1. A recent contribution to African historical cartography by Wallis, Hellen is entitled “So Geographers in Afric-Maps,” The Map Collector, 35(1986), 30.Google Scholar

2. Alexandre, Pierre, “Sur quelques problèmes pratiques d'onomastique africaine: toponymie, anthroponymie, ethnonymie,” Cahiers d'études africaines, 23(1983), 175, 185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Notable exceptions are Randies, W. G. L., “South East Africa and the Empire of Monomotapa as Shown on Selected Printed Maps of the 16th Century,” Studia, 2(1958), 103–63Google Scholar; idem in Imago Mundi, 13(1956), 69-88; Person, Yves, “Dauma et Danhome,” JAH, 15(1974), 547–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. A substantial publication in the field of African historical cartography is Kamal, Youssouf, Monumenta Cartographica Africae et Aegypti, ed Wieder, F. C. (Cairo Leiden, 1926–1951), 16 vols.Google Scholar To this may be added the publications in the series Mémoires de la Société royale de Géographie d'Egypte by Roncière, Charles Bourel de la, La découverte de l'Afrique au Moyen Age vol. 5-6(1925)Google Scholar; vol. 13(1927); and by Kammerer, Albert, La Mer Rouge, l'Abyssinie et l'Arabie 15(1929); 16(1935); 17(1947-1952).Google Scholar Not less substantial is Avelino Teixeira da Mota's work on the Portuguese contribution to the cartography of Africa. A recent African study is Fall, Yoro K., L'Afrique à la naissance de la cartogarphie noderne: les cartes majorquines XIV-XV siècles (Paris, 1982).Google Scholar

5. Northern or Mediterranean Africa is here left out of account as this part of the continent holds a special position because of classical and Arabic cartography.

6. Facsimiles of several fifteenth and sixteenth-century editions of Ptolemy have been published, e.g. Cosmographia-Weltkarten, Pagani, Lelio (Wùrzburg, 1977)Google Scholar; Skelton, R. A. wrote the introduction to the following facsimile editions: Cosmographia-Roma 1478 (Amsterdam, 1966)Google Scholar; Geographia-Venice 1511 (Amsterdam 1969)Google Scholar; Geographia-Strassburg 1513, (Amsterdam, 1964)Google Scholar; and to Ptolemy, Sebastian Münster's edition Geographia-Basle 1540 (Amsterdam, 1966).Google Scholar An anastatic print of Gerard Mercator's Ptolemy edition appeared in 1964 at Brussels Tabulae Geographicae Cl:Ptolemaei ad mentem autoriṡ ṙestitubavȧe & emendatae per Gerardum Mercatorem Illustriss: Ducis Cliviae &c cosmographum (1578). For studies about Ptolemy's geography of Africa see Roscher, Albrecht, Ptolomaeus und die Handelsstrassen in Central-Afrika. Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung der ältesten uns erhaltenen Weltkarte (Gotha, 1857)Google Scholar, reprint in Acta Cartographica 14(1972), 195–313Google Scholar; Schlichter, Henry, “Ptolemy's Topography of Eastern Equatorial Africa,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Soc 13(1891), 513–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar, reprint in Acta Cartographica, 1(1967), 440–74Google Scholar; Mauny, Raymond, “L'Ouest africain chez Ptolémée (vers 141 J.C.),” Discursos, 1(1950), 239–93Google Scholar; de Sazagan, G., “L'Afrique intérieure d'après Ptolémée,” Annales de Géographie, 62(1951), 110–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7. See, e.g. Biasutti, R., “La carta dell'Africa di G. Gastaldi (1545-1564) e lo sviluppo della cartografia nei secoli XVIe XVII,” Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana 5/9(1920), 327-46, 387–436.Google Scholar The geographical work by the Venetian Sanuto was an improtant source in the seventeenth century for the knowledge of Africa. Skelton, R. A. edited a facsimile edition of Livio Sanuto, Geografia dell'Africa - Venice 1588 (Amsterdam, 1965).Google Scholar

8. See Cortesão, Armando and Mota, Avelino Teixeira da, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, 5 vols., Lisboa, 1960.Google Scholar

9. See da Mota, Teixeira, Toponimos de origem portuguesa na costa ocidental de Africa. Desde o Cabo Bojador ao Cabo de Sont Caterina (Bissau, 1950).Google Scholar

10. For a succinct survey see de Vrij, Marijke, The World on Paper; a Descriptive Catalogue of Cartographical Material Published in Amsterdam During the Seventeenth Century (Amsterdam, 1967).Google Scholar

11. See Koeman, C., Joan Blaeu and His Grand Atlas (Amsterdam, 1970).Google Scholar

12. Koeman, C., The Sea on Paper. The Story of the Van Keulens and Their ‘Seatoroh’ (Amsterdam, 1972).Google Scholar

13. According to the eighteenth century French slave trader Van Alstein, Dutch charts were considerably more reliable for navigation along the African west coast than the French ones; Everaert, John, De Franse slavenhandel: organisatie, conjunctuur en sociaal milieu van de driehoekshandel, 1763-1793 (Brussels, 1978) 80.Google Scholar

14. See e.g. Vossius, Isaacus, De Nili et aliorun fluminum origine (Hagae Comitis, 1666)Google Scholar; J. D'Anville, Bourguignon,“Mémoire concernant les rivières de l'intérieur de l'Afrique, sur les notions tirées des anciens et des modernes,” Recueil de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Paris, 1759).Google Scholar

15. For the appearance of these sixteenth-century explorations on maps see Denucé, J., Afrika in de XVIe euv en de handel van Antwerpen, met een reproduktie van de wandkaart van Blaeu-Vaerbist 1644 in 9 folio-bladen(Antwerp, 1937), 59–60.Google Scholar

16. In England the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa was founded in 1788, and succeeded in 1832 by the Royal Geographical Society. In France the Société de Géographie started its publishing activities in 1822. Outstanding is the cartographical work since 1856 published in Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischer Anstalt uber wichtige neve Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann, Gotha, known as Petermxnn's Mitteilungen. See Denis, Jacques, ”L'Afrique centrale en 1876. Etat des connaissances géographiques et cartographiques,” La Conference de Géographie de 1876. Recveil d'etudes (Brussels, 1976), 33–56.Google Scholar

17. A global survey of printed maps has been compiled by Tooley, R. V., Collectors' Guide to Maps of the African Continent and Southern Africa (London, 1969).Google Scholar The same author published in The Map Collectors' Series. London, Early Maps and Views of the Cape of Good Hope (no. 6, 1963); Printed Maps of the Continent of Africa and Regional Maps South of the Tropic of Cancer, 1500-1600 (nos. 29, 30, 1966); Printed Maps of Southern Africa and Its Parts (no. 61, 1970). Other surveys are Cartwright, Margeret Findlay, Maos af Africa and Southern Africa in Printed Books, 1550-1750: A Bibliography (Cape Town, 1976)Google Scholar; Cartwright, Janet Findlay, Maps of Southern Africa in Printed Books, 1750-1856: A Bibliography (Cape Town, 1976)Google Scholar; Gamble, D. P., “Published Charts, Maps and Town Plans of the Gambia,” Sierra Leone Studies, 23(1968), 66–70Google Scholar; Martin, C. G. C., Maps and Surveys of Malawi: A History of Cartography and the Land Survey Profession. Exploration Methods of David Livingstone on Lake ‘Nyassa’: Hydrographie Survey and International Boundaries; Geographical, Environmental and Land Registration Data in Central Africa (Rotterdam, 1980)Google Scholar; Merret, C. E., A Selected Bibliography of Natal Maps, 1800-1977 (Boston, 1979)Google Scholar; Mitchell, P. K., “Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Printed Maps of Sierra Leone: A Preliminary Listing,” Sierra Leone Studies 22, (1968), 60–83Google Scholar; and Pullan, R. A., A First Check-List of the Published Maps of Northern Rhodesia, 1890-1949 (Lusaka, 1978).Google Scholar

18. 1960 Population Census of Ghana (Accra, 1964), 2:12: 4575Google Scholar inhabitants. 1970 Population Census of Ghana (Accra, 1972), 2:6: 5429Google Scholar inhabitants.

19. Half Assini is shown on maps of the Gold Coast made by the French-English Boundary Commission in the years 1883 and 1884, and published as a Confidential Print of the Colonial Office, Public Record Office (PRO), Kew, CO 879/19

20. On Plan des Affluens du Gr. Bassam et d'Assinie dressé au Juillet 1862 par le cap^ne Burnel appears an “alf assinie” situated in Ivory Coast: MS-map in Bibliothèque Nationale (BN), Paris, Cartes et Plans, SH Port. 113, Div. 3, Pièce 28. In 1869 the Dutch commander of Apollonia, J. G. Schnerr, drew his Kaart der gedeelten van de afdeelingen Apollonia en Assinie aan hare W. en 0. grenzen, where on “Half Assini” figured on the same spot as on Burnel's, while the place which is presently called Half Assini was indicated as “Ewianoe:” MS-map in General State Archives at The Hague (ARA), Archief der Nederlandsche Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea (NBKG) 1101. Furthermore, this Ivorian Half Assini was marked on French maps, such as a MS of about 1869 representing the lagoon Ebrié, the river of Grand Bassam, and the Ahy lagoon with the French and Dutch possessions in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, SH Port. 113, Div. 3, Pièce 34, and one of a later date by L. Durême (Levé du lac d'Ahi et de la région d'Assinie) in idem, Sg. D 138.

21. Ackah, J., “Kaku Ackah and the Split of Nzema.” (MA thesis, University of Ghana, 1963), 193.Google Scholar

22. The map of “Guinea” which Willem Blaeu dedicated to the Amsterdam physician Nicolaas Tulp was first published in 1635 as map 197 in Willem and Joan Blaeu's German, Dutch, French, and Latin editions of their New Atlas in Ander Theil Novi Atlantis; 181 in Tweede deel van't Toonneel des aardriix ofte Nieuwe atlas; 194 in Le Theatre du Monde ou Nouvel Atlas …. Seconde Partie; 193 in Theatrum Orbis terrarum Si ve Atlas Novus. Pars Secunda and re-edited later in the Blaeu atlases of 1640, 1642, 1647, 1662, 1665, and 1667. Almost identical to Blaeu's, except for the dedication to Tulp, is Johan Janssonius's map of “Guinea” published a year later in Gerardi Mercatoris et I. Bondii Appendix Atlantis Oder desz Weltbuchs … Anno 1636. This map was published in the several seventeenth-century editions of his Atlas Novus; see Koeman, C., Atlantes Neerlandici-Bibliography of Terrestrial, Maritime, and Celestial Atlasas and Pilot Books, Published in the Netherlands up to 1880 (Amsterdam 1969), 2: entries Me 44 and following.Google Scholar

23. The Eugene or Van der Hem Atlas is a unique collection of maps and topographic illustrations, drawings, watercolors, manuscripts, and prints assembled by the Amsterdam lawyer Laurens van der Hem (1620-1678). This collection, containing maps from the secret archive of the VOC, was bound in 48 costly bindings. In 1730 it was sold to Prince Eugene of Savoy, hence the name Eugene Atlas. In 1737 the atlas was acquired by the Court Library of Vienna, now the National Library of Austria, in which it is entered as “Atlas Blaeu.” Volume 36 has as subject matter West Africa, of which folio 3 is the colored manuscript “Pascaert van Guinea en(de) Angola. Vertoonende de Zeecust van Cabo Verde tot Caap de bonne Espérance,” on which Abianij is marked. See Wieder, F. C., Monumenta Cartographica. Reproductions of Unique and Rare Maps, Plans, and Views in the Actual Size of the Originals; Accompanied by Cartographical Monographs (Hague 1933), 5:182–84.Google Scholar

24. On “Pas Caarte Vande Gryen-Cust en Adaows Qua Quaas Tuhessen de Serraliones en C. de Tres Puntas” published as map no. 3 in the sea atlas De Niewe Groote Lightende Zee-Fakkel, Verthoonende de Zee-kusten van Guinea, Angola, der Caffers en Brazilien … Door Claes Jansz. Vooght Geometra, Leermeester der Wiskonst … 'T Amsterdam, Gedruckt by Johannes van Keulen, Boech- en Zeekaert-verkooper aen de Nieuwe-brugh in de gekroonde Lootsman, 1683, This map was reproduced in the facsimile edition of van Keulen, Johannes and van Keulen, Gerard, De Nieuve Groote Lightende Zeefakkel, Amsterdam 1716-1753 (Amsterdam 1969) III, map 4.Google ScholarAbianij and Abbanij is marked on the chart 'Een Gedeelte van de Kust van Gunea, Van Costa La Hou tot Cabo Trespuntas Vertoonende de Kust van Adaows Costa de Bonnegens en de quaa Quaas Kust, tot Amsterdam by G. van Keulen. “This MS-chart, presumably drawn by Pieter Hinke in 1716, is preserved in University Library of Leiden, Bodel Nijenhuis collection 003-07-023.

25. “Pas Kaert Vertoonend In Twee Deelen de Greyn en Tandt-Cust Alsmeede de Adaows en quaquaas Cust Streckende van St. Anna tot Aen Teene Pequene Niewlyck Uytgegeven By Jacobus Robyn…Anno 1684.” This chart engraved by L. Harrewyn was published in Het Vierde Deel Van de Nievwe Groote Zee-Spiegel Synde Het Tweede Deel Vont' Brandende Veen Verligbende de West Kust van Afrika … Beschreven door Wylen Arent Roggeveen Aº 1685 An English version of this sea-atlas, translated by E. Walton, appeared in 1687 in Amsterdam: Arent Roggeveen and Jacob Robyn, The Burning Fen, Second Part, of which a facsimile edition was published in 1971 at Amsterdam, with an introduction by C. Koeman.

26. J. Elandt,“De Goudkust in Guinea,” colored MS-map in map collection of ARA, VEL 149; J. Leupenius,“De Goudt-Cust van Guinea,” MS-map in ARA, VEL 148.

27. Barbot's map and description of 1688 are preserved in PRO, Kew. The MS-map “Coste d'Or de Guinée” in the Maproom MP 1/631; the MS of “Description des Côtes d'Afrique depuis le Cap Bojador jusques au Cap de Lopo Gonzalves Seconde Partie: contenant la Côte depuis Rio de Sueiro da Costa jusqu'a Rio da Volta,” to which this map belongs, in ADM 7/830 B.

28. Herman Moll was a cartographer of Dutch origin who migrated to England in 1678 where he died in 1732. For the English version of Willem Bosman's Navwkeurige Beschry ving van de Guinese Goud- Tand- en Slavekust, of which the first Dutch edition appeared in 1704 at Utrecht, he drew “A New and Exact Map of Guinea, Divided into ye Gold Slave and Ivory Coast &c. with their several Kingdoms and ye adjacent Countries.” This English edition was published in London in 1705 as A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts … To Which is Prefix'd, An Exact Map of the Whole Coast of Guinea, that was not in the Original

29. In Michael Hemmersam, Guineische und West-Indianische Reiszbeschreibung de An 1639 bisz 1645…, annotated English translation by Jones, Adam, Gernan Sources for West African History, 1599-1669, (Wiesbaden, 1983), 104.Google Scholar It was marked on Willem Blaeu's map of 1635, an earlier mention can be found in the margin of a map of the Gold Coast drawn in 1629, probably by Hans Propheet, which contains the statement: “… het gout dat tot achijne en abenij vijftien mijlen bij westen cabo tres puntas afkomt al Igwijas gout is …”(the gold that comes down to achijne and abenij fifteen miles to the west of cabo tres puntas, is all from Igwi(r)a origin), “Caerte des lantschaps vande goutkust in Guinea,” MS-map in ARA, VEL 743. As part of a double name, like Assany Abane by Hemmersam, Awiane also figures in Eich, Hans Zur, Africanische reiszbeschreibung in der Landschaft Fetu (1659)Google Scholar, which mentions Asine-Abiany; Jones, , German Sources, 261.Google Scholar

30. This spelling occurs in the journal, which was kept in the chief castle of the WIC, Elmina; see entries for 2 June and 10 October 1645, in Ratelband, K., ed., Vijf dagregisters van het Kasteel Sao Jorge de Mina (Hague, 1953) 53, 80.Google Scholar Also in a letter dated 25 May 1690 by Johan Nieman director general of the Brandenburg Company at Gross-Friedrichsburg, to Joel Smits, director general at Elmina: document 72 in Jones, Adam, Brandenburg Sources for West African History, 1680-1700 (Wiesbaden, 1985) 170.Google Scholar Another Dutch source, the attestation by Charles le Petit, dated 18 Dec. 1690, mentioned Abbiné, in Hazewinkel, H. C., “Twee attestaties over de Nederlandsche kolonisatie aan de Goudkust,” Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 53 (1931), 250.Google Scholar

31. “Rapport van den generaal Valckenburgh, September 1659,” MS in the collection of western manuscripts of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land en Volkenkunde (KITLV) Leiden, H 65, f° 385. In “Vertoog of Deductie, opgesteld … door den Directeur-Generaal J. Valckenburgh … Anno 1656 [= 1659[” the spellings Abbinie and Abinie appear side by side: de Jonge, J. K. J., De oorsprong van Neerland's bezittingen op de kust van Guinea (Hague, 1871), 54, 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32. von der Groeben, Otto Friedrich, Guineische Reisebeachreibung (1682–1683)Google Scholar, in Jones, , Brandenburg Sources, 37, 39.Google Scholar

33. Dapper, Olfert, Naukeurige Besahrij vinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten (Amsterdam 1668), F° 431.Google Scholar

34. de Bellfond, Nicolas Villaut, Relation des Costes d'Afrique, appellées Guinée (Paris, 1669), f° 186.Google Scholar

35. Albiani was marked on maps on the African west coast made by the French cartographer Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697-1782), e.g. “Carte particulière de la partie principale de la Guinée située entre Issini et Ardra … Avril 1729,” published in Labat, J.-B., Voyage du Chevalier Des Marohais en Guinée, Isles wisines et à Cayenne, fait en 1725, 1726 & 1727 (Paris, 1730), vol. 2, opp. p. 1.Google Scholar D'Anville's maps were copied by English as well as German editors. For instance this map was copied and supplied with some additions by the English engraver G. Child,“A Map of the Gold Coast from Issini to Alampi by M. D'Anville, April 1729.” Also founded on D'Anville's topography is “Guinea propria nec non Nigritiae vel Terrae Nigrorum maxima pars…” by the German mathematician Joannis Matthias Hase, published by Homann Heirs at Nuremberg in 1743. University Library, Leiden, Mus. Bodell, Port. 181, no. 54. On both maps Albiani is indicated. Albanee appeared on nineteenth century English maps: on a map by Chas. W. Thompson, dated 2 Jan. 1884, Albanee and Half Assinie are different names for the same place, PRO, MPGG 80 (17), and CO 879/19, f° 379. The same double name figured also on “Gold Coast, Assinee - Apollonia,” map added to Report of Boundary Commission, dated 2 April 1884, PRO, MPGG 80 (25), and CO 879/19, f° 452.

36. “Rapport omtrent den staat van het bestuur in de afdeeling Apollonia over het jaar 1868” by the asistent M. E. Reintjes van Veerssen, and “Rapport eener reis van Bein naar de fransche post te Assinie in November 1869” by the resident J. G. Schnerr, ARA, NBKG 1101.

37. Eviano on “Chart of the Gold Coast, Showing French and English Boundary” of 1884 in PRO, MPGG 80 (26) and CO 879/19, f° 513; idem on “Itinéraire de Bammako au Golfe de Guinée à travers les Pays de Kong et du Mossi levé et dressé par le Capitaine L.G. Binger,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie 7/10 (1889) opp. 472.Google Scholar The map produced by the Service géographique des colonies: “Carte du Haut-Niger au Golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi levée et dressée de 1887 à 1889 par L. G. Binger” of 1889, as well as its new edition of 1893, had Ewiano (Half-Aeeinie); and Eviano (Half Assinie) appeared on “Afrika, Bl. 3, bearbeitet von E. Domann,” map no. 71 in Stielers Hand Atlas (Gotha, 1905).Google Scholar

38. As diphthong i a is rather unusual in these languages, but the sequence of these letters in the middle of a word is a regular enough occurrence. Mostly this i a is disyllabic, but, as in Portuguese for instance it can be monosyllabic too under certain conditions, e.g. “diabo” (djaBu) devil.

39. Cf. Christaller, J. G., A Grammar of the Asante and Fante Language, Called Tshi (Chwee, Twi) (Basel, 1875), paragraphs 5 and 6.Google Scholar

40. See notes 31 and 27.

41. That Dapper had access to documents from the archive of the WIC is obvious from his description of the Gold Coast, of which some passages are taken almost literally from the text on “Caerte des lantschaps vande goutkust in Guinea” made in 1629 for the Company's directors, MS in ARA, VEL 743.

42. The same spelling as Dapper's - Albine - was shown on maps as well as in rutters of the several eighteenth-century editions of The English Pilot; see Seller, Jer. and Price, Cha., The Fifth Part of the General English Pilot Describing … the West-Coast of Africa (London 1701), f° 27Google Scholar of the rutter and “A Chart of the Grain Ivory & Quaqua Coasts in Guinea.” Over and above the spelling Abenye j.s shown on “A New Mapp of ye Coast of Guinea from Cape Verd to Cape Bona-Esperanca” in Thornton, John, The English Pilot, the Third Book, Describing … the Oriental Navigation … (London, 1703).Google Scholar Facsimile editions of both volumes of The English Pilot were published in Amsterdam. The third book, with an introduction by Coolie Verner and R. A. Skelton in 1970, and the fifth with an introduction by Coolie Verner in 1973.

43. This historical prefix, a relic of the Arabic article al-, is still found in a number of Portuguese words derived from Arabic like “albornoz,” and “alcada.”

44. See Christaller, Grammar, par. 35.

45. Ibid., par. 119, and idem, Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi (Twi) (Basel, 1933), 346-47.

46. Ackah, , “Kaku Ackah,” 193Google Scholar, Christaller, , Dictionary, 576Google Scholar: awièí “end, finishing,” n'áwièí no,“finally.”

47. The process which constituted the Nzema finally as an ethnic group began in the second half of the eighteenth century, when the merchant ruler Amihere Kpanyile (ca. 1750-1779) held sway over the coastal region between the rivers Ankobra and Tano. This process probably also included the formation of a distinct language, Nzeme. Contemporary, a parallel development took place in the north of the present republic Togo and northeast Ghana, to which territory the Chakosi or Anufom migrated about 1740 from the Komoé area in Ivory Coast. There they formed a distinct ethnic and linguistic community. Genetically the languages Chakosi and Nzeme are closely related since both belong, along with Anyi-Bawule and Ahanta, to the so-called Bia languages in the Tano subgroup of the Akan or Volta-Comoe language family. See Stewart, John M., “Niger-Congo Kwa,” Current Trends in Linguistics, 7 (1971) 179–212Google Scholar; Fivaz, Derek and Scott, Patricia E., African Langvages (Boston 1977), 29.Google Scholar

48. Adam Jones has suggested that the word Awiane/Abiani is composed of Abi, the name of a lagoon in present eastern Ivory Coast, and ano “mouth,” meaning that the place was situated at a former outlet of the Abi-lagoon into sea (written communication dated 26.8.87). This etymology matches excellently with the nineteenth-century form of the toponym Eviano. A comparative linguistic study may give a decisive answer as to whether ne/ni of Abiani/Awiane is derived from the same protoform as no in Eviano.

49. See note 20.

50. “Map of coastal area between Assini and Beyin, showing regions and the name of the king of each region. Signed J.S. 25 Jan. 1884,” PRO, MPGG 80(22). “J. S.” is Jacob Simons, born in 1844 at Elmina; originally he was an official of the Dutch government and joined the British colonial service after the Dutch left the Gold Coast.

51. Survey of Ghana, Africa 1: 250,000; Sheet Prestea.

52. See note 35.

53. See note 20.

54. See note 37.

55. See note 50.

56. See Mason, C. Irene, “Gold Coast Place-names,” West African Review, 23 (June 1952), 603.Google Scholar

57. In Egwira, a region to the north of Axim, were, for instance, two goldminers' villages in 1859, which lay at a distance of about one-quarter of a hour from each other and both were called Etsi-ase, A special case was that of a settlement far upcountry in the same region named Cornantijn because its founder had been a runaway pawn of a Fante trader from Cormantijn (Kromante) on the coast; see survey of the district of Axim by J. Vitringa Coulon, ARA, Archief Ministerie van Koloniën 956, Verbaal 25 Juni 1860, No. 22. Well known are a number of villages along the coast all named Akyenim (Atjenim, Adjenim, etc.) meaning “salt,” of which the former inhabitants lived by salt-making.

58. See, e.g., Pieter de Marees, who wrote “so it is the practice of the Dutch that we begin to reckon or name the Gold Coast from Cabo de Tres Puntas up to Rio de Volta,” a sentence which was elsewhere reiterated in his Beschryvinge ende Historische verhael vant Gout koninckrijck van Gunea, andres de Goutcuste de Mina genaemt (Amsterdam, 1602) fols. 39, 113.Google Scholar The text on the backside of Janssonius's map of “Guinea,” published in 1638 at Amsterdam in his Niewen Atlas o fte Werelts Besckpyvinge stated that “the Coast from Cabo de Tres Puntas to the River Benin, or Rio de Lagos, is called the Gold Coast.” Ruyters, Yet Dierick, Toortse der Zee-Vaert (Vlissingen 1623), f° 306 (re-edited by S.P. L'Honoré Naber [Hague 1913] 72)Google Scholar has the Gold Coast to begin at “Rio de Sueyro in the west and ends at the Mountain Berequi, where Cabo das Redas is, 18 miles to the east of Cabo Corso.”

59. See note 22. Besides achijne mentioned on the MS-map of 1629 and Ashini by Willem Blaeu, Assini was spelled various ways in the seventeenth century. For instance Assine on the “Pascaert van Guinea …” in Eugene's Atlas, vol 36 f° 3 (see note 23); Asbini by Villault de Bellefond, f° 185 (see note 34); Isignay on Leupenius's MS-map (see note 26); Barbot wrote Iseny (see note 27) and Robijn marked Asenee (see note 25); further Isigny, Assinie, Asseny, Issigay, and Issyny appeared in the texts by Ducasse (1687-1688), Tibierge (1692), D'Amon and Loyer (1702), published in Roussier, Paul, L'éstablissement d'Issiny, 1687-1702 (Paris, 1935).Google Scholar The same accounts for Blaeu's Tobo, which Barbot recorded as “Tebbo o u Tabo,” PRO, ADM 3/830 B, Dapper as Taboe, f° 431, and Tabbo was marked on Sanson d'Abbeville's map “L'Afrique ou Lybie ulterieure ou sont Le Saara, ou Desert le pays des Negres La Guinee et les Pays circon.” edited by Mariette, Pierre (Paris 1655)Google Scholar, copy in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, Ge DD 11468. This map is reproduced in Ogunshaye, F. A., “Maps of Africa 1500 - 1800: A Bibliographical Survey,” Nigerian Geographical Journal, 7 (1964).Google Scholar

60. “Effigies ampli Regni auriferi Guineae in Africa siti, extensum inde ab insulis Atlanticis, vulgo dictis, de Cabo Verde: ad flumen Benin usque, ad cujus ripam sita est Regia urbs et magna Benin, atque inde ad Promontorium Lopi Gonsalvi, delineata per S. Rovelascum et politioribus lineamentis figurata per Ludouicum Texeram, protocosmographum Regis Hispaniarum. Eodem anno editus est liber, amplam harum regionum descriptionem continens, per P.D.M.” This map, engraved by the Dutch mapmaker Baptist van Deutecum, was originally intended to be published in 1602 in Pieter de Marees's Beschryvinge, as may appear from its title (see note 58). However, it was not published before about 1643 by Hugo Allardt at Amsterdam, copies in University Library of Amsterdam: OK 132; Maritiem Museum ‘Prins Hendrik’ at Rotterdam: WAE 717, and British Museum, Maps 64990 (9); a later edition was by Hugo's son Carolus Allardt (1648-1706), copy in University Library of Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 181, No. 46. See Cortesao, and da Mota, Teixeira, Monumeenta, 3:ff 67–70, Plate 362D.Google Scholar

61. Petrus Plancius map of about 1592 “Haec Tabella hydrographice oras maritimas Africae a promontorio dicto Capo de Cantin, Angolam usque ob oculos ponit,” copy in Maritiem Museum ‘Prins Hendrik,’ Rotterdam: WAE 684b; map of “Guinea” in 2^nd book, f° 27, and “Beschryvinghe van Guinea,” f° 28, in Caert-Thresoor, Inhovdende de ta felen des gantsche Werelts Landen met beschry vingen…, Tot Middelburgh, By Barent Langenes (1598)Google Scholar; map 126, entitled “Guineae Nova Descriptio” in Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas sive Cosnographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura …, Excusum in aedibus Iudoci Hondij Amsterodami 1606; the map on f° 652 and “Descriptio Guineae” on fols. 653-54, book V of P. Bertij Tabularum Geographicarum contractarum Libri septem, Amsterodami, Sumptibus et typis aeneis Iudoci Hondij, Anno 1616. Nor were these places marked on the map of “Guinea” by Petrus Kaerius which Joh. Janssonius published at Amsterdam in 1634, copy in University Library of Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 181, No. 53.

62. The river is named after the Portuguese explorer Soeiro da Costa, who reconnoitered the African west coast for king Afonso V about 1462; see Pereira, Duarte Pacheco, Esmeraldo de situ orbis, trans, and ed. by Kimble, G. H. T. (London, 1937) 116.Google Scholar Cape Apollonia, situated at 5° 00' latitude north and 2° 40' longitude west, is but a ridge of inland hills extending to the coast, presently called Apollonia Hummocks. It was named by the Portuguese, who discovered this coastal region on the name day of S. Apollonia (9 February), probably in 1471. On early maps this pseudo-cape was called Serra de S. Appotonia, such as the one by M. Waldseemuller of 1507; see Kamal, , Monumenta, 5/1:1514.Google Scholar Teixeira's map (see note 60) has M. de S. Aplonga.

63. loni is marked on the MS map by J. Elandt (see note 26); and Jonij in “Rapport Valckenburg, Sept. 1659,” f° 385, in KITLV, H 65. According to both the map and the report, this river discharged into sea to the west of Assini.

64. For instance, in 1869 the Dutch commander Schnerr reported that in his overland journey from Beyin to Assini, he had not found the Uaniriver, which was marked on a recent French map by Burnel (see notes 36 and 20). A large river also could take a new course: in the 1770s the director general of the WIC proposed to rebuild the old dilapidated fort at Shama on a new site, so that it would again have command over the river Pra, since that river's mouth had shifted to the east some years back: “Memorie betreffende de Portugeesche Handel op de Kust van Guinea,” undated MS(± 1771) in University Library of Leiden, MSS - BPL 937.

65. About 1507 Duarte Pacheco Pereira reported on Rio de Mayo: “the mouth of this river is not large and the country is very low, marshy and well-wooded. We know nothing of what trade there may be in this country, but only know that it is densely populated … From Rio de Mayo to Rio de Soeyro is ten leagues,” Esmeraldo, 116.

66. The former Assini river got silted up in the course of the eighteenth century. The present connection between the lagoon and the sea was caused in 1942 by a breaking through from the seaside, which has had drastic consequences for the level and quality of the water as well as the lagoon's fauna (Communication by P. van Leynseele).

67. “Carte de la Côte de Guinée et du pays, autant qu'il est connu, depuis la Riviere de Serre-Lione, jusqu'à celle des Camarones. Par le S^r D'Anville, Géographe Ord^re du Roi Juillet 1729” published in Labat, , Voyage, 1:1.Google Scholar

68. “The old Portuguese maps give a much more extended course in the interior lands to the river named Sueiro da Costa which may rather concur with the River of Issini than with the small river, that Dutch reports mark thereabout”. As to the Dutch rutters see, among others, Johannes van Keulen, who reported: “Rio de Suetro de Costa [is] een kleyn rivierken, dat noord oost in loopt en dat men uit de west koomende bequaam open in sien kan” (R.d.S.D.C. is a rivulet, that streams from the north-east which can be easily seen if you come from the west) in “De Tweede Verthooninge van de Zee-kusten van Manigueta en Qua-quaas tusschen C. Tagrin en C. Tres Puntas” in De… Zee-Fakkeļ, 't Vijfde Deel, f° 9.

69. See Roussier, , Etablissement, 7.Google Scholar

70. For instance a MS map entitled “De Goutkust van Guinea” made about 1660 and preserved in ARA, Archief van de Staten Generaal 12571 - 38¹, has Rio Mansu incolis Siana; the same nomenclature, viz. Siana, Rio Mancu appears on a MS map of the same period by J. Elandt (see note 26). Siana is the autochthonous name of the river Ankobra (Bowdich, T.E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee [London, 1819] 168Google Scholar where it is spelled as Seënae.) Confusing are the indications on “Pascaert van Guinea …” in Eugene's Atlas (see note 23): in all probability it has R. da Cobra and Rio Mansion interchanged, as the mouth of R. da Cobra was indicated near to the east of C. de St. Apolonia, while further to the east of the latter river and to the west of Axem, a watercourse Rio Mansum was drawn as coming from far upcountry. About the same picture as appears on the map in Eugene's Atlas can be found on Jacobus Robijn's “Pas Kaert … quaquaas Cust” (see note 25) and on Seller and Price's “Chart of … Quaqua Coasts” (see note 43). The MS map “Van Costa La Hou tot Cabo Trespuntas” by G. van Keulen (see note 24) mentioned Rio Cobra of Cabra of Rivier van Manou of Rivier van Ankoepere. Finally, the map by D'Anville, dated April 1729 (see note 35) had about the height of the Amanzuri-river the hydronym Rio Manco and to the east of that river Rio Cobre ou Ankobar.

71. “Plan de la rivière d'Isiny, située au dit Royaume à la Coste d'or en Affrique par Jobet” in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, SH Port. 113, Div. 3, Pìece 20 D. Jobet was a pilot of the ship Poly, which took part in the expedition to Assini and Cayennes by Chevalier Damon in 1701-02; see Roussier, , Etablissement, xxvi.Google Scholar

72. Loyer, Godefroy, Relation du Voyage du Royaume d'Issyny Côte d'Or, Païs de Guinée en Afrique (Paris, 1714)Google Scholar, of which the chapter “Issyny Royaume de la Côte d'Or: Pourquoi a-t-il changé de lieu et comment” is reprinted in Roussier, , Etablissement, 108–235.Google Scholar

73. Guiono or Gioumray --another spelling is Jumoré--appears as a name of both a region and a settlement. The Dutch considered it the most westerly territory of the Gold Coast under their jurisdiction by right of conquest over the Portuguese; see “Deductie van de Genl. Valckenburgh over de disputen met de sweeden, 1 January 1657,” ARA, Archief van de oude West Indische Compagnie (oWIC) 13, f° 325. Six headmen of that country had put themselves under the authority of the WIC; see “Acte van Cessie en opdragt des landschaps Jumoree … 16 January 1657,” ARA, NBKG 222. On Dutch MS maps of about 1660 it was marked as a settlement near Cape Apollonia: Iumore on the Gold Coast map, ARA, Archief van de Staten Generaal 12571 - 38¹, and Jumore on the maps by Elandt as well as by Leupenius (see note 26). Dapper stated; “In the village Iemore on the cape of Apoloni the Dutch West India Company has a little lodge for its trade,” f° 433. On the maps of Guinée by D'Anville (see notes 35 and 67) Ghiomer was depicted as a kingdom in the hinterland of Cape Apollonia. However, as a polity it disappeared early in the eighteenth century; see affidavit on the former extent of Jumoré by some headmen of Eguira and Axim, dated May 20, 1769, ARA, Archief van de West Indische Compagnie (WIC) 494, f° 335.

74. The Veteres are marked on the two maps of Guinée which D'Anville made in 1729. For their putative relation to the present Ehotile, see Gabriel Rougerie, , “Lagunaires et terriens de la Côte d'Ivoire,” Cahiers d'Outre-Mer, 3 (1950), 370–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

75. Roussier, , Etablissement, 188.Google Scholar

76. See note 27. This map of 1688 is not included in Penfold, P. A., Maps and Plans in the Publia Record Office, 3. Africa (London, 1982).Google Scholar

77. Barbot, , Description Seconde partie, f° 3.Google Scholar These observations were more extensive and different from those made by Barbot ten years earlier in his journal of 1678/79, MS in British Museum, Add. 28788; see Debien, G., Delafosse, M., and Thilmans, G., “Journal d'un voyage de traite en Guinée, à Cayenne et aux Antilles fait par Jean Barbot en 1678-1679,” Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, 40B (1978) 276.Google Scholar

78. de Bellefond, Villault, Costes d'Afrique, ff. 185–86.Google Scholar

79. For the maps by Teixeira, Blaeu, Van Keulen, and Jobet, see notes 60, 22, 68, and 71. It seems unlikely that Barbot copied his description of the watercourse near Isseny grande from Villault de Bellefond, since on the whole he presented an up-to-date account of this area; see Jones, Adam, “Semper aliquid veteris: Printed Sources for the History of the Ivory and Gold Coasts, 1500-1750,” JAH, 27(1986), 215–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

80. The term “ethnonym” not only includes names of peoples, tribes, clans, etc., but can imply those of autochthonous polities, such as here, for instance, “kingdom of Issyny.” For the problematic of this term in the African context, see UNESCO, Ethnonymes et toponymes africaines (Paris, 1984), 146 ff.Google Scholar

81. One of the earliest mentions of the Adaows Coast appears on the map of Teixeira, who marked Costa dos Alaws between the mouths of R. de S.Andre and R. do soeiro da costa. This coast got the same length on “Paskaert van Guinea …” in Eugene's Atlas, where it was called Coste de bonne gens ó dos Quaquaes ó Adaows. In 1623 Dierick Ruyters gave that name to a more limited coastal tract, as is evident from his Toortse, f° 305 (see note 58): “Van die Sete Aldeas tot Rio de Sueyro is't land ghenaemt Alares” (From the S.A. up to R. de S. the country is named Alares). Sete Aldeas (seven villages) were situated probably about present Grand Lahou and Alares can be considered as a corruption of Alaws. On charts of the latter part of the seventeenth century this coast began to the west of Cap Lahou and then ran eastward up to about Cape Three Points, such as on “Pas Caarte Vande Gryen Cust …” by Johannes van Keulen (see note 24), on which it is named Costa de Bonnegens Adaows, Quaquaas, and on Jacobus Robijn's chart (see note 25), which had Adaous en Qua Qvaas Cust.

82. See, for instance, Samuel Brun's Schiffarten of 1624 in Jones, , German Sources, 64.Google Scholar The term “kouakouas” is still used as a collective noun referring to the different peoples living around the lagoons in southeast Ivory Coast; see Atger, Paul, La France en Côte d'Ivoire de 1843 à 1893 (Dakar 1962) 30–32.Google Scholar

83. See d'Aby, F. J. Amon, Croyances religieuses et coutumes juridiques des Agni de la Côte d'Ivoire (Paris 1960), 127Google Scholar; Mianno, D. Kadja, “Mythe Sanwi de l'origine des clans; essai d'interprétation sociologique,” Annales de l'Université d'Abidjan, Sér. F, 7(1978), 23 ff.Google Scholar In this connection it is worth noting a passage from a report by the Dutch commander of Apollonia, where he related that when in November 1869 he penetrated far into the wood near the Tano-river together with the speaker (okyeame) of Bein, Kofi Blay, the latter suddenly imitated the sound of a dog several times. After some time, barking was heard from the forest from whence two men appeared, who presented Schnerr and his companion with palmwine: Report by Schnerr, dated 18 January 1870, ARA, NBKG 1101.

84. ARA, VEL 743. Soco to the west of the old coastal Accra might be identified with the later Jamestown, and that in the northern hinterland with the former Mande market Begho in northwest Ghana; see Fynn, J. K., Asante and Its Neighbours, 1700 - 1807 (London, 1971), 43.Google Scholar The northern Soco on the 1629 MS map was read by authors such as Dapper on f° 461, and Vooght on Van Keulen's “Pas-caerte vande Goud Cust” of 1684, as Insoko, and Insocco respectively. But the text on the map may be read as follows: “In soco, is geen gout noch handel daervan, maer hebben geestijmeerde kleeden, tapijts gewijs gewrocht die seer onder de aca-nisten geacht sijn, hebben oock paerden, woonen op fortij-fijcatien doch en hebben geen vier geweer” (In soco, there is no gold nor trade thereof, but they have esteemed cloth made in the same way as carpets, which are highly appreciated by the acanists, they have horses too and live in fortifications but they have no fire arms). On Barbot'r map of 1688 a territory to the northeast of Acara is marked as Sòko Regis. This bordered to the north and to east on Accanes Regis, to the west on Ningo Regis, and to the south on an unnamed territory, in which from west to east the towns Ningo, Laij, and Occa were situated on the shore; but within the territory of Acara (Accra) there is no mention of a Soco.

85. See Levtzion, Nehemia, Ancient Ghana and Mali (London, 1973) 167–68.Google Scholar Cf. Delafosse, Maurice, La langie mandingue et ses dialects II, Dictionnaire Mandingue-Français (Paris, 1955) 698.Google Scholar

86. The etymology of “Sakkoo” is not known. Twi has the word “sákoo” meaning “pure, white,” especially said of clothing; see Christaller, , Dictionary, 421.Google Scholar

87. Dapper, f 433, runs as follows: “De landen van Cabo Lahou, of vijf-bants Kust, tot aen Atzijn, worden bestiert door eenen Koning, Sakkoo genoemt, voor wien al d'omleggende lantschappen zeer bevreest zijn, te meer om dat hij een groote Fitissier of Duivel-jager is … In den beginne van Winter-maent zend deze Sakkoo een Kano, na Atzijn, Soma en kleen Komrrany, alle plaetsen op de Goudt-kust gelegen, met eenige zwarten, daer zy eenige toegemaekte stoffen van kruiden, stenen, horens (daer in hun toveryen bestaen) in de zee werpen, en daer by zekere plechtelijkheden van woorden gebruiken: ‘t welk alleen ten dien einde geschiet, op dat de zee van harde travaden stormbuien en hoi water zoude bevrijt blijven. Zoodra deze Kano weer aen Korbi Lahou komt, dan varen de koopluiden met hun kleden af naer de Goutkust, om te verhandelen, doch by beurte, die zy stips onderhouden, zoodat geen andere nochte meer mogen afvaren, alvoorens d'eerste afgevarene te ruch gekomen zijn, tot voorkoning(!) van onderlinge verhindering, indienze alle teffens derwaerts voeren. Voorts hebben in het afvaren de Vijfbants-dorpen de voor-plaets, daer na de Zesbants dor-pen; deze schip-vaert duurt tot in Grasmaent of den aen-vange van Bloeimaent, als wanneer de holle water tijt begint: dan komt de Kano van den gemelden Fetissier Sakkoo wederom, en wort de voorzeide plechtelykheit gebruikt: waer mede de vaert op de Gout-kust voor dat jaer ophout” (The countries from Cabo Lahou or five-band Coast up to Atzijn are governed by a King, named Sakkoo, who is much feared by the neighboring regions, the more so as he is a great Fetishman or Devil hunter ... In the beginning of December, this Sakkoo sends to Atzijn, Soma, and little Kommany, all places situated on the Gold Coast, a Canoe with some blacks who throw there into the sea some stuff fabricated from herbs, stones, horns (of which their magic consists) while pronouncing certain ceremonial expressions. The purpose of this is that the sea might be free from tempests, gales and does not run high. As soon as this Canoe returns to Corbi Lahou, the merchants sail with their cloth to the Gold Coast in order to trade there. However, they go off in turns, which they strictly maintain, so that no one would set sail before the first trading party has returned in order to prevent them from hindering each other, which would be the case if they all together were going off at the same time. Further, the five-band villages have the priority and after them the six-band villages may depart. This traffic goes on until April or the beginning of May, when the time of rough water approaches. Then the Canoe of the above-mentioned Fetish-man, Sakkoo, comes again and the said ceremonies are once more performed, after which the traffic to the Gold Coast is closed for that year.)

88. The nucleus of the Assinis who migrated to the west consisted of a few big merchants with their dependants. They increased their community by the captives they seized on the campaigns in their new territory. The reports by Tibierge (1692), Damon (1698), and Loyer (1702) differ on the size of the population but agree on the relative smallness of their country. Making salt, which was the task of the slaves, and trade, particularly the transit trade of European goods to the markets of their hinterland formed the economic basis of this new polity, which further had a well-organized army provided with firearms; see Roussier, , Etablissement, 63-64, 77, 188–89.Google Scholar

89. Both places were mentioned twice in the margin of the MS map of 1629, under the entries “Igwyra” (see note 29) and “Great Inkassa,” from where its merchants go to Komenda in case no ship lies at the roads of “asijne” or “abenij.”

90. See note 29.

91. See report by Valckenburgh, dated Sept. 1659, KITLV, H 65, f° 385; Dapper f° 432; cf. note 58.

92. See “Deductie … J. Valckenburgh” in De Jonge, , De Oorsprong, 55–56Google Scholar; and Van Dantzig, Albert, “La ‘juridiction’ du Fort Saint Antoine d'Axim” in Le sol, la parole et l'écrit. Mélanges en homnage à Raymond Mauny (Paris, 1981) 2:685–98.Google Scholar

93. From the journals of Elmina castle it appears that in 1645 a considerable part of the gold conveyed to the Dutch fort at Axim came from “Achinee” and “Abbine,” places from which the quaquacloth was also shipped: Ratelband, , Dagregisters, 53, 80.Google Scholar

94. See Hazewinkel, , “Twee attestaties,” Bijdragen, 250Google Scholar; document 72 in Jones, , Brandenburg Sources, 170.Google Scholar Many plans were contrived by the WIC's management in Africa to exclude interlopers and foreign nations from its territory; see e.g. missive from Herman Abramsz. to X, dated 23 Nov. 1679, ARA, Archief Rademacher no. 587, English translation in van Dantzig, A., The Dutch and the Guinea Coast, 1674-1742 Accra 1978, p. 18.Google Scholar

95. Bosman imputed the stoppage of the gold export from the Assini region to the expansion of the bellicose Denkyira people, Nauwkeurige Beschrijving, 4.

96. See note 26.

97. The Report by J. G. Schnerr on his journey from Beyin to Assini in November 1869, (ARA, NBKG 1101) mentioned as consisting of 18 houses and having 100 inhabitants, who got their living by farming (Indian corn, banana), fishing (in the Tano-river), and making salt. The head of this settlement was a cousin of Amakye, the chief of Beyin, who claimed to command the whole of Apollonia or Nzema. In Issinie fifty Asantis sojourned when Schnerr was there. To this village belonged the following settlements: Koeisasoasoe (3 houses, 8 inhabitants), Issinie 2 (3 houses, 6 inhabitants), Issinie-Edsjir (6 houses, 25 inhabitants), and Abakan (3 houses, 6 inhabitants). None of these names figure on the Survey map of Ghana.

98. Many names of places and watercourses mentioned by Schnerr cannot be traced on the Survey map of Ghana. Exceptions are Aloen (Ellonie), Tikobo (Tjikobbo), Kangan (Kanganeh), Nyemanu (Jannenoe), Zinabo (Sinnebo), Bonyeri (Banjereh), Tobo (Tjobo, Etjobo), Epung (Epoem), Epunsa (Epoesaam), Manjia (Maandjio), Efesu (Effehsoe), and Avliun, New Town (A foeljinoe, Dromo, New Town).

99. On the wars in this coastal region at the beginning of the eighteenth century an English captain reported that “… it frequently happened, that some of the Towns that were full of People and flourishing in one Voyage, were deserted and totally destroyed by the next, which was the Year following,” Uring, Nathaniel, A History of the Voyages and Travels of Capt. Nathaniel Uring (London, 1727), 137.Google Scholar I am grateful to Adam Jones, who drew my attention to this source.

100. See, for instance, the entry of 28 December 1678 in Barbot, “Journal,”.

101. See de Laet, Joannes, Historie ofte Iaerlijck Verhael van de Verrichtinghen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie (Leiden, 1644).Google Scholar Re-edited by S. P. L'Honoré Naber (Hague, 1931), 104-12. In ARA a MS view is preserved, made by Hans Propheet in 1629, which pictured the abortive attack by the Dutch on Elmina: VEL 771. In the same year Propheet also drew a view of the Dutch establishment at Mori “T'Fort Nassaauw leggende op de Cust van Africa NNW van u, 4 1/3 graedt,” MS in ARA, VEL 782. On the grounds of these two documents, the anonymous 1629 MS map of the Gold Coast in ARA, VEL 743, is also ascribed to Propheet.

102. ARA, VEL 149. For Elandt, who on the margin of his map styled himself as “Ingenieur en Peterdier der generaliteyt” (Engineer and fire worker in service of the States General), see Teeling, P. S., Repertorium van 0vd-Nederlandse Landmeters, 14e tot 18e ee uw (Hague, 1981), 3, 89, 200, 245.Google Scholar

103. See Van Dantzig, Albert, Les Hollandais sur la Côte de Guinée à l'époque de l'essor de l'Ashanti et du Dahomey 1680-1740 (Paris, 1980), 38–42.Google Scholar

104. Labat, , Voyage, 247.Google Scholar

105. Jones, , Brandenburg Sources, 37-38, 39.Google Scholar

106. See notes 35 and 67. According to tradition the coastal region between present Beyin and Half Assini was formerly called Gwomoro; see J. Ackah, “Kaku Ackah,” Appendices 4 and 6.

107. See Daaku, K. Y., Trade and Polities on the Gold Coast, 1600 to 1702 (Oxford, 1970), 177–78.Google Scholar

108. Bosman, , Nauekeurige Beschryving, 4.Google Scholar

109. Uring, , Yoyages, 136–40Google Scholar, did not mention Abiani when he dealt with this coastal tract. It is not known whether Abiani was allied with Amihere Kpanyili, the founder of the Nzema polity, who together with his brother Buah held sway over the region of Apollonia in the second half of the eighteenth century. After they had repelled a Dutch attack on their territory in 1763, the brothers concluded a treaty with the English on 25 December 1765, by which the latter got permission to build a fortress in Beyin. Of this treaty, signed by “Abuy & Ammoniah & Forty more of the principal people of Appolonia,” only a copy has been preserved, on which the signatories are not specified. Thus we do not know whether the headmen of Abiani were among them: “Copy of a cession of Cape Apollonia to the British Nation,” PRO, CO 388/54, f° 35.

110. “Nieuwe en Naauwkeurige Paskaert van de Guineese Goud, Tand en Slave Kust Strekkende van Sierra Liones tot aan Caap Formosa … te Amsterdam door Joannes van Keulen …” Title also in French. See for particulars on this map published in de… Zee-Fakkel, 't Vy fde Deel of 1738, Koeman, , Atlantes, 4:382.Google Scholar Copies of this map in ARA, VEL 135, and University Library Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 182, No. 9.

111. “Carte de la Barbarie le(!) la Nigritie et de la Guinée. Par Guillaume De l'Isle de l'Académie Royale des Sciences.” De l'Isle (1675-1726) is considered to be the father of modern geography. In the eighteenth century his Africa maps were published, among other places, in atlases produced by the Amsterdam firm Covens and Mortier; see Koeman, , Atlantes 2: 45–49.Google Scholar A copy of this map is in University Library, Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 210, No. 67.

112. For instance, “Partie occidentale d'Afrique ou se trouve les Isles Canaries et du Cap Verd dans le Mer Atlantique, les Etats du Roy de Maroc, les Royaumes d'Alger et de Tunis, le Biledulgerid et le Saara en Barbarie, la Nigritie, et la Guinée” by N. de Fer (1646-1720), published as map 46 in L'Atlas curieux: ou le Monde, Seconde partie (Paris 1701).Google Scholar See Pastoureau, Mireille, Les atlas français XVIe - XVIIe sièoles(Paris, 1984), 167–70.Google Scholar Copy of above map in University Library, Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 180, No. 3. More recent is the map engraved by J. van Schley “Suite de la Coste de Guinée. Depuis le Cap de Palme Jusqu'au Cap des Trois Pointes. Dressée sur les Journaux des Navigateurs. Par N. Bellin Ing^r de la Marine 1746,” published by de Hondt, Pieter in Historische Beschryving der Beizen… Vyfde Deel … Negende Boek, (Hague, 1748), opp. 172.Google Scholar Copy of the map in University Library, Leiden, Mus. Bodell. Port. 182, No. 26.

113. Nicolas Sanson (1600-1667), for instance, did not mention Abiani, but Assine and Tabo; see “L'Afrique, ou Lybie ulterieure ou sont Le Saara, ou Desert le pays des Negres, La Guinee, et les Pays circonv. Tirée en partie de Sanut, et l'Arabe de Nubie; en partie de diverses Cartes vuës jusques a present. La Coste des Negres, et Guinee, &c. est apres les Observations de Samuel Blomart. Par le S. Sanson d'Abbeville Geogr. Ordre du Roy. A Paris, Chez Pierre Mariette…1655,” copy in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, Ge DD 11468; and “La Guinée et pays circonvoisins. Tirés de Mercator de Blommart etc.” published as map 10 in L'Afrique en plusieurs cartes nouvelles, et exactes; & en divers traictés de géographie, et d'histoire…A Parie, chez l'autheur … 1656, in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, Ge FF 8133. See Pastoureau, , Atlas français, 387–90.Google Scholar Likewise the MS map of 1686 by Monségur has Isseny and Tobo, but not Abiani: “Les Costes de la Guinée dans l'Affrique Occidentale par moij de Monségur, dans les voyages que j'ay fait dont le dernier a été cette courante année 1686” in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, SH Port. 111, div. 2, pièce 12bis. Only Iseny appeared on the MS map by Vigneaud “Carte de la Coste de Guinee en 1702. Fait par Vigneaud pilotte sur le navire lamazone de la Compagnie sur la coste. Dessinée en 1699 - 1700 - 1701 et 1702” in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, SH port. 112, div. 2, pièce 6. Both MS maps are reproduced in Ly, Abdoulaye, La Compagnie du Sénégal (Paris, 1958) between 208/81 and 286/87.Google Scholar

114. The Dutch fleet sent out in 1637 from Pernambuco in Brazil in order to conquer Elmina from the Portuguese had orders to wait stealthily at the roads of Abiani until it received the signal for the attack from the Dutch commander at Mori, see Casparis Barlaei Rerum per octennium in Brasilia, et alibi nuper gestarum, sub praefectura Illustrissimi Comitis I Mauritii, Nassoviae, & c. Comitis … Historia, Amstelodami, Ex typographeio Ioannis Blaev 1647, f 55. A Dutch version of this work has been edited by Naber, S. P. L'HonoréCaspar Barlaeus, Nederlandsch Brazilië onder het bewind van Johan Mautits van Nassau, 1637 - 1644 (Hague, 1923).Google Scholar

115. See note 99.

116. See Ackah, “Kaku Ackah,” Appendix 15. According to Nzema oral tradition this incursion took place during the reign of Yanzu Ackah. The date is derived from a Dutch source: Missive from E. L. van Ingen, Axim, to Cmdt. Elmina, dated 10 February 1830, ARA, NBKG 514.

117. “Vieux Issini Ruiné par Dunkiram” marked to the east of Cape Apollonia on a map of 1746 by Bellin (1703-1772) “Suite de la Coste de Guinée. Depuis le Cap Apollonia jusqu'a la Riviere de Volta ou La Coste d'Or. Dressée sur les Journaux des Navigateurs par N. B. Ingr de la Me” published in De Hondt, Beschryving der Reizen… Vijfde Deel … Negende Boek, opp. 249. D'Anville's map of April 1729 (see note 35) had “Vieux Issini ravagé par les Dinkirases et abandoné” as situated to the east of Tabo and close to Cap de Ste Apollonie. Data from eighteenth century literature assimilated with the accounts of oral tradition are presented in Mouëzy, H., Assinie et le royaune de Krinjabo (Paris, 1954), 17–18.Google Scholar

118. See not 102. No more mention of Sumane is found on maps or in the WIC's records after the end of the seventeenth century. Cf. also Tauxier, L., Religion, moeurs et coutumes des Agnis de la Côte d'Ivoire (Indénié et Sanwi) (Paris, 1932), 150–53.Google Scholar

119. See Davids, C. A., Zeewezen en wetensahap: De wetensohap en de ontwikkeling van de navigatietechniek in Nederland tussen 1585 en 1815 (Amsterdam, 1986), 69–85.Google Scholar

120. Cf. Stürenburg, Heinrich, Relative Ortsbezeichnung: zum geographischen Sprachgebrauch der Griechen und Romer (Leipzig, 1932)Google Scholar, and Lewis, G. Malcolm, “Indicators of Unacknowledged Assimilations from Amerindian Maps on Euro-American Maps of North America: Some General Principles Arising from a Study of La Vérendrye's Composite Map, 1728-29,” Imago Mundi, 38 (1986), 9–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In the African context, we may assume that the inland places to which the coastal people referred had a certain significance for them--market towns, stations along trade routes, or important political or religious centers.

121. Geographical particulars for central Africa which became known, probably as a result of sixteenth century explorations, are reported by Duarte Lopes; see de Pigafetta, Filippo, Relatione del Reame di Congo et delle circonvicine contrade tratta della Scritti & ragionamenti di Odoardo Lopez Portoghese (Roma, 1591)Google Scholar; annotated French translation by Willy Bal (Louvain, 1965).

122. Rio Soeiro da Costa has been identified as river Komoé by da Mota, Teixeira, Toponimos, 261–62Google Scholar; Debien, /Delafosse, /Thilmans, , “Journal,” 275Google Scholar; Kea, Ray A., Settlements, Trade, and Polities in the Seventeenth-Century Gold Coast (Baltimore, 1982) 24Google Scholar; and Jones, , Brandenburg Sources, 37Google Scholar; as “rivière Bia ou d'Assinie” by Reichenbach, J. C., “Etude sur le royaume d'Assinie,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 7/11 (1890) 313Google Scholar; and as “fleuve Tanoé” by Mouëzy, , Assinie, 18.Google Scholar

123. See note 68. On G. van Keulen's MS chart “Van Costa La Hou tot Cabo Trespuntas” (see note 24) was marked “Gout Riviertie of Rio de suemo de costa of R. de Sueiro de Costa.” Director-general Willem de la Palma wrote “'t Gout rieviertie da Costa genoemt” in his report on the Dutch attempt to capture Assini, dated 4 November 1702: ARA, WIC 98, f° 67.

124. See Ruyters, Dierick, Toortse (1623), f° 306Google Scholar; “Relation du Sieur Du Casse (1687)” in Roussier, , Etablissement, 7Google Scholar, and Bosman, , who specified “het Goudriviertje drie mijlen bewesten Assiné,” Navwkeurige Beschrijving, 4 (the Gold River three Miles West of Assine).Google Scholar

125. For instance, Riv. de l'Or was marked to the west of Cape Apollonia as the boundary between the territories of Tabo and the kingdom of Guiomeré on the Guinea map by D'Anville of April 1729. G. Child's engraving after this map had R. del Oro (see note 35).

126. See note 70, and Law, Robin, ‘Trade and Politics Behind the Slave Coast: The Lagoon Traffic and the Rise of Lagos, 1500 - 180,” JAH, 24(1983), 325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

127. See Chang, Kuei-Sheng, “Africa and the Indian Ocean in Chinese Maps of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,” Imago Mundi, 24(1970), 21–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

128. See note 24.

129. See Koeman, Cornells and Schilder, Günter, “Ein neuer Beitrag zur Kenntnis der niederländischen Seekartografie im 18. Jahrhundert,” in Kretschmer, Ingrid, ed., Beiträge zur theoretischen Karto graphie-Festschrift fur Erik Amberger (Vienna, 1977), 267–303.Google Scholar

130. See Wieder, F. C., Monumenta 4:136.Google Scholar The Vingboons maps preserved in ARA are published in a facsimile edition: Vingboons Atlas - Atlas van kaarten en aanzichten van de VOC en WIC, genoemd Vingboons-atlas in het Algemeen Rijksarchief te 's Gravenhage (Haarlem, 1981)Google Scholar with Ten geleide by J. van Bracht (Bussum, 1981). Seven Africa maps attributed to Vingboons form part of the Engelbrecht collection of the Maritiem Museum ‘Prins Hendrik’ at Rotterdam: WAE 709a-g. His maps, made for Van der Hem, were entered in Atlas Blaeu, of the Austrian National Library at Vienna (see note 23). The British Library holds fifteen Africa MSS by Vingboons: Add. MS 33976. For a discussion of some specimens of his Africa material see Thilmans, G., “Les planches sénégalaises et mauritaniennes des “Atlas Vingboons” (XVIIe siècle),” BIFAN, 37B(1975), 95–116.Google Scholar

131. ARA, VEL 771; see note 101.

132. “Campement aan Abomossoe-rivier,” sketch in the letter from J. P. T. Huydecoper, Abomossoe, to C. Clock, Axim, dated 31 March 1763, ARA, WIC 928.

133. “Kaart van de Goudkust met deszelfs binnenlanden. H. J. Tonneboeijer fecit 1833,” MS map in ARA, Miko 553, copy Miko 584. Besides these maps about battlefields, there exists another category of military MS maps such as views and plans, which deal with the European defenses in Africa, see e.g. Zandvliet, Kees, “Overzeese militaire kartografie na het echec van 1780-'82: de West en de Kust van Guinea,” Caert-Thresoor 4(1985), 46–53.Google Scholar

134. See Woldan, Erich, “Die ältesten gedruckten modernen Karten Afrikas,” Anzeiger der oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ph-hist. Kl., 118 (1981), 252–57.Google Scholar

135. After the name of the cartographer-designer there sometimes follows an indication like “auctore,” “delineavit,” “descripsit,” or “invenit,” after that of the engraver “sculpsit,” “fecit,” “caelavit,” “incidit,” and printers-publishers are indicated with “excudit,” “formis,” “sumptibus (et typis aeneis),” “apud,” “ex officina.” Different abbreviations appear for these Latin expressions.

136. See note 60.

137. See Ristow, W. W., “Seventeenth Century Wall Maps of American and Africa,” Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, 24(1967), 2–17.Google Scholar

138. See Denucé, , Afrika, 85-92, 97–119.Google Scholar A wall map of Africa made by J. Blaeu in 1659 is in the so-called “Mauritius Atlas,” presently preserved in the German State Library at Berlin, of which a facsimile edition has been published: Atlas des Grossen Kurfürsten, with a commentary by Egon Klemp (Stuttgart, 1971).

139. The map of Guinea which Jacob van Meurs published in 1668 between ff. 380/381 of Dapper's Afrikaeneche Gewesten is almost identical with the Guinea maps by Willem Blaeu (1635) and Janssonius (1636).

140. Examples of relationship between printed and manuscript maps are, for instance, Luis Teixeira's map of Guinea, which is known only in the form of Deutecum's engraving (see note 60) and the MS map of Guinea in Eugene's Atlas, made about fifty years later (see note 23). Except for the topography of the coastal part, the latter is mainly derived from the former. Almost identical with the Gold Coast map of 1629 in ARA, VEL 743, is Johannes van Keulen's “Pascaert vande Goutcust in Guinea. Van C. tres Puntas tot Acara, daermede in verthoont word, alle binnenslands Proventien, wat aldaer voor Coopmanschappen verhandelt wort, alsmede de zeden en manieren der Inwoonders. Alles by de Swarten vant land naeukeurigh ondersogt” published as map no. 4 in De … Zee-Fakkel, 't Vyfde Deel (Amsterdam, 1684).Google Scholar The main differences between these two maps are that the territory of Anta, which appears on the 1629 map, was named Groot Encassa -Govdryck by Van Keulen (Great E., rich in gold), and his additions in the far northwest Tropassa - geeft Paerden (T. supplies horses), and to the south of that region Cleyn Tropassa - ryck in Slaven (Little T., rich in slaves).

141. In the aggregate seven locations in the hinterland were marked with a cross. In his discussion of Teixeira's “Effigies ampli Regni auriferi Guineae,” L'Honoré Naber suggests that these crosses probably refer to “padroes” (boundary markers) of the Portuguese; see his edition of de Marees, Pieter, Beschryvinghe (Hauge, 1912), 284.Google Scholar However, a clue that these crosses point to places yielding gold can be found in the title of the map. Moreover, the same crosses are colored red on the Guinea map in Eugene's Atlas, a red cross being a common symbol for a gold mine at that time. These crosses, marked on the same spots as on Teixeira's map appeared on several seventeenth-century maps of Guinea, such as those by Willem Blaeu, Janssonius, Frederick de Wit in the Covens and Mortier edition, and that by Pieter Schenk and Gerard Valk. Finally, that the Portuguese were aware of the sites in Guinea where gold was mined is evident from the letter by king João III to the Count of Castanheira, dated 5 February 1551, published in Blake, J. W., Europeans in West Africa, 1450 - 1560, (London, 1941), 178.Google Scholar

142. See note 110. According to the chart by Van Keulen, the chief towns of the kingdom of “Asiante” were Xabanda and Uxoo, both of which places already figured on Teixeira's map as situated near to sites where gold was mined. Compare the Guinea map by D'Anville of April 1729, on which “Royaume d'Asianté” is depicted as a delimited territory--except for the north--containing seven regions or peoples, as in its north Boutane, northeast Insocco, and northwest Tropassa; in its west Petit Tropassa; in its east Inta; further in its southwest Bonou and southeast Vanque.

143. A germinal study of west African toponymy is Flutre, Luis-Fernand, Pour me étude de la toponymie de l'A.O.F. (Dakar, 1957).Google Scholar

144. Such a vanished name is for instance “Cacres,” identified by Fage as Inkassa; Fage, J. D., “A Commentary on Duarte Pacheco Pereira's Account of the Lower Guinea Coastlands in his Esmeralda de situ orbis and Some Other Early Accounts,” HA, 7(1980), 54.Google Scholar On the map by Teixeira two groups of “Cacres” are indicated: Cacers Anguines, situated near the source of Rio de Soeiro da Costa, and Caceres de ampago destruiones petirees residing on the coast around the region now called Ahanta. In the hinterland of Cape Apollonia Petirees destruidos pellos Caceres Dampago are marked. From this map it may be inferred that in the latter part of the sixteenth century the Petirees (Veteres=Eotilé?) were expelled from the present region of Ahanta by the Inkassa (Cacares Dampago) and subsequently settled down near the Tano river behind Cape Apollonia. Possibly Teixeira's Cacers Anguines were identical to Incassa Iggyna of the Gold Coast map of 1629, ARA, VEL 743.

145. See note 27. The territory was described as Danckreijs Regis, bordering on Commendo and Sabou in the south, Adorn in the west, Cabesterra in the east, and a part of Accanes in the north. Adam Jones, who is among a group preparing a critical edition of the Barbot MS in PRO, ADM 7/830B, holds the view that Danckreijs Regis is a later addition to the map of 1688 (Personal communication dated 26.8.87).

146. See note 111. First edition of this map is engraved by C. Inselin; copy in BN Paris, Cartes et Plans, Ge DD 13786. Asante was indicated as R. d'Asiante ou d'Inta, bordering in the west to Uxoo, which was marked as located within the territory of the Cote des Dens; in the east it bordered on the region of Akam, and in the south, running from west to east, on the countries of Boutane Insocco; and Roy^me d'Akim ou G^r Akanis. Cf. note 142.

147. Occumassie marked on “A new map of Africa from Cape Blanco to the Coast of Angola,” in Hippisley, John, Essays (London, 1764).Google Scholar

148. Many Europeans names of towns which were formerly colonial administrative centres, like Léopoldville area, Stanleyville, have been replaced by African terms. Names of states have also changed. Mutation of geographical names is an old universal phenomenon, and from a historical viewpoint it is of interest to examine when and why a certain toponym was changed.

149. See Vidago, J., “Glossary of Portuguese Words Used as Components for Topographical Features and Landmarks in Early Portuguese Cartography,” Imago Mundi, 10(1953), 45–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

150. See note 62.

151. This name referred to a hill in Agona, which the Portuguese called “Pan” or “Pam de Não;” see Pereira, , Esneraldo 122–23.Google Scholar On Dutch maps the site was named “Cocxbroot of Cleyn Biemba” (ship's loaf or little Winneba), as on the chart of the Gold Coast by Van Keulen (see note 140), and Robyn's “Pascaert vande Gout-cust in Guinea” published in 't Brandend Veen (see note 25). More sites along the west coast were called “Cocxbroot” (Ship's loaf) by Dutch sailors-for instance, a cliff near Grand Cess in present Liberia; see “Beschryvinge vande Cust van Africa beginnende van Cabo Monte tot Cabo des palmes,” MS dated 1642 in University Library Leiden, BPL 927.

152. “Don Pedro's dorp” was situated in Fante territory to the west of Anomabu. Marked, among others, on the 1629 map in ARA, VEL 743, and “Pascaert van de Gout Cust, Vertonende de Zeecust van Cabo de tres Pontes tot Rio Volta” in Eugene's Atlas, 36, f° 14.

153. “Aldea de Torto” alias “Agitaki” (Aijtaque, Akitaky, Akitaki, etc.) alias “Cleyn Comendo” or “Comando” is located in the territory of Eguafo or Komenda on the Gold Coast. See Pereira, , Esmeraldo, 119Google Scholar; De Marees, Beschryvinghe, f 40a.

154. See note 81. It can be added that the members of the “dog clan” do not trace their descent from a communal ancestress; that intermarriage between clan members seems to be allowed but is forbidden between persons of the same lineage; and that it is even possible to change clans; see Ackah, , “Kaku Ackah,” pp. 51, 76.Google Scholar In this context, then the word “clan” is not in every respect a proper translation of the autochthonous term abusva.

155. “Mango ofte Duyvelsbergh” (M. or Devil's mountain) appeared on the 1629 Gold Coast map as well as on Van Keulen's chart (see note 140), on both as lying in Agona. Yet on the maps in Eugene's Atlas, 36, ff. 3 and 14 it was pictured as situated in Fante territory. See also De Marees, Besohryvinge, f° 42b.

156. See Van Dantzig, Albert, Forts and Castles of Ghana (Accra, 1980), 2–3Google Scholar; idem, Hollandais, 26-27.

157. Danga or Dang'a was marked on “Pascaert van de Gout Cust” in Eugene's Atlas, 36, f 14. On the Gold Coast map of 1629 the name was not mentioned, but it did appear on that by Van Keulen of 1684 (see note 140), where the place was located within the territory of Futu. However, as situated in Komenda (Eguafu) it is drawn on the MS chart “Een gedeelte van de kust de Gunea. Van C. Trespuntas tot C. Corso. Vertoonende 't westelijkste van de Goutkust door Captijn Pieter Hinke, tot Amsterdam bij G. van Keulen,” University Library, Leiden, Mus. Bodell. 003-07-24.

158. See D'Anville's Guinea map of April 1729, which mentioned Odenna and George de la Mine, prinoipale place de la Côte as two distinct places.

159. Since Elmina existed in all probability before the time of the Portuguese as a market place connected with the trade of the Islamic world, its name is possibly derived from the Arabic word ‘al-mina,’ meaning “the harbor.”

160. Koeman, C., “Levels of Historical Evidence in Early Maps (With Examples),” Imago Mundi, 22(1968), 75–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar