Nigritia Guinea u c.

Title

Nigritia Guinea u c.

Description

Map showing the whole of West Africa with parts of the Sahara Desert, featuring the title and a mileage scale.

c. 1822

Artist

Sherwood/Neely & Jones (1806-1824)

Sherwood, Neely & Jones, a prominent London book and magazine publisher of the Regency era (active 1806–1824) based in the historic bookselling district of Paternoster Row. Renowned for precise maps, travel literature, and landmark scientific first editions.

Historical Description

Before the arrival of the Europeans, there were important empires in West Africa, such as Ghana, Mali and Songhai. Beginning in the 15th century, the British, Brandenburgers, Danes, French, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedes built forts and factories along the coast, primarily to handle the lucrative slave trade with North America. West Africa long had the reputation of being the "white man's grave." In the 18th century, 25% to 75% of newly arrived Europeans died within the first year of arrival from tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and sleeping sickness. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, colonial divisions were cemented. By 1900, West Africa included the extensive colonial territories of British, German, and French West Africa.A wave of independence occurred around 1960, during which numerous West African states became sovereign.The greater region covers much of the African continent, incorporating parts of the Sahara in the north and extending from the coastal regions of the Atlantic to the highlands of Adamaua and Mount Cameroon in the south. In general, West Africa includes the western part of the Greater Sahel and Sudan and the tropical rainforests of the Upper Guinea Threshold.