1670 Ogilby Map of West Africa Gold Coast Slave Coast Ivory Coast

by Paul Fearn

Title

1670 Ogilby Map of West Africa Gold Coast Slave Coast Ivory Coast

Artist

Paul Fearn

Medium

Photograph

Description

This is an extraordinary 1670 map of West Africa by English cartographer John Ogilby. Depicts the African Gold Coast, Ivory Coast, and Slave Coast from Guniea south through the modern nations of, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Ogilby modeled this map after the 1639 Hondius / Janesson map. Here was can see the practice satirized by Jonathan Swift regarding the lack in information on the interior, they had to “place elephants for want of towns”. Indeed the interior is decorated with stylized renderings of African animals including lions, elephants, cheetahs, and apes. On the water several sailing vessels are depicted. In the lower left an elaborate decorative Cartouche labeled the region simply Guinea. On the bottom right two cherubic Africans haul a gigantic elephant tusk.

Uploaded

July 12th, 2013

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags