Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (1858-1927), usually known as Harry Johnston, was a British
diplomat and colonial administrator. During the 1890s, at the height of the 'scramble for
Africa' between the European colonial powers, he was a key figure in consolidating British
control over some of the United Kingdom's new colonies in southern and eastern Africa.
Regarded as a leading British authority on Africa, both during his career and in retirement,
Johnston pursued broad scholarly interests and wrote widely about the fauna, flora, history
and languages of the continent. Cartography was another interest. He drew many maps while
working and travelling in Africa and collaborated with the Royal Geographical Society in
London and the Edinburgh firm of John Bartholomew & Sons on the design and production
of published maps.
Johnston drew this sketch map of Africa while employed as the British Vice Consul in
Old Calabar (now in south-eastern Nigeria). It forms part of a letter that he sent to Sir Percy
Anderson, a senior official at the Foreign Office in London, on 13 November 1886. At a time
when European control of the continent was still limited to coastal areas and a few portions
of the interior, Johnston's letter speculates about the eventual outcome of European plans to
colonise the remainder of the continent. Rather than attempting to portray Africa as it actually
was, the map illustrates his proposal for how this division into colonies could be established
to the United Kingdom's political and economic advantage.
The eventual distribution of Africa between the colonial powers was often quite different
from the proposals presented here. This is particularly noticeable in west Africa, where territ-
ory was divided between French, British, German and Portuguese colonies (and independent
Liberia) in a much more complex way than Johnston had anticipated, and in southern Africa,
where a significant portion of the large expanse of territory assigned here to Portugal actu-
ally became the British colonies of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now
Malawi). Ironically, Johnston was instrumental in ensuring that British claims to the latter
areas prevailed.
To a 21st century viewer, Johnston's sketch may be reminiscent of the use of maps to illus-
trate works of fiction. Many authors, especially in the science fiction, fantasy and alternate
history genres, have exploited the power of cartography to make their narratives seem more
convincing to their readers. Such maps may depict imaginary worlds, fictitious places in the
real world, or real places portrayed in a fictitious way. This map is closest to the third cat-
egory: it depicts Africa not as it once was, or ever will be, but as it might have been had
history developed differently. Yet there is a crucial difference between Johnston's contempor-
aries and the writers of fiction: when authors allow their imaginations free rein, they affect
only the pleasure of their readers, but when European politicians and their officials re-drew
