British mapping of Africa: publishing histories of imperial cartography, c. 1880 – c. 1915
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Date
01/07/2013Author
Prior, Amy Dawn
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Abstract
This thesis investigates how the mapping of Africa by British institutions between
c.1880 and c.1915 was more complex and variable than is traditionally recognised. The
study takes three ‘cuts’ into this topic, presented as journal papers, which examine: the
Bartholomew map-publishing firm, the cartographic coverage of the Second Boer War,
and the maps associated with Sir Harry H. Johnston. Each case-study focuses on what
was produced – both quantitative output and the content of representations – and why.
Informed by theories from the history of cartography, book history and the history of
science, particular attention is paid to the concerns and processes embodied in the maps
and map-making that are irreducible to simply ‘imperial’ discourse; these variously
include editorial processes and questions of authorship, concerns for credibility and
intended audiences, and the circulation and ‘life-cycles’ of maps. These findings are also
explored in relation to the institutional geography of cartography in Britain: the studies
illustrate the institutional contingency of such factors and how this gave rise to highly
variable representations of Africa.
These three empirical papers represent the first sustained studies of each of the
topics. By connecting their findings, the thesis also offers broader reconceptualisations of
the British mapping of Africa between c.1880 and c.1915: with respect to cartographic
representations, maps as objects, and the institutions producing them. Maps did not
simply reflect ‘imperial’ discourse; they were highly variable manifestations of
multifaceted and institutionally contingent factors and were mobile and mutable objects
that were re-used and re-produced in different ways across different settings. Mapmaking
institutions were discrete but interconnected sites that not only produced
different representations, but played different roles in the mapping of Africa. By
illuminating the institutional provenance, ‘life-cycles’ and content of the maps studied,
this thesis extends current knowledge of British mapping of Africa during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and raises questions for further research
incorporating its lessons, sources and theories.