AFRICA: THE CONTINENT OF EUROPEAN EXPLOITATION The Meagerness of Africa's Business.—From the standpoint of business, as in other respects, Africa is the most backward of the con tinents. A partial measure of this backwardness is found in the foreign commerce. The year before the Great War, as nearly as data are available, the total exports of Africa with its twelve million square miles and 130,000,000 people, amounted to $845,000,000, or $6.50 per person; those of Australia and New Zealand (3,000,000 square miles and only 6,000,000 people) a-mounted to $477,000,000, or about $80 per person.
The inactivity of most of Africa becomes still more evident when we compare the small portions which contain a fairly large number of Europeans with the vast remainder which appears at the end of the following table: The scarcity of exports in the main part of Africa is the more remarkable when we consider that except for the remote plateau of Abyssinia and the little country of Liberia, the whole region is under the rule of Europeans who are eager to develop tropical trade. The causes of Africa's economic backwardness are found partly in the lack of deep indentations and harbors on the smooth coast; partly in the rim of mountains which almost everywhere border the continent and cause rapids and falls in the rivers; and partly in the poverty of the soil, which in large areas within the tropics is of the poor lateritic type. Still more important is the climate, for both in the Kalahari and far more in the Sahara vast regions are desert, while large areas within the tropics are extremely enervating to the natives as well as to Europeans. For this reason, and because of ignorance, superstition, and other weaknesses, the people of Africa are on an average more inefficient than those of any other continent.
The More Active Parts of Africa.—The really active part of Africa comprises three small areas in the extreme north and south. There the climate permits the white man to live in comparative health and comfort. (a) The French colonies of Algeria and Tunis are so near France that fruit and spring vegetables can be shipped to Paris almost as easily as from Florida or Cuba to New York. (b) Egypt not only pos sesses a limited area of land rendered ex tremely fertile by irrigation from the Nile, but lies near the Suez Canal, perhaps the most important of all ar tificial waterways. This great highway from Europe to In dia is of such vital importance to the British Empire that England feels that she must hold it. Moreover, the long stapled Egyptian cotton is of such an unusually good type and the yield per acre is so great that it has been worth while for Britain to invest large sums in great irrigation works at Assuan and elsewhere. Nevertheless in 1922
Britain deliberately gave Egypt its independence, retaining only the right to guard the canal, protect foreigners, and interfere in case of certain domestic. disturbances. The relation of Egypt to Britain is much like that of Cuba to the United States.
(c) South Africa is remote compared with Algeria and Egypt, its subtropical position, the altitude of its plateau, and the presence of great gold and diamond fields help to make it a place where the British have put forth much effort. There the presence of a million and a half white people, chiefly of English and Dutch descent, has led to self government in the form of a Dominion of the British Empire.
The nature of the business and the mode of life of these three active parts of Africa as compared with the remaining 11,000,000 square miles is illustrated by the table of exports on the next page.
Those portions of Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco, north of the Atlas Mountains are inhabited by small farmers living in compact villages. The topography is relatively rugged, and the rains, though limited to the winter, are far more abundant than in the neighboring desert. The advantages of these conditions and of nearness to Europe are evident in the fairly well balanced quality of the French North African list of exports which represents all the great classes of products aside from manufactures. Such a list is typical of a long settled region of small farmers living in compact villages in a fairly mountainous region with winter rains and summer droughts, and with desert areas close at hand. The high proportion of barley compared with wheat indi cates that here we are close to the border of the climatic zone where wheat can grow, for barley is a product of poor climates as well as of poor soils. The noteworthy development of the products of trees, bushes, and vines is characteristic of the Mediterranean climate. In view of the fame of North African dates it is surprising to find that they occupy so unimportant a place. Even though part of the dates are classified under fruit, the total is still small. Under " leaves and fibers " the production of tobacco is about what might be expected, but the fame of esparto grass as a material for ropes, baskets, mats, sandals, and paper would lead one to expect a much larger production. Esparto grass and dates illustrate the fact that popular books and magazine articles often emphasize minor but picturesque products, and say little about. the great staples which are of chief importance in commerce.