The Scramble for Africa's Maps: How Cartography Shaped Empire

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

The Scramble for Africa's Maps: How Cartography Shaped Empire

Listen for free

View show details

In the decades after the Berlin Conference, European powers raced to map Africa—but their maps were often fantasies. This episode explores the rise of imperial cartography during the Scramble for Africa, focusing on the Royal Geographical Society, French mapmakers in West Africa, and the German mapping of East Africa. We discuss how explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and Friedrich von Stülpnagel used blank spaces on maps to justify conquest, how African knowledge was erased, and how inaccurate borders drawn in European capitals still cause conflicts today. Key figures include Dr. John Rae, who mapped the Niger; the German cartographer Dr. Richard Kiepert; and the French officer Colonel Charles-Michel de Vauix, whose surveys of the Sahara were used to claim territory. We also look at the 1911 Anglo-French map of the Niger-Chad frontier and its legacy. Warning: this episode contains discussions of colonial violence and erasure. #ScrambleForAfrica #HistoryOfCartography #ImperialMapping #RoyalGeographicalSociety #JohnRae #RichardKiepert #CharlesDeVauix #NigerRiver #SaharaSurvey #GermanEastAfrica #FrenchWestAfrica #BerlinConference #AngloFrenchBorder #NigerChad #ColonialCartography #BlankSpaces #ErasedKnowledge #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

No reviews yet