Causes of isolation.
world, an isolation due not so much to its poverty in natural resources, as to the special circumstances which likewise caused so large a part of the continent to remain so long a terra incognita. The principal drawbacks may be summarized as: (1) the absence of means of communication with the interior; (2) the unhealthiness of the coast-lands; (3) the small productive activity of the natives; (4) the effects of the slave trade in discouraging legitimate commerce. None of these causes is necessarily permanent, that most difficult to remove being the third; the negro races finding the means of existence easy have little incentive to toil. The first drawback has almost disappeared, and the building of railways and the placing of steamers on the rivers and lakes—a work continually progressing —renders it year by year easier for producer and consumer to come together. As to the second drawback, while the coast-lands in the tropics will always remain comparatively unhealthy, improved sanitation and the destruction of the malarial mosquito have rendered tolerable to Europeans regions formerly notorious for their deadly climate.
At various periods since the partition of the continent began, united action has been taken by the powers of Europe in the interests of African trade. The Berlin conference of 1884-1885 decreed freedom of navigation and trade on the Congo and the Niger, and the Anglo-Portuguese treaty of 1891 secured like privileges for the Zambezi. The Berlin conference likewise enacted that over a wide area of Central Africa—the conventional basin of the Congo—there should be complete freedom of trade, a freedom which later on was held to be infringed in the Congo State and French Congo by the granting to various companies proprietary rights in the disposal of the product of the soil. More important in their effect on the economic condition of the continent than the steps taken to ensure freedom of trade were the measures concerted by the powers for the suppression of the slave trade. The British government had for long borne the greater part of the burden of combating the slave trade on the east coast of Africa and in the Indian Ocean, but the changed conditions which resulted from the appearance of other European powers in Africa induced Lord Salisbury, then foreign secretary, to address, in the autumn of 1888, an invitation to the king of the Belgians to take the initiative in inviting a conference of the powers at Brussels to concert measures for ``the gradual suppression of the
Suppression of the slave trade.
slave trade on the continent of Africa, and the immediate closing of all the external markets which it still supplies.'' The conference assembled in November 1889, and on the 2nd of July 1890 a general act was signed subject to the ratification of the various governments represented, ratification taking place subsequently at different dates, and in the case of France with certain reservations. The general act began with a declaration of the means which the powers were of opinion might be most effectually adopted for ``putting an end to the crimes and devastations engendered by the traffic in African slaves, protecting effectively the aboriginal populations of Africa, and ensuring for that vast continent the benefits of peace and civilization.'' It proceeded to lay down certain rules and regulations of a practical character on the lines suggested. The act covers a wide field, and includes no fewer than a hundred separate articles. It established a zone ``between the 20th parallel of north latitude, and the 22nd parallel of south latitude, and extending westward to the Atlantic and eastward to the Indian Ocean and its dependencies, comprising the islands adjacent to the coast as far as 100 nautical miles from the shore,'' within which the importation of firearms and ammunition was forbidden except in certain specified cases, and within which also the powers undertook either to prohibit altogether the importation and manufacture of spirituous liquors, or to impose duties not below an agreed-on minimum.1 An elaborate series of rules was framed for the prevention of the transit of slaves by sea, the conditions on which European powers were to grant to natives the right to fly the flag of the protecting power, and regulating the procedure connected with the right of search on vessels flying a foreign flag. The Brussels Act was in effect a joint declaration by the signatory powers of their joint and several responsibility towards the African native, and notwithstanding the fact that many of its articles have proved difficult, if not impossible, of enforcement, the solemn engagement taken by Europe in the face of the world has undoubtedly exercised a material influence on the action of several of the powers. Moreover, with the increase of means of communication and the extension of effective European control, slave-raiding in the interior was largely checked and inter-tribal wars prevented, the natives being thus given security in the pursuit of trade and agriculture.
Other important factors in the economic as well as the social conditions of Africa are the advance in civilization made by the natives in several regions and the increase of the areas found suitable for white colonization. The advance in civilization among the natives, exemplified by the granting to them of political rights in such countries as Algeria and Cape Colony, leads directly to increased commercial activity; and commerce increases in a much greater degree when new countries— e.g. Rhodesia and British East Africa—become the homes of Europeans. Finally, in reviewing the chief factors which govern the commercial development of the continent, note must be taken of the sparsity of the population over the greater part of Africa, and the efforts made to supplement the insufficient and often ineffective native labour by the introduction of Asiatic labourers in various districts—of Indian coolies in Natal and elsewhere, and of Chinese for the gold mines of the Transvaal.
The resources of Africa may be considered under the head of: (1) jungle products; (2) cultivated products; (3) animal
Chief economic resources.
products; (4) minerals. Of the first named the most important are india-rubber and palm-oil. which in tropical Africa supply by far the largest items in the export list. The rubber-producing plants are found throughout the whole tropical belt, and the most important are creepers of the order Apocynaceae, especially various species of Landolphia (with which genus Vahea is now united). In East Africa Landolphia kirkii (Dyer) supplies the largest amount, though various other species are known Forms of apparently wider distribution are L. hendelotii, which is found in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and extends right across the continent to Senegambia; and L. (formerly Vahea) comorensis, which, including its variety L. florida, has the widest distribution of all the species, occurring in Upper and Lower Guinea, the whole of Central Africa, the east coast, the Comoro Islands and Madagascar. In parts of East Africa Clitandra orienitalis is a valuable rubber vine. In Lagos and elsewhere rubber is produced by the apocynaceous tree, Funtumia elastica, and in West Africa generally by various species of Ficus, some species of which are also found in East Africa. The rubber produced is somewhat inferior to that of South America, but this is largely due to careless methods of preparation. The great destruction of vines brought about by native methods of collection much reduced the supply in some districts, and rendered it necessary to take steps to preserve and cultivate the rubber-yielding plants. This has been done in many districts with usually encouraging results. Experiments have been made in the introduction of South American rubber plants, but opinions differ as to the prospects of success, as the plants in question seem to demand very definite conditions of soil and climate. The second product, palm-oil, is derived from a much more limited area than rubber, for although the oil palm is found throughout the greater part of West Africa, from 10 deg. N. to 10 deg. S., the great bulk of the export comes from the coast districts at the head of the Gulf of Guinea. A larger supply, equal to any market demand, could easily be obtained. A third valuable product is the timber supplied by the forest regions, principally in West Africa. It includes African teak or oak (Oldfieldia africana), excellent for shipbuilding; the durable odum of the Gold Coast (Chlorophora excelsa); African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis); ebony (Diospyros ebenum); camwood (Baphia nitida); and many other ornamental and dye woods. The timber industry on the west coast was long neglected, but since 1898 there have been large exports to Europe. In parts of East Africa the Podocarpus milanjianus, a conifer, is economically important. Valuable timber grows too in South Africa, including the yellow wood (Podocarpus), stinkwood (Ocotea), sneezewood or Cape ebony (Euclea) and ironwood.
Other vegetable products of importance are: Gum arabic, obtained from various species of acacia (especially A. senegal), the chief supplies of which are obtained from Senegambia and the steppe regions of North Africa (Kordofan, &c.); gum copal, a valuable resin produced by trees of the leguminous order, the best, known as Zanzibar or Mozambique copal, coming from the East African Trachylobium hornemannianum, and also found in a fossil state under the soil; kola nuts, produced chiefly in the coast-lands of Upper Guinea by a tree of the order Sterculiaceae (Kola acuminata); archil or orchilla, a dye-yielding lichen (Rocella tinctoria and triciformis) growing on trees and rocks in East Africa, the Congo basin, &c.; cork, the bark of the cork oak, which flourishes in Algeria; and alfa, a grass used in paper manufacture (Machrochloa tenacissima), growing in great abundance on the dry steppes of Algeria, Tripoli, &c. A product to which attention has been paid in Angola is the Almeidina gum or resin, derived from the juice of Euphorbia tirucalli.
The cultivated products include those of the tropical and warm temperate zones. Of the former, coffee is perhaps the most valuable indigenous plant. It grows wild in many parts, the home of one species being in Kaffa and other Galla countries south of Abyssinia, and of another in Liberia. The Abyssinian coffee is equal to the best produced in any other part of the world. Cultivation is, however, necessary to ensure the best results, and attention has been given to this in various European colonies. Plantations have been established in Angola, Nyasaland, German East Africa, Cameroon, the Congo Free State, &c.
Copra, the produce of the cocoa-nut palm, is supplied chiefly by Zanzibar and neighbouring parts of the east coast. Groundnuts, produced by the leguminous plant, Arachis hypogaea, are grown chiefly in West Africa, and the largest export is from Senegal and the Gambia; while Bambarra ground-nuts (Voandzeia subterranea) are very generally cultivated from Guinea to Natal. Cloves are extensively grown on Zanzibar and Pemba islands, Pemba being the chief source of the world's supply of cloves. The chief drawbacks to the industry are the fluctuations of the yield of the trees, and the risk of over-production in good seasons.
Cotton grows wild in many parts of tropical Africa, and is exported in small quantities in the raw state; but the main export is from Egypt, which comes third among the world's sources of supply of the article. It is also cultivated in West Africa—the industry in the Guinea coast colonies having been developed since the beginning of the 20th century—and in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, whence came the plants from which Egyptian cotton is grown. Sugar, which is the staple crop of Mauritius, and in a lesser degree of Reunion, is also produced in Natal, Egypt, and, to a certain extent, in Mozambique. Dates are grown in Tunisia and the Saharan oases, especially Tafilet; maize in Egypt, South Africa and parts of the tropical zone; wheat in Egypt, Algeria and the higher regions of Abyssinia; rice in Madagascar. Wine is largely exported from Algeria, and in a much smaller quantity from Cape Colony; fruit and vegetables from Algeria. Tobacco is widely grown on a small scale, but, except perhaps from Algeria, has not become an important article of export, though plantations have been established in various tropical colonies. The cultivation of cocoa has proved successful in the Gold Coast, Cameroon and other colonies, and in various districts the tea plant is cultivated. Indigo, though not originally an African product, has become naturalized and grows wild in many parts, while it is also cultivated on a small scale. The main difficulty in the way of tropical cultivation is the labour question, which has already been referred to.
Of animal products one of the most important is ivory, the largest export of which is from the Congo Free State. The diminution in the number of elephants with the opening up of the remoter districts must in time cause a falling-off in this export. Beeswax is obtained from various parts of the interior of West Africa, and from Madagascar. Raw hides are exported in large quantities from South Africa, as are also the wool and hair of the merino sheep and Angora goat. Both hides and wool are also exported from Algeria and Morocco, and hides from Abyssinia and Somaliland. Ostrich feathers are produced chiefly by the ostrich farms of Cape Colony, but some are also obtained from the steppes to the north of the Central Sudan. Live stock, principally sheep, is exported from Algeria and cattle from Morocco.
The exploited minerals of Africa are confined to a few districts, the resources of the continent in this respect being largely
Mineral Wealth.
undeveloped. Since the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, particularly in the district known as the Rand (1885), the output has grown enormously, so that in 1898 the output of gold from South Africa was greater than from any other gold-field in the world. The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 lost the Rand the leading position, but by 1905 the output—in that year over L. 20,800,000—was greater than it had ever been. The supply of gold from South Africa is roughly 25% of the world's output. The gold-yielding formations extend northwards through Rhodesia. The Gold Coast is so named from the quantity of gold obtained there, and since the close of the 19th century the industry has developed largely in the hands of Europeans. In the Galla countries gold has long been an article of native commerce. It is also found in various parts of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and along the western shore of the Red Sea. Diamonds are found in large quantities in a series of beds known as the Kimberley shales, the principal mines being at Kimberley, Cape Colony. Diamonds are also found in Orange River Colony, while one of the richest diamond mines in the world—the Premier—is situated in the Transvaal near Pretoria. Some 80% of the world's production of diamonds comes from South Africa. Copper is found in the west of Cape Colony, in German South-West Africa, and in the Katanga country in the southern Congo basin, where vast beds of copper ore exist. There are also extensive deposits of copper in the Broken Hill district of Northern Rhodesia. It also occurs in Morocco, Algeria, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, &c. Rich tin deposits have been found in the southern Congo basin and in Northern Rhodesia. Iron is found in Morocco, Algeria (whence there is an export trade), and is widely diffused, and worked by the natives, in the tropical zone. But the deposits aregenerally not rich. Coal is worked, principally for home consumption, in Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and in Rhodesia in the neighbourhood of the Zambezi. Coal deposits also exist in the German territory north of Lake Nyasa. Phosphates are exported from Algeria and Tunisia. Of other minerals which occur, but are little worked, zinc, lead and antimony are found in Algeria, lead and manganese in Cape Colony, plumbago in Sierra Leone.
The imports from foreign countries into Africa consist chiefly of manufactured goods, varying in character according to the development of the different countries in civilization. In Egypt, Algeria and South Africa they include most of the necessaries and luxuries of civilized life, manufactured cotton and woollen goods, especially the former, taking the first place, but various food stuffs, metal goods, coal and miscellaneous articles being also included. In tropical Africa, and generally where few Europeans have settled, the great bulk of the imports consists as a rule of cotton goods, articles for which there is a constant native demand.
No continent has in the past been so lacking in means of communication as Africa, and it was only in the last decade
Development of means of communication.
of the 19th century that decided steps were taken to remedy these defects. The African rivers, with the exception of the middle Congo and its affluents, and the middle course of the three other chief rivers, are generally unfavourable to navigation, and throughout the tropical region almost the sole routes have been native footpaths, admitting the passage of a single file of porters, on whose heads all goods have been carried from place to place. Certain of these native trade routes are, however, much frequented, and lead for hundreds of miles from the coast to the interior. In the desert regions of the north transport is by caravans of camels, and in the south ox-wagons,before the advent of railways, supplied the general means of locomotion. The native trade routes led generally from the centres of greatest population or production to the seaports by the nearest route, but to this rule there was a striking exception. The dense forests of Upper Guinea and the upper Congo proved a barrier which kept the peoples of the Sudan from direct access to the sea, and from Timbuktu to Darfur the great trade routes were either west to east or south to north across the Sahara. The principal caravan routes across the desert lead from different points in Morocco and Algeria to Timbuktu; from Tripoli to Timbuktu, Kano and other great marts of the western and central Sudan; from Bengazi to Wadai; and from Assiut on the Nile through the Great Oasis and the Libyan desert to Darfur. South of the equator the principal long-established routes are those from Loanda to the Lunda and Baluba countries; from Benguella via Bihe to Urua and the upper Zambezi; from Mossamedes across the Kunene to the upper Zambezi; and from Bagamoyo, opposite Zanzibar, to Tanganyika. Many of the native routes have been superseded by the improved communications introduced by Europeans in the utilization of waterways and the construction of roads and railways. Steamers have been conveyed overland in sections and launched on the interior waterways above the obstructions to navigation. On the upper Nile and Albert Nyanza their introduction was due to Sir S. Baker and General C. G. Gordon (1871-1876); on the middle Congo and its affluents to Sir H.M. Stanley and the officials of the Congo Free State, as well as to the Baptist missionaries on the river; and on Lake Nyasa to the supporters of the Scottish mission. A small vessel was launched on Victoria Nyanza 1896 by a British mercantile firm, and a British government steamer made its first trip in November 1900. On the other great lakes and on most of the navigable rivers steamers were plying regularly before the close of the 19th century. However, the shallowness of the water in the Niger and Zambezi renders their navigation possible only to light-draught steamers. Roads suitable for wheeled traffic are few. The first attempt at road-making in Central Africa on a large scale was that of Sir T. Fowell Buxton and Mr (afterwards Sir W.) Mackinnon, who completed the first section of a track leading into the interior fromDar-es-Salaam (1879). A still more important undertaking was the ``Stevenson road,'' begun in 1881 from the head of Lake Nyasa to the south end of Tanganyika, and constructed mainly at the expense of Mr James Stevenson, a director of theAfrican Lakes Company—a company which helped materially in the opening up of Nyasaland. The Stevenson road forms a link in the ``Lakes route'' into the heart of the continent. In British East Africa a road connecting Mombasa with Victoria Nyanza was completed in 1897, but has since been in great measure superseded by the railway. Good roads have also been made in German East Africa and Cameroon and in Madagascar.