Partition of Africa: Trade and Territory by Nation
Partition of Africa.—Great Britain claims about 2,000,000 square miles of central Africa, with a total yearly trade of about £9,500,000. The French possessions come next in extent, with an area of about 1,000,000 square miles, and with a yearly trade of about £2,500,000. The Kongo Free State has about the same area, but its general trade may be set down at not more than £700,000 in all. The area of German central Africa is about 900,000 square miles, or, excluding German southwest Africa, of which only a small part lies to the north of the line of the Zambezi, about 550,000 square miles, with a trade value of about £1,500,000. Portugal claims an area of some 750,000 square miles, almost all of which is in tropical Africa, and its trade may be set down at about £2,250,000. The total trade of Italian Africa is reckoned somewhat doubtfully as about £500,000, and that of Liberia at about the same. It appears, therefore, that in central Africa Great Britain takes the lead in every way—in extent of possessions, in their total trade value, and in the amount of trade per square mile of territory, which may be roughly stated as £4 10s., as against the £3 per square mile of German and of Portuguese Africa, and the £2 10s. per square mile of French Africa.—The Manufacturer.