Negroland

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the book, see Negroland: A Memoir.
Not to be confused with the Greek town called
Negros
.
A 1729 map titled: "NEGROLAND and GUINEA, with the European settlements. Explaining what belongs to England, Holland, Denmark & c. By H. Moll Geographer"

Negroland, Nigrita,[1] or Nigritia,[2] is an archaic term in European mapping, referring to Europeans' descriptions of West Africa as an area populated with negroes.

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", corresponding to about the same area. There were various kinds of people in the area. The Persians called these areas Zangistān (زنگستان), meaning "Land of the Blacks" and the name Zang for black still remains in the name of Zanzibar (from Persian زنگبار (Zangibār) meaning "The Coast of Blacks". The name was given by Persian navigators when they visited the area in the middle ages.[3] Some of the greatest states of those considered part of Negroland were the Bornu Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate.

"Negroland" represented the area between

Grain Coast", "Slave Coast", and "Gold Coast". "Negroland" was the territory to the north of this, along the east–west axis of the Niger River
, 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.[4]

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ "Plate LXXXVII. Fig. 2. World.", Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. II (1st ed.), Edinburgh: Colin Macfarquhar, 1771.
  2. ^ "African-Institute - Sudan". Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  3. ^ Why the name Zanzibar?. (2017). African Heritage. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  4. Fielding Lucas, Jun.
    No. 138, Market Street. Baltimore. Entered ... by F. Lucas Jr. of the State of Maryland June 3, 1823. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Negroland&oldid=1217827527"