The Afrique Ancienne map was produced by Alain Manesson Mallet. He was a French cartographer and engineer who also was a soldier. The Afrique Ancienne was a map of all the known African civilizations, empires, and states during the ancient history. There are some states, empires, and civilizations that are absent from the map. The Kingdom of Kush, Punt, and Nubian civilization are not on the map. Sudan and Somalia are shown to have nothing, when populations were present there. Numidia and Carthage are not present in North Africa. While Egypt is labelled it does not give the upper and lower designation. The southern region of the kingdom is just denoted as Aethiopia. This was a term used to describe Africa by Greeks and Romans. The map also omits Aksum. A major civilization of Great Zimbabwe is not show either. Ancient Libyans are mentioned on the map, but the Garamantes are not. Mallet was not a historian or an archeologist, which explains flaws with the map. Most Europeans knowledge of Africa was very limited. The continent had a long and complex history, which Europe did not comprehend. The Afrique Ancienne demonstrates the difficulty making maps when information is not easily accessible.
The World History Archive and Compendium 