30 REGENERATION OF THE DARK CONTINENT. 



Guinea. Thus at the beginning of the seventeenth century nearly 

 all the portions of Africa that were held by the nations of Europe 

 were the three divisions of the coast of Guinea that were knowr 

 respectively as British, French and Dutch Guinea. 



Even at the end of that century England and France were the 

 principal rivals for African trade, but at the close of the French 

 wars France had lost nearly all her possessions in Africa as well 

 as elsewhere. In this war Great Britain acquired the ascendency 

 in African affairs, which she stubbornly held for 200 years. 



Leaving the coast, they both pushed into the interior, which 

 example was followed by other nations. Generally the partition 

 of Africa went on slowly and peaceably, and it was not until the 

 Brussels conference in 1878 that the unrestrained scramble began 

 that has resulted in the division of the entire continent among the 

 different nations of Europe. Thus in 1876, while Great Britain, 

 France, Spain and Portugal had located colonies on the coast of 

 Africa, the interior was held by the wild tribes that occupied it 

 against all foreign aggression. 



CONFLICTING INTERESTS AMICABLY SETTLED. 



The Berlin conference in 1876 was the time at which the 

 energetic division of the continent was inaugurated, and at the close 

 of 1890 of the 11,508,793 square miles of territory composing the 

 continent of Africa only some 1,500,000 remained open to seizure 

 by the nations of Europe. There were even then some conflicting 

 claims that had not been settled, as the conflicts between French, 

 German and British interests on the Niger clearly testified. 



But these, together with the disputes between Portugal and 

 England in the upper Zambesi, have been amicably settled, and it is 

 mainly the claims that arise out of the British occupation of Egypt 

 now that the British and Boers in South Africa have come to a 

 settlement. 



The interior of Africa is as yet imperfectly known, but we 

 know enough of the continent as a whole to be able to point to some 

 general features and characterize it. One of these is that almost 

 all round it at no great distance from the sea, and, roughly speak- 



