Fine map of Africa by James Wyld II

Published in London at Charing Cross circa 1863. From his New General Atlas of Modern Geography. Printed from engraved plates with contemporary hand coloring, very detailed geography, and extensive commentary throughout, some entertaining.

La Guinée et Pays circumvoisins, or Gulf of Guinea.
 6.6 x 12 inches

Copper engraving published in; "L'usage des globes celestes et terrestres...".

Nicolas Sanson. Published in Paris approx. 1660. 

The European slave trade has begun in ernest. Although Africans, Egyptians, Persians, Native Americans, and Europeans had practiced slavetrading on a smaller scale for eons (the word slave comes from slav, of which many of those peoples had been enslaved at one time), the leading European countries, including Portugal, Spain, Holland, Germany, England, and then the U.S. raised the practice to an industrial scale. Forts and trading posts can be seen in red along the African coast. Trade wasn't all in human cargo, but also rubber, gold, ivory, and pepper.

A scarce, copper engraved map of the Cape Verde Islands and the West coast of Africa, in an early version, by N. Sanson d´Abbeville, of his atlas (1656): l'Afrique´ in plusieurs cartes nouvelles, et derniers...´, published in Paris between 1651 and1660. 8 x 11 inches.

In his map Sanson clearly delineates the vast river systems of western Africa, their estuaries and confluences, and their drainage systems in general. The amount of water flowing into the Atlantic from this part of Africa is substantial. The Congo is second only to the Amazon by discharge volume, and its basin has a total area of about 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi), or 13% of the entire African landmass.

J. H. Colton takes a turn at the trendy "physical" map in the middle of the 19th century - this one dated 1860, and showing in great and accurate detail temperatures and currents at sea, and rivers and mountains on land. A very strong and instructive map with latitude readings and fine mountain profiles toward the bottom of the map.

There are mentions on the map of commodities found in the heart of Africa, such as gold (dust), Ivory, feathers, salt, and copper.
 

The 1879 S. Augustus Mitchell map of Africa, with much more known by this time about the continent's interior, and yet there is still an area in the center of the map called "unknown territory." This is deepest Africa.

Map of Nigritia (or Negroland) [West Africa], Guinea and vicinity. Shows political boundaries, cities, railroads, routes, topography, deserts, major lakes and drainage, coastlines and islands. Relief shown with hachures. Includes latitudinal and longitudinal lines, as well as a compass rose and bar scale, given in British miles. Descriptive text throughout, such as: Koja, where gold is found but the country is shut to strangers. Hand-colored engraving, including illustration of clouds behind title. 

Map is 21 x 27 cm, on sheet 26 x 34 cm. (Rumsey)

Title: Nigritia, Guinea & c. Neele sculp. Published Jany. 1st. 1819, by Pinnock & Maunder Strand

From Pawley's minor atlas, published in London by G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1822.

The African continent as perceived in 1814. Produced for one of the publications of the colourful London bookseller, Thomas Tegg of Cheapside.
Copper line engraving on paper. Original hand colour. Engraved surface 194 x 234mm (approx. 7-1/2” x 9-1/8”).

A small chart of the African continent in 1799 published in Bunney and Gold's Naval Chronicle. The chart depicts the magnetic variation in the South Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean surrounding Africa. Variation lines were measured by Captain Price.

L’Afrique by Le Rouge c.1748.

Copperplate engraving with outline colour. Lovely cartouche in the upper right corner. This map was produced toward the end of the illustrative period of European mapmaking. It would soon be superceded by the age of scientific maps pioneered by the French, in which superfluous illustration is abandoned.

8.5 x 11 inches

An early, somewhat fanciful map by Nicolas Sanson with well-drawn pictorials in the sea.

The map shows two lakes in the south central portion of the continent as the primary source of the Nile River. Towns and cities are distinguished by tower icons and topography is fairly detailed, if sometimes spurious. Europeans would not venture very far into the interior for another 100 years at least, and even then most did not return alive mostly due to hardship and disease. They were almost forced instead to trade on the coast with representatives of interior tribes. The African continent was being called the 'white man's grave.' See the two-part, Spring and Fall 2023 article on African exploration by this writer in Calafia, the organ of the California Map Society.  

Small, identifing cartouche.

Date: 1650 (dated) Paris

Dimensions: 15.5 x 21.75 inches

Lower Guinea, containing the Kingdoms of Loango, Congo, AngoIa and Benguela; with western and southern Kaffraria, or the land of the Khoikhoi [formerly called the Hottentots]. The name Hottentots is no longer used in South Africa out of respect for the indigenous peoples.

Copperplate map, dated 1788. 15.25 x 10.25 inches

Africa according to the best authorities

1796 (undated) 16.25 x 17 in (41.275 x 43.18 cm) 1 : 20275000

The map is quite detailed, particularly along the coast of West Africa, where Europeans had the longest presence and greatest knowledge. Even the interior of Africa is mapped in some detail, although the geography of some regions, such as the Great Lakes, was not well understood (it would be nearly a century before it was). A point in 'Upper Ethiopia' is correctly labelled as 'head of the Nile,' referring to James Bruce's visit to Lake Tana in 1770. The sources and full course of the White Nile, here identified as the 'White River', remain ambiguous. The Islands north of Madagascar belonging to the Outer Seychelles are exaggerated in size, likely due to their importance for navigation. No mention or indication of European colonialism is made, aside from naming forts, while indigenous empires like Angola and Kongo (Congo) are noted. Sporadic notes appear throughout, like 'gold mines,' 'gum forest,' 'a savage people,' and 'men eaters' (a reference to lions). One interesting feature is the use of Philadelphia, where it was engraved and published, as the prime meridian.

The Early Republic and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

This map was produced at the height of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, when tens of thousands of people were forcibly transferred every year across the Atlantic to various points in the New World, including directly to the newly-independent United States. The issue of slavery was one of the great vexing questions in the early American Republic. Although most of the founding fathers regarded it as morally indefensible and bound to disappear, they also were personally and as a class reliant on the institution. The Constitution had arranged for the direct importation of slaves to cease in 1808, but human trafficking from the Caribbean and the domestic slave trade continued after this date. Although northern states gradually abolished slavery and its abolition was feasible in the Upper South, the economy of the Deep South became more and more dependent on slavery as the 19th century progressed, while the Haitian Revolution and fears of rebellion led slaveowners to employ ever greater violence and brutality to maintain control. As time went on, not only did the 'peculiar institution' not die, but became more entrenched and expanded westwards, increasing the tensions that ultimately led to the U.S. Civil War.

Publication History and Census

This map is likely from the 1796 edition of Carey's General Atlas (sometimes subtitled American Edition of Guthrie's Geography improved), multiple editions of which were printed between 1795 and 1818. The prevalence of the map is difficult to determine since the map is not always cataloged with the year recorded, but aside from the edition in the Rumsey Collection, the 1796 edition of the entire atlas is held by a handful of universities and research institutions in the United States and elsewhere.

Description credit: Geographicus

Africa. Published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Engraved by J. & C. Walker. London, published by Chapman & Hall 186 Strand, Septr. 1st 1839. (1844)
12.5 x 16 inches

This is one of four maps shown here as issued by the SDUK, as part of a two volume atlas issued by Chapman and Hall (this collection includes all of the African maps in the atlas, but not all digitized).

The SDUK, as the Society was known, produced inexpensive maps to encourage broad use in education. They were nevertheless rigorous and scientific in their approach, and as accurate as possible for the time period, which coincided with the most attempts at the interior exploration of the dark continent, as it was called. The maps in these two volumes were issued in parts over several years. This is the second edition, the first being by Baldwin and Cradock, with the maps issued in numbers and later bound as a set.

Incidentally, Baldwin and Cradock had earlier issued a rare U.S. atlas that is comprehensive and excellent.

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Africae antiquae, et quarundam Europae, Asiaeque adiacentium regionum / accurata delineatio ad historiarum lucem a Nicolao Blancardo, Batavo, Leidensi historiarum et politices professore.

Creator: Blankaart, Nikolaas, 1624-1703

Published / Created: ca. 1662

Publication Place: Amsterdam :

Publisher: Jan Jansson

Size: approx. 15 x 20 inches.

Description: The map covers Africa from the Mediterranean to the Ruwenzori Mountains. Scientrific in its approach - one of the first to do so, and honest in its sparse description of interior geography and development. What was known of the African interior at this time came mainly from non-European sources, much of it from North Africans. Speaking of which, as one should expect, their portion of the continent is well detailed.   

A fine example of Münster’s second map of Africa, from his important atlas, the Cosmographia.

This map was based on Abraham Ortelius’ influential map of 1570. Ortelius’ map, in turn, was based on Gastaldi's eight-sheet wall map of 1564 and Mercator's world map of 1569. 14 x 12.5 inches. Contemporary (of the day) coloring.

The map shows the continent of Africa, framed by Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula, and unlike the earlier Ortelius map, part of Brazil. Also unlike Ortelius’ map, part of Europe is included on this map. Mountains, rivers, and large lakes dot the interior, along with cities and the names of political units, empires, and kingdoms. In the surrounding seas, Munster placed sea monsters and ships. Some seafaring men still believed in this possibility. Whether Munster did or not, he no doubt realized the visual power and attractiveness of their inclusion! There is also a simple title cartouche over the Atlantic ocean, west of the continent.

The main branch of the Nile is sourced from two lakes in southern Africa, as many believed all the way to serious exploration in the late 18th and then 19th centuries. The larger of these rivers is also the source for more rivers that flow south. All the rivers are amalgamated here, reflecting the common Medieval belief that most continents had a central lake which gave rise to the largest rivers of the landmass.

On verso is the title with a woodcut element. From the German edition of Sebastian Munster's Cosmography, titled Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Länder, published 1598 by S. Petri in Basel. The woodblock of this map was first used in Münster's Cosmographia of 1588. 

Münster's Cosmographia was the first German-language description of the world, and one of the defining books of the Renaissance.

An engraved map of North and West Africa from volume six of Henri Chatelain's monumental seven-volume Atlas Historique, based upon an earlier map by Guillaume De L'Isle. The atlas was published between 1705 and 1720. Contemporary hand coloring.

Richly annotated throughout, albeit in French, with excellent regional detail.

A large and rare, 1729 map of the African continent by Thomas Bakewell of London, England, measuring approximately 28 by 23 inches. 

Very detailed with contemporary hand coloring and 3D mountain ranges. It is derivative to some extent, borrowing from Delisle and Sanson, among others -- nevertheless impressive, and reflecting the knowledge of the day, or pre-exploration. River courses are guessed at. African tribal area names may be based on anecdotal evidence mostly from adventurous North Africans, or just fictitious.

Folio map of Africa by Ferrario and engraved by Bordiga.   Published in 1820 (Milan)

Titled 'Carta dell Africa'.

Large and quite scarce Italian map of Africa, full of of real and some imagined detail reflecting the then-current knowledge of the continent's geography, with large areas left completely blank in honest ignorance of the area depicted. Where known, the map gives good detail of the topography, rivers, lakes, and deserts, and locates numerous African tribes.

Original outline colour. Printed on heavy paper.

Size 20.5 x 29.5 inches

Relief shown by hachures. Prime meridians: Ferro and Paris.

This exceptional map is from Thomas Kitchin's A General Atlas describing the whole Universe, being a Complete Collection of the Most Approved Maps Extant, corrected with the greatest care and augmented from the last edition of d'Anville and Robert Sayer... 

The work was published by Robert Holmes Laurie and James Whittle in London in 1795. Each engraving is on a large fold out sheet, though some are on larger folding sheets or even intended to be joined to make spectacular wall maps, truly impressive in scale.
The atlas that contained this map is one of the most important atlases of the world ever published. The maps were published using information from cartographers including Thomas Kitchin, Thomas Jefferys, John Rocque, Robert Campbell, John Armstrong, John Roberts, L. S. d'Arcy Delarochette, James Rennell, Andrew Dury, Thomas Pownall, and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville. The work also incorporated the information gathered as a result of the important Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook, George Vancouver, and Jean Francois Galaup de La Perouse.

48 x 41 inches

The map is a combination mostly of known information, with blank areas within the interior where non-native explorers had not yet penetrated. Deepest Africa remained an enigma well into the 19th century. The gorgeous, upper-right-corner cartouche specifically credits D'Anville, who unlike his predecessors, combines a decorative cartouche and sailing ships with a more or less scientific depiction of Africa. D'Anville, for example, chose not to fill in unknown areas of the continent with placeholders such as pictorials used by other cartographers. In this he broke from tradition.

This map was issued on the cusp of a number of attempts by Europeans to explore the interior of the continent, and especially to attempt to find the beginning and drainage into the ocean of known rivers for navigation and possible settlement around. Before the late 18th century, only Arab merchants and explorers had dared venture there, and their stories are few, in part because some journeys predate printing, but also because of fatal outcomes.

The map includes trading routes, European and local trading posts, and a host of other contemporary details. Hand colored in outline. Fully hand-colored cartouche.

Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville was a French geographer and cartographer who greatly improved the standards of map-making. D'Anville became cartographer to the king, who purchased his cartographic materials, the largest collection in France. He made more than 200 maps during his lifetime, which are characterized by a careful, accurate work largely based on original research.

Charte of Africa [according to astronomical observations, too news, old and new, alike the charts of Sayer, Rennel, Arrowsmit and others. redesigned by L. Grüsefeld ---- Nuremberg with the Homann heirs in 1797. with Rom. imperial most merciful freedom]

Prime meridian: Ferro. Relief shown by hachures. hand colored.

46 x 53 cm or 18 x approx 21 inches in size

From the original German: "With the almost insurmountable obstacles which the climate, the rudeness of the peoples, the great deserts, the scarcely navigable rivers etc. In a way, it is no wonder that we know of Africa interior little or nothing except the coasts and the next countries lying on it. All knowledge of the inner countries have so far been based on hearsay. Man must therefore wait and see whether the efforts of Britain in its discovery of the interior in the future can be more successful than before."

The above quote as seen in the lower left corner of the map is, in a nutshell, how European countries felt about acquiring any reliable knowledge of the African continental interior at this time. The Germans did not entirely leave it to the English to learn of navigable rivers, geography, and interior tribal fiefdoms, but they were late to the task, and happy to sit back and view the mistakes that would inevitably be made. See The Perilous Search for the Niger and Timbuktoo in the Spring and Fall 2023 editions of Calafia, published by the California Map Society. Free digital editions are available to all members. Print editions of the magazine are also available.

A derivative map of the Southern African coast by G. Child, based on d'Lisle and others. Publisher and date unknown, but likely from an 18th century English atlas.

Carte du Royaume de Congo, du Monomotapa et de la Cafrerie

This 1719 map by Chatelain is based on De Lisle's iconic 1700 map that foresook the Ptolemaic tradition. It was published in the massive, multi-volume Atlas Historique et Méthodique, published in Amsterdam. The text box at the lower right contains a note of the Congo, Monomotapa and Kaffraria. The finely engrave map depicts European understanding at the time of Africa. Following de Lisle's lead, Chatelain also discarded Lakes Zachaf and Zaflan. Despite publication in Amsterdam the numerous annotations are in French. The map was published during the era of European settlements, some successful some not, along the African coast; e.g. the Dutch settlement at Table Bay is described as Fort Hollandaise, the Portuguese harbour Fort at Sofala in Mozambique is also shown as is the location of the ruins of the French Fort Dauphin in SE Mozambique; Isle de Bourbon (i.e. Mauritius) is shown to have three settlements (St. Paul probably refers to the mission station at today's Port Louis). 

Settlements including forts, ports and cities are described in detail and the presence of several interior tribes is noted. In the inset in the lower right quadrant Chatelain describes indigenous peoples of each region, describing some as very robust, others as very dark, in some regions the air is sweet and the inhabitants not very strong, in another some people fight like lions, etc. 

Condition: The hand colouring is attractive and the two pages that comprise the map have been joined on the verso. 

References: Tooley pp. 36 & 68; Norwich map #165.

Summary: This is an attractively coloured Dutch version of de Lisle's iconic 1700 map of Southern Africa that was the turning point from myth and legend to science (described in the title as 'les observations les plus Nouvelles') .

Carte d'Afrique

Publisher: POIRSON, J.B.

Date: Paris, 1809

Size: 400 x 500 mm / 15.7 x 19.7 inches

In original outline colors.

A comprehensive and quite detailed map of Africa prepared by Jean-Baptiste Poirson (1761-1831). With plenty of good coastal detail, vast 'chunks' of the interior of the continent are blank, as it was yet to be explored and discovered.
Deserts are well highlighted, together with known rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges. The Arabian peninsula and southern parts of the Mediterranean are shown. Tribal names, where known, are indicated. This maps represents contemporary European knowledge of this vast and fascinating region at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. Four sets of mileage scales given.

Carte de la Barbarie, Nigritie et de la Guinee avec les Pays Voisins

16 x 20.2 inches (40.6 x 51.3 cm). 

A very detailed and for its day, accurate map of the upper half of the African continent from Henri Abraham Chatelain’s Atlas Historique. The work was published by the author in Amsterdam between 1718 and 1720. The lower left quadrant contains a description of Guinea, Nigeria, and the Barbary Coast. The text was compiled by Gueudeville & Garillon. The maps were completed by Chatelain - some being influenced by Guillaume de l’Isle’s work. The work was published in several editions, and the second edition was the first to include additional maps not found in the first including a map of the world, Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Atlas Historique was a highly ambitious and groundbreaking work covering genealogy, cosmography, topography, heraldry, and chronology. It was intended for the general public and the increased fascination with the recently conquered colonies and the new discoveries. Chatelain’s maps are an outstanding example of the golden age of French mapmaking.

Carte De LAfrique Francoise ou Du Senegal

This is the 1742 Covens & Mortier edition of De L'Isle's highly detailed map of part of the West Coast of Africa, from Cap Blanc to the Pays des Mallus, centered on the Gambia River and Senegal River - engraving with original outline coloring. 

Extraordinatry detail along the two rivers, tracking both to their sources. Includes several annotations. The region was an important center for African trade, especially the slave trade, and was the site of various battles between the European powers. This map represents the French interests in the region who broke the Portuguese monopoly in the late 16th century and established trading posts along the river. Decorated with large, uncolored, title and scale of miles cartouches. 

Originally drawn by Delisle and dated 1726.

Guillaume De L'Isle (1675-1726)

From: Atlas Nouveau…

Paper size 20 ⅛ x 24 ¾”

Printing technique: Copper plate

Guillaume Delisle (Paris, 1675 – 1726)

Guillaume Delisle (de L’Isle), one of the key figures in the development of French cartography, is the son of Claude Delisle, a cartographer, and the half-brother of astronomers Joseph-Nicolas Delisle and Louis de l'Isle de la Croyère.

While his father has to be given credit for educating Guillaume, the boy showed early signs of being an exceptional talent. He soon contributed to the family workshop by drawing maps for his father's historical works. To perfect his skills, Guillaume Delisle became the student of the astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini. Early on, he produced high-quality maps, the first being his Carte de la Nouvelle-France et des Pays Voisins in 1696. Delisle's first atlas appeared around 1700, and in 1702 he became a member of the French Académie Royale des Sciences. He taught geography to the young Louis XV, and in 1718 he received the title of Premier Géographe du Roi. On a commission from Peter the Great, he produced a map of the Caspian Sea, a region barely known. Many of the place names he gave are still in use. His Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississippi (1718) is the first detailed map of this region.

A six-year-long plagiarism trial pits Delisle against Jean-Baptiste Nolin, cartographer. It is Nolin, the real plagiarist, who loses.

Delisle has remained famous for his astronomical-based corrections and the completeness of its topography. The high scientific quality of the work produced by the Delisle family contrasted with the workshop of Sanson. While Sanson knowingly published outdated facts and mistakes, Delisle constantly updated his maps to reflect widening knowledge of the world.