Daily Mail Cape to Cairo Railway Map, 3rd edition

The Daily Mail Commercial Map of Africa

Insets on the map depict ‘Africa before the scramble’ and ‘England on same scale showing main railway lines’. Text at the foot of the map explores the progress of the proposed Cape to Cairo route and helps us date this edition of the map to 1898-1899.  Read more

The railway in Sudan was extended rapidly by the British to support Kitchener’s military operations against Mahdist forces. The Aswan to Wadi Halfa gap (show here as under construction) was never plugged, but the Abu-Hamed to Atbara section was completed in 1898. The Atbara to Khartoum section was built 1898-1900, after the Battle of Omdurman. 

The map also predates the second Anglo-Boer War. The text and the development of the railways is unchanged from the second edition, and the third must have followed hard on its heels.

Condition & Materials

Lithographed folding map, third edition, printed area measurement 64 x 55.5 cm, printed in colours, laid on linen; without printed wraps or slip-case.

References 

Worldcat locates four examples of the third edition: OCLC: 556203965 (British Library); OCLC: 1376341430 (LoC); OCLC: 68915930 (Stellenbosch University, misdated 1884) and OCLC: 431687500 (BNE Madrid). Read less