Kano, The Emporium of Central Africa
This image illustrates Kano, a major city in the Sokoto caliphate in the Central Savanna region. It was captioned, Kanó from Mount Dalá in the 1859 book. Heinrich Barth (1821–1865) was a German explorer and scholar of North Africa. He spoke Arabic, Fulani, Hausa and Kanuri, meaning he carefully documented the details of the cultures he visited. He traveled through the Western and Central Savana region between 1850 and 1855, which he published in a five five-volume account in both English and German. In 1853, Barth and Ali Babba bin Bello, the Sultan of Sokoto, negotiated an extensive trade agreement. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization was an American political magazine based in New York City and published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916. It featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects and humor, alongside illustrations. It covered the American Civil War extensively, including many illustrations of events from the war.
Image Title
Kano, The Emporium of Central Africa
RegID
SI-OB-662
Date
1857
Title
Kano, The Emporium of Central Africa
Source
Harper's Weekly (Sept. 5, 1857), p. 573; Henry [Heinrich] Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa. . . in the year 1849-1855 (Philadelphia, 1857), vol 1, p. 499.
Language
English
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Central Savanna
Reproduced In
Harper's Weekly (Sept. 5, 1857), p. 573.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
10-Feb-17
Identifier
HW0002