Top of page

Archive: 2023 (10 Posts)

Detail of manuscript map of the Bamum kingdom showing mountains, rivers, and roads labeled with Bamum text

Competing Cartographies in Cameroon

Posted by: Amelia Raines

In 1884-85, a group of European dignitaries met in Berlin and delineated the boundaries of French, British, Belgian, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German colonies on the continent of Africa. Lines drawn on the map became administrative reality, and over the next few decades European governments busied themselves with exploring, surveying, and conquering their new territories. One …