Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/413

 THE NATIONS SINCE 1871 401 which lies between Egypt and the equator. The eastern ' horn ' of Africa was allotted to Italy. The states along the Medi- terranean are parted from tropical Africa by great deserts. These comprise the independent Morocco on the west ; Algeria, for long past under French dominion ; independent Tunis ; and Tripoli, which is attached to the Turkish Empire. The remainder of Africa north of the equator is divided among several powers, France and Britain having the greater shares. The island of Madagascar was acquired by France. In South Africa, within the area of the British sovereignty before the European scramble for African territory began, lay the two ' Boer ' republics of the Transvaal and the m ^ ' , ^, . r , .... r 1 • 1 1 j South Africa. Orange tree State, the establishment of which had been sanctioned in the fifties. Under the impression that the Transvaal could not defend itself against the aggressive military tribes of the Zulus, the British government annexed it in 1877. The Boers protested, and in 1880 took up arms to recover their independence. A disaster to British troops at Majuba Hill did not prevent the British government from conceding the demands of the Boers with some reservations, and the Transvaal Republic was reinstated. Not long afterwards the discovery of gold- mines in the Transvaal had the usual effect of causing a great influx of would-be settlers, who soon raised loud complaints against the treatment to which they were subjected by the Transvaal government. At the same time a strong The Boer conviction gained ground among the British popu- War - lation of South Africa that the Dutch population was making the substitution of Dutch for British supremacy its deliberate aim. Hence in the autumn of 1899 arose the Boer war, in which the two republics made common cause. The British, who had greatly underrated the strength and determination of their opponents, met with a series of grave reverses during the winter; but the arrival of large reinforcements soon made it impossible for the Boers to meet them in pitched battles. The capitals of the republics were occupied, and their annexation was announced; but an obstinate guerilla warfare was maintained till the summer of 1902, when the Boers recognised that the struggle was hopeless. The republics were absorbed into the British Empire, 2 c