Negroland
A 1736 map, showing Negroland and Guinea. Present-day Guinea is different
Negroland, or Nigritia was a term Europeans used to describe a region in Africa, south of the Sahara. The region was poorly explored, and Europeans mainly knew the area around the coast. The name was probably a direct translation of the Arabic term "Bilad al-Sudan", which translates to "land of the Blacks".[1]
As can be seen on the map, Europeans of the time believed that the rivers Senegal, Gambia and Niger were in the same river system: one river that divided before flowing into the ocean. [2]
In 1823, approximately the same area was described as "Nigritia" on an American map published by Fielding Lucus Jr.[3] The inhabitants of Nigritia were called Negroes.
References
- ↑ A world apart - Elite black America. 2016-08-04. https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2016/08/04/a-world-apart. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ The Negroland of the Arabs Examined and Explained. Google Books. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ↑ Lucas Jr, Fielding. A General Atlas Containing Distinct Maps Of all the Known Countries in the World, Constructed from the Latest Authority. Written and Engraved by Jos. Perkins, Philadelphia. BaltimoreFielding Lucas Jr. #138, Market Street. Baltimore. Entered ... by F. Lucas Jr. of the State of Maryland June 3, 1823. Retrieved 14 July 2013.