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

almost impossible for a white man to survive in Rio Nunez or West Africa for any
extended period of time; the odds were almost as bad in Santo Tomas.
The question of the use or abuse of maps and cartography is not one that is
usually addressed in terms of colonial or imperialistic functions. It is clear that until
there were current maps available there was little possibility for true exploration as a
lead-in to colonization and imperialism. This, however, pertained mostly to Africa.
Maps of South and Central America and of Asia had been in existence for centuries. It
was Africa beyond the coast that was terra incognito. In terms of Belgian cartography
there had not been any previous need for such mapping. Both as part of the Spanish and
Austrian Netherlands and as half of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, what
would become Belgium had relied on Dutch maps and Dutch ships. With the final break
with the Netherlands in 1830 and the continuing embargo against its products and port
access, Belgium was forced, at least initially, to acquire cartographic knowledge
anywhere it could.
Pirson’s use of a hand drawn outline of the British cartographer Arrowsmith’s
map of Texas is a good example. Additionally, maps of the Rio Nunez were given to
Leopold by the French. The maps used by Van Lede in Brazil were not Belgian but
were up to date, as the Brazilian coast had been the subject of commerce for hundreds
of years
Santo Tomas in Guatemala, however, saw the beginning of Belgian cartography.
The maps made for Leopold by Nicolas Dally were equal to the best available. The
quality of the maps by Dorn were detailed and exact, if a bit crude. But the real
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