SAHARA OR CREAVT D-'ESLRTi 



A F R I C A-O C E A N I A. 



THE continent of Africa is situated in the 

 Eastern Hemisphere, to the south of Europe 

 and the south-west of Asia, and lies between lat. 

 37 20' north and 34 50' south, and long. 17 30' 

 west and 51 30' east. It is bounded by the 

 Mediterranean on the north, by the Suez Canal 

 and the Indian Ocean on the east, and by the 

 Atlantic on the west Five thousand miles in 

 length, and 4700 in its greatest breadth, and com- 

 prising an area of 12,000,000 square miles, it is 

 the second largest of the great divisions of the 

 globe. Anciently, certain portions of Africa stood 

 high in civilisation and advancement. Egypt, the 

 cradle of civilisation, now contains the most re- 

 nowned monuments of antiquity. Two centuries 

 before our era, Carthage sent armies to the gates 

 of Rome. North Africa, along with Egypt, was 

 the granary of imperial Rome. Alexandria and 

 Carthage were reckoned among the leading centres | 

 of learning and culture in early Christian ages ; i 

 and in later times, the Moors, who succeeded in [ 

 founding influential states in North Africa, ex- 

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tended their energy and enterprise far into the 

 ! interior of the continent, and across to Europe. 

 j In more modern times, Africa had so relapsed into 

 I barbarism as to have interest for the outside 

 world chiefly in connection with the gold and 

 slave trades, the expeditions of the Morocco 

 pirates, and as presenting a field for the adven- 

 tures of travellers. But the rise of the united 

 states of Liberia on the west ; the possession and 

 partial colonisation of Algeria by the French 

 nation ; the recent development of political and 

 i industrial life in Egypt ; the opening of the Suez 

 canal ; the British expeditions to Abyssinia and 

 the Gold Coast ; the important and growing 

 traffic between Central Africa and Zanzibar ; the 

 labours and explorations of Livingstone and other 

 travellers ; and the occupation and colonisation 

 of the Cape of Good Hope, part of Kaffraria, 

 and Port Natal, by Great Britain have con- 

 tributed somewhat to restore Africa to her 

 place of interest and importance in the 

 world. 



