1707 J. B. Homann Africa (First Plate)

This is the scarce first plate of Johann Baptist Homann's 1707 map of Africa in a beautiful early strike, with rich, original color. Here, Homann attempts to reconcile the discovery of Lake Tana in Abysinna (source of the Blue Nile) with established Ptolemaic geography - and, in doing so, commits a grave error!

A Closer Look

This map follows the typical conventions of the period, ultimately derived from Frederic de Wit's 1670 map. Typical of the period, there is a sharp contrast between the strong understanding of Africa's coast and the deep ignorance of the interior. On the west coast, several Dutch trading stations, including Fort Nassau and Acara, are noted. In the Atlantic (Oceanus Aethiopicus), the apocryphal island of Nuestra I. de Santa Helena, a common feature of contemporaneous French maps by Sanson and others, is identified.

The Source of the Nile

Following De Wit, the Nile here follows the Ptolemaic model, drawing its waters from two great lakes in the southern part of the continent, Zembre (Lake Zaire) and Zaflan. At the end of the 17th century, corrections were made to this model: in 1678, Parisian mapmaker DuVal identified the source of the Blue Nile at Lake Tana on his four-sheet map of the continent. De Fer, Coronelli, and others followed suit. Most based their depiction of Lake Tana on the cartography of the German orientalist Job Ludolf (1624 - 1704), published in 1683 by his son Christian. The peculiar, heart-shaped depiction of Lake Tana, near the Amara Kingdom, used by Coronelli and most other contemporaries reveals Ludolf's similarly-shaped depiction of the lake as their source. DuVal modeled his 'bean-shaped' lake after the 1674 map of Jesuit Francisco Eschinardi.

Homann's model for Tana also appears to draw loosely on Eschinardi's bean-shaped model. Its placement, however, is unlike any other map we have encountered. DuVal, Coronelli, and De Fer all place their Lake Tana and Kingdom of Amara more or less correctly in East Africa, north of the Equator and east of the course of the White Nile. Homann, unwilling to discard the Ptolemaic model, places the Kingdom of Amara and the source of the Nile to the south of the western Ptolemaic lake: an error upwards of two thousand miles.

Homann marches into this error boldly, but not entirely without support: in an address to the reader (at the left of the map), Homann decries Ludolf's model directly:

Ludolph has hitherto followed the matter incautiously, in that he has incorrectly assigned the origin of the Nile in his recent maps with a new system. We attribute the authority for this to the most esteemed Reverend Father Heinrich Scherer, S.J., a very celebrated geographer, who, from the true accounts of the missionary fathers of his Society, has provided us with this outline of both the White and Blue Nile, the shape of which we have set here...

Homann's map thus incorporates the new details provided by Ludolf and Eschinardi, but places them as per Scherer's much less-detailed works. Versions of the map re-engraved by Homann's successors as early as 1715 preserve Homann's retrograde efforts. By the time Homann Heirs were publishing the atlas, they had replaced this with an entirely new map based on that of De l'Isle, dispensing entirely with the Ptolemaic lakes, placing Lake Tana correctly in Abyssinia at the head of the Blue Nile.

A Superb Cartouche

The engraver, Johann Christian Marchand, may well have composed the dramatic cartouche - he was an artist and illustrator in his own right. It combines exotic African imagery with religious motifs and allusions to riches. Surmounting the cartouche, three putti perform a missionary allegory: one brandishes a crucifix while gesturing to the brilliant sun breaking the clouds; a second, convinced, clasps his hands in prayer. A third gazes at the moon instead. In the background, to the right, a crowd of apes clamor. To the far right is a vignette of the Pyramids. To the left (ironically, well away from the Pyramids) a band of voyagers are shown discovering the source of the Nile. In the foreground, a group of Africans adorned with bracelets sit amongst elephant tusks, a giant tortoise, and many lurking serpents. To the lower right is another wonder: a ram with a tail so heavy with fat - eighty pounds, according to the medieval explorer and writer Leo Africanus - that it must be dragged along on a little cart.

Publication History and Census

This is the first plate of the map. It was engraved by Johann Christoph Marchand as early as 1702 for inclusion in planned Neuer Atlas. This first version, engraved as early as 1702, remained in the Homann atlas until at least 1710. By 1715, a completely re-engraved second plate began to appear. It is easily identifiable by the elimination of Marchand's imprint and changes in decorative detail, but we observe no changes in the geography of these two plates. In about 1726, Homann's son Johann Christian produced a further state, including the Imperial Privilege. The present example is from a 1710 edition of the Neuer Atlas. In its many editions, the map is well represented in institutional collections, and versions of the map appear on the market. However, there is no complete census of individual states and plates, so the dating of these pieces is difficult to determine without examination of the maps themselves.