![Negroland and Guinea with the European Settlements, 1736](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Negroland_and_Guinea_with_the_European_Settlements%2C_1736.jpg)
Negroland, or Nigritia, is an
archaic term in European mapping, referring to Europeans’ descriptions of
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
as an area populated with
negroes
In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...
.
This area comprised at least the western part of the
region called Sudan (not to be confused with
the modern country). The term is probably a direct translation of the Arabic term ''Bilad as-Sudan'' (بلاد السودان), meaning "Land of the
Blacks
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...
", corresponding to about the same area. There were various kinds of people in the area, including the Jews of Bilad as-Sudan. The
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
called these areas Zangistān (زنگستان), meaning "Land of the Blacks" and the name ''Zang'' for black still remains in the name of
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
(from
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
زنگبار (Zangibār) meaning "The Coast of Blacks". The name was given by Persian navigators when they visited the area in the middle ages. Some of the greatest states of those considered part of Negroland were the
Bornu Empire Bornu may refer to:
* Bornu Empire Bornu may refer to:
* Bornu Empire, a historical state of West Africa
* Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest ...
and the
Sokoto Caliphate
The Sokoto Caliphate (), also known as the Fulani Empire or the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Ful ...
.
"Negroland" represented the area between
the region of Guinea and "Sahara" or "The Desert", the
Sahara Desert
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
. The name "Sahara" is derived from the Arabic word for "desert" in the feminine irregular form, the singular ṣaḥra' (صحراء /ˈsˤaħra/), plural ṣaḥārā (صَحَارَى /ˈsˤaħaːraː/
5]
7]), ṣaḥār (صَحَار), ṣaḥrāwāt (صَحْارَاوَات), ṣaḥāriy (صَحَارِي). "Guinea", not to be confused with
Guinea, the modern country, then referred to the south-facing coast of West Africa and the land stretching upriver from there.
Herman Moll
Herman Moll (mid-17th century – 22 September 1732) was a London cartographer, engraver, and publisher.
Origin and early life
While Moll's exact place and date of birth are unknown, he was probably born in the mid-seventeenth century in G ...
's 1727 map labels these "
Grain Coast
The Pepper Coast or Grain Coast was a coastal area of western Africa, between Cape Mesurado and Cape Palmas. It encloses the present republic of Liberia. The name was given by European traders.
Origin of the name
The Pepper Coast got its name f ...
", "
Slave Coast Slave Coast can mean:
* the Slave Coast of West Africa
* the Dutch Slave Coast
The Dutch Slave Coast ( Dutch: ''Slavenkust'') refers to the trading posts of the Dutch West India Company on the Slave Coast, which lie in contemporary Ghana, Ben ...
", and "
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
". "Negroland" was the territory to the north of this, along the east–west axis of the
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...
, and the west-facing coast. Moll's map labels Gambia, Senegal, Mandinga and many other territories.
In 1823, approximately the same area was described as "Nigritia" on an American map published by
Fielding Lucas Jr.
See also
*
Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
Sources
Encyclopædia Britannica 10th Edition (1902) Online - States of Central Africa
References
{{Regions of Africa
History of Africa
Regions of Africa