An 1853 Map of the Yoruba Country

This paper examines an 1853 map of Yorubaland that reflects the evangelisation discourse of the American Southern Baptist Convention. Starting from 1845, the SBC began an evangelical drive towards the ‘saving’ of Africans in West Africa as a form of self-compensation in their attempt to prove that they were not against ‘Black Africans’ in the United States. Yet there were geographical notions of distinguishing Africans to be converted but these views of the white Southern Baptist brethren were reframed owing to field experiences of the missionary-explorer in the early 1850s. Drawing on a critical cartographic approach, this article argues that this map was culturally constructed. This study explores the map construction within the contexts of evangelical zeal, the preconceived geographical theories of West Africa, and exploratory accounts of Thomas Bowen. Consequently, the article reveals the interconnectedness of the church, the missionary-explorer, African informants and the mapmaker in geographical knowledge production. As a result, the study concludes that an ideological perspective reflects in cartographic knowledge presented on the map.