This map, published by the cartographic publisher Wells Missionary in 1908, shows the colonial division of Africa by the various European colonies.
The map stands out as one of the few from that period to be made on canvas. The borders are drawn in pen and ink, and the colouring is a combination of watercolours and wax paints. Both the legend and the names of the different colonies and countries are written mechanically, most likely using stamps.
As indicated in the legend, the colours indicate which European powers owned each colony, as well as indicating the free territories and the few independent countries:
- In pink, the British colonies.
- In yellow, the French colonies.
- In grey, the Italian colonies.
- In green, the German colonies.
- In blue, the Spanish colonies.
- In orange, the Portuguese colonies.
- In black, the Belgian colonies.
- No colour indicates free regions (such as Liberia).
- In brown, independent countries (such as Ethiopia or Morocco).
Based on historical information, this map contains some significant errors. For example, it includes Tripoli (now Libya) as a German colony, even though this region was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and would become an Italian colony a few years later. Furthermore, Spanish Guinea is not shown on the map.
Two copies of this map are preserved in the Library of Congress in the United States, both with different colouring, which indicates that the maps were produced by hand.
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