This series of engraved four different scenes depicts clothing styles, musical instruments, palm production and housing to represent peoples from the Bissagos Islands (or Bijagós) in the Upper Guinea Coast region. Thomas Astley (d. 1759) was a British bookseller and publisher who never went to Africa. His imagined localities and illustrations of Africa were informed by a library of travel books at his disposal.
Women of Kazegut in Different Dresses; Negros Clim[b]ing up Palm Tree; A Negroe Playing on the Ballard or Balafo; and Hutts of the Negros
SI-OB-810
1745-1747
Women of Kazegut in Different Dresses; Negros Clim[b]ing up Palm Tree; A Negroe Playing on the Ballard or Balafo; and Hutts of the Negros
"Plate VII" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 2 (London: Thomas Astley, 1745-1747), facing p. 278.
English
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Africa--Rivers--Bissagos Islands
Similar images in Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouvelle Relation de l'Afrique Occidentale, vol. 2 (Paris; Chez G. Cavelier, 1728), facing p. 311 and 332; and vol. 3, facing p. 36; see also "Plate 3" in Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill, A Collection of Voyages, vol. 5 (London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1732), p. 21.
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
5-Apr-16; 21-Aug-19
Astley005