Paper short abstract:

Based on the project “Cartographies of Africa and Asia (1800-1945)”, the presentation analyses the depiction of diseases in Africa by German colonial cartography. The focal point is the collection of Justus Perthes Gotha, a famous cartographic publishing house during High Imperialism.

Paper long abstract:

Based on research for the project “Cartographies of Africa and Asia (1800-1945). A Project for the Digitization of Maps of the Perthes Collection Gotha”, the presentation gives insights into the development of the depiction of diseases in Africa by German colonial cartography. The focal point is the collection and works of one of the most important German cartographic publishing houses during the era of High Imperialism, the Justus Perthes Publishing House in Gotha (Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt).

The dangers of the “foreign” are a popular topic in colonial cartography, highlighting the heroism as well as the usefulness of the discipline itself as well as feeding into existing myths of the “other”, which legitimized the exploitation of faraway peoples and lands. One of these dangers were sicknesses, which were also depicted in cartography, attributing it to the landscape and thereby inscribing them into the landscape, as if they were permanent features like mountains, rivers or lakes.

Justus Perthes Gotha was a very influential cartographic publishing house in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a first and foremost economic endeavor, an enterprise, whose main aim was to generate a profit, they excelled in collecting geographic data. Under the auspices of August Petermann, one of their most influential head cartographers, they even went on to organize expeditions. When Germany’s Colonial project started, Perthes welcomed it with a specialized atlas of Africa and a Foreword firmly encouraging colonization.