The Banfa, or Residence of the Kingo of Kongo Called S[ão] Salvador

This engraving depicted a king's palace on a hilltop overlooking Catholic churches, a Portuguese fort and slaves carrying water from a spring to the city. In the foreground, there are large canoes on the Lelunda River in the Kwanza North 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. He took this image from Olfert Dapper (1636–1689), who was a Dutch physician and writer. Dapper wrote about world history and geography, although he never travelled outside the Netherlands. In an informed discussion of Dapper as an historical source, Adam Jones explains how there is virtually no evidence that "Dapper took much interest in what sort of visual material was to accompany his text, and that it was the publisher, Van Meurs, who probably did all the engraving himself." Even those these images have been used as historical evidence in modern works, Jones concludes that "few of the plates showing human beings and artefacts are of any value. . . [and] originated solely from Van Meurs' imagination” (see "Decompiling Dapper: A Preliminary Search for Evidence," History in Africa 17 (1990): p. 187-190).

Image Title

The Banfa, or Residence of the Kingo of Kongo Called S[ão] Salvador

RegID

SI-OB-829

Date

1745-1747

Title

The Banfa, or Residence of the Kingo of Kongo Called S[ão] Salvador

Source

"Plate XXVI" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 3 (London: Thomas Astley, 1745-1747), facing p. 246.

Language

English

Item sets

Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture

Spatial Coverage

Africa--West Central North--São Salvador

Reproduced In

Derived from Olfert Dapper, Description de l'Afrique. . . Avec des cartes & des figures en taille-douce. . . Traduite du Flamand, 1st ed. (Amsterdam: Wolfgang & Co., 1686), facing p. 242.

Researchers

Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May

Last Updated

27-Jan-11; 26-Aug-19

Identifier

Astley021