Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/160

 136

[trade

AFRICA

covered in workable deposits in the German territory north of Lake Nyasa. Diamonds are found in large quantities in a series of beds known as the Kimberley shales, the principal mines being at Kimberley, in the north of Cape Colony. Phosphates are exported to some extent from Algeria. Of other minerals which occur, but are little worked, zinc, lead, and antimony are found in Algeria, lead and manganese in Cape Colony, plumbago in Sierra Leone. Of the natural resources here enumerated those from which a future increase of trade may be expected are probably the plantation products, the cultivation of Future which is still in an experimental stage. For develop such a development, however, the solution of meat. the labour problem and the provision of adequate means of transport (to be spoken of later) are indispensable conditions. The country which under a civilized Government would perhaps give the greatest scope for development is Morocco, both the soil and climate of which are exceptionally favourable, while the mineral resources are also considerable. British South Africa, too, contains many valuable minerals besides gold, which will no doubt in time be exploited. The imports from foreign countries into Africa consist chiefly of manufactured goods, varying in character according to the amount of settlement by Europeans. In Algeria and South Imports. Af rica -they include most of the necessaries and luxuries of civilized life, manufactured cotton and woollen goods, especially the former, taking the first place, but various food stuffs, metal goods, coal, and miscellaneous articles being also included. In tropical Africa, and generally where few Europeans have settled, the great bulk of the imports consists as a rule of cotton goods, the only articles for which there is much native demand. This absence of a large demand for European goods is in fact a great obstacle to trade with Central Africa, but with the gradual advance in civilization it may in time be removed. Perhaps the most promising field in this respect is to be found in the populous and comparatively civilized countries of the Central Sudan, reached from the Lower Niger. The following tables show, so far as statistics are available, the total imports and exports of the various countries for 1898, and also the chief sources of supply of the principal African commodities. Any estimate, based on these figures, either of the total commerce of Africa, or even of the external trade, can only be very vague. No figures are given for inland countries, partly for want of statistics, and partly because the transit trade to and from these already appears under the countries through which it passes. In estimating the total external trade, the special trade only of Zanzibar must be included, as the remainder appears under the countries of the opposite mainland. But in the case of Portuguese East Africa the general trade may be taken, as no figures are given for the adjoining inland countries. A certain amount of local trade between contiguous countries, as, e.g., between Lagos and Dahomey, is of necessity included, but this is possibly not more than enough to balance the absence of figures for certain other countries. The totals thus obtained are :—Imports, £66,828,000 ; exports, £67,675,000 ; total, £134,503,000. In 1896 an estimate, probably based on the statistics for 1894-95, gave the grand total as roughly £100,000,000. The increase in about four years would thus be 34 per cent. No continent has in the past been so backward in respect of means of communication as Africa, and it was only in the last the 19th century that decided steps were ommuni-. decade 0 reme(jy these defects. The African rivers, ca ions. with the exception of the Middle Congo and its affluents, are generally unfavourable to navigation, and throughNative °U^ ^ie tropical region almost the sole routes have been trade native footpaths, admitting the passage of a single file routes °i' porters, all goods have native been carried from place ontowhose place.heads Certain of these trade routes are, however, much frequented, and lead for hundreds of miles from the coast to the interior. In the desert regions of the north transport is by caravans of camels, and in the south oxwaggons have, until quite recently, supplied the general means of locomotion. On the east side the principal termini of the native trade routes are : Suakin, for the Egyptian Sudan ; Massawa, for Abyssinia ; Zeila and Berbera, for the Somali and Galla countries ; Mombasa and Pangani, for the Masai countries, &c. ; Bagamoyo, for the Victoria Nyanza (south), Tanganyika, and Nyasa (north), and for the countries west of Tanganyika ; Kilwa, Lindi, Mozambique, and Quilimane for Southern Nyasa and the countries beyond.
 * -apen £of

African Trade, 1898. (Values in thousands of pounds sterling.' Country. British Colonies, &c.:— Egypt .... Somali Coast Zanzibar, special trade ,, general „ British East Africa British Central Africa Mauritius . Natal . Cape Colony Niger Coast Protector Niger Territory (1893) Lagos . Gold Coast . Sierra Leone Gambia French Colonies, &c. French Somali Coast Madagascar . Reunion French Congo Dahomey Ivory Coast. French Guinea Senegal Algeria (1897) Tunis . German Colonies, &c. :— German East Africa . German South-West Africa Cameroon . Togoland Portuguese Colonies Port. E. Africa, special trade Port. E. Africa, general trade Angola . Portuguese Guinea Italian Colonies:— Eritrea. Italian Somaliland Congo Free State . Liberia . Morocco Tripoli

£$c Imports. ^ ^ § Exports. ^r® oS'S^ £ go ! 10,755-3 380-2 200-01 1,555-1 296-9 108-4 2,877-6 5,369-72 16,682-44 639-7 160-0 908-4 960-3 606-3 246-1

7-8

12,100T 404225-01 1,497-9 72-4 38-0 2,913-9 1,263-3S 25,318-75 405882-3 993-0 291-0 247-8
 * 750-2

73-2 7-6

Total Trade. 22,855-4 784-9 425-01 3,053-0 369-3 146-4 5,791-5 6,633-0 42,001-1 1,389-9 565-9 1,790-7 1,953-3 897-3 493-9

3-7 18-9 68-2 69-8 98-1 68-9 66-3 79 45-8 79-7 71-9 75-6 40-5 84-5 21-9 37-1 46 15-7 6 1,053-5 196-4 857-1 ’’•6 761-1 •1 1,551-7 790-6 363-8 173-8 190-0 395-8 13-17 298-6 (Lagos, 694-4 38-6)7 48-07 372-7 185-9 67-47 186-8 360-8 67-78 312-0 77-48 672-8 2-3 2,467-4 1,313-1 22-3 1,154-3 2-5 11,829-1 5-6 22,905-2 11,076-1 13-1 3,908-7 2,140-8 18-9 1,767-9 •S9 295 T 2-2 9 1,102-4 807-3 332-4 2-61» 44-9 79-6 287-5 773-4 252-1 521-31 16-8 247-3 98-8 148-5/ 1,905-2 3,851-911 860-0 24-5

179-7 554-512 1,185-5

4,406-4 1,995-5

294-2 111-9 182-3 2,023-3 1,007-4 14-9 1,015-9 1 276-014 61-515 1,179-014 26-315 2,455-014 401-5 39-1 786-9 385-4 ! 84-0

Articles of Export, 1898. Sources of Supply, with Values in Articles. Thousands of Pounds Sterling. Angola (887'3) ; Congo Free State (634-0) ; Rubber Gold Coast (551-7); Lagos (285’4); French Guinea (237 ffl) ;- Cameroon (94-5). Palm-oil and kernels. Niger Coast (705 7); Lagos (459-9); Gold Coast (180’7) ; Cameroon (110'7). Senegal. Gum arabic Zanzibar (26‘7) ; French Guinea (10 T). Gum eopal Sierra Leone ; Gold Coast (35-7). Kola nuts. Zanzibar (105‘l). Copra Gold Coast (110-3). Timber Algeria (239-3). Cork wood Bamboos and reeds. Algeria (246-7).18 Algeria (155-5). Vegetable horsehair. Alfa .... Tunis (72-7); Tripoli (72-0); Algeria (20-l).16 1 Estimated. Including goods in transit to interior, 938-6. Including gold from South African States, 40"6. Including goods in transit, 4581‘0. Including gold from South African States, 15,394-4. 26-5 and 42"8 respectively in 1896. Percentages in 1896. Including imports from and exports to Sierra Leone. Percentages from and to Zanzibar = 59"2 and 74 "2. Percentage from Cape Colony = 13-8. Including goods in transit to Transvaal, 1770T ; to Mashonaland, 12 176 "6. Including exports from Transvaal, 368"9 ; from Mashonaland, 5-9. 13 Ports of Tangier, Tetuan, Laraiche, Dar el Baida, Rabat, Mazagan, Saffi, 14 and Mogador. Including estimate of 250-0 imports and 250-0 exports at Mogador. 15 Excluding Mogador; from and to Great Britain and Gibraltar. 16 In 1897. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11