{"product_id":"old-map-of-central-east-africa-by-bartholomew-1922-post-wwi-mandates-great-lakes-rail-telegraph","title":"Old Map of Central \u0026 East Africa by Bartholomew, 1922: Post‑WWI mandates; Great Lakes; Rail \u0026 Telegraph","description":"\u003cp\u003eCentral and East Africa (1922) by John Bartholomew is a lucid portrait of a continent in transition at the dawn of the interwar era. Created by one of Britain’s most exacting cartographers, it gathers an immense sweep of territory—Tanganyika Territory, Ruanda‑Urundi, British East Africa (Kenya), Uganda, Belgian Congo, Angola, and Northern Rhodesia—into a disciplined composition at 1:4,000,000. Bartholomew deploys hypsometric tints to translate relief into color, carrying the eye from green lowlands to purple‑brown highlands and immediately clarifying the relationship between terrain, watersheds, and settlement. Political boundaries are drawn with unmistakable precision, yet never overwhelm the geography; the result is a map that balances authority with readability, capturing the administrative order and natural structure of Africa’s midsection in 1922.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIssued just after the Treaty of Versailles reshaped Africa’s political atlas, the map renders the post‑German landscape with sober clarity. Tanganyika appears as a British mandate carved from German East Africa, while Ruanda‑Urundi is shown under Belgian administration adjoining the vast Belgian Congo. To the east, British East Africa (Kenya) and Uganda anchor imperial interests along the Indian Ocean and the upper Nile, with Northern Rhodesia and Angola delimiting the southern and western horizons. Bartholomew marks administrative centers in decisive red—Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Lusaka, and Leopoldville—then threads them with railways, roads, and telegraph lines. These networks sketch the sinews of governance and commerce, revealing corridors of movement that paralleled rivers, skirted escarpments, and bridged colonial frontiers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe physical geography is rendered with a scientist’s restraint and an artist’s eye. The Congo, Nile, and Zambezi are each prominently traced, their tributaries feathering into pale headwaters that climb, tint by tint, toward the continent’s spine. The Great Lakes—Victoria, Tanganyika, Albert, and Nyasa—stand like inland seas, orienting both climate and commerce. Hypsometric colour builds a readable relief model: green floodplains deepen through ochres into purple‑brown plateaus, with the Ethiopian Highlands and Rift Valley escarpments cued in emphatic tonality. Volcanic sentinels—Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya—rise from the Rift‑flanked uplands as named waypoints, while watershed divides hint at why certain routes prospered and why others deferred to the dictates of terrain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBartholomew’s symbology is economical and exacting, a house style that privileges clarity without sacrificing nuance. At the map’s 1:4,000,000 scale, place‑names are graded to distinguish major centers from minor stations; red administrative hubs punctuate the canvas, while fine, unwavering linework for rail, road, and telegraph overlays the physiography. The effect is analytical: one sees how steel tracks skirt marshland, how roads climb gentler spurs to crest the escarpment, how telegraph lines leap from city to city across interior distances disciplined by river bends and lake shores. Political boundaries register as decisive but permeable membranes, allowing the reader to read the land first and the jurisdictions second—a hallmark of Bartholomew’s best work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a historical document, the map fixes a decisive instant when borders were redrawn, mandates declared, and infrastructure laid down to project power and extract possibility. It shows Tanganyika and Ruanda‑Urundi under new custodianship, British East Africa and Uganda scaffolded by rails to Nairobi and Kampala, and the Belgian sphere cohering around Leopoldville and the Congo. Yet it is equally a geography lesson writ large: lakes as inland crossroads, the Ethiopian Highlands as a fountainhead of the Nile, the Rift as corridor and barrier at once. In Bartholomew’s hands, political and physical narratives interlock, yielding a work that rewards close reading by historians, geographers, and aesthetes in equal measure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCountries and regions on this map\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTanganyika Territory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRuanda-Urundi\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBritish East Africa (Kenya)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUganda\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBelgian Congo\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAngola\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNorthern Rhodesia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEthiopian Highlands\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRift Valley escarpments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMount Kilimanjaro\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMount Kenya\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotable Features \u0026amp; Landmarks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClearly delineated political boundaries for various territories.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElevation indicated by hypsometric tints, with green lowlands transitioning to purple-brown highlands.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMajor river systems prominently traced: Congo, Nile, Zambezi.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreat Lakes of the region clearly defined: Victoria, Tanganyika, Albert, Nyasa.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCities and administrative centers marked in red, including Leopoldville (Kinshasa), Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, and Lusaka.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOverlay of railways, roads, and telegraph lines illustrating logistical routes.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and design context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYear created: 1922 (early interwar period).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMapmaker: John Bartholomew, a prominent cartographer known for attention to detail during a time of significant geopolitical change.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTopics and themes: political boundaries, colonial infrastructure, and physical geography of Central and East Africa.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical significance: issued during the height of European colonial control; illustrates post–World War I dynamics and Treaty of Versailles territorial changes, including shifts in former German territories.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesign and style: highlights geographical features with notable clarity for its scale (1:4,000,000).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePlease note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 20in (50cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003ebest old maps\u003c\/a\u003e to see if something else catches your eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003econtact me\u003c\/a\u003e to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex\/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"18x24in (45x60cm) \/ Map","offer_id":57781787132288,"sku":"UM00271213A","price":140.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"18x24in (45x60cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57781787165056,"sku":"UM00271214A","price":306.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"18x24in (45x60cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":57781787197824,"sku":"UM00271215A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 (420x594mm) \/ Map","offer_id":57597890036096,"sku":"UM00264885A","price":140.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 (420x594mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57597890068864,"sku":"UM00264886A","price":306.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 (420x594mm) \/ Framed canvas 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