I have traveled in Africa, but only in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. Egypt is as different from Morocco as night from day. While the people in both those countries speak Arabic, their dialects are so different from one another that mutual comprehension is far less than assured. Plus, at home, many Moroccans speak a different language, unrelated to Arabic, descended from a language spoken in the north of Africa for thousands of years.

But as different as Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia are from one another, their cultures are nothing like West African cultures, which themselves share only vague similarities with cultures in the south of the continent. And that’s just getting started.

It’s kind of sad how little Americans know about the world. I’m not holding up the UK as a paragon of tolerance and acceptance, but kids there learn a lot more practical and cultural geography in school than kids in the United States. We might consider beefing up what we teach in school about the world.