1834 Burr Map of Africa

An interesting example of the 1834 first edition map of Africa by David H. Burr. This is an early 19th century and historically important representation of the continent of Africa. Nineteenth century mapmakers were particularly challenged by the difficult task of deciphering Africa. Despite a fairly constant flow of information about the continent dating to the middle ages, much of the interior remained speculative at best. Burr chooses to leave much of the interior blank and instead focuses known areas, or more precisely, areas perceived to be known. These include Mediterranean North Africa, Egypt, Abyssinia, the western Niger valley, the Congo, South Africa, and the lands of Mozambique and (Zimbabwe).

Each of these regions have their own unique history of European contact. Egypt, along the Nile, had been well mapped even in antiquity. The same is true of Christian Abyssinia which, through regular contact with the Coptic mother church in Egypt and Portuguese missionaries, was well known, if mostly unexplored by Europeans. The tale of European incursion and occupation of South Africa could easily encompass volumes and explains Burr’s sophisticated mapping of this region. The Niger Valley and the Congo had been simultaneously exploited and explored by Portugal and later Belgium since the 1300s.

Mocaranga or Monomotapa, opposite the island of Madagascar, was a major stopping point on the Portuguese trade routes to India. Curiously this region has also been associated with King Solomon's Mines and Biblical legends of the Land of Ophir. Bradford identifies Monomotapa, which by this time had long fallen into decline. He also identifies several of its constituent states including Manica, Sabia, Botanga and Sofala.

The remaining parts of the map are frequently quite vague. North of the Mocaranga region we can find the embryonic mapping of Lake Maravi, a long narrow lake oriented on a north-south axis. The lake labeled here, but shown as a single line, most likely represents Lake Malawi or Lake Tanganyika, or both. The Ptolemaic Mountains of the Moon are drawn stretching across the central part of the continent with the suggestions that they are the source of several branches of the Nile.

At the time this map was made, the slave trade, thriving since the 5th century was rapidly diminishing due to decreased demand for slaves in the New World, the British outlawing of slavery in 1808, and subsequent diplomatic efforts including treaties with over 50 African rulers outlawing the practice. Many African economies adapted by shifting to the export of mineral and agricultural resources, which led to the European scramble for territory, occupying most of the continent by the end of the 19th century. Europe's colonial interests in Africa haphazardly carved up the continent into unnatural territories, often forcing historic enemies into close proximity and leading to social problems that remain to this day.

According to Ristow, although Burr is credited on the title page, he left this atlas incomplete. He was appointed as topographer to the U.S. Post Office, and of the sixty-three maps finally included in this atlas, only completed eight. The rest of the maps were then completed by Illman and Pilbrow in Burr's style. This map was published by D. S. Stone in Burr’s 1835New Universal Atlas.