THE ECONOMIC CONQUEST OF AFRICA BY TIIK RAII.UOADS. 728 



transverse routes, the English, (iernian, juul P()rtu<i:iH'se ronds on the 

 coast of the Indian Ocean, together with the Belgian, English, and 

 Portuguese enterprises on the South Atlantic, constitute the begin- 

 nings, already well developed, of (wo or possibly three lines of direct 

 communication between the east and west coasts lying below the 

 equator. 



Einally, there are those French, English, and (Jerman railroads of 

 Western Africa, like those on the Ked Sea, entirely independent, and 

 built for the purpose of connecting with navigable rive;-s or opening 

 a meiyis of exi)ortation for the goods of some inland country. 

 Among the roads in operation and already more or less connected 

 which are noAv being organized in the principal colonies are three or 

 four proposed transcontinental lines — one from the Mediterranean 

 to the Cape, and the others from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. 

 The work on these is being pushed forward simultaneously from both 

 ends. Besides the great systems alread}^ spoken of, there are a num- 

 ber of isolated roads running from the coast short distances into the 

 interior. Entirely autonomous, each with its peculiar object, these 

 little roads are built as occasion demands, and are in several territories 

 already at work. Such, at the beginning of the twentieth century, is 

 the situation in Africa with regard to railroads." 



The first railroads established in Algeria more than thirty-five 

 years ago — the Algiers-Oran and the Philleville-Oran routes — were 

 concessions to the Compagnie Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee. Companies 

 exclusively Algerian were formed in 1875, and for the next sixteen or 

 seventeen years these companies constructed continually. But since 



a Below is a table which recapitulates for the year 1903 the length, in miles, 

 of the railroads now in operation in the different regions of Africa : 



French colonies : Miles. 



Algeria 1. 82li 



586 



524 



184 



90 



Tunis 



West Africa _ 



Djibouti 



Reunion Isle. 



3, 206 



Egypt : 



State roads 1,395 



Private companies 712 



Military line in Sudan 776 



2, 883 



122 

 596 



English colonies : 



Cape Colony 



Natal 



Transvaal and Orange Free 



State 1.322 



Rhodesia 1' 1^3 



Bast Africa 582 



English colonies- 

 West Africa 

 Mauritius __ 



-Continued. 



German colonies : 



East Africa 



Southwest Africa- 



I'ortuguese colonies : 



Dongola 



Mozambique 



Italian colony : 



Eritrea 



Congo Free State- 



Miles. 

 186 



6.039 



31 

 121 



152 



338 

 249 



587 



247 

 247 



Grand total 13, 121 



