In 1948, Melville J. Herskovits established the African Studies program at Northwestern University. It was the first of its kind at a major research university in the United States, and since its creation, it has also been actively involved with collecting historic maps of Africa. This particular online collection draws on this legacy of preservation and acquisition, and all told, it contains 113...

Spatial data analysis is an important tool for geographers, planners, sociologists, and others, and this well-designed site by the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University will be a real boon to anyone with an interest in Africa. As the introduction to the project notes, this site helps interested parties "accumulate both contemporary and historical data supplied by researchers and...

Founded 900 years ago, the city of Timbuktu (located in what is now the country of Mali) was a center of major commercial importance and a place where many Islamic scholars received their education. This exhibit, developed by the Library of Congress (with the use of manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha) explores some of the many...

Michigan State University has a well-known geography department, and an equally fine map library. On the map library's website, visitors will find a very nice selection of digital exhibits and maps. The site includes a section of scanned maps that includes historic maps of Michigan and a variety of 19th and early 20th century maps of Africa.