river, but including Zanzibar, and penetrating a considerable distance into the interior. It covers an area of 1,000,000 square miles. Somaliland was divided between Italy and Great Britain (1877-1891), Italy taking over 300,000 square miles and Great Britain 75,000 square miles opposite Aden. Italy also annexed and colonized Eritrea, on the Red Sea (100,000 square miles), and asserted a protectorate over Abyssinia. But the latter arrangement was repudiated by Abyssinia. Nov. 15, 1896, the latter's independence was recognized by the Italian Government.
The first two decades of the 20th century witnessed great changes in the political distribution of African territory.
In 1905 and again in 1911 France and Germany came into conflict over MOROCCO (q.v.). The Orange Free State and the Transvaal, as a result of the Boer War, lost their independence, Kongo Free State was annexed by Belgium, Tripoli became a part of Italy, so that Abyssinia and Liberia remained the only independent nations in Africa.
Prior to the changes brought about as a result of the defeat of Germany in the World War, African territory was divided practically as follows: Egypt, while nominally under Turkish control, was in reality a protectorate of Great Britain, which also exercised sovereignty over the eastern Sudan. Tripoli belonged to Italy, and Tunis and Algeria to France. The greater portion of Morocco also was a French protectorate, while a small portion was governed by Spain. France exercised control of the Sahara region to the upper waters of the Kongo river. Spain possessed a small area on the west coast below Morocco known as Rio de Oro. This was followed by French Mauretania and Senegal, British Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, French Guinea, the British Sierra Leone, Liberia, an additional area of French territory, the British Gold Coast, and Ashanti, German Togoland, French Dahomey, the British Niger territories, and German Kamerun. French Kongo, Portuguese Angola, and German Southwest Africa reached the borders of the Union of South Africa. Between this and the former German province of Southwest Africa on the west is the British protectorate of Bechuanaland and the British colony of Rhodesia. Adjoining East Africa on the north is the former colony of German East Africa. Bordering this on the north is British East Africa, which joins on the north the British sphere of influence in the Sudan and on the coast, Italian Somaliland. West of the latter is the British Somali Coast Protectorate. This adjoins French Somaliland and Eritrea, belonging to Italy. The disposition of such territories as formerly belonged to Germany is described in the section following, Africa in the World War. The details relating to the various divisions mentioned will be found under the headings to these divisions in their proper alphabetical order.
Africa in the World War.—At the outbreak of the war Germany had large colonial possessions in Africa. In less than thirty years of effort, the territory under her control embraced 3,000,000 kilometers with more than 12,000,000 inhabitants. In extent, her African empire was the third largest in the world, and in population was only exceeded by the colonies of France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Her colonial adventure began in 1884, when at a single stroke she acquired Southwest Africa, Kamerun, and Togoland. New Guinea was colonized by her to one-third of its extent, together with some of the smaller islands in its vicinity, and in 1895 she reached out for German East Africa. By 1900, she had added to these possessions the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and had become one of the great colonizing powers of the Dark Continent. From these colonies she obtained coffee, cocoa, rice, bananas, sugar cane, cotton, jute, tropical textiles, palm-oil, rubber, and a vast variety of other materials for the development of her manufacturing and commercial interests.
When the war broke out, it was a foregone conclusion that communication between the colonies and Germany would be promptly severed, owing to the predominating power of the British navy, to which was to be added the naval strength of Japan. The outcome of the struggle on land was more problematical, for the Germans, though outnumbered by the forces that could be brought against them by the Entente, had the immense advantages of a defensive carried on over vast spaces, through pathless jungles and under especially trying climatic conditions.
The German islands in the Pacific were the first to be captured. Samoa was taken by the New Zealanders on Aug. 29, 1914, without a fight. The Caroline, Marshall, and Solomon Islands were captured by Japan, Oct. 7, 1914, and the Marshall and Solomon Islands were turned over by them to the Australians Dec. 9, 1914. German New Guinea was taken by the Australian Expeditionary Forces on Sept. 13. Thus in about four months the German flag had
