Africa including the Mediterranean

Scarce, c.18th hand coloured map of Africa by Robert Wilkinson, published in 1794, reflects the state of European geographical knowledge at the close of the eighteenth century, a period marked by both expanding exploration and persistent uncertainty. Issued in London, the map embodies the synthesis of earlier cartographic traditions with more recent reports from travellers, traders, and colonial agents, presenting a continent that was increasingly known along its coasts yet still imperfectly understood in its interior.  The coastal outlines are rendered with a degree of accuracy that had improved steadily over the preceding century, particularly in regions of sustained European contact such as West Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. Inland, however, the geography remains tentative, with large areas informed by conjecture, classical sources, and fragmented accounts. Rivers such as the Niger are depicted with uncertain courses, and the interior is populated with a mixture of established kingdoms, tribal regions, and descriptive annotations rather than precise topographical detail.

From: Wilkinson, R. A general atlas being a collection of maps of the world and quarters, the principal empires, kingdoms. London