“You Have Everything Confused and Mixed Up…!” Georg Schweinfurth, Knowledge and Cartography of Africa in the 19th Century

Abstract

Petermanns Geographische Mittheilungen, the leading German geographical journal of the nineteenth century, is of fundamental significance for the early scholarly study of Africa. It printed numerous accounts by practically all of the important explorers of the time, in particular under the aegis of the geographer August Petermann. Of particular significance are the cartographic supplements to the articles published in the journal. These maps showed for the first time hitherto unknown areas of Africa. Although the data for these maps were often collected in the field under difficult conditions by European travellers, and drawn up in Gotha with the assistance of numerous specialists (astronomers, geologists, cartographers, lithographers, graphic artists), their creation would have been impossible without the cooperation of Africans. That is to say, these maps, a medium seen as a most exact expression of scientific and technical progress, could not have been produced without the assistance of so-called “natives” or “savages.” This aspect of cartographic production, to which little attention has been paid so far, is the subject of a research project at the Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig initiated in May 2009. In the course of this project, a range of German-language travelers' accounts will be studied, giving special attention to the role of indigenous informants and in combination with archival materials. This paper is based on the example of the German African explorer Georg Schweinfurth.In September 1863, the as yet unknown botanist Georg Schweinfurth announced the start of his African projects in a “call to botanists” inPetermanns Geographische Mittheilungen, describing his planned “expedition over several years to Egypt, Nubia and the countries of the Upper Nile, devoted solely to botanical purposes.” Although Schweinfurth did not publish solely in theGeographische Mittheilungenin the following years, he remained in close contact with Petermann, especially with regard to new geographical discoveries. Unlike other travelers, Schweinfurth often visited areas barely known to geographers, where he compared existing maps most carefully with his own observations. In this way he was able to correct many inaccuracies and improve European cartographic knowledge of these regions. A total of six maps by Schweinfurth appeared in theGeographische Mittheilungenbetween 1865 and 1877.