Africa 1852

This map of Africa is from “The College Atlas” by H.G. Collins, 22 Paternoster Row, London, which was published in 1852. The descriptive text that follows is compiled from the “Universal Gazetteer and Geographical Dictionary" published by John Thomson & Co, Edinburgh in 1843.

Africa, one of the great divisions of our globe. Africa was known to the Greeks and Romans; to the former by the name Libya, to the latter by that of Africa. The Romans had settlements along the northern coast. One of these they named Africa, a name which ultimately designated the whole continent. The enormous peninsula of Africa joins the continent of Asia at the isthmus of Suez; at two other points, the Straits of Babel Mandeb and those of Gibraltar, it approaches close to the continents of Europe and Asia. The equator cuts it into two masses of unequal magnitude. The geographical position and coast line of Africa lie for the most part within the tropics. Its northern shores are washed by the Mediterranean, which present many indentations. The gulf of the Arabs of Siara, and that of Cabes, all along this coast, is the region most favourable for the habitation of man on the African continent. Only one river of any considerable magnitude, the Nile, flows from the African continent into the Mediterranean. The streams that flow from the Atlas mountains are numerous, but do not contain great volumes of water. The greatest stream is the Molooyah. The Atlantic washes the western coast of Africa, which, within the dominions of Morocco, presents a coast generally low, succeeded in the interior by fertile plains of immense extent. South of the dominions of Morocco, the arid character of the Sahara extends even to the ocean, and continues almost to Senegal. From the river Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope, the coast is pretty well known, but there are large openings which have not been minutely examined; and these may be the mouths of large rivers unknown, which may wash in their progress extensive plains and fertile kingdoms. The great rivers north of Sierra Leone are the Senegal, Gambia, Rio Grande, and the Quorra or Nun. They all convey great bodies of water into the South Atlantic. The great Africa river south of the equator is the Zaire or Congo, which displays the appearance of a very great river at its mouth, but it fast diminishes inland. The other rives between the Congo and the Cape are the Coanz, with the Orange river, and numerous smaller streams of less importance. The Cape Colony is well know but we may remark that the commonly received notion of Africa terminating in a point, needs confirmation and correction. The greatest known river on the eastern coast is the Zambesi, which, although dry in part of the season, is provided with great drains to receive the floods of the rainy months. Further north, near the site of Melmela, are outlets and streams from the interior, and it is thought that the Zebee here ushers its waters into the ocean.