LAND OF FRIENDSHIP,The Baluba,West Africa

1890s HISTORICAL MAP CHART

The Kwango affluent of the Kasai was the first of the large affluents of the Congo known to Europeans. It was reached b the Portuguese from their settlements on the west coast in the 16t century. Of its lower course they were ignorant. Portuguese travellers in the 18th century are believed to have reached the upper Kasai, but the first accurate knowledge of the river basin was obtained by David Livingstone, who reached the upper Kasai from the east and explored in part the upper Kwango (1854-1855). V. L. Cameron and Paul Pogge crossed the upper Kasai in the early seventies. The Kwa mouth was seen by H. M. Stanley in his journey down the Congo in 1877, and he rightly regarded it ss the outlet of the Kwango, though not surmising it was also the outlet of the Kasai. In 1882 Stanley ascended the river to the KwangoKasai confluence and thence proceeding up the Mfini discovered Lake Leopold II. In 1884 George Grenfell journeyed up the river beyond the Kwango confluence. The systematic exploration of the main stream and its chief tributaries was, however, mainly the work of Hermann von Wissmann, Ludwig Wolf, Paul Pogge and other Germans during 1880-1887. On his third journey, 1886, Wissmann was accompanied by Grenfell. Major von Mechow, an Austrian, explored the middle Kwango in 1880, and its lower course was subsequently surveyed by Grenfell and Holman Bentley, a Baptist missionary. In 1899-1900 a Belgian expedition under Captain C. Lemaire traced the Congo-Zambezi watershed, obtaining valuable information concerning the upper courses of the southern Kasai tributaries. The upper Kasai basin and its peoples were further investigated by a Hungarian traveller, E. Torday, in 1908 1909. -

1890s Wood Engraving Antique Map

Approximate Overall Size: 7 X 10 1/2 inches

CONDITION: Book Plate INTEXT MAP - Excellent Condition. Beautiful with excellent detail. There is Text on Front and Back Side.