Africa

partition. The Madeira Islands to the west of Morocco, the Bissagos

Islands, off the Guinea coast, and Prince's Island and St Thomas' Island,

in the Gulf of Guinea, are Portuguese possessions of old standing; while in

the Canary Islands and Fernando Po Spain possesses remnants of her ancient

colonial empire which are a more valuable asset than any she has acquired

in recent times on the mainland. St Helena in the Atlantic, Mauritius and

some small groups north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, are British

possessions acquired long before the opening of the last quarter of the

19th century. Zanzibar, Pemba and some smaller islands which the sultan was

allowed to retain were, as has already been stated, placed under British

protection in 1890, and the island of Sokotra was placed under the

``gracious favour and protection'' of Great Britain on the 23rd of April

1886. France's ownership of Reunion dates back to the 17th century, but the

Comoro archipelago was not placed under French protection until April 1886.

None of these islands, with the exception of the Zanzibar group, have,

however, materially affected the partition of the continent, and they need

not be enumerated in the table which follows. But the important island of

Madagascar stands in a different category, both on account of its size and

because it was during the period under review that it passed through the

various stages which led to its becoming a French colony. The first step

was the placing of the foreign relations of the island under French

control, which was effected by the treaty of the 17th of December 1885,

after the Franco-Malagasy war that had broken out in 1883. In 1890 Great

Britain and Germany recognized a French protectorate over the island, but

the Hova government declined to acquiesce in this view, and in May 1895

France sent an expedition to enforce her claims. The capital was occupied

on the 30th of September in the same year, and on the day following Queen

Ranavalona signed a convention recognizing the French protectorate. In

January 1896 the island was declared a French possession, and on the 6th of

August was declared to be a French colony. In February 1897 the last

vestige of ancient rule was swept away by the deportation of the queen.

Thus in its broad outlines the partition of Africa was begun and ended in

the short space of a quarter of a century. There are still many finishing

touches to be put to the structure. The southern frontiers of Morocco and

Tripoli remain undefined, while the mathematical lines by which the spheres

of influence of the powers were separated one from the other are being

variously modified on the do ut des principle as they come to be surveyed

and as the effective occupation of the continent progresses. Much labour is

necessary before the actual area of Africa and its subdivisions can be

accurately determined, but in the following table the figures are at least

approximately correct. Large areas of the spheres assigned to different

European powers have still to be brought under European control; but this

work is advancing by rapid strides.

BRITISH— Sq. m.

Cape Colony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276,995

Natal and Zululand . . . . . . . . . . . 35,371

Basutoland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,293

Bechuanaland Protectorate . . . . . . . 225,000

Transvaal and Swaziland . . . . . . . . 117,732

Orange River Colony . . . . . . . . . . 50,392

Rhodesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450,000

Nyasaland Protectorate . . . . . . . . . 43,608

British East Africa Protectorate . . . . 240,000

Uganda Protectorate . . . . . . . . . . 125,000

Zanzibar Protectorate . . . . . . . . . 1,020

Somaliland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68,000

Northern Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . 258,000

Southern Nigeria (colony and protectorate) 80,000

Gold Coast and hinterland . . . . . 82,000

Sierre Leone (colony and protectorate) . 34,000

Gambia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000

Total British Africa . . . . . . . 2,101,411

Egypt and Libyan Desert . . . . . . . . 650,000

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . . . . . . . . . . 950,000

1,600,000

FRENCH—

Algeria and Algerian Sahara . . . . . . 945,000

Tunisia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,000

French West Africa—

Senegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74,000

French Guinea . . . . . . . . . . . . 107,000

Ivory Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129,000

Dahomey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,000

Upper Senegal and Niger, and

Mauritania (including French West

African Sahara) . . . . 1,581,000 1,931,000

French Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700,000

French Somaliland . . . . . . . . . . . 12,000

Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227,950

Total French Africa . . . . . . . 3,866,950

GERMAN—

East Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364,000

South.West Africa . . . . . . . . . . . 322,450

Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190,000

Togoland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33,700

Total German Africa . . . . . . . . 910,150

ITALIAN—

Eritrea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000

Somaliland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140,000

Total Italian Africa . . . . . . . . 200,000

PORTUGUESE—

Guinea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,000

West Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480,000

East Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293,500

Total Portuguese Africa . . . . . . 787,500

SPANISH—

Rio de Oro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70,000

Muni River Settlements . . . . . . . . . . 9,800

Total Spanish Africa . . . . . . . . 79,800

BELGIAN—

Congo State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900,000

TURKISH—

Tripoli and Benghazi . . . . . . . . . . 400,000

SEPARATE STATES—

Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,000

Morocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220,000

Abyssinia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350,000

Total Independent Africa . . . . . . 613,000

Thus, collecting the totals, the result of the ``scramble'' has been to

divide Africa among the powers as follows:—

Sq. m.

British Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,101,411

Egyptian Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,600,000

French Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,866,950

German Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910,150

Italian Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200,000

Portuguese Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 787,500

Spanish Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,800

Belgian Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900,000

Turkish Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400,000

Independent Africa . . . . . . . . . . . 613,000

11,458,811

(J. S. K.)

1. Commercial treaties between Carthage and Rome were made in the 6th and

5th centuries B.C.. The first armed conflict between the rival powers,

begun in 264 B.C., was a contest for the possession of Sicily.

2. This river was called by the Portuguese the Zaire. They appear to have

made no attempt to trace its course beyond the rapids which stop

navigation from the sea.

3. France acquired, as stations for her ships on the voyage to and from

India, settlements in Madagascar and the neighbouring islands. The first

settlement was made in 1642.

4. The Association, in 1831, was merged in the Royal Geographical Society.

5. The Mamelukes, whom the Turks had overthrown in the 16th century, had

regained practically independent power.

6. In imitation of the British example, an American society founded in 1822

the negro colony (now republic) of Liberia.

7. The first territorial acquisition made by Great Britain in this region

was in 1851, when Lagos Island was annexed.

8. As early as 1848 an Arab from Zanzibar journeying across the continent

had arrived at Benguella.

9. Another great traveller of this stamp was Wilhelm Junker, who spent the

greater part of the period 1875-1886 in the east central Sudan.

10. Specially appointed to consider West African affairs.

11. See the tables in Behm and Wagner's Bevolkerung der Erde (Gotha, 1872).

12. in 1887 this society united with the German Colonial Society, an

organization founded in 1882. The united society took the title of the

German Colonial Company.

13. At this period negotiations between Great Britain and Italy had begun

but were not concluded.

14. This association, formed in 1878 by a union of associations primarily

intended for the exploration of Africa, ceased to exist in 1891.

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