The Graphic Map of European Possessions in Africa.

Mapmaker:

Ernst Georg Ravenstein (1834-1913)

Ernst Georg Ravenstein (1834-1913) was a German-English geographer and cartographer. He spent most of his adult life in England. When he was 18 years old he became a pupil of Dr. August Heinrich Petermann the famous cartographer and publisher. He was in the service of the Topographical Department of the British War Office for 20 years, from 1855 to 1875. A long-serving member of the councils of the Royal Statistical and Royal Geographical Societies, he was also Professor of Geography at Bedford College in 1882–83. He was the first to receive the Victoria gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society (1902) for “his efforts during 40 years to introduce scientific methods into the cartography of the United Kingdom”. His geographical statistics and projections were respected and used as a basis for official planning at the time.