Maps
The continent of wealth: Mapping Africa across the centuries
The way that Africa was perceived by non-Africans at different periods, especially from the 16th through to the 20th centuries, was deeply enmeshed in the world views and socio-economic imperatives of the era. Through the changing styles and emphasizes in cartographies of Africa across time, I hope to trace how visions of Africa, and of Africans, were shaped in relation to dominant assumptions, modes of thought, and economic drivers at different periods. My upcoming project will include consideration of the ways in which these imagined Africas have persisted in historical understandings of the continent and its relation to other regions, and therefore continue to impact the nature of global relationships.
1880 map by Eugène Andriveau-Goujon
1880 map by Andriveau-Goujon, E. (Eugène), 1832-1897.
“Carte générale de l’Afrique, d’après les dernières découvertes.” Steel engraved map, with some added color, 59 x 86 cm., mounted on linen. [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1856 map by J. Andriveau-Goujon
1856 map by Andriveau-Goujon, J.
“Carte générale de l’Afrique, d’après les dernières découvertes.” Steel engraved map, with some added color, 58 x 85 cm. Probably issued in Andriveau-Goujon’s Atlas classique et universel de géographie ancienne et moderne . . . (Paris, 1856). [Map and text from Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1852 map by Victor Levasseur
1852 map by Levasseur, Victor.
“Afrique.” Steel engraved map, with some added color, 21 x 23 cm., set within a larger pictorial framework. From Levasseur’s Atlas national illustré des 86 départements et des possessions de la France (Paris, 1852). [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1851 map by John Tallis
1851 map by Tallis, John, 1817-1876.
“Africa.” Steel engraved map, with some added color, 22 x 30 cm., with five vignettes. From Tallis’s The Illustrated Atlas, and Modern History of the World, Geographical, Political Commercial & Statistical, edited by R. Montgomery Martin (London, 1851). [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1805 map by John Cary
1805 map by Cary, John, ca. 1754-1835.
“A New Map of Africa from the Latest Authorities.” Copperplate map, with added color, 45 x 51 cm. From Cary’s New Universal Atlas (London, 1808). [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1787 map by Jean-Baptiste Louis Clouet
1787 map by Clouet, J. B. L. (Jean-Baptiste Louis), b. 1730.
“Lacs, fleuves, rivières et principales montages. de l’Afrique.” Copperplate map, with added color, 31 x 35 cm., with side panels of text on larger sheet. From Clouet’s Géographie moderne avec une introduction (Paris, 1787). Gift of John Delaney. [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1737 map by Johann Matthias Hase
1737 map
Hase, Johann Matthias, 1684-1742.
“Africa secundum legitimas projectionis stereographicae regulas et juxta recentissimas relationes et observationes in subsidium vocatis quoque veterum Leonis Africani. . . .” Copperplate map, with added color, 45 x 57 cm. [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1710 map by Herman Moll
1710 map
Moll, Herman, d. 1732.
“To the Right Honourable Charles, Earl of Peterborow and Monmouth, &c This Map of Africa . . . Is Most Humbly Dedicated.” Copperplate map, with added color, 56 x 94 cm. [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1644 map by Willem Janszoon Blaeu
1644 map by Blaeu, Willem Janszoon, 1571-1638.
“Africae nova descriptio.” Copperplate carte à figures map, with added color, 35 x 45 cm. From the second volume of Blaeu’s Le theatre dv monde; ov Novvel atlas contenant les chartes et descriptions de tous les païs de la terre (Amsterdam, 1644). Gift of J. Monroe Thorington, Class of 1915. [Map and text, Rare Books Division, Princeton University]
1584 map by Abraham Ortelius
1584 map by Ortelius, Abraham, 1527-1598.
“Africae tabula noua.” Copperplate map, with added color, 37 x 49 cm. From Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarum (Antwerp, 1584). [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1554 map by Sebastian Münster
1554 map by Münster, Sebastian, 1489-1552.
“Totius Africæ tabula, & descriptio uniuersalis, etiam ultra Ptolemæi limites extensa.” Woodcut map, with added color, 26 x 35 cm. From Münster’s Cosmographia uniuersalis (Basel, 1554). [Map and text, Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University]
1502 by anonymous cartographer
1502 map by anonymous cartographer
From the Cantino Planisphere, 1502. Biblioteca Estense, Modena, Italy. See Carta del Cantino, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria.
1300 or 1584 adaptation by Konrad Miller of map by Al-Idrîsî
Tabula Rogeriana, 1154, 1300 (French) or 1486 (Bodleian) copy of a 1154 original, Konrad Miller's collage of the Bodleian MS. Pococke 375 or possibly another from the French National Library, MS. Arabe 2221
1492 map by Jorge de Aguiar
1492 map by De Aguiar, Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
1375 map by Abraham and Jehudà Cresques
Atles Català, 1375, by Abraham Eliça and Jehudà Cresques. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
1154 map by Al-Idrîsî
Al-Idrîsî, Nuzhat al-mushtaq fî ikhtirâq al-âfâq (Amusement for those wishing to travel the different parts of the world), also called Tabula Rogeriana. Sicily, 1154. Copy by 'Alî ibn Hasan al-Hûfî al-Qâsimî. Cairo, 1456. Sixty-nine maps, according to the Ptolemaic division of the world in seven climates. World map 23 cm. Manuscript on paper. Oxford University, The Bodleian Library (Mss. Pococke 375 fol. 3v-4).