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Exercise 7

Read each paragraph. Then, working with another student, write the
topic and a main idea statement. Remember: It must be a complete
sentence!
Peoples Ideas About World Geography
1.

What Happens when you ask someone to draw a map of the world? The results can
be very interesting. Few people, in fact, have a very accurate idea of what the world
looks like. You might expect some mistakes in the positions of the countries. After all,
this is a task that requires a certain skill with a pencil and a good memory. But many
people do not even know the relative size of the continents. They tend to enlarge them
or make then smaller, according to their point of view. For this reason, the home
continent of South America, while a Vietnamese enlarges Asia.
Topic : What the world looks like
Main Idea : Few people, in fact have a very accurate idea of what the world look like.

2.

Another common error is the tendency to make Europe too large and Africa too
small. People from all parts of the world tend to draw the world this way, including
the Africans! There are several factors that may be involved here. One factor may be
the influence of old maps made with the Mercator projection. This technique for
drawing maps makes areas nearer the North Pole, including Europe, seem extra large.
Other area in the middle, such as Africa, seem smaller than reality. However, the
Mercator maps also enlarge Greenland and Canada, and people usually do not make
mistakes about their size. Thus, a better explanation must lie peoples ideas about the
relative importance in peoples minds. Similarly, Africa becomes smaller because
people feel it is unimportant.

Topic : Tendency of Europe and African


Main Idea : Another common eror is the tendency to make Europe too large anda
Africa to small.

3. Ignorance about the African continent has led to some enormous errors in map
making. One of the errors now seems quite incredible. In the late 18 th century, a
European explorer reported seeing mountains in southern Mali. From the report, a
map maker drew in a long line of mountains. These Kong Mountains, as he called
them, appeared on almost all maps of Africa in the 19th century. They seemed to be an
important feature of the continental geography. European politicians and traders made
decisions based on their belief in the existence of these mountains.Finally, in the late

1880s, a French explorer proved that there were no mountains in that part of Africa.
Only then did the Kong Mountains disappear from maps of Africa.

Topic : Kong Mountains


Main Idea : An European explorer reported seeing mountains in southern Mali.

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