Created by Léon Craste and published in 1951, this original pictorial map presents the territories of Afrique-Occidentale Française, commonly abbreviated as A.O.F. It was produced for the French Ministry of Overseas France and its Paris agency as an educational and promotional representation of French West Africa.
Established in 1895, the A.O.F. was a federation of French-administered territories covering a large part of West Africa. Governed from Dakar, it included regions that would later become several independent nations. The federation was dissolved in 1958, shortly before the major wave of West African independence.
Craste fills the map with an extraordinary variety of miniature illustrations depicting cities, ports, agriculture, architecture, wildlife, transportation and local communities. Aircraft and ships appear along the Atlantic coast, while elephants, camels, giraffes and other animals animate the interior. Coral pink, green, blue, black and cream create a vivid composition, complemented by a compass rose and an elaborate A.O.F. emblem in the lower-right corner.
Léon Craste was known for richly illustrated geographical maps devoted to French overseas territories. His compositions combine cartographic information with decorative imagery, turning complex geographical subjects into accessible and visually engaging displays. The simplified representations of people and places reflect the promotional colonial perspective under which these maps were commissioned.
Printed in lithography by A. Karcher in Paris, this large original poster is an impressive piece for collectors of pictorial maps, African history, French graphic design and historical cartography. It should be understood both as a highly decorative mid-century map and as an important visual document of the French colonial administration shortly before decolonisation.
Original poster
Colony - Map
A. Karcher Paris
Good condition, traces of folds
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