ABSTRACT
Arealization of the practical need to count the population, for the purpose of tax assessment if for no other reason, accompanied the establishment of European rule in Africa. Before 1939 there were few population maps of African territories other than those which covered very large areas on very small scales. In the first four decades of this century there was an absence of practising geographers in Africa and of people trained to think and work geographically. Many years will pass before population mapping in Africa will be possible with adequate and accurate data and base-maps; but population maps of limited accuracy, constructed from data which is only partly accurate on inadequate base-maps, are better than no maps at all. Post-war contributions to population mapping in Africa have been made by geographers in the African university colleges and other institutions of higher education and research which have been established recently.
