Territorial Images of Yorùbáland Cartographic Styles and Symbolic Representation in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, Euro-American maps of Africa in the cultural contact of Europeans and Africans were also rhetorical devices, which articulated the politics of territorial conceptions of the geographical space. I contend that cartographic styles visually prompt alternative territorial perspectives with insights into past geographies. The paper examines three nineteenth-century maps of Yorùbáland in West-Central Africa highlighting cartographic styles, symbolic representations and territorial politics. Through a historical-stylistic analysis, I explore the cultural motivation of map production, their composition and the semiotic evaluation of their representations to stress alternative map appearances. These maps worked in territorial power relations, which highlight map styles as a persuasive element in the social construction of territorial identities and interests. Overall, the paper stresses maps are vital devices in the nineteenth century territorialisation of Yorùbáland, which exemplify the cultural interdependence of Europeans, Americans and Africans.