from the Africa
South of the Sahara - Environmental History site:
Photo:
Herbert Lang
Bangba, with a head covered with snails- used in dances. Niangara, Congo
Belge, 1913, June.
The Mangabetu spent a great deal of time and energy enhancing their beauty
with scars, jewelry, and hats.
"In 1909,...Herbert Lang and James Chapin set sail for the Belgian
Congo....By the time they sailed home five and one-half years later, they
had collected tons of precious zoological and anthropological
specimens..."
Contents:
an introductory, multimedia slide show.
diaries of James Chapin ("At age 19, in 1909, James Chapin left
New York for northeastern Congo where he served as Herbert Lang's assistant
for the next five years. Chapin was interested in many aspects of Africa's
natural history. Birds, however, were his passion, a fact borne out by these
diaries.")
biographies of James Paul Chapin and Herbert Lang, photographs
(villages, primates), the watercolors of James Chapin including Congo
mural paintings, birds, fish, reptiles, mammels,
excerpts from "African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire,"
by Enid Schildkrout and Curtis A. Keim (AMNH and University of Washington
Press, 1990) including their photographs of Congo musical instruments
excerpts from "King Leopold's Ghost" by Adam Hochschild
(Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998)
"160 publications including 120 American Museum of Natural
History publications based on the material collected by the 1909-1915 Congo
Expedition, 12 British Museum publications by Barry Bolton on Congo ants, 11
publications on African ants by the South African Museum and affiliated
organizations, and 17 Congo-related World Conservation Union (IUCN)
publications."
a central African map with layers. Select which features will appear on
the map: lakes, cities, roads, railroads, forest, mammals, birds, reptiles,
fish, etc., a map of Chapin and Lang's travels
historic maps
reflecting the "development of European knowledge of African geography
from 1562 through 1940." Reproduced with permission of the New York
Public Library and the British Library.
audio (requires sound card, headset or speakers) and video
clips of the Belgian Congo Records made by the "adventurer and
filmmaker Armand Denis during his 1934-35 cross-Africa expedition. They were
among the first recordings made of the sounds of the central Congo. The
Babiara people, whose songs may be heard..... are one of the four main
tribal groups who occupy the Ituri Forest." The video clip shows a
traditional Mangbetu dance.
a database on specimens collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition
a bibliographic essay on sources by Paula Willey, specially prepared
bibliographies on Congo Conservation (314 citations), Description &
Travel (1218 citations), Maps & Atlases (220 citations).
Newspaper Headlines, 1880-1916 about the Congo from the New York Times
and the New York Herald
- read also on this site: The
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
-
- read and see more about the Congo expedition : http://diglib1.amnh.org/
-
- Find more resources: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/art.html
African
Art David
Norden |Mail|map
Sint Katelijnevest 27. B2000 ANTWERPEN-Belgium. Tel +32
3 227 35 40