AFRICA.
by several other expeditions in 1554 and 1562. In
1570 and 1600 the Portuguese visited Monomotapa,
then a powerful state near the Mozambique coast.
In the 17th c., the Englishmen Jobson and Thom-
son, in their journey to Timbuktu, opened British
commerce with A., and the slave-trade immediately
followed. In 1662, we find a French colony on the
Senegal, and many exploring journeys to the interior
by Renouard and others. In 1624, the Jesuit Lobo
endeavoured to find a way from the equator through
the interior as far as Abyssinia. Thevenot’s journey
to Egypt in 1652, the English occupation of Cape
Coast in 1664, Brue’s voyage to Senegambia, and
several other visits to the western coast, mark the
progress made in the latter half of the 17th c¢. One
German traveller, Wansleben, gave a description of
his journeys on the west coast; and another, Von
Groben, in 1683, founded in Upper Guinea the colony
of Fredericksburg, 'which afterwards fell into the
hands of the Dutch, but is now abandoned.
In the course of the 18th c., various additions were
made to our store of information on Africa; but
they are not all trustworthy. In the year 1788, the
African Society was founded in London, and, under
its direction, Ledyard and Lucas were sent to explore
the Niger, and were followed by Major Houghton.
The English colony of Sierra Leone was founded in
1790. The French expedition to Egypt, towards the
close of this century, gave a new impulse to researches
in A.
In the 19th c., the most various motives have co-
operated in favour of an extended knowledge of this
vast continent. The captains of English cruisers,
employed to suppress the slave-trade, have supplied
some valuable information; the governors of the
colonies and private merchants have contributed
their share; and enterprising travellers from all
sides of the coast have endeavoured to strike out
paths to the interior. The works published on A.
since the year 1800 are consequently very numerous.
It would be useless to specify the whole of these,
inasmuch as many of them are only hasty and frag-
mentary sketches by casual travellers, and have
recently been superseded by volumes containing the
results of more accurate and extensive researches.
A few of the more important may be mentioned. In
1802—1805, Lichtenstein travelled in the district
north of the Cape of Good Hope, and first furnished in-
formation regarding the Bechuana tribe. The travels
of Mungo Park from Timbuktu to Bussa are familiar
to every one. In 1809, Burckhardt was sent out by
the African Society, and his explorations, rich in
manifold results, occupied the years 1812—1816. To
the French we are indebted for much valuable
information concerning Marocco, Algeria, and the
neighbouring parts of Sahara. In 1821, Oudney,
Clapperton, and Denham set out from Tripoli, in
a southerly direction, through the border-land that
separates the Libyan from the Sahara Desert, intend-
ing to proceed to Bornu, and explore the course of
the Niger. Oudney died in 1824 ; but Clapperton
and Denham continued their journey, and reached
Sokoto or Sacatoo, the residence of the ruler of Sudan.
They discovered the fresh-water lake Tchad. In the
following year, Clapperton, accompanied by three
friends, started from Benin, intending to travel
through the whole region lying between Timbuktu
and Abyssinia, but died of dysentery at Sokoto,
April 13, 1827. His servant, Richard Lander, after
giving an account of their discoveries, was employed
in another exploration of the Niger, and traced its
lower course to the embouchure in the Bay of Benin.
During the last twenty years, our knowledge of
South A. has received many important additions
from the missionaries stationed there, especially
has been earnestly endeavouring to open the coun-
tries north of the Cape of Good Hope, penetrated in
1849 as far as Lake N’gami, in 20° 8. lat.; and in
1853, ascending the Leeambye (Zambesi) northward
for several hundred miles, succeeded in crossing the
continent to Loando on the W. coast, in the Portu-
guese province of Angola. Having retraced his
steps to the point of the Zambesi from which he
had started, the adventurous traveller next followed
that stream, which there bends eastward, till he
reached the E. coast, in 18°S. lat. He is still (1859)
engaged in prosecuting discoveries in that rich and
interesting region. Further north, the geography,
language, and manners of *the inhabitants of Abys-
sinia, Sennaar, and Kordofan, have, during late
years, been greatly illustrated by the efforts of
various Huropeans, who have travelled thither
with the hope of exploring the course of the Nile.
Finally, the extensive and long-continued researches
of Dr Barth and his companiohs, proceeding by the
same general route from Tripoli as Clapperton and
Denham, and investigating, though more compre-
hensively, the same central division of the continent,
have enriched our store of knowledge, and lead us to
cherish the expectation that the day is not far
distant when the secret places of this land of
mystery will be penetrated by the light of science
and civilisation.
A. is situated in the eastern hemisphere, to the
S. of Europe, and the S. W. of Asia, and lies
between lat. 37° 20’ N., and 34° 50’ S., and long.
17° 30 W., and 51° 30’ E. It is of an irregular
triangular form, with the vertex towards the S,
having the Mediterranean on the N., the Isthmus
of Suez, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean on the K,
and the Atlantic on the W. It is thus almost
insular, the connecting isthmus being only 72
miles across, of no great elevation above the sea-
level, and even in part occupied by salt lakes and
marshes—offering in this respect every facility
for the connection of the Red Sea and Mediter-
ranean by canal. The coast-line is marked by few
indentations or projections ; the most important
gulf being that of Guinea, on the W.; and Capes
Bon, Verde, Good Hope, and Guardafui, the extreme
points respectively on the N., W, 8., and E.
The greatest length of the continent, taken from
north to south, i1 about 4985 miles; its greatest
breadth, from east to west, 4615; and its area,
including the adjacent islands, not less than
11,854,000 square miles.
What is known of the physical features of A.
may be shortly sketched under the following heads :
1. The triangular region south of Cape Guardafui and
the Gulf of Guinea, is mostly a high table-land,
having fringes of mountains crowning its edges.
Between the coast and the beginning of the elevation
runs a belt of lowlands, varying from 50 to 300
miles in breadth. The Lupata range, seen running
parallel with the coast, forms the eastern crest of
the table-land. Between 3° and 4° S. lat., it reaches,
in the snow-clad XKilimandjaro and Kenia, the
height of 20,000 feet. These are believed to be the
real Mountains of the Moon, which have hitherto
been represented as running across the continent from
E. to W. The mountainous country of Abyssinia
is the eastern prolongation of the plateau and its
elevated crest; in the summit of Abba Yared, at
the northern extremity, it rises to 15,000 feet. At
the south, the hills of Cape Colony rise in stages
from Table Mount to the summits of the Nieuwveld
and Sneeuwberg, in the N. of the colony, which
are estimated at 7—10,000 feet ; the spaces between
the ranges being shrubby ZXloofs or valleys, and
broad elevated terraces or karroos. From the
Moffat ; while David Livingstone, who, since 1843,
66
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