Analysis of the historical and geographical features of the region’s development and study of the causes, background and nature of processes taking place in Africa in the XXI century is very important today, because it is the understanding of the nature of a conflict that opens up opportunities for its resolution. Maps play an important role in the study of military conflicts, because they can visualize the conditions and factors that influence the emergence of conflicts and provide systematic information about military clashes with an appropriate level of information in different scales.

The article deals with the study of the possibilities of mapping military conflicts in Africa. The authors aimed to reflect the real situation with all its ambiguity with the help of scientific and reference mapping. This approach allowed objective considering of the problem and creating a series of maps in order to illustrate the situation with the provision of the most objective information.

A series of maps of military conflicts has been developed, including maps showing the possibilities of displaying military operations that are conducted in local hot spots, and a typological map of military conflicts of the entire continent. The map “Military conflicts in Africa, 2016” presents the causes of military conflicts’ onset, provides an opportunity to determine the degree of activity of military operations, the type of conflict in the countries under consideration, and allows a comprehensive assessment of the situation throughout Africa. The created series of maps and their combined analysis provide an understanding of the nature of military operations and contribute to the identification of trends in the further formation of the political processes taking place in the continent.