Index
If you have ever done any research into African history I'm sure you have quickly come to realize how frustratingly hard it is to find good maps, if any at all. Maps are often hidden in academic articles, ancient blogs or buried in archives and it is a very time consuming process to find them. So the aim of this thread is to collect and organize these maps we do find and make them easily accessible for people that are interested in African history or people that would like to make Africa in their maps a little less bland.
I hope this thread comes to inspire more people to learn about the history of Africa and aids in the diffusion of knowledge of the continent and its peoples. Its such an amazingly diverse and fascinating part of the world with a huge potential for good story telling and really deserves a lot more attention than its currently getting.
If you have anything to contribute, be it maps, sources, texts or interesting anecdotes please do so!
ARCHIVES AND HELPFUL SITES
INDEX
General
Northern Africa
I hope this thread comes to inspire more people to learn about the history of Africa and aids in the diffusion of knowledge of the continent and its peoples. Its such an amazingly diverse and fascinating part of the world with a huge potential for good story telling and really deserves a lot more attention than its currently getting.
If you have anything to contribute, be it maps, sources, texts or interesting anecdotes please do so!
ARCHIVES AND HELPFUL SITES
- Basler Mission Archive: features a huge collection of historical maps showcasing native polities, ethnic regions and many interesting photographs and images from as early as 1550.
- Worldstatesmen: for many countries there is a section named "traditional states" which list native states and their rulers (including their traditional titles, extracted from rulers.org), great place for getting an overview.
- ethnia: among many other things this site lists native polities and organizations that existed within colonial or modern states from 1900 until today. Sadly it has a tendency for breaking.
- porodicnoporeklo: a Russian blog giving a comprehensive overview of east African monarchical titles, pretty legible when translated through google translate.
- gulf2000: a great resource on the modern islamic world. Its mostly focused on the Middle East but there are some maps on western and northern Africa
INDEX
General
Northern Africa
- Morocco, 1956, Spanish administration of northern Morocco
- Algeria, 1771, Eyalet of Algeria
- Mauretania, (?), Colonial divisions
- Mauretania, Senegal & Mali, 1891, French expansion and protectorates northern West Africa
- Mali, (?), Colonial divisions
- Ivory Coast & Burkina Faso, 1944, Colonial divisions
- Burkina Faso, 1895, Mossi Kingdoms
- Liberia, (?), Treaties defining the Liberian border
- Ghana, (?, ~1890), Gonja Kingdom
- Ghana, (?, ~1890), Kingdoms of the Upper Volta
- Togo, 1907, Grosser Deutscher Kolonialatlas (2 sheets)
- Nigeria, (?, ~1890), Sokoto Caliphate and its Emirates
- Nigeria, 2020, Ethnic and religious distribution
- Kongo, (?), People and Kingdoms of central Kivu
- Kongo, 1963, Kingdoms of the Tio
- Angola, (?), Main migratory movements
- Angola, (?), Tribal groups in southern Angola
- Angola, ~1500, Ndongo Kingdom
- Angola, 1500-1800, Kongo Kingdom
- Angola, 1830-1902, Portuguese occupation of Angola
- Angola, 1949, Tribal groups in central-western Angola
- Angola, 1960, Colonial divisions
- Uganda, 1901, Buganda, Toro, Ankole (Nkore) and Busoga Kingdoms and their counties
- Uganda, 1902-1926, Borders of the British Uganda Protectorate
- Zambia, 1934, Tribal and linguistic groups and native reserves
- A blog on the history of the tribes and peoples of Zambia: https://traditionalzambia.home.blog/general-stuff/about/
- Tanzania, 1906, Grosser Deutscher Kolonialatlas (9 sheets)
- Tanzania, (?, at least 1800), Ufipa Kingdoms
- Mozambique, 1650, Maravi Empire
- Malawi, 1875, Ngoni, Yao and Swahili States
- Madagascar, 1500-1850, Sakalava Kingdoms
- Madagascar, 1894, Merina Kingdom
- Namibia, 1885, Lüderitzland
- Namibia, 1900-14, British Walfish Bay & Penguin Islands
- Namibia, 1900 & 1901, Ethnic map and native land ownership
- Namibia, 1947 & 1971, Ovambo Kingdoms before and after the implementation of the Ovambo Homeland
- Namibia, 2000, traditional court authority of the Caprivi Kings
- South Africa/Botswana, 1885-1894, Expansion of British South Africa
Last edited: