This map, created by Gottfried Hensel in 1741 and restored by Jakub Marian In 2018, it was published by Homann Erben in his book. Synopsis of Universal Philology (Synopsis of universal philology).

The map shows the linguistic distribution of Africa. To do this, he wrote the Lord's Prayer in the language used in each of the regions. Unlike the maps he made for Asia and Europe, knowledge of the languages of the African continent was very limited, so he only included Arabic, Coptic (Egypt) and Amharic (Ethiopia).

On the left-hand side and at the bottom, the author includes the Amharic and Coptic alphabets. Interestingly, there are also two illustrations referring to the use of hieroglyphics in Egypt.

To understand the map correctly, it is important to put it into context. Hensel was greatly influenced by 17th-century linguistic theories, in which the myth of the Tower of Babel still carried a lot of weight. That is why the linguistic distribution presented in this map is not representative of the period and, possibly, of any specific moment in history, although it does mention languages that have been spoken in each place.

Here you can also see the linguistic map of Europe y the linguistic map of Asia, also by Hensel.

Sources

• 1741 linguistic map of Europe, Asia, and Africa
• Asia Polyglotta, exhibiting the genealogy of languages with their letters and modes of writing