Map of the African Gold Coast

Map of the African Gold Coast.

Guinea.

The map is also included in Joan Blaeu I's 'Atlas Maior'.

In the 'Atlas Maior' this chart is featured in part IX, sheet 35. This map of the West African Gold Coast was published in 1635 by Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638). Blaeu did not succeed in rendering a reliable depiction of the territory. Only the coast of Guinea is accurately rendered, but these regions had also been frequently visited by European merchants and adventurers since the 16th century, in their quest for gold, slaves and ivory on offer there in abundance by local traders. The Europeans did not venture into the interior, the inland regions remained terra incognita until far into the 19th century. Blaeu filled the empty regions with depictions of lions, elephant and baboons.

Cf. ??sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, inv. nr. Van der Hem 35:40.