Repraesentatio virorum quorundamin aurifero Guinea littore habitantium
"A Representation of a Certain Person of Nobility Producing Gold [and] Living on the Guinea Coast" (caption translation). Likely depicts the Voltaic region. In the foreground, three men are engaged in different activities: from right to left, a slave (akoba), a farmer (abaffra) and a pilot (aponfo) engaged with Europeans in the gold trade. In the background, two men carry a canoe to the water, while others bring palm wine to market. For this image in particular, see pp. 119, 120, 124-25. The De Brys had never visited Africa and constructed their illustrations of Africans from late sixteenth century eye-witness accounts by the Dutchman Pieter de Marees of the Gold Coast in the Voltaic region, and by the Portuguese Duarte Lopez of the kingdom of Kongo in the Kwanza North region. For an extended discussion of the De Brys' illustrations of Africa and their sources, see Ernst van den Boogaart, De Brys' Africa, in Susanna Burghartz, ed., Inszenierte Welten: Die west-und ostindischen reisen der verleger de Bry, 1590-1630 [Staging New Worlds: De Brys' Illustrated Travel Reports, 1590-1630] (Basel, 2004), pp. 95-149.
Image Title
Repraesentatio virorum quorundamin aurifero Guinea littore habitantium
RegID
SI-OB-1013
Date
1500s
Title
Repraesentatio virorum quorundamin aurifero Guinea littore habitantium
Source
Theodore and Johan Israel De Bry, Indiae Orientalis pars VI [India Orientalis. pt. 6], (Frankfort, 1604), plate I. Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.
Language
Latin
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Voltaic
Reproduced In
Theodore and Johan Israel De Bry, Indiae Orientalis pars VI [India Orientalis. pt. 6], (Frankfort, 1604), plate I
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
2-Jun-16
Identifier
BRY01