{
  "edition": "2026-10-24",
  "frame": "Circa 1780, with explicitly broader eighteenth-century comparisons",
  "method": "Selected city and regional locators. Rounded coordinates orient the reader; they are not historical capitals in every case, surveyed boundaries, or an exhaustive inventory. Existing dated territorial reconstructions retain their separate source limits.",
  "sources": {
    "law": {
      "title": "Robin Law (1983), Trade and Politics Behind the Slave Coast: the Lagoon Traffic and the Rise of Lagos, 1500–1800",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700022040"
    },
    "fante": {
      "title": "James Sanders (1979), The Expansion of the Fante and the Emergence of Asante in the Eighteenth Century",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700017357"
    },
    "asante": {
      "title": "Margaret Priestley (1961), The Ashanti Question and the British: Eighteenth-Century Origins",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700002139"
    },
    "toro": {
      "title": "Robinson, Curtin & Johnson (1972), A Tentative Chronology of Futa Toro",
      "url": "https://www.persee.fr/doc/cea_0008-0055_1972_num_12_48_2738"
    },
    "jallon": {
      "title": "Seshat Global History Databank: Futa Jallon, 1725–1896",
      "url": "https://www.seshat-db.com/core/polity/610"
    },
    "segu": {
      "title": "Seshat Global History Databank: Bamana kingdom, 1712–1861",
      "url": "https://www.seshat-db.com/core/polity/434"
    },
    "bornu": {
      "title": "Seshat Global History Databank: Kanem-Borno",
      "url": "https://www.seshat-db.com/core/polity/670"
    },
    "central": {
      "title": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Central Africa, 1600–1800",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/afc.html"
    },
    "north": {
      "title": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Western North Africa (The Maghrib), 1600–1800",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/afw.html"
    },
    "egypt": {
      "title": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Egypt, 1600–1800",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/afe.html"
    },
    "east": {
      "title": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Eastern Africa, 1600–1800",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/afa.html"
    },
    "south": {
      "title": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Southern Africa, 1600–1800",
      "url": "https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/09/afo.html"
    },
    "saintlouis": {
      "title": "UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Island of Saint-Louis",
      "url": "https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/956/"
    },
    "goree": {
      "title": "UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Island of Gorée",
      "url": "https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/26/"
    }
  },
  "states": [
    {
      "id": "futa-toro",
      "name": "Futa Toro",
      "lat": 16.0,
      "lon": -14.0,
      "region": "West Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · middle Senegal valley",
      "note": "Almamate established in 1776; an agricultural and Islamic political centre along the Senegal River.",
      "source": "toro",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "futa-jallon",
      "name": "Futa Jallon",
      "lat": 10.75,
      "lon": -11.98,
      "region": "West Africa",
      "location": "Timbo · approximate town locator",
      "note": "A confederated Islamic state from the eighteenth century, with Timbo as its capital.",
      "source": "jallon",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "segu",
      "name": "Ségou · Bamana",
      "lat": 13.45,
      "lon": -6.27,
      "region": "West Africa",
      "location": "Ségou · approximate town locator",
      "note": "The Bamana kingdom at Ségou was established in the early eighteenth century.",
      "source": "segu",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "bornu",
      "name": "Bornu",
      "lat": 12.9,
      "lon": 12.5,
      "region": "West Africa",
      "location": "Ngazargamu · approximate site locator",
      "note": "A separate state around Lake Chad; Ngazargamu was its royal centre in the eighteenth century.",
      "source": "bornu",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "fante",
      "name": "Fante states",
      "lat": 5.27,
      "lon": -1.02,
      "region": "West Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · central Gold Coast",
      "note": "Coastal states and trading intermediaries with their own alliances. Coastal trade with Asante did not mean uniform Asante rule.",
      "source": "fante",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "morocco",
      "name": "Morocco · Alaouite dynasty",
      "lat": 33.9,
      "lon": -5.6,
      "region": "North Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · Meknes area",
      "note": "An independent monarchy beyond Ottoman rule; the Alaouite dynasty had ruled since the seventeenth century.",
      "source": "north",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "algiers",
      "name": "Algiers regency",
      "lat": 36.75,
      "lon": 3.05,
      "region": "North Africa",
      "location": "Algiers · city locator",
      "note": "Ottoman affiliation coexisted with substantial autonomy under local military leadership.",
      "source": "north",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "tunis",
      "name": "Tunis regency",
      "lat": 36.8,
      "lon": 10.18,
      "region": "North Africa",
      "location": "Tunis · city locator",
      "note": "One of the North African Ottoman regencies, with considerable local autonomy by the eighteenth century.",
      "source": "north",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "tripoli",
      "name": "Tripoli regency",
      "lat": 32.9,
      "lon": 13.18,
      "region": "North Africa",
      "location": "Tripoli · city locator",
      "note": "Ottoman affiliation did not imply direct administration of every local decision from Istanbul.",
      "source": "north",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "egypt",
      "name": "Ottoman Egypt",
      "lat": 30.04,
      "lon": 31.24,
      "region": "North Africa",
      "location": "Cairo · city locator",
      "note": "Egypt remained within the Ottoman imperial framework in this period. The marker locates Cairo, not a territorial extent.",
      "source": "egypt",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "kuba",
      "name": "Kuba",
      "lat": -4.6,
      "lon": 21.3,
      "region": "Central Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · Kasai",
      "note": "A kingdom formed in the seventeenth century, with distinctive royal art and institutions.",
      "source": "central",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "lunda",
      "name": "Lunda",
      "lat": -8.4,
      "lon": 22.5,
      "region": "Central Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · Lunda heartland",
      "note": "A long-established state with expanding networks of tribute and exchange, including links toward the Copperbelt.",
      "source": "central",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "luba",
      "name": "Luba",
      "lat": -8.0,
      "lon": 26.5,
      "region": "Central Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · upper Congo basin",
      "note": "A kingdom established before the eighteenth century; courtly arts and political traditions travelled widely.",
      "source": "central",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "kazembe",
      "name": "Kazembe",
      "lat": -9.8,
      "lon": 28.7,
      "region": "Central Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · Luapula region",
      "note": "A state established through Lunda expansion in the mid-eighteenth century.",
      "source": "central",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "ethiopia",
      "name": "Ethiopia · Gondar",
      "lat": 12.6,
      "lon": 37.47,
      "region": "Eastern Africa",
      "location": "Gondar · city locator",
      "note": "Gondar was a centre of royal, religious and artistic life. A city marker does not imply uniform control of the surrounding region.",
      "source": "east",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "harar",
      "name": "Harar",
      "lat": 9.31,
      "lon": 42.13,
      "region": "Eastern Africa",
      "location": "Harar · city locator",
      "note": "An Islamic state and centre of learning; eighteenth-century caravan networks connected it to surrounding regions.",
      "source": "east",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "rwanda",
      "name": "Rwanda",
      "lat": -2.1,
      "lon": 29.7,
      "region": "Eastern Africa",
      "location": "Regional locator · Great Lakes",
      "note": "An agricultural kingdom with trading connections across the Great Lakes region. This is not a modern national boundary.",
      "source": "east",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "mombasa",
      "name": "Mombasa · Mazrui",
      "lat": -4.06,
      "lon": 39.67,
      "region": "Eastern Africa",
      "location": "Mombasa · city locator",
      "note": "An important eighteenth-century coastal state under the Omani-derived Mazrui dynasty, within the diverse Swahili trading world.",
      "source": "east",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "menabe",
      "name": "Menabe",
      "lat": -20.3,
      "lon": 44.5,
      "region": "Southern Africa & Madagascar",
      "location": "Regional locator · western Madagascar",
      "note": "One of the western and southern Malagasy states associated with the Maroserana dynasty.",
      "source": "south",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "merina",
      "name": "Merina highlands",
      "lat": -18.8,
      "lon": 47.5,
      "region": "Southern Africa & Madagascar",
      "location": "Regional locator · central Madagascar",
      "note": "Highland polities distinct from the Maroserana states. This point does not project later island-wide expansion backwards.",
      "source": "south",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    },
    {
      "id": "cape",
      "name": "Dutch Cape settlement",
      "lat": -33.92,
      "lon": 18.42,
      "region": "Southern Africa & Madagascar",
      "location": "Cape Town · city locator",
      "note": "A Dutch East India Company settlement established in 1652; shown as a colonial presence, not an indigenous African kingdom.",
      "source": "south",
      "period": "Late eighteenth century / c.1780 context"
    }
  ],
  "ports": [
    {
      "id": "saint-louis",
      "name": "Saint-Louis",
      "lat": 16.03,
      "lon": -16.5,
      "note": "Senegal River outlet; a European trading settlement established in the seventeenth century.",
      "source": "saintlouis",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "goree",
      "name": "Gorée",
      "lat": 14.67,
      "lon": -17.4,
      "note": "Atlantic island trading post associated with the history of the slave trade.",
      "source": "goree",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "anomabu",
      "name": "Anomabu",
      "lat": 5.17,
      "lon": -1.13,
      "note": "Fante coastal trading centre. Trade connections with the interior are not a claim of Asante sovereignty.",
      "source": "fante",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "cape-coast",
      "name": "Cape Coast",
      "lat": 5.11,
      "lon": -1.25,
      "note": "Coastal trading centre in eighteenth-century relations between African polities and European merchants.",
      "source": "asante",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "accra",
      "name": "Accra",
      "lat": 5.55,
      "lon": -0.2,
      "note": "A coastal outlet discussed in eighteenth-century Asante trade diplomacy.",
      "source": "asante",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "ouidah",
      "name": "Ouidah",
      "lat": 6.36,
      "lon": 2.08,
      "note": "Dahomey’s Atlantic-facing trading town; lagoon and inland connections shaped access to the coast.",
      "source": "law",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "porto-novo",
      "name": "Porto-Novo",
      "lat": 6.5,
      "lon": 2.63,
      "note": "A lagoon trading centre connected to the politics of Ọ̀yọ́, Dahomey and neighbouring ports.",
      "source": "law",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "badagry",
      "name": "Badagry",
      "lat": 6.42,
      "lon": 2.88,
      "note": "A lagoon port in the contested coastal trading network west of Èkó (Lagos).",
      "source": "law",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    },
    {
      "id": "lagos",
      "name": "Èkó (Lagos)",
      "lat": 6.45,
      "lon": 3.4,
      "note": "An Atlantic port from the 1760s, connected to lagoon traffic and Ìjẹ̀bú cloth production.",
      "source": "law",
      "period": "Eighteenth-century coastal context"
    }
  ],
  "connections": [
    {
      "id": "ijebu-lagos",
      "name": "Ìjẹ̀bú ↔ Èkó · cloth and lagoon exchange",
      "points": [
        [
          6.82,
          3.92
        ],
        [
          6.45,
          3.4
        ]
      ],
      "note": "A schematic relationship between Ìjẹ̀bú production and the Èkó trading network; not a surveyed canoe channel or overland itinerary.",
      "source": "law"
    },
    {
      "id": "lagoon",
      "name": "Western lagoon connections",
      "points": [
        [
          6.36,
          2.08
        ],
        [
          6.5,
          2.63
        ],
        [
          6.42,
          2.88
        ],
        [
          6.45,
          3.4
        ]
      ],
      "note": "Selected trading centres linked by lagoon traffic. The connecting line abstracts a complex waterway system.",
      "source": "law"
    },
    {
      "id": "asante-coast",
      "name": "Kumasi ↔ Fante coast",
      "points": [
        [
          6.69,
          -1.62
        ],
        [
          5.17,
          -1.13
        ]
      ],
      "note": "A commercial relationship through intermediaries, not a reconstructed road or an Asante territorial corridor.",
      "source": "asante"
    }
  ]
}