1710 De La Feuille Map of Africa

A very scarce, c. 1710, map of Africa by Daniel de la Feuille. Depicts the continent of Africa form an early 18th century perspective. The Niger River is mapped with surprising accuracy, especially considering its highly inaccurate mappings nearly 100 years later in the 19th century. The Mountains of the Moon, supposed source of the Nile, are located considerably south of where they appear in other maps of the period. Early Ptolemaic maps do note these mountains as well as two large lakes just to the north. Though the Mountains are present, both of these lakes are absent indicating an interesting evolution, away from the Ptolemaic conception, in African cartography. In southern Africa to large empires are named, Monoemugi and Monomotapa. This is the great southern African gold mining region and these names are likely taken from the names of prominent Congolese tribal rulers. Surrounding the map are the curious addition of twelve armorial crests. Crests include those of both Arab and African powers in the region including: Barbarie, Maroc (Morocco), Egypt, Tripoli, Notolie, Malta, Congo, Nubia, Monomotape, and Nigreitie. Many of these kingdoms and their associated armorial crests are purely conjectural. Ethiopia for example is indicated as distinct from Abyssinia with two separate crests, both unrelated to any actual crests that the kingdom seems to have used. The allegorical title cartouche in the upper right quadrant features several Africans cooking over a fire while an Impala or Antelope looks on. This map was originally prepared for inclusion as chart no. 5 in the 1702 edition of De la Feuille's Atlas Portatif. This map is from the later, 1710 edition.