Africa

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

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39