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