The partition of Africa

Preface To Second Edition

THERE is every reason to be satisfied with the reception which the first edition of this work has met with. While one or two German and French papers have charged me with Chauvinism, others declare that my treatment of the enterprises of these countries in Africa has been quite impartial. In revising the present edition I have endeavoured to modify such passages as might be open to a charge of unfair patriotic bias. This is the case especially with respect to Portugal, for many valuable suggestions with reference to which I am indebted to my friend Mr. J. JBatalha Reis. Yet withal, I am afraid it remains evident that I am not indifferent to my country's success in the race with her rivals.

Much has taken place in Africa during the two years that have elapsed since the publication of the first edition. This has necessitated extensive revision of several of the later chapters, and an addition of some seventy pages to the work. The book has been carefully revised throughout, and important additions have been made to the maps.

I have again to express my indebtedness to the friends mentioned in the preface to the first edition for valuable help in preparing the new edition. My thanks are also due to Count Joachim Pfeil, Mr. F. C. Selous, Mr. H. H. Johnston, C.B., and Mr. Herbert Canning, Secretary to the British South Africa Company.

J. S. K. 7.%th February 1895.

Preface To First Edition

FEW words of preface are necessary. The main purpose of this volume is to give a brief connected narrative of the remarkable events which, during the last eight years, have led to the partition of the bulk of Africa among certain of the Powers of Europe. The process of partition has been so bewilderingly rapid, there has been such a jostling crowd of episodes over some millions of square miles, that it is difficult to realise clearly the various stages that have led Jo the existing conditions. It is hoped that the present volume may enable those interested in Africa to form a fairly clear conception of a story unprecedented in the case of any other continent. In order to connect the main subject with the past history of the Continent, an attempt is made in the earlier chapters to trace the relations of what we may call the outside world with Africa from the Egyptian times downwards. The book does not profess to be either a history of African exploration or a treatise on the geography of the Continent. Incidentally these matters

NOTE.

I think it right to state that none of the gentlemen whose names are mentioned in the Preface are responsible for the opinions expressed or the policy advocated in this work.

J. S. Keltie.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION vii

may be referred to ; but the main purpose is to deal with attempts at settlement, partition, and industrial development. One chapter does deal with the economical aspects of the geography of Africa. Those who desire to study the geography of the Continent in detail need have no difficulty in doing so ; there are several easily accessible works. A list of the leading works bearing on the subject of the present volume will be found in Appendix II.

I must acknowledge the kindness of Sir John Kirk in reading the whole work, and making many important suggestions. Sir George Taubman Goldie (Royal Niger Company), Mr. George S. Mackenzie (Imperial British East Africa Company), and Mr. George Cawston and Mr. C. H. Weatherley (British South Africa Company), have been good enough to revise the chapters in which they are specially interested. Mr. E. G. Ravenstein has been good enough to draw up the Statistical Table in the Appendix. The Index has been made by Dr. James Murie.

The Maps, which have been done under the care of Mr. Stanford's cartographer, Mr. John Bolton, have been specially selected and compiled to illustrate the various stages and aspects dealt with in the work.

J. S. K. ^th January 1893.

Chapter I

Antiquity of African civilisation — America — Australia — The Egyptians— Phoenicians and Carthaginians — Ophir — Arabs on the East Coast — Carthaginians on the West Coast — Phoenician knowledge of Africa — Relations with the interior — The first Greek settlements — Hecataeus — Herodotus — The Nasamonean youths — Enterprise under the Ptolemies — Eratosthenes — Ptolemy's map — Roman enterprise — The Periplus — Ptolemy's knowledge of Africa -— Nile exploration under Nero .......

Chapter II

Africa after the division of the Empire — An early Teutonic settlement— The Islamic conquest — North Africa — The Sahara and Sudan — East Africa — Timbuktu — Arab commerce and geography— Islamism in North and East Africa — West Africa — Arab settlements on the East Coast — Central Sudan — Distribution of Islamism ...... 24

Chapter III The Portuguese Circumnavigations

Venice, Genoa, Dieppe — Prince Henry's training — Europe in Prince Henry's time—Portugal's exploring energy — Prince Henry's enterprise — First African Company formed — First Portuguese establishments — Congo discovered — The Cape rounded — Result 01 discovery of America — Vasco da Gama sails up the East Coast— The "Kingdom of Congo" — St. Paul de Loanda founded — Conquest of East Coast . . 32

CONTENTS ix

Chapter IV Page

Portuguese "discoveries" in the interior — Genesis of map of Central Africa — Discovery as a claim to possession — Establishment of Portuguese influence — The Monomotapa Empire- African " kingdoms " — Francisco Barreto's expedition — Other expeditions into the interior — The Treaty of Monomotapa — Real nature of Portuguese dominion in East Africa . . 45

Chapter V

Portugal's monopoly of Africa — Slaves and gold — English enterprise begins — French enterprise — England begins the slave-trade — First English chartered Company — Beginning of a new era — The Dutch enter the field — Growth of the slave-trade — First British chartered Company — The British Company of 1662 — Another new Company — Danish forts — Brandenburg colonies — The French — The English Company's misfortunes — The Dutch at the Cape — The English in Tangier . . 59

Chapter VI

Position in beginning of eighteenth century — Settlements in West Africa — New English African Company — Wars of the eighteenth century — Sierra Leone — The Cape — The slave-trade — The Portuguese in East Africa — An Austrian Settlement— Feeling against the slave-trade . . .74

Chapter VII

The struggle between France and England — The Colonies and the Mother Country — Imperialism and Federation — Europe's share in Africa in 181 5 — Portugal in West Africa — Portuguese claims in the interim — Cape Colony — Portugal on the East Coast — Central Africa . . . . .85 x THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

Chapter VIII Page

Activity after 1815 — French conquests : Algeria — Senegambia — Gambia and Sierra Leone — Liberia — The Gold Coast — Lagos ■ — The Niger — The Cameroons and the Cape — South Africa — Livingstone's work — The Zanzibar region — Opening up of Central Africa — Early German aspirations — British influence at Zanzibar — The Red Sea — Egyptian conquests — The Suez Canal — Madagascar — Position in 1875 . . -95

Chapter IX

The slave-trade — Interest in exploration — Stanley's influence — Germany — The King of the Belgians' ambitions — The Brussels Conference of 1876 — The International African Association — National Committees — Expeditions to East Africa — Karema founded — The work of National Committees — A new phase — Stanley's return — Missions in Central Africa — Stanley and the King of the Belgians — The Congo Committee : its object — Mr. Stanley returns to the Congo — Annexation in the air — Aims of the Congo Committee — A purely Belgian enterprise — International Congo Association — Crude ideas of a Congo State — The King's aims — Stanley on the Congo — Stanley's progress — Proposed creation of a Congo State — Stanley completes his work . . . . .114

Chapter X France And Portugal On The Congo Various

FRENCH AND ENGLISH ENTERPRISES

M. De Brazza — De Brazza on the Congo — De Brazza and Stanley — A national scramble — Portugal interferes — Portugal's claim to the Congo — Negotiations with England — An Anglo-Portuguese Congo Treaty — The Treaty abandoned — International Conference decided on — Bismarck's opinion of Portugal — The position on the Niger — German enterprise on the Niger — A Trans-Saharan railway — Tunis — Assab and Obock . .136

CONTENTS CHAPTER XI

BRITISH ADVANCES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST

PAGE

South Africa — Bechuanaland — Damaraland — South African Confederation — Matabeleland — Nyasaland — Zanzibar — The Sudan — Socotra . . . . . .153

Chapter XII

The position in 1884 — Early German colonisation — German Colonial Societies — The German African Society — Exploring activity — The German Colonial Society — Bismarck and the Chambers of Commerce — Bismarck's early search for colonies — Colonial literature — Progress of German trade in Africa — The German and British Foreign Offices — Damaraland and Namaqualand — The Rhenish Missionaries — British protection requested — Increase of trade— Sir Bartle Frere — British jurisdiction confined to Walfish Bay — Blindness of British statesmen to Germany's aspirations — Germany's cautious advances — Herr Luderitz — Bismarck sounds the British Foreign Office — Luderitz proceeds to Angra Pequena — Luderitz obtains concession — German flag raised — Indignation in England and the Cape — Evasive conduct of British Government — Germany declares protectorate over Angra Pequena — Continued British delusions — England recognises German protectorate — Attitude of England and the Cape — Further annexations . 161

Chapter XIII Germany In The Cameroons And The Gulf Of Guinea

Further operations in S.W. Africa — Attempt to annex St. Lucia Bay — German traders on the West Coast — British influence on the West Coast — • England's dilatory action — Germany takes action — The Dubreka river — Togoland declared a German protectorate — The Cameroons — Annexation by Germany — The Oil Rivers secured to England— Feeling in Germany and England — Bismarck's part . . 193

Chapter XIV The Berlin Conference And The Congo Free State

A Conference necessary — Origin and purpose of the Conference— The General Act — Rule as to effective occupation — Creation of the Congo Free State — The reversion to France — King xii THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

PAGE

Leopold becomes sovereign of the State — The Free State made over to Belgium — Boundaries of the Free State — Great things expected of the Free State — Extension northwards- — Becomes a purely Belgian undertaking — Disappointed traders — Rising of the Arabs — Exploring activity — Administration — Abuses — Missions — Trade — Slow development of trade — What the State has done : its future . . . 207

Chapter XV

Germany and East Africa — British suspicion aroused — Rohlfs's mission — Karl Peters — A new society formed — A secret expedition to East Africa — Treaty -making — The German East Africa Company — The first German charter — Sir John Kirk — Friendly attitude of the British Government — Extent of Sultan's dominions — Relations of Germany and England — British projects in East Africa — Initiation of the British East Africa Company — The Sultan protests — Witu — Harmony between England and Germany — A delimitation commission — Extent of territory allotted to the Sultan — Spheres of influence — Limits of German sphere — The Sultan's position — Boundary between German and Portuguese territories — The Tungi Bay incident — Fresh difficulties between England and Germany — Development of the German sphere — Germany leases the Sultan's strip — An administration established — Results of the German administration— A rebellion organised — Wissmann appointed Imperial Commissioner — Insurrection subdued— Sultan's rights bought — The Imperial administration — German military methods — Confidence restored — Expeditions to the interior — Experimental methods — Arrangements between Germany and England .... 230

Chapter XVI

Activity on the West Coast — Native States in Senegal and Upper Niger basins — French campaigns — Ahmadu and Samory — The Futa Jallon — Within the bend of the Niger — France and Liberia — Expeditions to Lake Chad — French in Timbuktu — British activity on the Lower Niger — Pioneers — Obstacles to trade — A Company formed — The French on the Lower Niger — The French bought out — German attempts on the Niger — The Company triumphs — Becomes the Royal Niger Company — Progress made — The Company's powers — Freedom of navigation on the Niger — Utility of chartered companies — The

CONTENTS xiii

PAGE

Oil Rivers — The West African colonies — Lake Chad and the Central Sudan — French expedition to Lake Chad — Niger Company a private undertaking — International arrangements concerning West Africa — Liberia cramped — Position of England and France in West Africa- — British trade hampered by French advances — French and British spheres in the Niger region — On the west of the Middle Niger — In the Chad region — Importance of the Chad States — Their division between France and England — German wedge towards Lake Chad — Rearrangement with Germany — France passes beyond the Shari towards Bahr-el-Ghazal — German share Cameroons extension — Wadai — Rabah in Bagirmi and Bornu — The French area of Saharan Sudan — A Trans- Saharan railway — French aspirations partially realised — French railway dreams — Colonisation projects — French administration in West Africa — Spanish claims — Juby station — Position of the three Powers ....... 266

Chapter XVII

German South-west Africa — Boundary from Portuguese territory — Delimitation between the German and British spheres in South-west Africa — Chiefs refractory — The resources of South-west Africa — Swakop a seaport — Rumours of abandonment — Anglo - German Company — ■ The Cameroons — Delimitations : with England; with France — Administration — Exploration and development of the country — Togoland — Its development — Delimitation — The German sphere in Africa . 314

Chapter XVIII

Former position of England at Zanzibar — Initiation of the British East Africa Company — Extent of the Sultan's territories — Witu — Hesitations of British Government — Kirk's efforts — The Sultan's territories defined — Delimitation of British and German spheres — The British East Africa Association — Imperial British East Africa Company's Charter — The Company's difficult task — The Company's work — Initial troubles — Pioneer expeditions — Dr. Peters attempts to outflank the Company — Anglo-German agreement of 1890 — Emin Pasha — The Company's stations — Uganda entered — Communications— A railway — British occupation of Uganda — Government and Uganda — Captain Lugard — Treaty with King of Uganda — Lugard extends British occupation westwards — xiv THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

PAGE

Trouble in Uganda — The Company decide to abandon Uganda — Action of the Government — Portal's mission — Strife of religious parties — British protectorate — March to Wadelai — Government compromise — Intermediate area east under Zanzibar — Coast-strip — Witu country reverts to Zanzibar — Railway postponed — Congo State push to Nile — French expeditions to Mobangi — Congo State leases Lake area from Britain — France objects — France pushes Nile-wards — Congo- British agreement cancelled — Germany protests — England's position — Work accomplished by the Company — British protectorate in Zanzibar and Pemba . . . • 335

Chapter XIX The Italian Sphere And The Egyptian Sudan

Italy occupies Assab Bay — Massawa — Hostilities with Abyssinia — Treaty with Abyssinia — Colony of Eritrea — Italy captures Kassala — Annexations on the Somali coast — Italian relations with the British East Africa Company — Italy's position in Africa — The Egyptian Sudan — Baggara Arabs — Wadai . 391

Chapter XX

British advance in South Africa — The Transvaal and Bechuanaland — Various annexations — Mashonaland and Matabeleland— The Boers and Mashonaland — Portugal and Matabeleland — British supremacy secured — Lobengula and his warriors — Claims of Portugal — The rival companies — Cecil Rhodes : his Company — A charter obtained — The various companies — -Portuguese companies — -Lobengula's treaty — The Government and the Chartered Company — Value of Matabeleland — The Company takes possession — D'Andrade feebly supported — Gouveia — Progress made — Collision with the Portuguese — Anglo- Portuguese arrangement — Pioneers en route — Railway to mouth of Pungwe — Matabele raids — Lobengula's power broken — Chartered Company and Downing Street — Administrative powers granted — Company's resources — British enterprise on the Lake Nyasa region — Claims of Portugal — A trans-African Empire — Portuguese rush up Zambezi — British troubles with the Arabs — Portuguese attempts to take possession — Serpa Pinto north of the Zambezi — H. H. Johnston frustrates Portuguese — Extended British enterprise — A Commissioner appointed to British Central Africa — Anglo-Portuguese agreement — Progress in Northern Zambezia — Encounters with slavers — British administration in Nyasaland — Thomson and Rhodes in England . . .401

CONTENTS xv

Chapter XXI African Islands

PAGE

Madagascar — Neighbouring islands — Islands off the West Coast • 455 CHAPTER XXII

Extent and monotony of Africa — The tropical continent par excellence— Its relation to the ocean — Monotony of outline — Configuration of the surface — Lack of mountain ranges — High mean elevation — Temperature — Obstruction to river-navigation— Prevailing winds and rainfall— Lakes and rivers — Results of peculiar geography of Africa — Economical characteristics of tropical regions — North and South Africa- Extent of desert land — Distribution of animals — Minerals — Communications — Modes of conveyance — The natives — Labour supply — Density of population — Commercial value of Central Africa- — How are its resources to be developed ? — Can the natives be utilised ? — The rdle of the white man — Colonisation— North Africa — White colonisation — South Africa, its value ....... 459

Conclusion

Africa before and after the scramble — France's share — Germany — Portugal — Italy — Spain — Congo Free State — Great Britain — Tropical Africa the great problem — Limits to European colonisation — Can the native African be trained to work? — Slave-raiding and the Brussels Act — Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference — Value of African commerce— Europe's duty to the natives — What remains to be scrambled for — Egypt and British supremacy — England's duty . . . 498

APPENDIX I

THE PARTITION OF AFRICA, JANUARY 1 895 . . 519 list of the more important works bearing on the subject of the present volume, most of which have been consulted by the author . .522

LIST OF MAPS

TO FACE PAGE

1. Carthaginian Settlements on the Coast of Africa Africa according to —

2. Herodotus, 450 B.C. 1 , .

' ^J y on one sheet

3. Eratosthenes, 200 B.C. J

4. Ptolemy, 150 A. D. "| , , ^ •" J y on one sheet

5. Al Idrisi, 1 1 54 A.D. J

6. Ptolemy, adapted to a modern map .

7. Al Idrisi, reproduced from Lelewel's Atlas

8. Martin Behaim, 1492 a.d.

9. Diego Ribero, 1529 A.D.

10. Pigafetta, 1591 a.d.

11. Jacob van Meurs, 1668 a.d.

14. Africa, showing European Possessions in 1884,

before the Berlin Conference

15. ,, ,, ,, after the Berlin Conference

1 6. Orographical Map of Africa ......

17. Hydrographical Map of Africa showing the navigable waterways

18. Temperature Map of Africa for January

20. Mean Annual Temperature and Rainfall Map

21. Vegetation Map of Africa

22. Population Map of Africa .....

23. Africa, at the close of the Brussels Conference in 1890

24. Africa, showing political divisions 1895 on one sheet

192 228 464 470

J

J

Chapter I

Antiquity of African civilisation — America — Australia — The Egyptians — Phoenicians and Carthaginians — Ophir — Arabs on the East Coast — Carthaginians on the West Coast — Phoenician knowledge of Africa — Relations with the interior — The first Greek settlements — Hecatseus — Herodotus — The Nasamonean youths — Enterprise under the Ptolemies — Eratosthenes — Ptolemy's map — Roman enterprise — The Periplns — Ptolemy's knowledge of Africa — Nile exploration under Nero.

We have been witnesses of one of the most remarkable Antiquity

of African

episodes in the history of the world. During the past Jj^Usa' ten years we have seen the bulk of the one barbarous continent parcelled out among the most civilised Powers of Europe. That continent is no recent discovery. It is not a new world like America or Australia. It enters into the oldest traditions and the most ancient history. While yet Europe was the home of wandering barbarians, long before Abraham left his father's fields or the Phoenicians had settled on the Syrian coast, one of the most wonderful civilisations on record had begun to work out its destiny on the banks of that Nile, the

B mystery of whose source, so long sought for, has been solved only within our own time. It does not enter into the scope of this work to discuss the origin or trace the history of Egypt ; it is enough for us that the continent on which the oldest, or, at least, one of the oldest, civilisations was born and was developed through thousands of years is even now less known than a continent discovered 400 years ago, and has only during the past few years been taken seriously in hand by the peoples who have the making of the world's commerce and the world's history.

Let us, by way of contrast, glance briefly at what has happened with respect to America and Australia. America. Four hundred years ago Columbus stumbled upon a

new world with a land area of 16,000,000 square miles, about five times the size of Europe. With the exception of fringes of undeveloped civilisations, the secret of whose origin we have not yet fathomed, the American continent was given over to barbarians ; it is doubtful if its total population exceeded 4,000,000 ; the population of North America was probably not much more than half a million. In the 400 years that have elapsed since this momentous discovery, the feeble indigenous civilisations have disappeared, the coppercoloured barbarians have been driven into recesses, exterminated, or reduced to complete subjection ; and over the face of the Continent have spread some 1 30,000,000 of people of European origin or descent. In the United States alone, covering about the same area as Europe, there are probably now about 60,000,000 of white people, and in Canada another 4,000,000. All the arts and industries and cultures of the highest civilisation flourish on the American continent as they do in Europe. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, are advancing with giant strides. The trade of the United States is about the same in value as that of Germany or that of France. In less than another century the New World may be running a neckand-neck race with the Old along every line of progress.

It is little more than a century since the first con- Australia, vict settlement was established in New South Wales. It is only about half a century since Australia may be said to have had a free hand. In size it is somewhat less than Canada or Europe. When it was discovered it is doubtful if the native population amounted to more than half a million, belonging to the lowest type of humanity. The country was absolutely virgin soil ; the conditions were much less favourable than in America. In the brief period during which Europe has been in touch with Australia, the half million savages have given way to over 3,000,000 whites, mostly of British origin ; and these 3,000,000 have so far developed the resources of the Continent that the total trade amounts to about £120,000,000 sterling annually. Such is the progress that has been made in two continents ; one discovered only 400 years ago, the other practically untouched by Europe until about a century ago.

Let us now briefly trace the efforts made to appro- The Egyp-

11 tians.

priate the African continent by those whose interests and enterprise have extended beyond their own homes.

We do not venture to account for the origin of the Egyptians or of their civilisation. Whether the civilisation of Egypt was of purely indigenous growth, or whether its germs were introduced from the outside, does not concern our present purpose. /^-\ Were the Egyptians the first to begin the partition \tyoi Africa from the outside ? That depends on what we mean by partition. Ages before the seed of Egyptian civilisation was sown, humanity had begun to pour in from Asia, and the north coast of Africa must have been peopled by a race which formed the basis of the Berber population of the present day. But these were wandering barbarians, just as were the pigmies, the Zulus, the Hottentots, farther south. The portion of Africa on which the Egyptians flourished for ages was even to a late period regarded as a _part_of Arabia. The Egyptians are not generally credited with being great navigators till the time of the Ptolemies, but there has recently been found on the monuments the record of a great national expedition sent down the Red Sea by a queen of the period, about the year i'Eoo B.C. Its destination was the country of Punt, about the situation of which there is even more doubt than there is about that of Ophir. Except along the coast-land of the Mediterranean, the knowledge of Africa westwards, possessed by the Egyptians, was until a comparatively recent period probably bounded by the Nile Valley. How far south their knowledge extended it is impossible precisely to say. Very early in their history as early, probably, as 2000 B.C., they had dealings with

Ethiopia (the country generally lying south of Egypt proper, including Nubia, Northern Abyssinia, and possibly Kordofan), and so their knowledge of the river may have extended as far as the site of Khartum, though even that is doubtful. It may be said that an enterprising people like the Egyptians, who carried their arms far and wide, who must have had an extensive trade with the peoples dwelling along the Nile, and who in all probability were regularly supplied with slaves from the interior, must have had some knowledge, even if only based on rumour, of the sources of the great river on which their very existence depended. Possibly they may ; but if so, that knowledge never found record ; or if it did, the record has been lost. It is just as probable that they remained till the time of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks in complete ignorance of all that lay beyond the latitude of Ethiopia. Let us realise how vague were the notions of both the Greeks and the Romans of Central and Northern Europe, and of Asia beyond India and Persia. For untold ages the Old World knew nothing of the New. Only half a century ago the ma^^pX^Central Africa was for Europeans, so far as anything like even approximately accurate knowledge goes, a blank Jrom 1 o° north latitude to the confines of the Cape Colony. It is about thirty years since we obtained any certain knowledge of those great lakes which from an early period were rumoured to exist in the centre of the Continent. It is only sixteen years since the course of Africa's greatest river was traced out by Mr. Stanley.

If, then, 400 years after the discovery of a new Continent, with all the intense eagerness of the modern world for increasing knowledge, with half a dozen great nations representing some 200,000,000 of the most advanced peoples of the earth keenly competing in the exploration of the world and in the acquisition of wealth and of power, we are still ignorant of great areas in Central Africa, need we be surprised that the Egyptians and other nations of antiquity, with wants insignificant compared with ours, with a total population, " all told," scarcely equal to that of one of our great states, with all Europe and all Asia before them where to choose, should leave the torrid, impenetrable, unproductive continent and its savages alone, taking from it only what could be conveniently reached from trading stations on the coast, or through the navigable channel of the Nile ? Nor should it be forgotten that the camel is a comparatively modern introduction into Africa, and both the ox and the horse would be but poor substitutes for it in traversing the Sahara, the most formidable barrier to the penetration of Central Africa from the north. Moreover, it should be remembered that Egypt, especially in the height of her greatness, was, on the whole, more concerned with Asia than with Africa ; indeed, as we have seen, up to a comparatively late period, Egypt, east of the Nile, was regarded as part of Arabia. Phoenicians The Phoenicians and Carthaginians did far more

andCartha- *>

ginians. to extend the knowledge of Africa than did the Egyptians ; and it may have been from them that Homer and Hesiod derived their knowledge of the Mediterranean coast. Thebes was about the limit of Homer's knowledge of Africa on the south, though he had heard of the Ethiopians and the pigmies, who thus figure on the map of Africa from a very remote period ; they are, probably, the remnants of the aboriginal population. But it would be a mistake to attribute much reality to Homer's geography, though, perhaps, it fairly indicated the knowledge which in his time existed among his countrymen.

The Egyptians themselves, as has been stated, were not great navigators ; indeed, they seem not to have possessed a fleet of any importance till the time of the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Philadelphus maintained two powerful fleets in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. But long before this . the Phoenicians had appeared in the Mediterranean, and soon achieved a position as traders, navigators, and colonisers unequalled by any people of ancient times except perhaps the Arabians. Doubtless their example stimulated the Egyptians to more enterprise as navigators, but for a long period we know the Phoenicians had almost a monopoly of the carrying trade of the Mediterranean world, and their sailors were in demand for the ships of other nations. About their connection with Africa there is no doubt. They were probably not the first of the Semitic family to settle in North Africa ; Hamites, at least, there were in plenty. The Egyptians themselves were possibly largely of this type, as was the population along the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Utica, perhaps the earliest Phoenician (Syrian) colony in Africa, was founded about 1 1 00 B.C., even before Gades (Tarshish), on the coast of Spain, and 280 years before Carthage, a few miles distant on the same Tunisian coast. Before Carthage was founded, Utica had established stations or trading factories along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and down the Atlantic coast. Syrian colonies were thickly planted as far as the mouth of the river now known as the Draa, to the south of Morocco, and thence, it is believed, there were caravan routes to the country of the Blacks. Their trading stations or factories were no doubt very similar to those which at a later period were planted by Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch along the coast of Central Africa, to which native traders brought the products of the interior in exchange for goods of European origin. Carthage, as it grew in power, also, like Utica, established its stations west and south along the African coast. Many of these settlements were more than mere trading stations. Cultivation of various kinds was carried on, and from the African coast of the Mediterranean corn was exported in large quantities.