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| Biafran flag and Coat of Arm |
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| Map of Africa (Abraham Ortelius, 1584) |
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| Map of West Africa (Rigobert Bonne (Royal Cartographer of France) 1770) |
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| Map of West Africa (1839); Biafra is shown in the region of "Lower Guinea" |
Early modern maps of Africa from the 15th to the 19th centuries, drawn from accounts written by explorers and travellers, show references to Biafra (Biafar, Biafara, Biafra and Biafares).
According to the maps, the European travellers used the word Biafara to describe the region of today's West Cameroon, including an area around today's Equatorial Guinea.
The German publisher Johann Heinrich Zedler, his encyclopedia of 1731, published the exact geographical location of the capital of Biafara, namely alongside the river Rio dos Camaroes in today's Cameroon, underneath 6 degrees 10 min latitude.
The word Biafara and Biafares also appear on maps from the 18th century in the area around Senegal and Gambia.
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| French map of the Gulf of Guinea from 1849 |
In his personal writings from his travels, a Rev. Charles W. Thomas defined the locations of islands in the Bight of Biafra as "between the parallels of longitude 5° and 9° East and latitude 4° North and 2° South.
