James Rennell: A Map Shewing the Progress of Discovery and Improvement in the Geography of North Africa (1798) [1]
-silences dominate a majority of the geography of Africa; ‘silences increase the credibility of what is shown’ [2]
-smaller areas of the map are very detailed; confirmed accuracies
-cartographers of this time focus on gaining truthful, factual geography of West Africa
-Rennell known as “the highest authority in Europe” with regards to cartography
[1] Thomas J. Bassett and Philip W. Porter, “From the Best Authorities’: The Mountains of Kong in the Cartography of West Africa,” The Journal of African History 32, No. 1, 1991, 368.
[2] Thomas J. Bassett and Philip W. Porter, “From the Best Authorities’: The Mountains of Kong in the Cartography of West Africa,” The Journal of African History 32, No. 1, 1991, 383.