South Africa

A dramatic map of South Africa at a time when it was “The Union of South Africa" and included the former German colony of Southwest Africa. 

Also published in the same year in a smaller version, this example was printed in The Netherlands, even though it appears that Schmitz was working in Pretoria. The map is filled with vignettes of wildlife, people, trains, airplanes, ships, landmarks, farms, agricultural commodities, beaches and other tourist attractions. Main arterial routes by air, rail and road shown. There are panels of text, including a list of universities, statistics related to religion, language and race: “There are no fewer than five distinct racial groups inhabiting the Union of South Africa,…South Africa has two official languages, Afrikaans and English. Most of the Whites as well as the Coloured and Cape Malays speak either Afrikaans or English in their homes. The Bantus and Asiatics mainly speak their own languages”. There is a long table: “1486 - 1958 Principal Dates in South African History,…1486 Portuguese navigator, Bartholemew Dias, discovers the Cape of Good Hope… [to] 1951 South Africa sends air squadron to partake in Korean War”.