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HISTORY]
AFRICA
351

Southern Nigerian protectorate was placed under that of Lagos at the same time as the name of the latter was changed to the Colony of Southern Nigeria, this being a step towards the eventual amalgamation of all three dependencies under one governor or Organization of the British and French protectorates. governor-general. In French West Africa changes in the internal frontiers have been numerous and important. The coast colonies have all been increased in size at the expense of the French Sudan, which has vanished from the maps as an administrative entity. There are carved out of the territories comprised in what is officially known as French West Africa five colonies—Senegal, French Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Dahomey and the Upper Senegal and Niger, this last being entirely cut off from the sea—and the civil territory of Mauritania. To the colony of the Upper Senegal and Niger is attached the military territory of the Niger, embracing the French Sahara up to the limit of the Algerian sphere of influence. Not only are all these divisions of French West Africa connected territorially, but administratively they are united under a governor-general. Similarly the French Congo territories have been divided into three colonies—the Gabun, the Middle Congo and the Ubangi-Shari-Chad—all united administratively under a commissioner-general.

There are, around the coast, numerous islands or groups of islands, which are regarded by geographers as outliers of the African mainland. The majority of these African islands were occupied by one or other of the European powers long before the period of continental partition. The Madeira Islands to the west of Morocco, theOwnership of the African Islands. 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
Sierra 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