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 eighteenth century, a European explorer reported seeing mountains in southern Mali. From that report, a map maker drew in a long line of mountains. As a result, these "Kong Mountains," as he called them , appeared on almost all maps of Africa in the nineteenth 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. Following that duscovery, the "Kong Mountains" disappeared from maps of Africa.