The English, French, Germans, and Belgians have within a few years
planted colonies in Africa. They believe it is more for their interest
to colonize Africa than to permit their surplus population to emigrate
to America. These countries realize the necessity of creating new
markets, if they are to continue to advance. In Africa the colonies
must depend upon the home country, and open new fields for manufactures
and commerce. They know that in equatorial Africa there are more than
100,000,000 people wanting every thing, even clothes.
The whole coast of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans from the Red Sea to the Isthmus of Suez, is claimed by
European nations, with the exception of two or three small inhospitable
and barren strips of coast. England occupies Egypt, and will hold it
for an indefinite period. France has its colonies in Tripoli, Algiers,
and Morocco, and on the Atlantic coast its factories in Senegambia. It
seeks a route from Algiers across the desert to Lake Chad, and from
Senegambia up the Senegal by steamer, thence across the country by rail
to the head of navigation on the Niger, and down that river to
Timbuctu.
England occupies Sierra Leone, the Gold and Slave Coasts, the delta and
valley of the Niger, and its branch the Benue. It has factories on
these rivers, and small steamers plying on them, and seeks Timbuctu by
the river Niger. It controls almost the entire region where the
palm-oil is produced.
Timbuctu, long before Africa was known to Europe, was the centre of a
large trade in European and Asiatic goods. Caravans crossed the Desert
of Sahara from Timbuctu north to the Mediterranean, and east to
Gondokoro, carrying out slaves, gold and ivory and bringing back
European and Asiatic goods.
Sandwiched between the English possessions, Liberia struggles for
existence, its inhabitants fast degenerating into barbarism.
Joining the English possessions on the Gold Coast, two degrees north of
the equator, are the German possessions of Kamerun, with high mountains
and invigorating breezes; but the land at the foot is no more favorable
to the European than the Guinea coast. One or two hundred miles in the
interior of this part of the continent, the land rapidly rises to the
tableland of equatorial Africa, rich and fertile, resembling the valley
of the Kongo, possibly habitable by Europeans.
Next, the French occupy the Ogowe, its branches, and the coast, to the
Kongo, and claim the country inland to the possessions of the Kongo
Free State. Under M. Brazza, they have thoroughly explored the country
to the river Kongo, and have established factories at Franceville and
other places.
The Kongo Free State comes next. It holds on the coast only the mouth
of the river, its main possessions lying in the interior, Belgium is
the only country that has planted colonies inland. Like all the
interior of equatorial Africa, the valley of the Kongo is well watered
and has continuous rains. The land is rich and fertile, but is
practically inaccessible, and, before any extensive commerce can be
carried on, must be connected by railroad with the ocean. The Compagnie
du Congo has just completed a survey for a railroad on the south side
of the Kongo, from Matadi, opposite Vivi, to Stanley Pool. It did not
encounter any unusual difficulties, and has submitted the plans and
projects to the King of Belgium for his approval.
South of the Kongo Free State are the Portuguese possessions of Angola,
Benguela, and Mossamedes. Portugal, the first country to circumnavigate
Africa, and the first to colonize it, has for several centuries had
factories, and carried on a large trade with Africa, exchanging clothes
and blankets for slaves, gold and ivory. It claimed the valley of the
Kongo; but the claim has been reduced, and is now bounded for a
considerable distance on the north by a line running due east and west
on the 6th parallel of south latitude. They have good harbors at St.
Paul de Loango, Benguela, and Mossamedes, on the Atlantic coast, and
the best harbor of Africa, at Delagoa Bay on the Indian Ocean. The
territory claimed will, I believe, prove to be the most valuable in
Africa. It is well watered by numerous tributaries of the Kongo and by
the Zambezi and its branches. It is higher than the Kongo valley, and
is therefore more healthy. Several Portuguese, English, and German
travelers have crossed and recrossed this part of the continent, and
the Portuguese have some small settlements on the coast and in the
interior. The Portuguese of the present generation have not the
enterprise and trading spirit of their forefathers, and are doing very
little for the settlement of the country.
South of the Portuguese possessions, England claims from the Portuguese
possessions on the Atlantic to their possessions on the Pacific,
including Namaqua-Land, Cape Colony, the Transvaal, and Zulu-Land.
Namaqua and Damara Land, formerly claimed by the Germans, are now put
down on some of the maps as belonging to England. The only harbor on
the coast is held by the English; and, from the character of the
country, we are not surprised that the Germans have abandoned it, for
we are told that "the coast is sandy and waterless, deficient in good
harbors, devoid of permanent rivers, washed by never-ceasing surf,
bristling with reefs, and overhung by a perpetual haze."
North of Zulu-Land, the Portuguese claim the coast to Zanzibar. Over
Zanzibar, Germany has lately assumed the protectorate, under a treaty
with the Sultan of the country, claiming the land from the ocean to the
great lakes; then England again, a little to the north and far to the
west of Zanzibar, the rival of Germany in its claims. The English have
factories west of Zanzibar, and a regular route up the Zambezi and
Shire Rivers, with a single portage to Lake Nyassa, and a road to Lake
Tanganyika. They have steamers on each of the lakes, and several
missionary and trading stations. The latest news from this part of
Africa says the route to the lakes has been closed, and the
missionaries and merchants murdered.
North of the English possessions, the coast to the Red Sea is barren
and inhospitable: it has little rain and no harbors, and is so
worthless that it has not been claimed by any European nation. North of
this region is Abyssinia on the Indian Ocean and Red Sea,--a
mountainous country with deep valleys, rich and fertile, but very
unhealthy. Three or four thousand feet above the level of the sea, is a
healthier country, inhabited by a race of rugged mountaineers, whom it
has been impossible to dispossess of their lands. North of Abyssinia,
on the Red Sea, Italy has a small colony at Massaua, and England a camp
at Suakin. The only parts of the coast not claimed by Europeans are
inhospitable, without population or cultivation of any kind.
The Belgians have spent many millions in the exploration of the Kongo
and its tributaries. They have eighteen small steamers making trips
from Leopoldville up the river to Stanley Falls, and up its branches,
supplying the main stations in the basin of the Kongo. The Kongo Free
State, unlike all other African colonies, is free to all. Merchants of
any nation can establish factories, carry on trade, and enjoy the same
privileges and equal facilities with the Belgians. The valley of the
Kongo, and the plateau of the great lakes, have a similar climate and
soil; but the Kongo is easier of access, provisions are cheaper, more
readily obtained, and the natives are less warlike. The Kongo Free
State will therefore be more rapidly settled than any other part of
Africa excepting Cape Colony.
The trade with these countries is carried on by European companies
under royal charter, with quasi-sovereign powers for ruling the country
and governing the natives, as well as for trading with them. England,
Germany, and Portugal subsidize steamship companies which make regular
trips along the western coast, stopping at the different stations.
From this statement it will be seen that England occupies the
healthiest portion of Africa (Cape Colony), the most fertile valleys
(the Nile and the Niger), the richest gold-fields (Gold Coast and
Transvaal); that Portugal comes next, claiming the most desirable
portion of equatorial Africa north of Cape Colony and south of the
Kongo, but that it is unable to colonize this country, which will
inevitably fall under the control of England; that the French claim
Algiers and Senegambia, and are contending with England for the trade
of Timbuctu and the upper valley of the Niger; that Germany, after vain
attempts to penetrate the interior from Kamerun and Angra Pequena, has
planted her flag at Zanzibar, and has determined to contest with
England the lake region and the great plateaus of Central Africa; while
Italy, imitating the other states, tries in vain to obtain a footing on
the Red Sea, worthless if obtained.