distinctiveness of modern African state formation.

非洲国家不仅疆域异乎寻常地广袤，更以其殖民时期划定的人为边界而闻名。尽管此前已有研究表明，非洲国家的疆域与版图形态与不利的发展结果存在相关性，但迄今尚无研究对这两种现象的成因展开探讨。本文研究表明，非洲国家的疆域与版图形态并非随机形成，而是非洲前殖民时期低人口密度的产物——当时低人口密度区域被整合为疆域广袤的殖民国家，并附带人为划定的边界。本文同时证实，国家疆域规模与前殖民时期的贸易水平存在显著负相关关系，且仅依靠贸易与人口密度两项指标，即可解释非洲国家疆域规模的绝大多数差异。最后，本文未在非非洲原殖民地国家中发现人口密度与国家疆域或版图形态之间存在关联，由此凸显了现代非洲国家构建过程的独特性。