Sea of Africa

Haha, hey guys. I've been away at a conference in California. This was one of the easier timelines to do since I've been just taking broad snapshots every hundred year, I guess I could work on it some more.
 
AzureOwl said:
I finally remembered why that map looked so familiar. It’s very similar to the one in two Philip José Farmer novels I read a while ago: Hadon of Ancient Opar and Flight to Opar.

He puts an inland sea in Africa some 10,000 or 12,000 years ago that’s almost identical to this one, probably because of the underlining geography. And he puts the Opar of the Tarzan stories near the south-eastern coast of the southern sea.

I remember reading those books. I got the impression that the seas were a geological fact, but that he had moved them a bit closer in time for the books. Colored my entire view of human evolution, I'm afraid.

Anyone ever read anything that supports this?
 

mojojojo

Gone Fishin'
If the rain forests around the congo were underwater what would happen to the gorillas and chimps? Would they stille survive in other areas?
 
Yes, very much. Please continue!

On Ideas I would say that we should not underestimate the southerly portion of the seas, especially the east coast. The northern portion of the east coast will have easy acces to the Nile civilizations (probably Nubia), Ethiopia and the great lakes. Uganda was a world unto its own up until the 19th century and developed an advanced political and cultural life.

Also this would completely mess up the Bantu migrations. I would suggest that the bantu are still going to get the tropical crop package that they had in OTL, which will mean there likely to expand. They would then probably stick to the Area around the Sea, which would put them into greater contact with the more advanced (it's very likely they will be) parts of Northern africa.

Also I have some questions about the climactic map:
a) I think that the amount that you have labeled near Sierra Leon was not going to be Tropical rainforest that far inland
and
b)The Kalahari desert would be bigger

Wonderful TL!
 
We may see more extinctions as human populations expand, as they will have less territory.

I take it no-one has read anything about a historical OTL african inland sea?
 
Just to let you know I am still interested in this thread.

I am curious as to the affect new African powers will have on Mediterranean colonization and conflict.
 
Necromancy, Necromancy

Not bad :)

Nice to explain both blocking Niger and Congo

Im a little unsure about the timespan tough, but anyhow...

Actually, that doesn't really explain blocking the Niger.

Look at http://merkel.zoneo.net/Topo/Applet/
and play with sea level rises on the world map. That is an exceedingly imprecise method of getting contours, but it is a workaround.

The graphic attached is a 400m rise in levels. Note that almost all of the western Africa is below that 400m mark. Note, too, that there is no way water will be flowing through *Nile2, as that land is still above water.

If the entire south coast of west africa is blocked off, which is pretty ASBish, the water might end up flowing out through Tunisia, but more likely through e.g. Liberia.

However, there is a LOT of land near 400m between Lake Chad and the Niger delta, and I don't see how you could really block outflow that way.

OTOH, the canyon just upstream from Brazzaville/Kinshasa (which I assume is the Stanley Canyon mentioned above) is deep and narrow (on the order of 500m deep and 10km wide as far as I can tell). Blocking that would be incredibly improbable, but at least possible (say a meteorite of just the right size hitting with just the right angle in just the right place - one or both of the crater walls might be able to block the canyon).

400mAfrica.png
 
If the water level gets up to 500m (or whatever the transition between olive and tan is), you can see you'd have an outlet through Gabon, as well.
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dl...0!2$FF0000!2$FF!6i$EE$3F$14000!6$FF!I0&cbak=1


Going a bit further north
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=mmvw&lmap=2&hlbl=0&xofs=0&yofs=2000&clvl=5&msds=EX01366C4720%24F7%2418%24D5%24B2%24F3%2418%24D5%24B294002%21701000%214%24FF%2150%21Q%24FF0%218%24FF%24150Tjofemfm%242C.Xgobg.%2428USX%2429%212%24FF80Tjofemfmc%24B00%245D%24EF%243B%2411%24C0x%2497%2499%24C0b%24A2%242E%2440%24B40001000%214%24FF%249DM%2150%212%24FF0000%212%24FF%216i%24EE%243F%2414000%216%24FF%21I0&cbak=1
there is a channel just northeast of Sibut between *Lake Congo and *Lake Chad, but it is at the same ?500m? mark as the exit through Gabon would be, so the two lakes probably wouldn't actually join?
 

Oddball

Monthly Donor
You are most likely right, that the two lakes would not joyn.

But you could have Lake Congo at 500m and Lake Chad at 400m.

IIRC Lake Congo would then drain towards Lake Chad. Lets pretend that this river is navigable and then you are almost there :cool::)
 
i think this is a really remarkable idea!

i do see that it has been done before, but whatever, i can't recall the number of times i thought i had an original idea and then someone else had already done it, lol.

but seriously, this is really a novel idea.

i am interested in the way that it would change, not only local cultures, but global weather patterns. i can easily see some nasty storm fronts and systems forming over the inland sea and then crossing western africa and turning into powerful hurricanes pretty regularly. maybe even in winter, because remember, it is summer in the southern sea when it is winter in the northern one. although both being equatorial-ish, it wouldn't matter much.

i say the best POD would be to have it be severe vulcanism ala Hawaiian Hot Spot type, vomiting up mountain ranges in western africa ~200,000 years ago. the hot spot could be dormant now, or active, who knows? the important thing is that it blocks the flow of water and creates the inland sea. maybe the west coast could be modded slightly, since this did start after it detaches from South Am. that way, the river flows north. the glorious second nile!

how would that affect Egyptian cosmology? and the Numidians and would King Juba still arise? the possibilities are endless, but you would need to really have a good grasp of Egypto-African anthropology and a good imagination to rework the mythology.
 
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