Bridge in the Quoja's Country
This engraving depicted men carrying a third man in a litter over a bridge with people working in fields, a tiger trap, animals and palm trees. During the sixteenth century, warriors from the deteriorating Mali empire invaded areas in the Upper Guinea Coast to establish a loose federation of Mané states all paying homage to a single leader. Europeans documented these states as "Quoja" or Kquoja, Kquoia, among other variant spellings. Astley provides a description (p. 535). 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.
Image Title
Bridge in the Quoja's Country
RegID
SI-OB-814
Date
1745-1747
Title
Bridge in the Quoja's Country
Source
"Plate LVII" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 2 (London: Thomas Astley, 1745-1747), facing p. 537.
Language
English
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Rivers
Reproduced In
Derived from a larger engraving based on the late seventeenth century voyages of Jean Barbot and published in Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill, Collection of Voyages (London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1732).
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
1-Feb-17; 21-Aug-19
Identifier
Astley009