Old Map of Cape Verde

Historical Background

Rigobert Bonne’s map takes “Guinée” as a broad coastal region of western Africa. The full French title includes the Cape Verde Islands, Senegal, the Guinea coast proper and the kingdoms of Loango, Congo, Angola and Benguela, together with neighbouring lands “as far as they are known.” The matching Jean Lattre catalogue record dates this sheet to 1781. As with many atlas maps, later editions and impressions circulated, so the date identifies the catalogued map rather than proving the exact printing history of this reproduction.

Map Details

• Original title: Carte de la Guinée, contenant les Isles du Cap Verd, le Senegal, la Cote de Guinee proprement dite, les Royaumes de Loango, Congo, Angola et Benguela, avec les pays voisins autant qu’ils sont connus
• Cartographer: Rigobert Bonne, royal hydrographer
• Publisher: Jean Lattre, Paris
• Catalogued date: 1781; the exact issue represented here is not confirmed
• Area shown: The Cape Verde Islands and Atlantic coast from Senegal south to Benguela, with inland regions and neighbouring territories
• Map features: Engraved coastline, rivers, period place-names, graticule and decorative title cartouche

An Atlantic coast in an atlas frame

The islands of Cape Verde sit offshore from Senegal, separated from the mainland by a broad expanse of sea. From there, the coast runs south past the Guinea region toward the territories named in the title. This long coastal reach is the map’s defining structure. The coastline is not a modern national outline: its labels reflect eighteenth-century European geographic usage, in which “Guinea” could refer to a much wider section of the Atlantic-facing continent.

Rivers and coastal inlets help describe the land behind the shore, while names identify regions and settlements at intervals along the route. The title itself signals the limits of the mapmaker’s knowledge by adding neighbouring countries only as far as they were known. That phrase belongs to the history of European cartography and exploration; it also reminds us that local geographic knowledge was far older and more detailed than what European atlases had recorded.

Bonne and the practical atlas map

Bonne worked as a French hydrographer and geographer, and his maps are associated with a more systematic, information-led style of eighteenth-century cartography. Here, the engraved coast and graticule provide a geographic framework, while the decorated title retains the visual language of an atlas intended for readers. The sheet balances broad coverage with small-scale detail: islands and coastline can be read as a continuous route, while place-names draw attention inland.

Cartouche, graticule and open water

The title cartouche is placed at the lower left in the map’s original orientation. It anchors the sheet without crowding the large areas of open sea, which give the coastline space and make the relationship between Cape Verde and the mainland immediately clear. The fine graticule adds a measured structure to the wide regional view. This combination of careful engraving, old spellings and an expansive Atlantic setting gives the reproduction its particular character as an old map of Cape Verde and West Africa.