This mid-18th-century map of Africa includes fictitious place names that are often found in African maps of this era, such as the mysterious and mostly unexplored interior regions here called Monomotapa and Monoemugi, located in southern Africa. Monomotapa, far from being the name of a nation, was in fact the name used for the leader of the Makaranga tribe that lived in south central Africa. For reasons unknown, it became a standard geographical designation during this period and is found on numerous maps of southern Africa as the name of a nation, not of a person. While the interior parts of Africa were still relatively unknown to Europeans during the mid-18th century, maps from this time period show relatively accurate information for the coastal areas. In addition, the Cape Verde and Canary Islands, which were well known to the Europeans, are fairly accurately depicted in the northwest corner of this map.
IIIF Manifest