Afriterra Map Experiment 14
1. Getting started.
This assignment is an abbreviated Experiment 14.
Learning Goals:
Navigate a historical online map library.
Chose a map published between 1870 and 1910 from Afriterra.
Identify five similarities or differences between the historical map and a modern map (as found at openstreetmap.org.
2. Click “search”
3. Select the advanced search tab.
4. Enter 1870 and 1910 as your search parameters.
Click on “Digitized” to ensure you get a map with an image.
You can use any of the other metada search features as you wish. If you have an interest in a particular region, use the “Region” dropdown.
5. Identify a map.
Here I chose a map of Sierra Leone from 1892. Note this 1892 date is after the 1884–85 conference in Berlin.
6. Open your historical map and compare it to a modern map at openstreetmap.org
In five complete sentences, indentify similarities or differences between the historical map and the modern map at openstreetmap.org. For example:
In my maps of Sierra Leone, I note that both maps include geographic features that are named the same, such as the town of Bonthe on Sherbo and the city of Freetown.
The 1892 map includes rivers, but does not note estuarial areas, as depicted by dashed blue lines on the OpenStreets map.
The 1892 maps indicates a route taken by the map creator in red, but there’s no indication why this route was taken, what happened on the route, or how long it took.
The 1892 map includes river labels that indicate a river by two names, such as the Little Skarcies or Kabba River. It’s not clear if the river had two names (such as the Rio Bravo/Grande in North America) or if the mapmaker did not know the river names.
“Sulimania” on the 1892 map seems to incorporate the current states of Guinée and Mali, and perhaps reveal the map maker was less sure of this mapping given his inability to label it correctly.
