722 THE- ECONOMIC CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY THE RAILROADS. 



posts, which, iimch to their profit, are to-day centers of economic 

 progress. These advances have enabled the more alert nations to 

 acquire without opposition very favorable positions and to attain, 

 for the moment at least, an unquestionable advantage. 



J ^_^ <- - (tmslanl'ne. tAa*^ 



Fig. 1.— Mai) of Africa, showing? railroads in oporutiuu and under construction. 



An examination of the accompanying map (fig. 1) will show that 

 properly speaking there are but three railroad systems in Africa — the 

 Tunis- Algerian, the Egyptian, and the South African. The first 

 named is complete in itself. The other two will serve as bases on the 

 north and south for the great artery from Cairo to the Cape. As for 



