Africke. / Africae descriptio.

Title

Africke. / Africae descriptio.

Description

Map shows all of Africa with Madagascar, Arabia, two sailing ships, two cartouches and a sea monster. From Giovanni Antonio Magini / Leonardo Cernoti Atlas “La Seconda Parte della Geografia di Cl. Tolomeo“

ca. 1635

Artist

Sparke (1588-1653)

Michael Sparke was a printerpublisher, writer, compiler-editor, and promoter of conservative Puritan political and religious views. The years before 1627 were years of preparation for Sparke, during which he acquired professional skills, built up his business, and began to write. The years between 1627 and 1640 were he formed a working alliance with William Prynne to devote himself to the political and and religious policies of the government of Charles I and Archbishop William Laud and Archbishop William, he got into great legal trouble over the controversial books he printed for Prynne and other notable Puritan figures. The years between 1627 and 1640 were those crowned with success for Sparke, the political and religious principles he had long supported gaining official recognition with his more influential ally Prynne.

Historical Description

According to the "Out-of-Africa theory", Africa is considered the "cradle of mankind", where homo development led to the development of the anatomically modern human Homo sapiens. One of the earliest advanced civilizations in mankind was formed in ancient Egypt. Over the millennia, various "great empires" such as the Empire of Abyssinia emerged on the continent. There were other kingdoms in West Africa, such as the Ashanti and Haussa, but they emerged much later. There were also some important cultures in East and South Africa, as in the area of today's Sudan, then called Nubia or Kush. Nubian pharaohs ruled all of Egypt for a dynasty. For example, the inhabitants of Greater Zimbabwe were important cultures in southern Africa. This stone castle was architecturally a masterpiece at that time and important for trade between the peoples of the south and east. The Swahili were known in East Africa. North Africa was connected to Europe and the Near East by the Mediterranean rather than separated. Carthage, a foundation of the Phoenicians in what is now Tunisia, was around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The dominant power in the western Mediterranean until it was replaced by Rome in the Punic Wars. This prevailed from 30 BC. BC (conquest of Egypt) over all of North Africa. Even the ancient Egyptians (Queen Hatshepsut) made trips to Punt, probably in what is now Somalia. The kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, which probably had its center in southern Arabia, is said to have spanned parts of the Horn from Africa to the north of Ethiopia.