E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



117 



may seem to be empirical rather than to follow any clear line or consistent 

 principles. We are always supposed to have a natural genius for empiri- 

 cism, and probably our greatest successes in Colonial Administration are 

 •due to the fact that we are naturally suspicious of the doctrinaire, and are 

 prepared to delegate authority to the individual on the spot. Nevertheless 

 we must henceforth clear our ideas on certain fundamental questions which 

 are common to our problem. We can begin to take stock, and judge of 

 cause and eiiect on the basis of a great mass of ascertainable knowledge. 



Perhaps the first problem which we should examine is what is the efEect 

 of the European impact and economic development on the numbers and 

 health of the African population. Africa is a very sparsely populated 

 continent. The group of our six East African dependencies has an area 

 approximately equal to that of British India. Yet in East Africa we have 

 a, population of \2h millions, as against over 220 millions in British India. 

 Even in British West Africa, which has double the population for half the 

 area of East Africa, the population is still sparse. The following table 

 of population densities is taken from the Report of the East Africa 

 Commission : — 



(1) Transkei (Cape Colony Native Reserve) 



(2) Nigeria 



(3) Gold Coast (Colony only) 



(4) Basutoland . 



(5) Uganda 



(6) Nyasaland 



(7) Tanganyika Territory 



(8) Kenya Colony 



(9) Northern Rhodesia 



The population per square mile of 

 England is . . 701 



Belgium 

 Germany 



658 

 348 



Japan 



Italy 



France 



59 per square mile 

 53 

 50 

 42-5 

 33 

 31 

 11 

 11 

 3 



. 339 

 . 319 



. 187 



On the other hand, our African territories have a far denser population 

 than our as yet undeveloped Dominions or the rapidly developing countries 

 of South America. The population per square mile of 



New Zealand is .11 Australia ... 2 



Brazil ... 9 Canada ... 2 

 Argentine . . 8 



Naturally these all-inclusive figures do not give a complete picture of the 

 distribution of population. For instance, in Nigeria the population of the 

 great Province of Kano is over 100 to the square mile, while that of Bornu 

 adjoining it is only 23 ! Broadly speaking, however, there is more fertile 

 land in Tropical Africa than there are people to cultivate it, and in the 

 development of Africa it is an axiom that with rare exceptions — such as 

 British Nyasaland — the demand for labour always exceeds the supply. 

 This shortage of available labour is already observable in connection with 

 the native cultivation, as in the cocoa industry of the Gold Coast or the 

 cotton industry of Uganda, quite as much as upon the European plantation.s 

 of Kenya and Tanganyika. 



