{"id":13045,"date":"2025-05-21T11:20:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/?p=13045"},"modified":"2026-04-02T08:51:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:51:38","slug":"land-classification-map-of-africa-1925","status":"publish","type":"map","link":"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/map\/land-classification-map-of-africa-1925\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Classification Map of Africa (1925)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-ugb-container ugb-container ugb-31d465b ugb-container--v2 ugb-container--design-plain ugb-main-block\"><style>.ugb-31d465b-wrapper > .ugb-container__side{align-items:center !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-31d465b-content-wrapper.ugb-container__content-wrapper{width:75% !important}.ugb-31d465b.ugb-container{padding-left:60px !important}}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-31d465b > .ugb-inner-block > .ugb-block-content > *{padding-top:0px !important;padding-bottom:0px !important}}<\/style><div class=\"ugb-inner-block\"><div class=\"ugb-block-content\"><div class=\"ugb-container__wrapper ugb-31d465b-wrapper\"><div class=\"ugb-container__side\"><div class=\"ugb-container__content-wrapper ugb-31d465b-content-wrapper\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ugb-container ugb-container ugb-9406a1f ugb-container--v2 ugb-container--design-plain ugb-main-block\"><style>@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9406a1f > .ugb-inner-block > .ugb-block-content > *{padding-bottom:0px !important}}<\/style><div class=\"ugb-inner-block\"><div class=\"ugb-block-content\"><div class=\"ugb-container__wrapper ugb-9406a1f-wrapper\"><div class=\"ugb-container__side\"><div class=\"ugb-container__content-wrapper ugb-9406a1f-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"paragraph-widget paragraph-widget--text-html\">\n\t<div class=\"text-content\">\n\t\t<h4>This map displays a continent-wide classification of land use potential across Africa, created by H.L. Shantz and C.F. Marbut. It categorizes land based on agricultural capability, vegetation, and climate factors into classes such as &#8220;tropical agricultural land,&#8221; &#8220;temperate agricultural land,&#8221; and &#8220;desert and semi-desert.&#8221; A smaller inset shows mean annual rainfall across Africa, contextualizing the relationship between precipitation and land utility. Created during a time of colonial land surveys, this map reflects early 20th-century scientific efforts to catalog natural resources for agricultural and economic planning.<\/h4>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2341\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12847\" style=\"width:450px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-scaled.jpg 2341w, https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-274x300.jpg 274w, https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-936x1024.jpg 936w, https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-768x840.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-1405x1536.jpg 1405w, https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-1873x2048.jpg 1873w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2341px) 100vw, 2341px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"paragraph-widget paragraph-widget--text-html\">\n\t<div class=\"text-content\">\n\t\t<p>Right-click image file to save.<\/p>\n<h4>Source:<\/h4>\n<p>Shantz, H.L. &amp; Marbut, C.F. 1925. <em data-start=\"790\" data-end=\"825\">Land Classification Map of Africa<\/em>. United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils. Scale 1:12,000,000.<\/p>\n<h4>Resolution:<\/h4>\n<p>Printed map at continental scale with multicolored land class delineations and a smaller inset map for rainfall. Analog print, not georeferenced.<\/p>\n<h4>Suggested Use:<\/h4>\n<p>Useful for historical land use and vegetation studies, colonial-era agricultural geography, and environmental history. Helpful in understanding how early 20th-century scientists and governments assessed agricultural potential in diverse ecological zones.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>References<\/h4>\n<p>Shantz, H.L. and Marbut, C.F. 1925. <em data-start=\"1402\" data-end=\"1437\">Land Classification Map of Africa<\/em>. USDA, Bureau of Soils.<br data-start=\"1461\" data-end=\"1464\">Soil Survey Staff. 2014. <em data-start=\"1489\" data-end=\"1531\">Gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO)<\/em>. USDA-NRCS. <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1544\" data-end=\"1576\">http:\/\/datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov<\/a><br data-start=\"1576\" data-end=\"1579\">Soil Survey Staff. 2014. <em data-start=\"1604\" data-end=\"1645\">Official Soil Series Descriptions (OSD)<\/em>. USDA-NRCS. <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov\/osdname.asp\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1658\" data-end=\"1705\">https:\/\/soilseries.sc.egov.usda.gov\/osdname.asp<\/a><br data-start=\"1705\" data-end=\"1708\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Miller, B.A. and C.L. Burras. 2015. <em data-start=\"1744\" data-end=\"1834\">Comparison of surficial geology maps based on soil survey and in-depth geological survey<\/em>. Soil Horizons 56(1). doi:10.2136\/sh14-05-0005<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12847,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[397,1],"tags":[],"location":[403],"surface-characteristic":[],"class_list":["post-13045","map","type-map","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-africa","category-uncategorized","location-africa"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-scaled.jpg",2341,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-274x300.jpg",274,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-768x840.jpg",768,840,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-936x1024.jpg",936,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-1405x1536.jpg",1405,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/files\/2025\/05\/Africa-1923-Shantz-and-Marbut-1873x2048.jpg",1873,2048,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>This map displays a continent-wide classification of land use potential across Africa, created by H.L. Shantz and C.F. Marbut. It categorizes land based on agricultural capability, vegetation, and climate factors into classes such as &#8220;tropical agricultural land,&#8221; &#8220;temperate agricultural land,&#8221; and &#8220;desert and semi-desert.&#8221; A smaller inset shows mean annual rainfall across Africa, contextualizing the relationship between precipitation and land utility. Created during a time of colonial land surveys, this map reflects early 20th-century scientific efforts to catalog natural resources for agricultural and economic planning. Right-click image file to save. Source: Shantz, H.L. &amp; Marbut, C.F. 1925. Land Classification Map&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/category\/historical-africa\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Historical Africa<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"","url":""},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Land Classification Map of Africa (1925) - Geospatial Laboratory for Soil Informatics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agron.iastate.edu\/glsi\/map\/land-classification-map-of-africa-1925\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Land Classification Map of Africa (1925) - 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