- Home
- Books, Manuscripts and Maps
- Maps
- The Great Lakes of Africa
The Great Lakes of Africa
- By The Map Collector
- Published 1 June 1979
- Maps
- Unrated
The Map Collector
The Map Collector, initiated by Peter Scott and Valerie G. Newby, was a journal on historical cartography published every quarter. The first issue appeared in 1997 and continued for nearly 20 years. After 74 issues the last copy appeared in Spring 1996. Mrs. Valerie G. Newby, is presently editor of the IMCoS Journal.
www.imcos.org
By R.V. Tooley
AFRICA OR ITS northern littoral and the Nile Valley was known to the ancients. The world was imagined as a circle divided into zones - frigid, temperate hot, temperate frigid. The known world was placed in the temperate zone below which was the hot zone of impenetrable and uninhabitable desert.
Alternatively, philosophers divided the world into segments within a circle, half being occupied by Asia and a quarter each by Europe and Africa, the Mediterannean and the Great Sea dividing the three continents. Numerous examples of both these zonal and tripartite maps exist in various manuscripts. The oldest printed map of the world illustrated a work by Saint Isidore of Seville, 1472.
The oldest printed map is by St Isidore of Seville and was published in 1472.
It represents the world as a circle with the Mediterranean and the Great Seas dividing it into segments occupied by the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Nile was one of the famous rivers of antiquity but its source was unknown. Ptolemy, the geographer of Alexandria postulated a river having its source in two great lakes, Zaire and Zafflan, fed by waters from the mountains of the moon. So great was the renown of Ptolemy that his erroneous idea persisted right down to the eighteenth century being used, among others, by Homann and Seutter who both show lakes Zaire and Zafflan and place the source of the Nile even further south, equidistant between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, Paez' discovery of the source of the Blue Nile in 1596 being ignored. Also, some cartographers hedged their bets by continuing to show the lakes as well as Paez' discovery. Allard's map of Africa circa 1690 is a good example, showing a chevron-shaped remnant of the Ptolemaic rivers flowing between the two great lakes. A further alteration by some geographers showed the Congo flowing into the Nile.
The ptolemaic concept of a great African river, having its source in two great lakes, Zaire and Zafflan, fed by waters from the Mountains of the Moon, is illustrated in Waldseemuller's map of South Africa published in 1513.
The New World or America discovered in 1492, had its five great lakes in the interior mapped by the seventeenth century. The ancient continent of Africa had to wait until the mid-nineteenth century before the Great Lakes of its interior were delineated.
The Great Lakes are 'Tanganyika,' discovered by Richard Burton and John Banning Speke in 1858; 'Victoria Nyanza' seen by Speke in 1858; 'Lake Nyassa' by Dr. Livingstone 1859 and 'Albert Nyanza' by Baker 1864 and the lesser lakes of 'Moero,' 'Bangweolo' and 'Rudolph.'
The first of the African lakes to be noted was Lake Tanganyika which was given the name Lake Maravi. It began to be shown on most maps in the latter part of the eighteenth century but its size and direction were not known. The majority of French cartographers drew the lake leaning to the right as in this section from de Vaugondy's map of Africa 1756.
The great French geographers, Guillaume de L'Isle and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d' Anville began the reform of geography by discarding heresay and delineating only recorded fact. So, maps that had previously shown an interior covered with supposed rivers, mountain chains and coastal place names engraved inwards to give a crowded effect, now showed interiors almost completely blank.
The first of the lakes to be noted was Lake Tanganyika. Reports of a large inland lake gradually received credence and this inland water was given the name of Lake Maravi. It began to be shown on most maps in the latter part of the eighteenth century but its size and direction was not known.
AFRICA OR ITS northern littoral and the Nile Valley was known to the ancients. The world was imagined as a circle divided into zones - frigid, temperate hot, temperate frigid. The known world was placed in the temperate zone below which was the hot zone of impenetrable and uninhabitable desert.
Alternatively, philosophers divided the world into segments within a circle, half being occupied by Asia and a quarter each by Europe and Africa, the Mediterannean and the Great Sea dividing the three continents. Numerous examples of both these zonal and tripartite maps exist in various manuscripts. The oldest printed map of the world illustrated a work by Saint Isidore of Seville, 1472.
The oldest printed map is by St Isidore of Seville and was published in 1472.
It represents the world as a circle with the Mediterranean and the Great Seas dividing it into segments occupied by the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Nile was one of the famous rivers of antiquity but its source was unknown. Ptolemy, the geographer of Alexandria postulated a river having its source in two great lakes, Zaire and Zafflan, fed by waters from the mountains of the moon. So great was the renown of Ptolemy that his erroneous idea persisted right down to the eighteenth century being used, among others, by Homann and Seutter who both show lakes Zaire and Zafflan and place the source of the Nile even further south, equidistant between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, Paez' discovery of the source of the Blue Nile in 1596 being ignored. Also, some cartographers hedged their bets by continuing to show the lakes as well as Paez' discovery. Allard's map of Africa circa 1690 is a good example, showing a chevron-shaped remnant of the Ptolemaic rivers flowing between the two great lakes. A further alteration by some geographers showed the Congo flowing into the Nile.
The ptolemaic concept of a great African river, having its source in two great lakes, Zaire and Zafflan, fed by waters from the Mountains of the Moon, is illustrated in Waldseemuller's map of South Africa published in 1513.
The New World or America discovered in 1492, had its five great lakes in the interior mapped by the seventeenth century. The ancient continent of Africa had to wait until the mid-nineteenth century before the Great Lakes of its interior were delineated.
The Great Lakes are 'Tanganyika,' discovered by Richard Burton and John Banning Speke in 1858; 'Victoria Nyanza' seen by Speke in 1858; 'Lake Nyassa' by Dr. Livingstone 1859 and 'Albert Nyanza' by Baker 1864 and the lesser lakes of 'Moero,' 'Bangweolo' and 'Rudolph.'
The first of the African lakes to be noted was Lake Tanganyika which was given the name Lake Maravi. It began to be shown on most maps in the latter part of the eighteenth century but its size and direction were not known. The majority of French cartographers drew the lake leaning to the right as in this section from de Vaugondy's map of Africa 1756.
The great French geographers, Guillaume de L'Isle and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d' Anville began the reform of geography by discarding heresay and delineating only recorded fact. So, maps that had previously shown an interior covered with supposed rivers, mountain chains and coastal place names engraved inwards to give a crowded effect, now showed interiors almost completely blank.
The first of the lakes to be noted was Lake Tanganyika. Reports of a large inland lake gradually received credence and this inland water was given the name of Lake Maravi. It began to be shown on most maps in the latter part of the eighteenth century but its size and direction was not known.
