Maps & figures

Map 1

Physical Liberia: relief, drainage, and the four ecological belts

Relief and drainage of present-day Liberia, with the coastal plain, hill country, plateau, and northern highlands distinguished. Belt boundaries are gradients, not lines.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 2

The six principal river systems and their navigable reaches

The Mano, Lofa, Saint Paul, Saint John, Cestos, and Cavalla, with the approximate head of canoe navigation on each marked.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 3

Rainfall and the forest–savanna transition

Isohyets of mean annual rainfall against the northern limit of closed high forest.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 4

Known and probable archaeological sites, Stone Age through Iron Age

Excavated and surface-reported sites. Density reflects survey effort as much as ancient settlement, and should not be read as a distribution map.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 5

Language families of the Upper Guinea Coast: Mande, Kru, and Mel

Approximate distribution of the three families around 1800, with zones of long-standing bilingualism shaded rather than divided.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 6

Reconstructed migration routes into present-day Liberia

Directional arrows summarising the movements argued for in Chapter 4. Routes are inferences from language, tradition, and terrain, not documented itineraries.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 7

Ethnic distribution, approximately 1800

Sixteen principal groups shown at their approximate early-nineteenth-century extents, before the coastal disruptions that followed 1822.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 8

Vai and Gola political zones of the northwest coast

Chiefdoms, confederacy centres, and the corridor between the Cape Mount lagoons and the interior markets.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 9

Kru and Grebo coastal settlement, Cape Palmas to Cape Mesurado

Named landing beaches, town clusters, and the reefs that governed where a canoe could work the surf.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 10

Interior trade routes and their connections to the Mande networks

Head-load paths, river reaches, and the market towns where the coastal and Sahelian systems met.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 11

The Malaguetta or Pepper Coast as charted by European mariners, 1460–1700

Composite of coastal outlines and place-names from successive Portuguese, Dutch, and English charts.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 12

European trade stations, anchorages, and factories before 1822

Points of contact along the coast, with periods of documented activity noted where sources allow.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Map 13

Cape Mesurado and its hinterland at the moment of settlement

Towns, farms, and paths in the immediate vicinity of the Cape, reconstructed for the eve of 1822.

Original cartography prepared for this volume.

Figure 1

Schematic section of a natural-draft iron-smelting furnace of the forest type

Shaft, tuyère placement, and slag pit of the furnace type described in Chapter 12. Dimensions vary considerably between traditions.

Figure 2

Stages of dugout canoe construction in the Kru tradition

From felled trunk to finished surf-canoe, showing the sequence of shaping, hollowing, and firing.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 3

Plan and elevation of a round thatched dwelling with veranda

Construction of wall, plate, and roof cone in the forest building tradition.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 4

Town layout showing palaver house, compounds, and defensive perimeter

Idealised plan of a fortified interior town; actual towns adapt the scheme to terrain.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 5

Loom geometry of the narrow-strip weaving tradition

Heddle, beater, and warp arrangement of the men's narrow-strip loom, with strip widths noted.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 6

Sande society mask (sowei) — form and iconographic elements

Ringed neck, elaborated coiffure, and downcast features, with the elements named in the aesthetic vocabulary discussed in Chapter 17.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 7

The Vai syllabary: selected characters and their values

A sample of characters with transcribed values.

Figure 8

Genealogical structure of a patrilineal clan segment

Four generations of a lineage segment, showing the units through which land and office descend.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 9

The agricultural year in a forest-fallow rice system

Circular calendar of clearing, burning, sowing, weeding, bird-scaring, harvest, and the hunger season.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.

Figure 10

Divination configurations and their reading conventions

Selected configurations with the readings attached to them.

Figure 11

Comparative chronology: Liberia, West Africa, and the Atlantic world

Parallel timelines from roughly 1000 CE to 1822.

Original drawing prepared for this volume.