AFRICA
Africa is in a state of commercial transition. During the last quarter
of the nineteenth century the partition of its area among European
nations left but few of the names that formerly were familiar. At the
beginning of the twentieth century the British, French, and Germans
controlled the greater part of the continent, although the Portuguese,
Belgians, Italians, and Spanish have various possessions.
The partition of Africa was designed for the expansion of European
markets. The population of Africa is about one hundred and seventy
million, and the continent is practically without manufacturing
enterprises. The people, therefore, must be supplied with clothing and
other commodities. In 1900 the total trade of Africa with the rest of
the world was about one and one-third billion dollars, of which the
United States had a little more than two per cent., mainly cotton cloth
and coal-oil.
=Egypt.=--The Egypt of the maps is a region of indefinite extent so far as
its western and southern boundaries are concerned; the Egypt of history
is the flood plain of the Nile. From the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo the
cultivable area is not far from one hundred miles in width; from Cairo
to Khartum it varies from three to seven or eight miles wide.
[Illustration: AFRICA]
The food-producing power of Egypt depends on the Nile. In lower Egypt a
considerable area is made productive at the ordinary stage of water by
means of irrigating canals, but in upper Egypt the crops must depend
upon the annual flood of the river, which occurs from June until
September. During this period the river varies from twenty-five to forty
feet above the low-water mark. In the irrigated regions three crops a
year may be produced; in the flooded lands only one is grown.
In order to add to the cultivable area two great engineering works have
been constructed. A barrage and lock control the flow of water at
Assiut; a huge dam at Assuan impounds the surplus of the flood season.
These structures, it is thought, will increase the productive power of
the country about one-fourth. Rice, maize (an Egyptian variety), sugar,
wheat, and beans are the staple crops.
Rice is the food of the native people, but the crop is insufficient, and
the deficit must be imported. The wheat, maize, and beans are grown for
export to Europe, the last named being extensively used for
horse-fodder. The sugar-growing industry is protected by the heavy yield
and the cheap fellahin labor. The raw sugar is sent to the refineries
along the Mediterranean. Onions are exported to the United States.
The cotton-crop is an important factor, and in spite of its own crop the
United States is a heavy purchaser of the long-staple Egyptian cotton,
which is used in the manufacture of thread and hosiery. The cultivation
of tobacco is forbidden by law, but Egyptian cigarettes are an item of
considerable importance. They are made of imported Turkish tobacco by
foreign workmen. There is a heavy export duty on native tobacco
exported, and the ban on the inferior native-grown article is intended
to prevent its admixture with the high-grade product from Turkey, and
thereby to keep up the standard of the cigarettes.
Egypt is nominally a vassal of Turkey, paying to the Sultan a yearly
tribute of $3,600,000. Great Britain's is the real controlling hand,
because the Suez Canal is Great Britain's gateway to India. By a
purchase of the stock held by a former Khedive, Great Britain secured
financial control of the canal, a necessary step from the fact that more
than half the trade carried through the canal is British commerce.
The country is deficient in the resources that make most nations
powerful. There is neither coal, iron, nor timber available, and these
must be imported. Great Britain supplies the first, and Norway the last.
Some traffic is carried on the Nile, but railways have been built
through the crop-lands. One of these threads the Nile Valley and will
become a part of the "Cape to Cairo" route.
_Alexandria_ is the port at which most of the Egyptian commerce lands.
_Cairo_, the largest city of Africa, derives its importance from its
position at the head of the Nile delta. It is a favorite winter-resort.
_Port Saïd_ and _Suez_ are the terminal ports of the Suez Canal; their
commerce is mainly the transit trade of the canal.
=Other Independent States.=--Most of the independent states of Africa are
in a condition of barbarism and have but little importance to the rest
of the world. Abyssinia has the natural advantages of gold, iron,
pasture-lands, and forestry, and the possibilities of cotton
cultivation. Valuable mining concessions have been granted to foreign
companies. Ivory, coffee, and gold are shipped to India in exchange for
textiles. A railway from the coast is under construction, but all the
traffic is carried by mule-trains, mainly to _Harrar_.
Morocco has an admirable strategic position at the entrance of the
Strait of Gibraltar, and is most likely, in time, to become a possession
of Spain. There are exported, mainly to Great Britain, beans, almonds,
goat-skins, and wool. The goat-skins are sumac-tanned and are still
used in making the best book-binding leather. Only a small part of the
so-called Morocco leather of commerce is genuine. There are no railways;
caravan routes from the Sahara cross the country. _Tangier_ and one or
two other ports are open to foreign trade. Coal-oil is the only import
from the United States.
The state of Liberia was established for the benefit of freed slaves
from the United States. The products are those of tropical Africa,
including caoutchouc. Coffee cultivation is extensively carried on, and
coffee is the leading export. _Monrovia_ is the chief centre of trade.
=North African Possessions.=--French influence is paramount in northern
Africa. Algeria and Tunis are both French colonies, and the caravan
trade of the Sahara is generally tributary to French trade. The region
known as the Tell, a strip between the coast and the Atlas Mountains, is
the chief agricultural region, and the products are similar to those on
the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. The ordinary grains are grown
for home consumption, but the macaroni wheat crop is manufactured into
macaroni paste for export. The fruit-crop, especially the olive, date,
and grape, and their products, is exported.
Esparto grass, for making paper, was formerly an important export, but
the increasing use of wood-pulp for this purpose has had the effect of
increasing the grazing area, and therefore the wool-crop. Date-palms
grow in great profusion, and the excess forms an important export, going
to nearly every part of Europe and the United States. A large part of
the crop, however, is consumed by the Arabs. Sumac-tanned goat-skins,
for book-binding leather, are also exported.
The colonies must import coal. Manufactures are therefore restricted to
the preparation of the fruit and food products. Sponges are an
important product. Railways provide the necessary transportation for the
crops. _Algiers_, the metropolis, is a finely built city and a favorite
winter-resort. _Oran_ is the shipping-port for grain and esparto grass.
_Biskra_ is the market for dates.
The caravan trade of northern Africa is considerable, and the greater
part converges at _Tripoli_, to which not far from ten thousand
camel-loads of merchandise are brought annually. This trade is carried
on mainly by the Arabs, who cover the region from _Timbuctu_ to Lake
Chad. They bring ivory, ostrich feathers, gold, goat-skins, and slaves.
In return they carry cloth, fire-arms, ammunition, and various
commodities to the negro villages of the Sudan. The district is a
possession of Turkey. Its chief exports are esparto grass, sponges, and
dye-stuffs.
=Central Africa.=--Central Africa is divided among the chief European
powers. Great Britain and Germany divide the lake-region and the
Zanzibar coast. On the Guinea coast the French are an additional factor.
The trade of these regions consists of an exchange of tropical
products--palm-oil, rubber, ebony, camwood, ivory, and hides--for cloth,
tobacco, fire-arms, beads and trinkets, and preserved foods. Most of
this trade is carried on by companies holding royal charters.
The Kongo State is a semi-official corporation of this character, the
King of the Belgians being its chief executive officer. The active
administration is carried on by agents of the company. The chief of each
tribe or village is required, under penalty, to furnish a certain quota
of crude rubber and other products; and between the agent and the Arab
slave-driver the natives have little to choose.
The Kongo River is the outlet of the state, and to facilitate the
transportation of the products, railways have been built, or are under
construction, around the rapids. This region is about the only
remaining source of elephant ivory, but most of the supply consists of
the tusks of animals long since dead. A fleet of steamboats carries the
commercial products to the coast. _Stanley Pool_, at the head of the
rapids, is the chief depot for collection. Ocean steamships ascend the
river to a point above _Boma_, the place of administration.
Nigeria and Ashanti are British possessions on the Guinea coast,[81]
having a trading company organization. Sierra Leone is an organized
colony, a product of which is the kola-nut. British East Africa is
important for strategic purposes, inasmuch as it includes the upper Nile
basin, a territory sometimes known as the Egyptian Sudan. _Akra_ is the
trading port of Nigeria, and _Khartum_ of the upper Nile Valley.
_Zanzibar_ is the metropolis of the east coast.
The French possessions include a large territory at the mouth of the
Kongo, the western part of the Sahara, and the islands of Madagascar and
Reunion. In German East Africa the commercial development has been
substantial, and large plantations for the cultivation of tropical
products are in operation. A railway from the coast to the lake-district
is under construction. _Mombasa_ is its commercial outlet.
The Italians have nominal possession of a territory facing the Strait of
Bab-el-Mandeb, and also of the peninsula of Guardafui. Their actual
possession, however, is restricted to the island and trading-post of
_Massawa_. Their attempts to conquer Abyssinia have been unsuccessful.
=Cape of Good Hope and the South African Colonies.=--Up to the time of the
Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope was a sort of half-way house between
British ports and India, and this position made it commercially
important. Even at the present time more than fifteen hundred vessels,
many of them in the Indian Ocean trade, call at the chief port of the
colony every year.
Agriculture is the chief industry of these colonies, though not the one
yielding the greatest returns. Enough wheat, maize (or "mealies"), and
fruit are grown for home consumption, but the climate is too arid for
any excess of bread-stuffs. The aridity is a resource, however, in the
matter of wool, the superior quality of which is due largely to the
deficient rainfall. As a matter of fact the whole country is a great
grazing veldt; wool, a very fine quality of Angora mohair, hides, and
cattle products are exports.
From December to March the fruits ripen, and these, especially the
grapes, are carried in cold-storage vessels to British and other
European ports. The wine is likewise of excellent quality and is
becoming an export of great value. Both the fruit and the wine are
similar to those of Australia and California.
The business of ostrich farming is in the hands of several large
companies, and, next to the wool-crop, ostrich plumes are the leading
product. There are about a quarter of a million birds, and each produces
about one pound of feathers. The ordinary quality of plumes varies from
five to ten dollars a pound; very choice plumes command as much as two
hundred dollars a pound. London is the chief market for them, but most
of them sooner or later find their way to the milliners of the great
cities.
The diamond-mines of Griqualand West furnish practically the whole of
the world's supply. The mines are operated on a most thorough business
system, and the output of rough stones is carefully regulated to meet
the demand. All wholesale dealers know the output from year to year, and
no more stones are put upon the market than the number required to meet
the demand. All the Kimberley mines are now consolidated under one
company. The yearly output does not vary much from twenty million
dollars' worth of stones. The stones are marketed from Kimberley, but
London dealers buy most of them.
The mines that for several years produced more gold than any others in
existence are in the Transvaal.[82] Other undeveloped mines in the
territory of Rhodesia are known to be extremely rich in precious metals;
indeed, there is much evidence that the famous mines of Ophir were in
this region. Copper ore is an important export.
The industries of Natal colony do not differ materially from those of
Cape of Good Hope. The rainfall is sufficient for the growing of
sugar-cane, and sugar is an important export to the mother-country. The
colony has productive coal-mines, and these are destined to become an
important resource.
The home government has encouraged railway building, and a trunk line
through Rhodesia affords an outlet to the ports of the south coast. It
is the policy of the mother-country to extend this road along the
lake-region and the Nile Valley (known as the "Great Rift") to the
Mediterranean Sea. This plan when carried out will give Great Britain a
practical control of the trade of eastern Africa. The imports are mainly
textiles, machinery, and steel wares.
_Cape Town_ is the most important centre of trade in South Africa. A
considerable trade, however, is carried on at _Port Elizabeth_ and at
_Durban_, the port of Natal. _Kimberley_ is the seat of the
diamond-mining interests, and _Johannesberg_ of the gold-mines.
Germany and Portugal divide the southwest coast. _Walfisch Bay_ is the
outlet of the former. Portuguese East Africa is an outlet for the trade
of the Transvaal region, with which it is connected by rail. The port
_Lourenço Marquez_ has a fine harbor.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Has the partition of Africa been an advantage or a disadvantage to the
native races of the continent?
What advantages will accrue to Great Britain from the Cape to Cairo
railway?
Compare the basin of the Kongo with that of the Amazon with respect to
climate, products, and civilization.
From Commercial Africa prepare a list of the exports and imports between
the United States and the various African countries.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
Statesman's Year-Book.
Commercial Africa--pp. 3679 and following.
From a cyclopædia read the following topics: Ivory, Suez Canal,
Gibraltar, Livingstone, Diamonds, Canary Islands.