AFRICA. Shows Mountains of Kong/the Moon. Caravan routes. RAPKIN/TALLIS 1851 map
Africa. Artist/engraver/cartographer: Map drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin; vignette illustrations drawn by J Marchant & engraved by JH Kernot. Published by John Tallis & Co. Provenance: "Tallis's Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the World, Geographical, Political, Commercial and Statistical", edited by R Montgomery Martin Esq., published by John Tallis and Company, London & New York. Type: Antique engraved map by J Rapkin, published by John Tallis. Original outline hand colour, decorative border, and attractive inset vignette views. The map shows a number of tribal and early colonial territories, mostly delineated inland from the coast but with unresolved borders. The Maghreb is described evocatively as the "country of dates", and camel caravan routes across the Sahara are indicated. Fully or partly delineated states or regions include Algeria, Tunis, Fezzan, Tripoli, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, Kordofan, Darfur, Dar Zaleh, Begharmi, Kanem, Bornou, Houssa, Senegambia, Biafra, Loango, Congo, Angola, Benguella, Cape Colony, Caffraria & Mozambique. Also marked on the map are the Mountains of Kong and the Mountains of the Moon, non-existent mountain ranges charted on English maps of Africa from 1798 through the late 1880s. An early map resulting from exploration of the area and showing this west to east mountain range in 1798 was produced by English cartographer James Rennell. The Mountains of Kong were thought to begin in West Africa near the highland source of the Niger River near Tembakounda in Guinea, then continue east to the also fictitious central African Mountains of the Moon, thought to be where the White Nile rose. Cartographers stopped including the mountains on maps after French explorer Louis Gustave Binger established that the mountains were fictitious in his 1887-1889 expedition to chart the Niger River from its mouth in the Gulf of Guinea and through Côte d'Ivoire. Vignettes: Arab family of Algeria; Bosjesman Hottentotts (wild bushmen); St Helena; K
Size: 4067px × 3106px
Location: Africa
Photo credit: © Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1851, 19th, africa, antique, atlas, border, caravan, century, colour, commercial, company, drawn, engraved, geographical, hand, history, illustrated, inset, jh, john, kernot, kong, london, map, marchant, martin, modern, montgomery, moon, mountains, nineteenth, original, outline, political, rapkin, routes, statistical, tallis, views, vignette, vintage, world, york
