How Big Is It Anyway?
Until 2005, most Americans heard very little about Madagascar. Even today, two feature-length animation films later, singing lemurs and violent fossa are most of what comes to people’s minds at the mention of Madagascar. One common misunderstanding about the country is its size. Maybe this will help to put it in perspective:
- Madagascar is the fourth-largest island in the world. Great Britain is number nine on the Biggest Island List.
- Even though it is an “island,” please do not think “Hawaii.” This place makes Hawaii look like a sandbar. Madagascar is about 146 times bigger than the island of Hawaii.
- From top to bottom, Madagascar is a little bit longer than 968 miles. That’s about the straight-line distance from Bismark, ND to Dallas, TX…or from New York City to Springfield, MO.
- From east to west, Madagascar is as wide as 352 miles.
- It’s twice as big as Arizona, the 6th largest state in the U.S.
- It’s bigger than Spain, Germany, Japan, Iraq, Kenya, and Cameroon.
- It’s the 46th largest country in the world (out of a list of 233 countries and territories)
More important than its geographical size is Madagascar’s population, something that I’ll write about later.
