File:The Gold Coast, region on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa- from, 1794 Boulton and Anville Wall Map of Africa (most important 18th century map of Africa) - Geographicus - Africa2-boulton-1794 (cropped).jpg
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Summary[edit]
Title |
Africa, with all its States, Kingdoms, Republics, Regions, Islands, & cca. Improved and Inlarged from D’Anville’s Map: to which has been added A Particular Chart of the Gold Coast wherein are Distinguished all the European Forts, and Factories, by S. Boulton: and also A Summary Description relative to the Trade adn Natural Produce, Manners and Customs of the African Continent and Islands. |
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DescriptionThe Gold Coast, region on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa- from, 1794 Boulton and Anville Wall Map of Africa (most important 18th century map of Africa) - Geographicus - Africa2-boulton-1794 (cropped).jpg |
English: This is probably the most important map of Africa produced in the 18th century. Largely based upon the earlier D’Anville map, this map has been enlarged and expanded by Samuel Boulton. Depicts the continent in full with insets of the Gold Coast (or Ivory Coast, or Guinea). This map is unique in that it is a serious attempt to compile all of the accurate scientific knowledge of the African continent available at the time. In contrast to many other Africa maps of the period there's almost no attempt to fill the “unknown” regions of the interior with fictitious beasts, kingdoms, and geological features. Boulton himself advertises “The inland parts of Africa being but very little known and the names of the regions and countries which fill that vast tract of land being for the greatest part placed by conjecture it may be judged how absurd are the divisions traced in some maps and why they are not followed in this.“ Despite this, this map actually does provide a wealth of information both in the form of a gazetteer printed in framed text boxes here and there on the map, as well as political and geographical features.
This map bears up to almost endless perusal and volumes could be composed on its content. The cartographer attempts to depict both known and unknown parts of the continent with actual data reported by both contemporary and ancient travelers. In most cases it is extremely difficult to identify specific sources as much of the data is vague and uncertain. Boulton for example notes a community of Jews near what would today be Mali. Though a very small community of Jewish traders did live in Mali in the 15th century, most had been killed or converted to Islam by the 16th century. No doubt Boulton's sources here were extremely archaic. Boulton also relies heavily on the geography of Claudius Ptolemy, noting this source in numerous notations which range from commentary on local peoples to the courses of important river systems. Clearly much of the map is focused on commerce and where information is available, Boulton makes notes on local commercial products and mineral wealth. There are also copious notations on caravan routes, especially those routes which were known to offer caravan transverse of the Sahara. Generally following Ptolemy, Boulton includes a number of mysterious river systems which seem to appear out of nowhere and run to nowhere. With regard to the White Nile, which he presumes correctly to be greater than the Blue Nile, he follows the ancient two lakes at the base of the Mountains of the Moon theory. In the southern half of Africa there is considerably less information on the interior save for those lands mapped by the Portuguese along the Congo and Zambezi Rivers. The regions around the Zambezi, called Monomotapa, are particularly interesting as many considered this area to be the Biblical land of Ophir, where one could discover the mines of King Solomon. Just north of Monomotapa we find an embryonic representation of Lake Malawi, here called Maravi. In South Africa the Dutch Company is strongly established and the region is well mapped well into the interior.Español: Este es posiblemente el más importante mapa de África elaborado en el siglo XVIII. Basado en gran parte en el mapa anterior de D’Anville, este mapa ha sido ampliado por Samuel Boulton. Muestra el continente en su totalidad con inserciones de la Costa del Oro (o Costa de Marfil o Guinea). Este mapa se destaca como un intento serio de compilar todo el conocimiento científico del continente africano disponible en ese momento.
Українська: Це, мабуть, найважливіша карта Африки, створена у 18 столітті. Значною мірою базуючись на попередній карті д’Анвіля, ця карта була збільшена та розширена Соломоном Болтоном. Зображує континент повністю зі вставками Золотого Берегу (або Кот-д'Івуару та Гвінеї). Ця карта унікальна тим, що є серйозною спробою зібрати всі точні наукові знання про африканський континент, доступні на той час. |
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Source |
Kitchin, Thomas, Kitchin's 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 with many improvements by other eminent geographers, engraved on Sixty-Two plates, comprising Thirty Seven maps., Laurie & Whittle, London, 1797.
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Creator |
creator QS:P170,Q110898188
creator QS:P170,Q733907 |
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Map location | Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Georeferencing | Georeference the map in Wikimaps Warper If inappropriate please set warp_status = skip to hide. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bibliographic data | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher |
Laurie & Whittle |
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Accession number |
Geographicus link: Africa2-boulton-1794 |
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Dimensions |
height: 41 in (104.1 cm); width: 49 in (124.4 cm) dimensions QS:P2048,41U218593 dimensions QS:P2049,49U218593 |
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This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
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current | 04:13, 6 June 2023 | 2,000 × 1,274 (721 KB) | Ooligan (talk | contribs) | File:1794 Boulton and Anville Wall Map of Africa (most important 18th cntry map of Africa) - Geographicus - Africa2-boulton-1794.jpg cropped 67 % horizontally, 75 % vertically using CropTool with lossless mode. |
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