Ambition to dry up the Mediterranean to create super-continental Europe - Africa

A German architect put forward an ambitious plan to annex Europe and Africa to a supercontinent by absorbing Mediterranean waters and building dams.

Herman Sörgel , the German architect, proposed each project called Atlantropa linking Europe and Africa to create a super continent by sucking a portion of the Mediterranean Sea in 1928, according to Conversation. Sörgel expects this great plan to be the answer to the refugee crisis in Europe after World War I and bring peace to the world.

European and African simulation graphics after merging.(Photo: Ittiz).

Although the idea of ​​consolidation seemed strange, Sörgel's plan was seriously considered by German leaders and even the United Nations. At the nearest point, Europe and Africa are only 14 km apart with the Mediterranean Sea in between.

The foundation of the supercontinent plan is the dams that cross the Strait of Gibraltar and the Dardanelles, connecting Sicily to Tunisia. Each dam includes giant hydropower plants. Sörgel firmly believed that the plan would turn the Mediterranean into two basins, with the western part lowering 100 m and the eastern part rising to 200 m, creating a total of 660,200 km2 of reclaimed land in the greater region France.

"The later phase of the Atlantropa project includes two dams running on the Congo River, creating Chad and Congo Seas. According to Sörgel, this work could make African climate more comfortable for settlers. from Europe, "said Dr. Ricarda Vidal, a lecturer in Culture and Cultural History at King University, London, UK.

The foundation of the supercontinent plan is the dams that cross the Strait of Gibraltar and the Dardanelles, connecting Sicily to Tunisia.

"What makes the Atlantropa project so attractive is the dream of creating world peace not through politics and diplomacy, but with a simple technical solution , " Dr. Vidal said.

The Atlantropa project will be managed by an independent agency and has the authority to stop providing electricity to any country that poses a threat. Sörgel also calculated that the construction of the supercontinent cost the countries so much that they did not have enough money to fight.

However, Sörgel's plan is not approved. Project drafts, including drawings of new cities and letters of support, are in the archives of the Deutsche Museum in Munich, Germany.