Historical maps, like historical books and prints, are part of a nation?s cultural heritage. They comprise a rich mine of factual data and form a basic guide to the changing face of a country. In almost every country of the world but South Africa, books have been published on the important maps of that country issued either locally or abroad. This is the first book ever to deal with historical maps of Southern Africa. This book includes 80 maps of Southern Africa south of the Zambesi issued during the period 1790 (the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe) and the beginning of World War I in 1914. Important historical maps of the Cape Colony, Natal, the two Boer Republics (Transvaal and the Orange Free State), Basutoland, Swaziland, Bechuanaland, German South West Africa, Southern Rhodesia, and the southern part of Mocambique, are presented. Full bibliographic detail of each map is provided, together with an essay on the relevant map?s historical and geographical importance, i.e. who compiled it, why was it compiled, and why was the geographical information on it considered important. A high-quality colour representation of each map, and in some instances also of part of a map, are essential and high-resolution digital scans of all maps are provided by the editors.