Great Britain's holding, however, in the partitioned continent
comprises its best portions. Much of Africa is uninhabitable by white
men. Wherever, however, white men can live--except in northern
Africa--there Great Britain has managed to get control. Excluding the
shore of the Mediterranean, the best part of Africa, considered from
the view points of colonisation and commerce, is what is now known as
"British South Africa." This is an immense area--an area of almost
1,000,000 square miles. It comprises (1) that whole southern portion
of the continent known as Cape Colony, and (2) that portion of the
great central plateau of the continent which extends from Cape Colony
northward to Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika--all except the two Boer
republics, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic.
British East Africa (800,000 square miles) includes the territory of
Uganda, north of Lake Victoria, a territory which from the character
of its native population and its possibilities of trade has been
called the "pearl of Africa." British West Africa (500,000 square
miles) includes the basin of the lower Niger, the most densely peopled
area in all Africa, the seat of the great Fula-Hausa empire of
Sokoto-Gandu, the wealthiest and greatest trading nation in the
continent. Furthermore, in the northeast, Great Britain exercises
"protectorate control" over Egypt--a control that is likely to be
instrumental in reclaiming for Egypt, and thus for civilisation and
commerce under British authority, the whole of Egypt's ancient
possessions along the Nile as far at least as Uganda. The total area
of the British possessions in Africa, exclusive of the two Boer
republics and Egypt, is over 2,300,000 square miles.