Africa

North Africa: ° Algeria ° Egypt ° Libya ° Morocco ° Sudan
West Africa: ° Benin ° Cameroon ° Congo ° Cote d'Ivoire ° Gabon ° (Republic of the) Gambia ° Ghana ° Guinea ° Liberia ° Mauritania ° Mozambique ° Nigeria ° Sao Tome and Principe ° Senegal (Dakar) ° Sierra Leone
East Africa (The Horn of Africa): ° Djibouti ° Kenya ° Eritrea ° Madagascar ° Somalia ° Sudan ° Tanzania ° Zanzibar

International Harbors

Antique Map of Africa. 1864.

Africa is a vast and stunning continent with huge plains, high mountains, extraordinary people, exotic animals and vibrant birds. Each part of the country provides something dramatically different to the world:

• Botswana's Kalahari desert is home to one of Africa's the unique and resourceful bushmen who have lived there for thousands of years.
• Ivory Coast, known for centuries of fine craftswork.
• Ghana was the epicenter of the gold, slave and ivory trade. The region was coveted for years by imperial Europe.
• Kenya, the beginnings of the Serengeti, with its cats and huge herds of migrating wildebeest.
• Mali, on the banks of the Niger River, was once the richest city in Africa from its gold and ivory trade.
• Namibia, with an immense coastal desert
• Tanzania, on the Indian Ocean, has lush forests, Zanzibar (an island that has changed little since its years as East Africa's primary trading gateway), and the Serengeti, which is home to more big animals than anywhere in the world
• Zimbabwe, once thought to be the site of King Solomon's mines, has one of the most dynamic bodies of water in the world: Victoria Falls.

Unfortunately, Africa's treasures have been shrouded in darkness for centuries. Most well-known are the years of slave trading to Europeans during the 1700s and 1800s. However, even before Europeans arrived in Africa, tribes were capturing people from neighboring villages and keeping them as slaves; when Europeans arrived, they began trading those people into European slavery.

During the 1700s, Africa's west coast was frequented by traders who hoped yo make quick fortunes. An entry in the journal of trader Nicolas Owen reads as follows: "I have found no place where I can enlarge my fortune so soon as where I now live, wherefore I entend to stay in order to enlarge my fortune by honest mains." Owen was sincere when he stated that the slave trade was a way to prosper "by honest means" -- nowhere in his journal, which he kept for five years, does he show any compassion for slaves or the least bit of remorse for being involved in the slave trade.

Traders did not capture slaves themselves, but bought them from Africans who traded their people for various European goods. Sometimes the captives would be prisoners of war. Other times, groups would venture deep into Africa's interior for the sole purpose of capturing slaves.

Passages from the journal reveal that Owen had little respect for the Africans he dealt with.

" . . . They laugh at one another's misfortunes and don't seem to repine their own, given to drunkenness and quarreling, being very cowardly and great boasters, miserably poor in general and live low as to victuals, soon provoked to anger and soon made up again if the offender makes an acknowledgement of his crime."

Slaves were cruelly treated and many felt death was more preferable than life. Some planning on taking over and blowing up the ship, only to perish all together in the flames. However, they were at times betrayed by one of their own countrywomen, who slept with some of the headmen of the ship -- it was common for the sailors to take the African women for their own use while the men were chained and pent up in holes. Thousands of African slaves were subject to horrible scenes and base treatment.

The geographic area from which slaves were taken during the slave trade was enormous. Its northern bounds were from Senegal to the center of Africa (Lake Chad) to Kenya. Its southern borders were a line along the southern borders of Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. People were taken from both coasts and the central regions as well.

The slave trade resulted in approximately 100 million people being lost on the continent if one includes deaths during slave trade-related wars, slaves lost during the middle passage (across the ocean) and those landing alive in other countries. At least 15 million Africans landed alive as slaves in the Americas during the whole of the slave trade period.

December 4, 1899, Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

GROWTH Of NATIONS
AMERICAN EXPANSION 18 ONLY AN INCIDENT
Possesions of England, France and Germany in Country Where War Is Now Waging

The present day and generation is witnessing the most colossal process of empire building the world has ever seen. A glance at events now transpiring in other parts of the world shows that American expansion is only an incident in the world movement of empire building, and that this country has been directed Into a channel which all tho great nations are pursuing, With tho Anglo-Saxon piloting the wayRecent events in different parts of the world have contributed simultaneously to this empire movement. These are:

1. The South African war and its effect on the three great empires of Africa , French, British and German.
2. The break up of China and the mapping of "spheres" for new empires.
3. The Philippine war and Its effect on the American possessions in the Pacific.
4. The British-Venezuelan award, extending the British empire in South America.
5. American authority in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the proposed partition of Samoa.

The British empire in Africa embraces 2,300,000 square miles, extending almost unbroken from Egypt to the Cape. The French empire embraces 2.000.000 square miles; the German empire 1,000,000 square miles.

The Britisli empire, in Africa includes the white man's country of South Africa, with ts high table lands, its diamonds and its gold; British Central Africa, or Rhodesia; British East Africa, stretching from the Indian Ocean to Lake Victoria, and having within its borders Uganda, "the pearl of Africa," discovered by Henry M. Stanley; and now fast developing into a prosperous and modern community, with merchant and war ships aiding its commerce on the lake and railroads connecting it with the ocean and the interior.

On the west coast is the Niger territory, holding the mouth of the great waterway of Western Africa, under the control of the British Royal Niger company, having such absolute sway that it makes war and peace; concludes treaties with the natives and exercises all the attributes of sovereignty under the protecting care of Great Britain. Then there are the minor colonies, the Gold Coast. Sierra Leone, scarcely worth speaking of, as they are relics of past greatness during the slave trade days.

It is in East Africa, however, from the Cape up to the Mediterranean, that one sees the present imperial sway of the Briton. as well as the potential importance of this new empire. It extends practically in an unbroken sweep from the northernmost to the southernmost points of the continent. Egypt continues to be nominally Independent, although under the protection of the British flag, with British officials directing Egyptian finances and British officers leading Egyptian armies. Essentially, therefore, Egypt is to be regarded as a British sphere of influence, and with Kitchener at Khartoum it will be only a short time before Egypt's lost colonies in the Soudan will be brought back to her and to the British sphere of influence. The area of Egypt and the Soudan was not included in the 2,300,000 square miles given as tho British empire in Africa, and if these dependencies are added the total is brought up to almost 3,000,0) squaro miles, equal to the area of the United States, not including Alaska.

FRENCH POSSESSIONS IN AFRICA

The French explorers and statesmen seem to have chosen Western Africa as their field of influence, as Britain has chosen Eastern Africa. The total French possessions, free from controversy and dispute with other powers, now reach the enormous total area of 3,000,000 square miles. This includes the flourishing colony of Algeria, on the north, which, like Cape Colony at the other extremity of the continent, is naturally adapted as a home for the white man. South of this is that vast sweep of country once known as the desert of Sahara, and still referred to with derision by Lord Salisbury as "very light soil."

But France has found unknown wealth in these sands. Already a raiiroad has crossed Algeria and is pushing into this former desert for the purpose of opening up the whole western section and bringing forth its latent riches. South of the desert France controls the headwaters of the Niger, with its fertile valleys. Further south is the French Congo with the Congo river and its valley along the southern border. It was from these western possessions that Marchand pushed forward to Fashoda, while another French expedition, starting from Obok, on the east coast, sought to join hands with him, thus demonstrating to the world that England's dream of a British Africa, inseparable from Cairo to the Cape, was not to be realized. But while these plans were not fully carried out, France has developed her possessions in other directions, until she rightly makes claim of holding first place in the extent of possessions in Africa.

WHAT GERMANY HAS IN RHODES' LAND

The German empire in Africa covers about 1,000,000 square miles, but. while this is small In comparison with France and Great Britain, these powers have been long exploring and colonizing, while Germany came on the scene only 10 years ago. In 18S3 the German flag was raised for the first time in Southwest Africa. German East Africa was added soon after. Thus far, I however, it cannot be said that any marked idevelopment has followed this movement, as Germany, coming late, took the least desirable desert country, and even the scant possibilities of this have been further weighted down by officialism and militarism, which are the main characteristics of German colonizing, as against the local civil administrations which the British and French authorities put in force.

1902. German Explorer. Carl Peters (1856-1918)
by Philip Tennyson Cole (1862-1939).

In West Africa, Germany has also set her foot in the Kameruns, not far from the Niger country, and at Togo land, running from the Gulf of Guinea, back to a rich interior. With German's Industrial awakenlng and her need for new markets this German empire in Africa its viewed at Berlin lln as a seat of future greatness.

Other powers -- ltaly, Portugal, Spain and Belgium -- have their possessions in Africa, but they do not rise to the dignity of empires, although Italy, but for the reverse by the Abyssinian mountaineers, would have vied with Germany in the extent of possessions.

The United States has thus far given no attention to territory in Africa, and has permitted the other powers to apportion Africa among themselves as best suited them. Liberia has at times reached out to this country for help, and an American protectorate has been proposed. But Liberia is little more than a dot on Africa, having on area of 12,000 square miles. Moreover, it is not a white man's country, for Sierra Leone, alongside, is known as the White Man's Grave. As a charity protection | might be given to Liberia, but for practical considerations it would be a travesty fori the United States to look to that spot as the best of future American effort In Africa...

June 20, 1889, Cambridge City Tribune, Cambridge City, Indiana, U.S.A.

Primitive Intercourse

R. Andree has lately been collecting information as to the use of signals by primitive peoples, and the facts he has brought together are summarized in Science. It appears that American Indians use rising smoke to give signals to distant friends. A small fire is started, and as son as it burns fairly well, grass and leaves are heaped on the top of it. Thus a large column of steam and smoke arises . . . Recently attention has been called to the elaborate system of drum signals used by the Cameroon negroes by means of which long messages are sent from village to village. Explorations in the Congo basin have shown that this system prevails throughout central Africa. The Bakuba use large wooden drums, on which different tones are produced by two drumsticks. Sometimes the natives "converse" in this way for hours, and by the energy displayed by the drummers, and the rapidity of the successive blows, it seems that the conversation was very animated.

The Galla, South of Abyssinia, have drums stationed at certain points of the roads leading to the neighboring states. Special watchmen are appointed, who have to beat the drum on the approach of enemies. Cecchi, who observes this custom, designated it as a "system of telegraph." The same use of drums is found in New Guinea. From the rhythm and rapidity of the blows, the natives know at once whether an attack, a death, or a festival is announced. The same tribes use columns of smoke or (at night) fires to convey messages to distant friends. The latter are also used in Australia. Columns of smoke of different forms are used fro signals by the inhabitants of Cape York and the neighboring island...

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The Fortunes of Africa: A 5000-Year History of Wealth, Greed, and Endeavor
Africa has been coveted for its riches ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, and slaves that drew fortune-seekers, merchant-adventurers, and conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, and other valuable minerals. He traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonization.

The Diary of Antera Duke: An Eighteenth-Century African Slave Trader
Stephen D. Behrendt, A. J. H. Lathma, David Northrup
In his diary, Antera Duke (ca.1735-ca.1809) wrote an eyewitness account of the slave trade by an African merchant. A leader in late eighteenth-century Old Calabar, a cluster of Efik-speaking communities in the Cross River region, he resided in Duke Town, forty-five miles from the Atlantic Ocean in what is now southeast Nigeria. His diary, written in trade English from 1785 to 1788, is a candid account of daily life in an African community at the height of Calabar's overseas commerce. It provides valuable information on economic activity with other African businessmen and with European ship captains who arrived to trade for slaves, produce, and provisions.

Basil Davidson states that by examining three important areas of Africa in the history of slavery against a general background of their time and circumstance he was taking "a fresh look at the overseas slave trade, the steady year-by-year export of African labour to the West Indies and the Americas that marked the era of forced migration." (Africans were joined in forced camps by abused laborers from China, "indentured servants" from Ireland, and Britain's hideous prison hulks.)

The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo
Tom Feelings
Alex Haley's Roots awakened many Americans to the cruelty of slavery. The Middle Passage focuses attention on the torturous journey which brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, allowing readers to bear witness to the sufferings of an entire people. 64 paintings.

The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America
Gerald Home
The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then residing in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with London. Gerald Horne complements his earlier celebrated Negro Comrades of the Crown, by showing that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt.

Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005
James T. Campbell
Many works of history deal with the journeys of blacks in bondage from Africa to the United States along the middle passage, but there is also a rich history of African Americans traveling in the opposite direction. In Middle Passages, award-winning historian James T. Campbell recounts more than two centuries of African American journeys to Africa, including the experiences of such extraordinary figures as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, and Maya Angelou. This series is under presiding editor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.