Within a period of about fifteen years the continent of Africa has
been the scene of a vast partition. At the beginning of that period
the amount of African territory that was subject to European control
was comparatively small. The British were firmly established in South
Africa, and had possessions along the coasts elsewhere principally in
the west. The French were firmly established in Algeria and in
Senegal. The Portuguese had their ancient settlements in Mozambique
and Lower Guinea. Morocco on the northwest and Abyssinia in the
northeast were more or less well-established governments that were
independent. Egypt in the extreme northeast, with tributary
possessions extending along the Nile into the far interior of the
continent, was also a more or less well-established government that
possessed a quasi-independence, though it was nominally dependent upon
Turkey. But elsewhere, except in a few other places controlled by
European authority, the whole continent may be described as having
been in its original state of savagery or semi-savagery. No government
existed anywhere that was either beneficent or stable. The
slave-traffic abounded everywhere.