Nieuw Kaart van Africa na de Alderlaatste ondekking in licht gebrach

Handsome 18th Century Dutch map of the African Continent. The map extends west to show the Atlantic Islands and the curved eastern coastline of Brazil. North to show part of Europe, and encompass the Middle East and south-western Asia, and east to the Indian Ocean and the coast of modern-day Iran, Pakistan and north-western India.


An acknowledgement to eminent French cartographer Guillaume De L'Isle (1675-1726) whose map of Africa was used as the geographical source. This can be seen in the lower right corner of the map. A wealth of settlement names are visible across the map, as are there are the names of the local people inhabiting the regions, and illustrations to describe the physical terrain. Unlike the maps produced by De L'Isle (and later reissued by Philippe Buache), the decorative embellishments and annotations about the people, wildlife and terrain have been removed.


One of the most notable geographical developments can be seen in the east, where Lake Malawi (here named Maravi has started to take shape, but shown with an unfinished northern coast. It would not be formally 'discovered' by Europeans until 1849 when the Portuguese would traverse the area. The large mythical lakes of Zaire and Zaflan, speculated to have been the sources of the Nile River have been removed.


Original hand colour. [AFR5716]