EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

Belgian maps available to van Haverbeke, but there was a series of maps by the French
captain and cartographer Charles der Kerhallet. 397 We know that at least one map (6.2)
of the Rio Nunez was given to Leopold. 398 This map had probably been provided to van
Haverbeke, but we simply do not know. It is a bare, unadulterated map of the coast and
river system produced by der Kerhallet in 1844. There is a drawing (6.3), of the “line of
battle” and the surrounding countryside in the archives of the foreign office, but it is
more of an artistic rendering than a map. 399 There are other contemporary maps, mostly
French and to a lesser extent British, but they do not appear to have been utilized by
Belgium.
It would appear than that Rio Nunez did not become a Belgian colony or
commercial outpost of any significance because Leopold did not support it to any great
extent and the Belgian chambers simply would not tolerate any further colonial
expeditions at taxpayer expense. Belgian interest in Africa faded for the next twenty
years, until Leopold II began his quest for empire.
396 Ibid., 45-55.
397 There were also British maps of the Nunez region, as would be expected from a naval power
such as Britain. See John Arrowsmith, “Map of the West Coast of Africa” (1843), 545039, AFR. D.238,
RGS.
398 Everaert and De Wilde, 323, Fig. 2.
189