FERENCE

From a cyclopaedia read the following topics: The opium war, Commodore
Perry's expedition.

CHAPTER XXXIII

AFRICA

Africa is in a state of commercial transition. During the last quarter
of the nineteenth century the partition of its area among European
nations left but few of the names that formerly were familiar. At the
beginning of the twentieth century the British, French, and Germans
controlled the greater part of the continent, although the Portuguese,
Belgians, Italians, and Spanish have various possessions.

The partition of Africa was designed for the expansion of European
markets. The population of Africa is about one hundred and seventy
million, and the continent is practically without manufacturing
enterprises. The people, therefore, must be supplied with clothing and
other commodities. In 1900 the total trade of Africa with the rest of
the world was about one and one-third billion dollars, of which the
United States had a little more than two per cent., mainly cotton cloth
and coal-oil.

=Egypt.=--The Egypt of the maps is a region of indefinite extent so far as
its western and southern boundaries are concerned; the Egypt of history
is the flood plain of the Nile. From the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo the
cultivable area is not far from one hundred miles in width; from Cairo
to Khartum it varies from three to seven or eight miles wide.

[Illustration: AFRICA]

The food-producing power of Egypt depends on the Nile. In lower Egypt a
considerable area is made productive at the ordinary stage of water by
means of irrigating canals, but in upper Egypt the crops must depend
upon the annual flood of the river, which occurs from June until
September. During this period the river varies from twenty-five to forty
feet above the low-water mark. In the irrigated regions three crops a
year may be produced; in the flooded lands only one is grown.

In order to add to the cultivable area two great engineering works have
been constructed. A barrage and lock control the flow of water at
Assiut; a huge dam at Assuan impounds the surplus of the flood season.
These structures, it is thought, will increase the productive power of
the country about one-fourth. Rice, maize (an Egyptian variety), sugar,
wheat, and beans are the staple crops.

Rice is the food of the native people, but the crop is insufficient, and
the deficit must be imported. The wheat, maize, and beans are grown for
export to Europe, th