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AFRICA continent had practically been charted and mapped and the colonization of various portions had been well begun, especially in British and German East Africa. In Rhodesia and other British colonies agriculture and mining were developed on a considerable scale. Railway construction also developed. In 1913 the copper field of Katanga in Belgian Kongo was connected by rail with Capetown, over 2,100 miles to the south. A line from Cairo was extended to Senaar on the Blue Nile, and a branch of the White Nile had been built at El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan. In the Belgian Kongo railroads had been constructed around all the rapids of the upper Kongo. The great lakes, Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika, were connected by rail with the Indian Ocean, while another railway connected the upper and middle Niger with the sea.

The progress of the World War naturally suspended development and exploration in Africa. In spite of this, however, several important expeditions carried on work during the years 1916 to 1920. Among these was the Collins-Garnier French Kongo Expedition which were working in the interests of the Smithsonian Institution. While the objects of the expedition were largely scientific, many important geographical results were obtained. Another party, also in the interests of the Smithsonian Institution, under the direction of Edmund Heller, carried on explorations in the Cape region and western Rhodesia.

Population.—Recent authorities roughly estimate the population of Africa at about 140,000,000. About 34,000,000, all of Semitic stock, are intruders from Asia, some in remote or prehistoric times (3,000,000 Himyarites in Abyssinia and Harar, from south Arabia), some since the spread of Islam (over 30,000,000 nomad and other Arabs, chiefly along the Mediterranean seaboard, in west Sahara, and central and east Sudan). All the rest, altogether, may be regarded as the true aboriginal element, and as falling into two main groups—the negro and negroid peoples, and the Hamitic.

Communications.—Railroad communication has been greatly developed in recent years. The total length of African railways in 1920 was about 23,000 miles. A railway connects Matadi, on the lower Kongo, to Stanley Pool or Leopoldville. There are steamers plying regularly on the lower Nile, the lower Niger, the Kongo, the Zambezi, the Shire, and on Lake Nyassa.

Political Divisions.—The exploration of the Kongo gave rise to the International African Association founded by King Leopold II. of Belgium in 1876, and the International Association of the Kongo, founded in 1878. These associations organized stations on the Kongo, and, in 1885, an international conference recognized and defined the Independent State of the Kongo (Kongo Free State), of about 1,000,000 square miles in extent. In south Africa the Portuguese settlements, originally founded as early as the time of Diaz and Vasco de Gama, comprise on the E. coast a territory of 260,000 square miles, opposite Madagascar, and on the W. coast an area of 457,500 square miles, from the Kongo to the Cunene river. In 1652 the Dutch sent colonists to the Cape, who were later reinforced by Protestant refugees from France. Cape Colony was finally ceded to Great Britain in 1815 and was afterward colonized from that country. A large part of the Dutch inhabitants, called Boers, migrated, however, inland and founded the two independent republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic, or Transvaal. These two states were annexed to the British crown in 1900 as a result of the war.

In 1884 the French annexed a territory N. of the Kongo Free State, 250,000 square miles in extent; and in 1885 an international conference proceeded to delimit the interior portions of the continent. After 1885 the French regarded Madagascar as a French protectorate, but they had much friction with the native Hovas till a French expedition captured the capital, Antananarivo, Sept. 30, 1895, and the protectorate was completely established. In 1885 Great Britain obtained Bechuanaland, with an area of 446,000 square miles, N. of Cape Colony. A large area N. was also annexed, which consists of two portions: (1) The territory of the British South Africa Company, including Mashonaland and Matebeleland, the latter conquered from King Lobengula in 1893, and an area N. of the Zambezi. (2) Nyassaland, in central Africa. The first of these, which has been settled and colonized to a considerable extent, covers 500,000 square miles, and the latter has an area of 210,000 square miles. In 1884 Germany obtained possession of the Kameruns N. of the French Kongo, with an area of 200,000 square miles, and in 1884-1890 the colonies of German Southwest Africa (320,000 square miles), and German East Africa (350,000 square miles), were added. In East Africa Great Britain obtained (1886-1890) the territory of British East Africa, called Ibea, extending from German East Africa to the Webi-Jub