Historical African Illustrations

Black-and-white illustrations depicting traditional African scenes. Subjects include people carrying loads, communal activities, and dramatic cultural events, set in varied landscapes.

A witch taken to the stake, Tanzania, East Africa. Drawing by Edouard Riou (1833 - 1900) The lakes of equatorial Africa, exploration voyage 1883-1885 by Victor Giraud (1858-1898) Le Tour du Monde 1886

WITH ADMIRAL SIR W. HEWETT'S EMBASSY TO KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA

Ethiopia: six Ethiopians resting, and the sailor Pierce in Ethiopian dress. Aquatint by C. Botigela, ca. 1819, after H. Salt.

WITH ADMIRAL SIR W. HEWETT'S EMBASSY TO KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA

Malawi people Mangandsha women doing field work wood engraving circa 1865,

A witch taken to the stake, Tanzania, East Africa. Drawing by Edouard Riou (1833 - 1900) The lakes of equatorial Africa, exploration voyage 1883-1885 by Victor Giraud (1858-1898) Le Tour du Monde 1886

A man shows his wife the spot where he shot a deer. His child offers him a cloak. They are wearing traditional clothing. Indians in front of their teepee North Indians , print maker: Ludwig Gottlieb Portman, (mentioned on object), intermediary draughtsman: Jacques Kuyper, (mentioned on object), Amsterdam, 1804, paper, etching, h 253 mm × w 154 mm

Funeral in New Britain, part of Melanesia, belongs politically to Papua New Guinea, woodcut, historical engraving, 1880

The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 16th through to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those enslaved that were transported to the New World, many on the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, were West Africans from the central and western parts of the continent sold by western Africans to western European slave traders, or by direct European capture to the Americas. The numbers were so great that Africans who came by way of the slave trade became the most numerous Old World immigrants in both North and South America before the late 18th century. Far more slaves were taken to South America than to the north. The South Atlantic economic system centered on producing commodity crops, and making goods and clothing to sell in Europe, and increasing the numbers of African slaves brought to the New World.

Funeral wake among the Luanda people of Angola. Mourners wail as visitors arrive to view the corpse in a hut, the women wearing fragrant leaves on their heads, while men with spears dance to music from drums and traditional instruments. Handcoloured copperplate engraving after Jean-Baptiste Douville from Giulio Ferrario's Costumes Ancient and Modern of the Peoples of the World, Florence, 1834.

Indigenous Burial Rituals of a piay in the Wayana Indians tribe, French Guiana, South America. Drawing by Edouard Riou (1833 - 1900) From Cayenne to the Andes (1878-1879) by Jules Crevaux (1847 - 1882) Le Tour du Monde 1880

1841 Exhibition of Painting, A position of Arabs belonging to the custody of the Imam, in Muscat, Colin, vintage engraved illustration. Magasin Pittoresque 1841.

James Cook (1728-79) English navigator, explorer, and hydrographer receiving ritual tribute from Sandwich Islanders, 1779, during his third Pacific voyage. Hand-coloured engraving 1832.

CENTRAL AFRICA a gang of captured slaves at the Lushivi marsh Date: 1876

Scene on a West Indian Plantation - Slaves receiving the news of their emancipation following the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Illustration from Cassell's History of England, Vol VII. New Edition published Circ 1873-5.

People of the Shilluk tribe, one of the main Luo Nilotic peoples in Southern Sudan, Sudan, living on both banks of the Nile near the town of Malakal, ...

The Use of Fire for Cooking by the Natives, 1869, Uganda, Historical, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century original, Africa

Natives of Nukapu, Solomon Islands, engraving

Indianen voor hun tipi; Noord-Indianen.A man shows his wife where he has shot a deer. His child offers him a cloak. They wear traditional clothing.

The king sends one of his wives to the doctor Gustav Hermann as a present, Chad. Central Africa. Drawing by Ivan Pranishnikoff (1841 - 1909) Journey from Borno to Baguirmi 1872 by Dr. Gustav Hermann Nachtigal (1834 - 1885) Le Tour du Monde 1880

Central Africa. Expedition of Stanley. Kingdom of Loango (large region of present-day Angola, Congo and Gabon). Dance Nkumbi. Engraving. Africa inexplorada, el Continente Misterioso by Henry Morton Stanley, c. 1887.

Missioners, David van der Kellen (1827-1895), 1837 - 1885 print A group of Africans welcomes two missionaries on the beach. On the right is a man in a rowing boat and plants are depicted in the Africans group, including a banana tree. In the background, contours of hills and mountains can be seen. paper etching Africans. spreading the gospel; missionary work. rowing-boat, canoe, etc.

Hawaiian native dancers in ceremonial feathered attire; By John Webber (1751 - 1793); English artist who accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific expedition to the Pacific (1776-80) aboard HMS Resolution.

Kamehameha I the Great (1758 - 1819) Hawaiian monarch who unified the Hawaiian Islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. Hawaii, United States. Trip to the Hawaiian Islands 1855 by Charles de Varigny, French adventurer, diplomat, and writer. Old engraving El Mundo en la Mano 1878

Africa. Native Vouanyamouezi. Colored engraving from 1882.

Native indigenous people of the Wasagara people tribe, Tanzania, East Africa. Drawing by Edouard Riou (1833 - 1900) The lakes of equatorial Africa, exploration voyage 1883-1885 by Victor Giraud (1858-1898) Le Tour du Monde 1886

A Native South Africa witchdoctor performs the appropriate rituals for ejecting a demon which has possessed his client Date: 1868

Three pictures from a missionary enterprise on the Upper Zambesia: an African chief smoking; a missionary's wife quarters; Africans building a church. Wood-engravings.

Dr. Cayenne to the Andes. It was the head of an Indian that this woman was cooking, vintage engraved illustration. Journal des Voyages, Travel Journal, (1879-80).

An engraving depicting snake worship in the Kingdom of Dahomey, Africa. Dated 19th century

Warriors from Unyoro dancing. Unyoro is present day Bunyoro, one of the kingdoms of Uganda. From Afrika, dets Opdagelse, Erobring og Kolonisation, published in Copenhagen, 1901.

Native Music and Dance in Oiapoque, Brazil, drawing by Riou from a sketch by Dr. Crevaux, vintage engraved illustration. Le Tour du Monde, Travel Journal, 1880

Visiting a native chief after a death in his family, New Caledonia. Journey to New Caledonia by Jules Garnier 1863-1866 from Le Tour du Monde 1867

Black slaves were imported into the Muslim world from Africa by a number of routes northward across the Sahara desert, and by sea into Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Estimates of the number involved vary greatly but it seems that there may easily have been 10 million, perhaps even twice that number. Two-thirds of African slaves were female. The males were considered to be troublesome. An uprising of slaves from West Africa, the Zanj, who had been imported into the Tigris-Euphrates delta to reclaim salt marshland through their backbreaking labour, lasted from 869 until 883. The mortality rate was very high because of the harsh conditions, but the trade was so lucrative that merchants were not deterred by the numbers who died. Harrowing eye witness accounts tell of the vast scale and miserable conditions of the slave trade in Africa. In the 1570s many thousands of black Africans were seen for sale in Cairo on market days. In 1796 a caravan was seen by a British traveller leaving Darfur wit

Indigenous people of the Mango and Kahona chief tribes, New Caledonia. Old engraving illustration, Journey to New Caledonia by Jules Garnier

Mexico. 16th century. Evangelization. Augustinian missionary Antonio de Roa, evangelizing natives of Malango mountains. Engraving, 1850. Color.

Historia de Africa. Siglo XIX. Danza del riamba en Mukenge. Grabado. El Congo y la Creación del Estado Independiente de este nombre. Historia de los Trabajos y Exploraciones Verificados, por Enrique M. Stanley. Editada en Barcelona, hacia 1890. España.

James Cook (1728-79) English navigator, witnessing human sacrifice in Taihiti (Otaheite) c1773 during his second Pacific voyage 1772-1775. Engraving from 1815 edition of Cook's 'Voyages'.

African slaves washing for diamonds guarded by overseers with guns in Brazil. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Gottlieb Tobias Wilhelm's Unterhaltungen aus der Naturgeschichte: Des Mineralreichs, Augsburg, 1828.

Band of African slaves an their way to coast for transportation, passing the remains of slaves from previous bands who have died on the journey

Burial among the native Chiriguano Indians, Bolivia, South America. Journey in search of the remains of the Crevaux mission by Émile-Arthur Thouar 1884. Old 19th century engraving from Le Tour du Monde 1906

Exorcize, 1869, Peru

Mojave Native American Indians. USA. Voyage of Heinrich Balduin Mollhausen from the Mississippi river to the shores of the Pacific Ocean 1853-1854. Old 19th century engraving from Le Tour du Monde 1860

The inhabitants of Peru helping the jesuits suffering of malaria with Cinchona, 17th century

Bell s brother king on an oil ship. Bell s brother king on an oil ship. From Travel Diaries, vintage engraving, 1884-85. Copyright: xZoonar.com/PatrickxGuenettex 10659801

The punishment and torture of the "Peacock" dervishes by order of Emin Pasha's rebel officers: the dervishes are lined up and seated to have their ears sliced off. Coloured wood engraving by P. Naumann after A.J. Mounteney-Jephson.

Reception of the mission in Fougoumba, Guinea. Africa. Two campaigns in French Sudan, 1886-1888 by Joseph Simon Gallieni (1849 - 1916) Le Tour du Monde 1890

Engraving depicting a band of slaves, enclosed in a barracoon, passing the remains of other slaves who had died during transit. Dated 19th century

Interior of a Doncolah Cottage. Illustrations. 1835. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

A Swaziland witch-doctor goes round the village 'smelling' for the sorcerer who is using evil magic against his client Date: 1913

'Major Marter and his men guarding Cetewayo in the native Kraal', c1880. Artist: Unknown.

The beads of a bride in the village of Kibeyaeli, Tanzania, Central Africa. Old 19th century engraved illustration from Journey from Zanzibar to Benguela by Verney Lovett Cameron, Le Tour du Monde 1877

(L) Dyaks from Borneo - NE and SW coasts : (R) natives of Java - priest, lady and gentleman. Date: circa 1880

Chontaquiros indians, 1869, Peru, Fishing

Jewish district Balat, Istanbul. Turkey. Old 19th century engraved illustration from El Mundo Ilustrado 1879

Natives of the Dinka tribe, an African ethnic group in Southern Sudan, Historical, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century original, exact d...

Reception of the mission in Fougoumba, Guinea. Africa. Two campaigns in French Sudan, 1886-1888 by Joseph Simon Gallieni (1849 - 1916) Le Tour du Monde 1890

William Blake after John Gabriel Stedman, Family of Negro Slaves from Loango, 1793 Family of Negro Slaves from Loango

The Cacique Placing a Crown Upon the Head of Columbus, 1904. Artist: Unknown.

History of Exploration, Bolivia, 19th century. Moxos Indian costumes. Colored engraving by Emile Lassalle from Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny Journey, 1833.

Man and woman of Japan, 1818. The woman dressed in long robes walking under a parasol held by a servant. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Mary Anne Vennings A Geographical Present being Descriptions of the Principal Countries of the World, Darton, Harvey and Darton, London, 1818. Venning wrote educational books on geography, conchology and mineralogy in the early 19th century.

Medicine ponies of the Sioux Date: 1890

WITH ADMIRAL SIR W. HEWETT'S EMBASSY TO KING JOHN OF ABYSSINIA

Australian aboriginal forced labour in Australia c1850.

Festival of Fire. Men and a woman walking on hot embers observed by Eruopeans. Lithograph from L'Inde Francaise, 1828

An African shaman and rain-maker in his/her ritual costume. Wood engraving.

A Native Chief Ordering Europeans to be Put to Death. C. Bray (19th century). Watercolour. Dated 1817. 33.6 x 45.2cm.

Tomil Bay, Queen Regent's Camp, Indigenous Marriage. Portrait of the first indigenous boy baptized by the reverend Capuchin parents. Yap Island, Western Carolinas. Micronesia. Old XIX century engraved illustration from La Ilustracion Española y Americana 1890

Brazilian ceremony, Jan Luyken, Jan Bouman, 1681

Emancipation Proclamation. Published and sold by Martin & Judson, c1864. Print shows at centre the text of the Emancipation Proclamation with vignettes surrounding it; on the left are scenes related to slavery and on the right are scenes showing the benefits attained through freedom; also shows Justice and Columbia at the top centre beneath a bald eagle and a portrait of Abraham Lincoln at bottom centre above a scene of former slaves giving thanks

Clothing in ancient Egypt, time of the Old Kingdom around 2200 BC from the left, an official or better men's clothing with stick, time of the Middle Kingdom around 2100 BC an official, an Egyptian woman of the 5th Dynasty, lady with patterned shirt dress then a king of the New Kingdom around 1530 BC in action as a sacrificial priest, digitally improved reproduction of an illustration from the 19th century

History. 18th century. Slave trade. African coast. Guinea. Engraving by Wal Taget. The Iberian Illustration, 1898. Later colouration.

Moki Snake Dance, Arizona, USA Date: 1902

Javanese Pantomime called 'Toping', Jan Brandes, 1779 - 1785 drawing Color drawing of three Javanese dancers, sitting musicians and spectators in an open bamboo building with Atap. In Batavia. With inscription. Part of Jan Brandes' sketchbook, dl. 2 (1808), p. 99. Jakarta paper. pencil. watercolor (paint) brush pantomime, dumb show, masque Java

Weberei am Sambesi in Afrika im Jahre 1870, Historisch, digital restaurierte Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, genaues Origi...

Series of illustrations in The Graphic showing the preparation of cinnamon in Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka). 1. Cutting cinnamon sticks. 2. Peeling the Sticks. 3. Stretching the Cinnamon Bark. 4. Cleaning the Cinnamon on Boards. 5. Cutting the Cinnamon into Lengths. 6. A Cinnamon Drying Ground. 7. Tying the Cinnamon into Bundles for Exportation. Date: 1883

A Maroon, one of many slaves who escaped the brutality of their Dutch plantation masters in Suriname during the late 18th century. Their resistance against their former masters came to be known as th

Old Persian gymnastics exercises. Iran. Old steel engraved antique print. Published in L'Univers La Perse, in 1841. History of the ancient Persian empire

Chief of Kanemma tribe with his warriors from Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa 1849-55 by Heinrich Barth, 1821-65, German explorer

On his last journey, near lake Bangweulu, Zambia

History of Africa. French colonialism. 19th century. Signing a treaty with the chief of the tribe Tamiso. Colored engraving.

Group of natives Peruvian cooking on the bonfire, Peru, South America. Old XIX century engraved from Le Tour du Monde 1864

The beads of a bride in the village of Kibeyaeli, Tanzania, Central Africa. Journey across Africa, from Zanzibar to Benguela by Verney Lovett Cameron

Columbus presenting gifts to the first natives to greet him on his landing in the New World. 1492. Coloured lithograph, 1827

David Livingstone (1813-183) Scottish missionary and explorer. During African travels explored the Zambesi and 'discovered' Victoria Falls.Livingstone, weak with fever, being escorted into Shinte's town. From The Life and Explorations of David Livingstone

Indigenous hunters of Brazil, 18th century. Costumbrism. Watercolour.

Native African indigenous people of the village of Kameruka, Uganda, East Africa. Drawing by Edouard Riou (1833 - 1900) The lakes of equatorial Africa, exploration voyage 1883-1885 by Victor Giraud (1858-1898) Le Tour du Monde 1886

A couple of indigenous people from Easter Island, circa 1820. The population of this island was from Polynesian origin. Engraving.

''Groupe de Dioulas; L'Ouest Africain', 1914. From "Grande Geographie Bong Illustree", 1914.

Jaggas People. Illustrations, Prints, Costume prints. 1831. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. Africa

Three Labsters, Esaias Boursss, 1662 Three men are depicted outside in an uneven terrain. The man on the left is only a sketch. He is lying to the viewer to sleep on the floor on his side with the knees raised. He only wears a hip rug (Veshti, Lungi). His hair is shaved briefly. More forward, diagonally behind a lot of earth are the other two men. The men have brief frizzy hair. They both hold a worn -out filthed (Toppiya) in their left hand. Both wear a folded hip rug down to the knee, crammed at the waist. The man in the middle has tied a canvas over his right shoulder; The man on the right is wearing something that looks like a sleeveless vest (kamisaya) of checkered fabric. The middle man wears a large chopping knife (Machete) over his right arm. The man on the right wears a pickaxe over the right shoulder, of which he holds the point with his right hand. In view of the appearance and clothing, the men will probably come from South India or Jaffna, all brought to Colombo for work

Hawaiian native chief in ceremonial attire; By John Webber (1751 1793); English artist who accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific expedition to the Pacific (177680) aboard HMS Resolution.

Dr Livingstone is found by H M Stanley at Ujiji - 'Dr Livingstone, I presume '

Fiji (): village chiefs wearing white robes with slaughtered animals outside a large grass-roofed hut. Photograph, ca. 1880.

Costumes of Sudan: woman of Shendi in skirt and veil, Funje women of Sennar, and a Sheygya warrior with spear and shield. Man and woman of Gamamil province, and two men of Fazughli town, one a king (Melik) carrying a distinctive sword and prayer beads. Handcoloured lithograph from Friedrich Wilhelm Goedsche's "Vollstaendige Völkergallerie in getreuen Abbildungen" (Complete Gallery of Peoples in True Pictures), Meissen, circa 1835-1840. Goedsche (1785-1863) was a German writer, bookseller and publisher in Meissen. Many of the illustrations were adapted from Bertuch's "Bilderbuch fur Kinder" and others.

This painting by Louis Delaporte is one of dozens he drew during his two-year venture (1866-68) with the Mekong Exploration Commission sponsored by the French Ministry of the Navy, the intention of which was to lay the groundwork for the expansion of French colonies in Indochina. Traveling the Mekong by boat, the small French delegation voyaged from Saigon to Phnom Penh to Luang Prabang, then farther north into the uncharted waters of Upper Laos and China's Yunnan province, before returning to Hanoi in 1868 by foot, accompanied by porters and elephants.

The Green Corn fertility danceof the Minatarees Date: circa 1830

Tanzania/Zanzibar: 'Group of Slave-Children on Board the Daphne', George Sullivan, 1869

The Bear Dance, pl. 18 from the North American IndianPortfolio. Artist: George Catlin, American, 1796-1872

Costumes of the Berber musicians of the Bey of Tunis, and comedians or Saitari, Tunisia, 1828. Musicans playing tabi drums, cymbals, Taghanimt flute and nafir horn, while the comedians wear tall conical hats. Handcoloured copperplate engraving after Rinaldo Nanini Faentino from Giulio Ferrario's Costumes Ancient and Modern of the Peoples of the World, Florence, 1834.

Mandinka man in cap, shawl, skirt and sandals, with amulets and beads, 18th century. From the town of Barra in Gambia. A Mandingo. Negre Manding. After Rene Claude Geoffroy de Villeneuves LAfrique, Paris, 1814. Handcoloured stipple copperplate engraving from Frederic Shoberls The World in Miniature: Africa, A description of the manners and customs Moors of the Sahara and of the Negro Nations, R. Ackermann, England, 1821.

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