'La Barbarie de la Nigritie et de la Guinée'. West Africa. DE L’ISLE, 1745 map
Artist/engraver/cartographer: Guillaume de l'Isle. Provenance: The map was extracted from a composite atlas of early 18th century maps, the latest of which was dated c1754. Type: Large antique 18th century atlas map, printed on thick, good quality paper with original outline hand colour/color . This eighteenth century map shows West Africa, divided roughly into Barbarie (Barbary), Nigritie, and Guinee (Guinea). The Azores, Canary islands and the Cape Vedre islands are also marked. Reflecting the lack of European understanding of West Africa's rivers at the time, the Senegal and Niger river systems are shown incorrectly on the map as being a single river system, flowing west from a source located approximately in modern Chad to Saint-Louis, Senegal (the Niger river in fact flows east before turning south to empty into the Gulf of Guinea. The river system includes a great lake, marked as both "Lac de Guarde" and "Lac de Sigismes", which was probably an early attempt to map the Inner Niger Delta. There is also a fascinating comment on the map stating in French that "some people believe that the Niger is a branch of the Nile", a popular theory at the time.
Size: 7863px × 6326px
Location: West Africa
Photo credit: © Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1745, 18th, africa, antique, atlas, barbarie, barbary, c1754, carte, century, color, colour, composite, early, eighteenth, guillaume, guinea, guinee, guiné, hand, isle, map, maps, nigritia, nigritie, original, outline, paper, printed, thick, vintage, west, ’isle
