L'Africa

Coronelli's two-sheet continental map of Africa was first published in the "Atlante Veneto" between 1691-6. The atlas was Coronelli's cartographic masterpiece. It was issued in three volumes and conceived as a continuation of Blaeu's Atlas Major.



Geographically, this large map is a development of his own folio map of Africa which was published in Paris in 1689. It employs the same format, inserting a large vignette in the centre of the map, with Coronelli skirting very carefully between fact and myth. The outline of the map is orthodox for the period, with its exaggerated western extension catering for the size of the Mediterranean Sea. He also employs the technique of detailing coastal settlements with their names in the sea, thus giving an indication of density. However, in somewhat of a departure, he also prints small panels of text or even one or two lines next to specific settlements, giving credit to the explorers of the western coast. One of the most prominent examples is the panel next to the Cape Verde Islands. It states that ancient geographers named these as the Hesperides. The panel then credits their re-discovery to the Genoese explorer Antonio de Noli while sailing under the Portuguese crown in 1460.



There is also very good detail on the south coast, mainly taken from Dutch sources although more credit is also given to Portuguese explorers. The detail for the shape and the nomenclature of Madagascar is Portuguese.



In the interior, Coronelli is keen to emphasize the latest development in the search for the Nile and he does this in a very clever manner. Even the great Dutch masters of cartography, such as Blaeu and Hondius followed the ancient idea of sourcing the Nile from two large mythical lakes in the southern central part of the continent. They developed this concept further by sourcing some of the newly discovered great rivers of the continent, such as the Congo and the Zambezi from the same great lakes, thus bisecting or trisecting the continent into two or often three islands. As there was no actual geographical record of such a concept, Coronelli side steps the issue by putting a large text panel and cartouche in the middle of continent, coincidentally just where these mythical lakes are usually placed. The southern part of Lake Zaire is just faintly visible below the globe on the left of the cartouche, with a note stating that this was where the ancients believed was the source of the Nile. This neatly avoids a potentially embarrassing later error.



The panel in the cartouche celebrates a new discovery: the source of the Blue Nile in Lake Tana, as narrated by the Jesuit academic Balthazar Telles who wrote an appendix to an obscure work on the history of the Jesuits in Ethiopia by Manuel de Almeida. De Almeida himself was actually following in the footsteps of another Jesuit Pedro Paez, who is now acknowledged to be the true discoverer of the source of the Blue Nile. However, Paez's own history was not published until the early 20th century.


[BETZ 153] [AFR5551] [BC]