At the present time Africa seems to be the storm-centre for all the
warring foreign powers.

It has long been the policy of the various European rulers to conquer
and hold portions of the lesser known quarters of the globe, and plant
colonies there to employ their surplus population, and to increase their
trade and importance.

The West Indies, the East Indies, and Australasia have all been settled
in this way. Africa was the last country to excite the ambition of
Europe, but its turn has come, and it is now being forced to yield up
its secrets to the explorer and its riches to the trader.

Sixty years ago the map of Africa was almost a blank. Egypt and Morocco
were marked out at the north and east, Cape Colony at the extreme south,
and here and there a little outline of territory on the gold coast. All
the rest was vaguely marked as Sahara or the Great Desert and the
Soudan.

To-day the English, the French, the Germans, the Italians, the Dutch,
the Belgians, and the Spanish have all planted colonies on it, and the
map of Africa looks as business-like as the map of Europe.

It is not to be supposed that these various nations have taken their
slices of Africa without much contention and disagreement. We have told
you about the troubles with the Boers in the Transvaal, and of Germany's
determination to stop the British advance in that direction.

We have also mentioned the check given by Menelik of Abyssinia to the
Italians, and of the fight of the Mahdists to keep the Soudan out of the