A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW.
The name "Dark Continent" has been most aptly applied to Africa. Little was known of its geographical features until within the last twenty-five or thirty years. Some knowledge had been gained of its native tribes, but this was very indefinite, and in many ways unreliable.
Ignorance and superstition clouded the minds of those who heard accounts of the adventures of the early explorers. Stories of their encounters with wild beasts and cruel savages were eagerly listened to, but were regarded as marvelous tales, similar to those of the "Arabian Nights." Descriptions of dreary wastes of sand, tangled forests, wild jungles, and treacherous morasses were exciting topics, but evidently thought to be features of a country that existed only in the minds of those who related its wonders.
Boys and girls of fifty years ago, as they conned their geography lessons or pored over their maps, no doubt allowed their thoughts to stray beyond the little tract of country represented in bright colors upon the map of Africa. Upon such a map only those portions which represented partially explored territory were thus colored. The portion representing the vast regions unknown alike to the adventurer and to the explorer was colored black, and marked "unexplored territory."
This feature of the map must have been very suggestive to boys and girls in those old school days, when the only stories of adventures that they possessed were of the nature of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Swiss Family Robinson."
No doubt many an imaginative boy lost himself in scenes of wild adventures in these unexplored regions. His ready imagination pictured them as teeming with savage life and fraught with hidden danger.
His most vivid daydreams could never have depicted the real dangers, privations, and cost to life, as they have become known to us through the letters and journals of recent explorers.
These men must always live in the hearts and memories of the people. They must ever be regarded as dauntless heroes who ventured to cross the border land between the known and the unknown territories of Africa.
Through hardship and privation these explorers have gained a definite and accurate knowledge of many portions of Africa. Thus have they shed light upon a portion of the globe which, compared with other continents, we must still regard in many ways as the "Dark Continent."
Doubtless no part of the earth has been made the subject of so many books in so short a period as Africa. Their number is legion. We find them not only in the language of our own country, but in foreign languages. The recent books written upon Africa would form a library of themselves.
The origin of the name Africa has furnished a topic for wide discussion by students and historians. Some believe the name to have come from a Greek word meaning "south wind." Others believe it to have been formed from the Latin word signifying "sunny." Then there are others who are quite positive that the name came from a Greek word meaning "without cold."
Africa is the most tropical of all the continents. It will be well to look up its position upon the globe. We shall find it situated in the Eastern Hemisphere, south of Europe, and southwest of Asia. It lies very nearly between latitudes 37° N. and 35° S.
If we look at its general shape,—an irregular triangle,—we shall be able to trace quite a resemblance to South America. Wonderful and interesting, however, as we know the characteristics of that continent to be, we shall find that Africa has far more wonders to unfold.
Africa was originally a vast peninsula, attached to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. The two continents were separated by the completion of the Suez Canal. In all respects, Africa is now an enormous island.
It is larger, by far, than either Europe or Australia, but somewhat smaller than either Asia or America.
It is indeed difficult to get a correct estimate of a country still shrouded to a great extent in darkness, so far as our actual knowledge of it is concerned. It has been roughly estimated to contain upwards of eleven and one-half millions of square miles.
Let us look at the map of Africa. We find that the continent is indented by no deep gulfs or bays. There are few capes or peninsulas along the coast, which, for the most part, is regular and unbroken.
The absence of deep gulfs and bays running into the interior is one of the principal reasons why the exploration of the continent has been so difficult, and why so little is known of its vast interior.
True, we find upon the Mediterranean coast the Gulf of Sidra, the Gulf of Arabia upon the coast of the Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Guinea upon the Atlantic coast. The latter is the only important inlet upon the Atlantic coast, and divides into two branches,—the Bight of Biafra and the Bight of Benin.
The extreme points of land upon the several coasts are Cape Bon upon the north, Cape Verd upon the west, Cape of Good Hope upon the south, and Cape Guardafui upon the east.