{"product_id":"the-cape-to-cairo-railway-and-train-ferries-by-henry-wilson-fox-rgs-1920-map-p-6-110871","title":"The Cape to Cairo Railway and Train Ferries by Henry Wilson Fox. RGS 1920 map","description":"\u003cp align=\"left\"\u003e'Map to Illustrate the paper on The Cape to Cairo Railway and Train Ferries by H. Wilson Fox, M.P.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp align=\"left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp align=\"left\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn ambitious thematic map illustrating the proposed Cape to Cairo Railway, published by the Royal Geographical Society in February 1920 to accompany a paper by Henry Wilson-Fox. Standing at the intersection of cartography, imagination, and late Imperial ambition, the map sets out the envisioned north–south railway spine of British Africa, linking Cape Town to Cairo, together with a complex network of railways, lake ferries, and river crossings intended to overcome vast distances and challenging terrain. Originally conceived in the 1890s and closely associated with Cecil Rhodes, the scheme embodied the high-imperial vision of a continent bound together by British infrastructure and authority. Its renewed discussion in 1920 reflects post-First World War optimism, following the transfer of German East Africa (Tanganyika) to British control, which created a continuous ribbon of British-administered territory from the Mediterranean to the Cape and appeared to remove a major obstacle to the project. At the same time, the map suggests why the railway was never completed as a single continuous line. Enormous distances, hostile geography, tropical disease, incompatible rail gauges, and weak commercial logic combined to prevent its realisation. Never progressing beyond a fragmented network of local and extractive lines, the Cape-to-Cairo Railway ultimately remained a powerful imperial fantasy rather than an engineering reality.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Antiquemapsandprints.com","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51916948799835,"sku":"P-6-110871","price":360.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0923\/9583\/1643\/files\/P-6-110871a.jpg?v=1765982184","url":"https:\/\/www.antiquemapsandprints.com\/products\/the-cape-to-cairo-railway-and-train-ferries-by-henry-wilson-fox-rgs-1920-map-p-6-110871","provider":"Antiquemapsandprints.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}