1748 Bowen Map of Africa

This is Emanuel Bowens' updated 1748 map of Africa. It depicts the continent in rich detail, particularly with respect to indigenous peoples, kingdoms, fortifications, and mines. It is not an amendment of the 1747 Bowen map of the continent, but an entirely new plate, and while it shares many characteristics of the earlier map, there is matter that is entirely new to it.

Most apparently, Bowen has included in the south Atlantic and the Indian Oceans the prevailing winds, and the directions of the seasonal monsoon winds. These were of particular relevance to ships sailing from Europe to India and were derived from the maps of the trade winds produced at the end of the seventeenth century by William Dampier.

Egypt and Abyssinia

Northeastern Africa from the Mediterranean shores to the Horn appears in detail - not just the region of the lower Nile (where, for example, the Pyramids are named and depicted) but also Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia). The upper reaches of the Blue Nile present the detail gathered at the end of the seventeenth century by early Italian missionaries. Bowen correctly notes the course of the Blue Nile placing its source at Lake Tana (here Dambea) in modern day Ethiopia.

Nations and Tribes

This map offers significant detail throughout the interior, naming numerous tribal areas and kingdoms including the Jages, the Anziko, the Mono-Emugi, Monomotapa, Gaoga, Gingiro, and others. Many of these names survive from reports from the seventeenth and even the sixteenth century. It is a testament to the paucity of European data for the African interior that so many of these had no more recent improvements.

Monomotapa and the Zambezi

The southern region of Africa - generally classified here as 'Cafereria' - is dominated by the Empire of Monomotapa. The interest in the place is made plain by the presence of gold and silver mines. At the heart of this empire runs the Zambezi River. This river is not new to this map, but on earlier maps (including the 1747 Bowen) it is most often termed Cuama. This was a local name for the river given by Swahili speakers on the coast. As early as 1552, the Portuguese João de Barros had known that the river was termed Zembere by the Monomatapa. João dos Santos, visiting Monomatapa in 1597, named it Zambeze. Earlier maps had put its source in a vast lake. Here its source is not identified although a lake nearby seems to be a holdover from the earlier formulation. Recorded exploration of the upper Zambezi would not occur until Livingstone's expedition between 1851 and 1853.

The 1747 map had included a speculative proto-Lake Malawi, identified as Lake of Zambre. The present map removed that long, thin lake - perhaps because it was not consistent with the new presentation of the Zambezi River which replaced the 'Cuamo' on the earlier map. Both formulations appeared on different maps of De l'Isle. These and many other details in Bowen's map appear to be derived from John Senex' Africa : corrected from the observations of the Royal Society at London and Paris, which had been printed as early as 1710 but was still in production in the 1740s.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by Emanuel Bowen for inclusion in John Harris' 1748 Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca : or, A complete collection of voyages and travels. It is underrepresented in institutional collections, being listed separately only twice in OCLC. Harris' voyages is well represented in library collections.