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Images of early maps

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5. Africa (& the islands)
The only comprehensive listing of early map image sites. The monthly additions are indicated thus, e.g. {March 2002} at the end of the
entry. Since the symbols { } are not used elsewhere, you can search on those elements [enter Ctrl+F]; e.g. 2002} will find entries added
at any time in that year)
Please notify any corrections or additions to the editor, Tony Campbell:

Make sure to consult its copyright statement before using any of the images you find
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+ online exhibitions
Africa. ‘16th- Early 20th Century Maps of Africa’ (113 high res. but slow-loading maps of Africa, 1530-1915 - Northwestern
University, Evanston, Illinois) {February, 2007}
Africa. ‘Afriterra Maps Catalog’ (a listing of over 1,400 maps, leading to over 1,000 very high res. Zoomify images, searchable
by date, region of Africa, keyword, creator, etc.- Afriterra: the Cartographic Free Library. See also the entry under Web Projects)
{September, 2001; updated November 2009}
Africa (a selection of high res. images of maps of Africa, 16th-19th centuries, arranged chronologically - University of Florida,
George A. Smathers Libraries, Map & Imagery Library) {December, 2003}
Africa (17 very high res. images via Zoomify, 1845-1923 - Michigan State University) {April, 2001; amended September
2007}
Africa (clicking on one of the map thumbnails brings up a page with small, low res. images of six early maps of Africa - South
African Government) {November, 2002}
Africa. 'The Atlantic slave trade and slave life in the Americas' (select 'Maps: Africa, New World, Slave Trade' for 30 images,
enlargeable to medium res., mostly of original maps or details focussing on western Africa, with bibliographical commentary -
Jerome S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite Jr., the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Digital Media Lab at the
University of Virginia Library) {August, 2005}
Africa. 'The collection of ancient maps' (20 maps of Africa as a whole or the central region, enlargeable to high res. with
Zoomify - Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren) {September, 2010}
Africa. Discovery. 'L'Europe découvre l'Afrique' (a series of texts, linked to related catalogue entries and illustrated with almost
800 maps and charts (the great majority from the D'Anville Collection), enlargeable to very high res. - 'Gallica', Bibliothèque
Nationale de France) {July, 2002 - updated January 2005}
Africa. Early African Cartography (33 enlargeable, high res. maps, 1562-1940 - American Museum of Natural History, using
maps (with permission) from the New York Public Library and the British Library) {November, 2002}
Africa. Hemispheres Antique Maps & Prints (unusually, this dealer site offers images enlargeable to high res., with special
reference to Africa on which the proprietors, Richard and Penelope Betz, have produced the standard book, The Mapping of
Africa: A Cartobibliography of Printed Maps of the African Continent to 1700 {July, 2007}
'Africa Historical Maps' (41 [original not 'historical'] maps, enlargeable to high res. via LizardTech ExpressView Plugin - Yale
University Library) {November, 2007}
'Africa Map' (a provisional version of a GIS program which will offer 10 earlier maps (from 1612) as an alternative layer;
"AfricaMap is based on the Harvard University Geospatial Infrastructure (HUG) platform, and was developed by the Center for
Geographic Analysis to make spatial data on Africa easier for researchers to discover and explore") {March, 2010}
Africa. 'Maps of Africa' (download Luna Insight for 578 high res. images, 15th-20th century, from the collection of Dr Oscar I.
Norwich - Stanford University Libraries). [This also forms part of the multi- collection Visual Collections site - select
‘Cartography’, and see also here] {January, 2004}
Africa.'Maps of Africa to 1900' (510 maps, in high res. ContentDM images; as described in Thomas J. Bassett, Maps of Africa
to 1900: Checklist of maps in atlases and geographical journals in the collections of the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign, c. 2000) [See also here] {February, 2010}
+ Africa. Selections from the Rex B. Grey Collection (four medium res. images - Cushing Memorial Library, Texas A&M
University) {May, 2002}
Africa, Series 2201, 1:2,000,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1968- (sheets 1, 3, 5-7, 11-36; (high res. (though slow-loading)
images - University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
Africa south of the Sahara. Topics: Maps (a useful list of links, often itemising the Africa content of general sites, with a link to an

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overlapping site for South Africa - Karen Fung, Stanford University Libraries) {November, 2002}
+ 'Africa Through Western Eyes: Exploration of the Unknown' (4 low res. images - Yale University Library exhibit)
+ Africa. 'To the Mountains of the Moon: Mapping African Exploration, 1541-1880' (with a selection of maps, enlargeable to high
res., but slow-loading - exhibition at Princeton University Library, 2007) {September, 2007}
African American Odyssey (a few maps relating to West Africa and the US - select 'Object Checklist', then search for map -
Library of Congress - high res. MrSID images, with the ability to zoom, enlarge and select details)
Africa - see also Aluka under Web Projects
Algeria (fairly high res. scans of maps and plans relating to North Africa, mostly of Algeria (but including Malta), and links to
other image sites) {July, 2005}
Algeria. 'Cartes et plans' (a selection of maps illustrating Histoire des colonies françaises - vol. 2 by Augustin Bernard - Algérie
{January, 2006}
Algeria City Plans, U.S. Army Map Service, 1942-1943 (high res. (though slow-loading) images, covering 18 cities - University
of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
Canaries (Canary Islands) . 'Atlas des Isles Canaries' (enlargeable, high res. images of the preliminaries and 13 sheets of
Leopold von Buch's 1836 atlas - Proyecto Humboldt) {December, 2002}
Canaries. ‘Cartoteca Virtual: Islas Canarias’ (search for an island, or a specific feature, and then, separately, for 'Digital' or
'Paper', to retrieve descriptions and images of maps from various collections, zoomable to fairly high res.; there are also texts,
online essays and a general bibliography (including some further online articles) - part of an EU-funded GIS project from Grupo
Mercator, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) {July, 2007}
Canaries. El Hierro a través de la cartografía (1588-1899) (an article, with bibliography, illustrated with a selection of medium
res. images, by Juan Tous Meliá, Proyecto Humboldt) {March, 2007}
'Congo Journey: Photographs and Documents from Robert Hottot's Expedition to Central Africa, 1908-1909' (four maps of Chad
(and elsewhere), collected or drawn by the French explorer, Robert Hottot (1884-1939); see also here - a virtual exhibition from
the PittRivers Museum, Oxford) {June, 2007}
East Africa, Series Y503, 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1958- (high res. images - University of Texas Libraries) {April,
2010}
Egypt. 'Cartes et plans anciens' (a selection of low to medium res. 19th & 20th century town plans, mostly of Alexandria and
Cairo) {January, 2006}
Egypt. 'The Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA)' (select 'historical maps' for 148 scans, both original and historical,
mainly of Egypt (19th and early 20th centuries) enlargeable to high res.) {December, 2008}
Egypt - Cairo (140 high res. plans and views of the city, arranged by century - University of California - Berkeley, Islamic Cities
Maps Collection)
Liberia. 'Maps of Liberia 1830-1870' (Library of Congress - high res. MrSID images, with the ability to zoom, enlarge and
select details)
Libya. Tripolitania (Libya) City Plans, U.S. Army Map Service, 1943 (high res. (though slow-loading) images, covering four
cities - University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
Libya. Cyrenaica (Libya), Series P662, 1:100,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1940- (high res. images - University of Texas
Libraries) {April, 2010}
Libya. Tripoli (Libya), Series P661, 1:100,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1936- (high res. images - University of Texas Libraries)
{April, 2010}
Mali. 'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali: Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps' (11 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000,
1590-1970 - part of the Library of Congress Global Gateway presentation 'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali') {January, 2006}
Morocco, U.S. Army Map Service, 1:50,000, 1941- (high res. images - University of Texas Libraries) {April, 2010}
Morocco. Southern Morocco, Series P632, 1:125,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1943- (high res. images - University of Texas
Libraries) {April, 2010}
Morocco City Plans, U.S. Army Map Service, 1942-1947 (high res. (though slow-loading) images, covering 24 cities -
University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
North Africa (fairly high res. scans of maps and plans, mostly of Algeria (but including Malta), and links to other image sites)
{July, 2005}
North Africa. 'Cartes marines anciennes' (select the section 'Méditerranée - Afrique' for eleven maps and charts, viewable in
high res. via the 'Taille' link [most of the enlargement options beneath the thumbnail do not work]; see also 'Cartes anciennes
diverses' - reproduced under licence from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) by Jacques Zan) {November, 2005}
North Africa, Series P502, 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1954- (includes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia;
high res. (though slow-loading) images - University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
St Helena: maps and views pre-1800 (a good selection of medium to high res. maps, with some pre-selected details - Barry
Weaver)
São Tomé e Príncipe. 'Cartas, diagramas e informação geográfica. 6/ Cartografia antiga' (a selection of medium res., general
maps; part of the Atlas de São Tomé e Príncipe) {May, 2010}
Sierra Leone (nine maps, enlargeable to high res. - the Sierra Leone web) {July, 2010}
Sierra Leone, Series G541, 1:125,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1942- (high res. images - University of Texas Libraries) {April,
2010}
South Africa (28 maps, of the African continent or southern Africa, enlargeable to medium to high res., with a heavy watermark,
accompanied by descriptions - Digital Fine Art for the National Library of South Africa) {March, 2004}
South Africa, Series Z501, 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1954- (includes all or part of Basutoland, Rhodesia and
Nyasaland, South Africa, South West Africa, Swaziland, Republic of the Congo; high res. (though slow-loading) images,
covering 24 cities - University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
Tunisia City Plans, U.S. Army Map Service, 1942-1943 (high res. (though slow-loading) images, covering nine cities -

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 University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}
West Africa. 'Cartas, diagramas e informação geográfica. 6/ Cartografia antiga' (a selection of medium res., general maps; part
of the Atlas de São Tomé e Príncipe) {May, 2010}
West Africa. French West Africa, 1:200,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1940- (high res. images - University of Texas Libraries)
{April, 2010}
West Africa, Series N504, 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1955- (includes all or part of Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Upper
Volta; high res. (though slow-loading) images - University of Texas Libraries) {May, 2007}

Islamic mapping, see under that heading in the Images and Text sections

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