Guillaume Delisle, Carte d’Afrique…, ca. 1730-42

“Guillaume Delisle . . . shocked the geographical world out of its complacency . . . He shifted land masses and moved islands to the consternation of his elders, but all such radical changes were made on the basis of information usually obtained by astronomical observation or actual surveys.” —Lloyd Brown

This is one of the greatest maps of Africa conceived during the early eighteenth century, and provides a fascinating study of Africa in this period. Larger tribal territories outlined in color include areas such as Barbarie, Nigeria, Guinea, while within these areas separate realms are delineated with dotted lines.

The cartography along the coasts is relatively accurate, while the interior is still largely myth and conjecture. At the time this map was drawn, European colonization was largely confined to the northwest coast. Until 1730, the Royal African Company of Great Britain held a monopoly over trade in West Africa, mainly focused on slave trade.

Guillaume Delisle’s map of Africa would go on to serve as a model for many other mapmakers to follow, including those of Johan Matthias Hase. The Dutch firm of Covens & Mortier copied and published many of Delisle’s maps, giving full credit to the famous mapmaker, as in the present example.

Delisle’s superiority as a mapmaker arose in part from his utilization of observations made at the Royal Observatory of Paris. The establishment of the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1666 had ushered in a new era of scientific methods, and Guillaume Delisle (1675–1726) was instrumental in France’s ascent to dominance in the science of cartography. He had been tutored by his learned father, Claude, apprenticed to Jean-Dominique Cassini, and was considered to be a prodigy. Louis XIV sought out Guillaume to tutor his son, the future Louis XV. Guillaume Delisle specialized in maps of North America and was given access to original manuscripts of French explorers, and in some cases interviewed the explorers themselves.

The Amsterdam publishing firm of Covens and Mortier was the successor to the extensive publishing empire build by Frenchman Pierre Mortier (1661–1711). Upon Mortier’s death, his firm was taken over by his son, Cornelius Mortier (1699–1783). Cornelius married the sister of Johannes Covens (1697–1774) in 1821 and, partnering with his brother in law, established the Covens and Mortier firm in Amsterdam. Under the Covens and Mortier imprint, Cornelius and Pierre republished the works of the great 17th and early 18th century cartographers De L’Isle, Allard, Jansson, De Wit, and Ottens among others. They became one of the largest and most prolific Dutch publishing houses of the 18th century, issuing as Covens and Mortier (1721–1778), J. Covens and Son (1778–94) and Mortier, Covens and Son (1794–c. 1862).

Ref: Rumsey, no. 4638.087.