Africa Drawn from the Latest and Best Authorities
1787
Hand-coloured copperplate engraving.
Originally included in The History of England by N. Tyndall.

430mm x 370mm excluding mountboard

R6,500

This late 18th-century copperplate map, titled Africa, Drawn from the latest and best Authorities (engraved by Thomas Kitchin or John Gibson, c. 1780s–1790s), sits right on the historical threshold between medieval geographical myth and modern cartography.

Key Historical & Cartographic Aspects

• The Fictitious Great Lakes of Central Africa: In the interior of Central and East Africa, the map depicts massive hypothetical lakes (such as Lake Zaflan and Lake Zaire) feeding both the Nile and Congo rivers. This layout stems from Ptolemaic geography and 16th-century Portuguese speculative cartography, which persisted until 19th-century explorers like Speke, Burton, and Livingstone mapped the Great Lakes region accurately.

• The "Ethiopian Sea": The South Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Africa is labeled the "Ethiopian Sea" (or Oceanus Aethiopicus). From antiquity through the 18th century, "Ethiopia" was a classical European catch-all term for Sub-Saharan Africa, and the adjacent Atlantic waters routinely carried this name on British and Dutch charts.

• Classical Regional Names Across the Interior:

  • Zaara or The Desert: An early English rendering of the Sahara (derived from the Arabic al-Ṣaḥrā').

  • Monomotapa: Prominently mapped in Southern Africa, representing the legendary Kingdom of Mutapa (Mutapa Empire), famed in European lore for its gold trade and association with Biblical Ophir.

  • Country of the Hottentots: Archaic designations used along the southern cape and coastal regions.

• Coastal Trade Focus: The interior is filled with speculation and blank spaces, whereas the coastline is densely populated with trading posts, capes, and harbors. Names like the Gold Coast, Tooth (Ivory) Coast, and Slave Coast explicitly trace the trade networks and mercantile routes that dominated European engagement with Africa during the 18th century.