A large and decorative map of Africa in the unique style of Herman Moll. The Kingdom of Monomotapa is shown with its cities, also the Delagoa River and the Zambezi. Further north Moll retains the two great lake Ptolemaic lakes of Zaire and Zaflan, but turns them into swamps and disassociates them from the Nile. The source of the Nile is shown as Lake Tzana in Abyssinia. The only settlement marked at the Cape is the Fort of Good Hope. Due to his antipathy to French mapmakers, Moll ignores the improvements of de l’Isles landmark map of Africa, relying instead on outdated Dutch sources. Despite the outdated geography, this was an extremely popular map, republished many times throughout the 18th century.

The dedicatory title cartouche contains figures of mounted native chasing an ostrich, a native riding a crocodile, other local fauna and pyramids. Inset views at the lower left are Cape Coast Castle, James Fort on St. Helena, and the Fort of Good Hope. The inset right is a coastal view of the Cape of Good Hope.

Printed on two sheets, joined. This example represents State 6 of the map, published shortly after Moll’s death in 1732; his name has been retained in the title cartouche but removed from the imprint.

Ref.: Tooley (Africa), pp.77-78, No. 59. Tooley, (M&M), p. 113.