Description of Africa (Olfert Dapper)

Description of Africa (Dutch Naukeurige Beschrijvinge van Africa gewesten). A detailed description of the parts of Africa known to Europeans in the mid seventeenth century written by the geographer Olfert Dapper. It was first published in Amsterdam by Jacob Moeurs in 1668, and a second edition appeared in 1676. A German translation was issued in 1670, as was the English translation, often attributed to John Ogilby, as Africa in 1670. A French translation also appeared in 1676. All of these translations have problems with occasional mistranslations but more significantly, abbreviation of the contents. The German and English versions are the most faithful, both in translation and inclusion of the original material, the French edition is generally regarded as quite deficient.

Dapper never visited Africa himself, but relied very heavily on records of the Dutch West India Company, especially a collection made by Samuel Bloomaerts, one of its officials. The records which Dapper used are no longer extant, however, as searches for the original reports and letters in the archives of the company in the Nationaal Archief Nederland (Dutch National Archive) have not produced anything original.