(see AFRICA, ROMAN), is, so far as its native inhabitants
are concerned, a continent practically without a history,
and possessing no records from which such a history might be
reconstructed. The early movements of tribes, the routes by
which they reached their present abodes, and the origin of such
forms of culture as may be distinguished in the general mass of
customs, beliefs, &c., are largely matters of conjecture. The
negro is essentially the child of the moment; and his memory,
both tribal and individual, is very short. The third point
is that many theories which have been formulated with respect
to such matters are unsatisfactory owing to the small amount
of information concerning many of the tribes in the interior.
The chief African races.
Excluding the Europeans who have found a home in various
parts of Africa, and the Asiatics, Chinese and natives of
India introduced by them (see section History below), the
population of Africa consists of the following elements:
--the Bushman, the Negro, the Eastern Hamite, the Libyan
and the Semite, from the intermingling of which in various
proportions a vast number of ``transitional'' tribes has
arisen. The Bushmen (q.v.), a race of short yellowish-brown
nomad hunters, inhabited, in the earliest times of which
there is historic knowledge, the land adjoining the southern
and eastern borders of the Kalahari desert, into which
they were gradually being forced by the encroachment of
the Hottentots and Bantu tribes. But signs of their former
presence are not wanting as far north as Lake Tanganyika, and
even, it is rumoured, still farther north. With them may be
classed provisionally the Hottentots, a pastoral people of
medium stature and yellowish-brown complexion. who in early
times shared with the Bushmen the whole of what is now Cape
Colony. Though the racial affinities of the Hottentots have
been disputed, the most satisfactory view on the whole is
that they represent a blend of Bushman, Negroid and Hamitic
elements. Practically the rest of Africa, from the southern
fringe of the Sahara and the upper valley of the Nile to
the Cape, with the exception of Abyssinia and Galla and
Somali-lands, is peopled by Negroes and the ``transitional''
tribes to which their admixture with Libyans on the north,
and Semites (Arabs) and Hamites on the north-east and east,
has given rise. A slight qualification of the last statement
is necessary, in so far as, among the Fula in the western
Sudan, and the Ba-Hima, &c., of the Victoria Nyanza, Libyan
and Hamitic elements are respectively stronger than the
Negroid. Of the tracts excepted, Abyssinia is inhabited mainly
by Semito-Hamites (though a fairly strong negroid element can
be found), and Somali and Galla-lands by Hamites. North of
the Sahara in Algeria and Morocco are the Libyans (Berbers,
q.v.), a distinctively white people, who have in certain
respects (e.g. religion) fallen under Arab influence. In
the north-east the brown-skinned Hamite and the Semite mingle
in varied proportions. The Negroid peoples, which inhabit the
vast tracts of forest and savanna between the areas held by
Bushmen to the south and the Hamites, Semites and Libyans to
the north, fall into two groups divided by a line running from
the Cameroon (Rio del Rey) crossing the Ubangi river below the
bend and passing between the Ituri and the Semliki rivers, to
Lake Albert and thence with a slight southerly trend to the
coast. North of this line are the Negroes proper, south are the
Bantu. The division is primarily philological. Among the
true Negroes the greatest linguistic confusion prevails; for
instance, in certain parts of Nigeria it is possible to
find half-a-dozen villages within a comparatively small area
speaking, not different dialects, but different languages,
a fact which adds greatly to the difficulty of political
administration. To the south of the line the condition of
affairs is entirely different; here the entire population
speaks one or another dialect of the Bantu Languages (q.v..)
As said before, the division is primarily linguistic and,
especially upon the border line, does not always correspond
with the variations of physical type. At the same time it
is extremely convenient and to a certain extent justifiable
on physical and psychological grounds; and it may be said
roughly that while the linguistic uniformity of the Bantu is
accompanied by great variation of physical type, the converse
is in the main true of the Negro proper, especially where least
affected by Libyan and Hamitic admixture, e.g. on the Guinea
coast. The variation of type among the Bantu is due probably
to a varying admixture of alien blood, which is more apparent
as the east coast is approached. This foreign element cannot
be identified with certainty, but since the Bantu seem to
approach the Hamites in those points where they differ from
the Negro proper, and since the physical characteristics
of Hamites and Semites are very similar, it seems probable
that the last two races have entered into the composition
of the Bantu, though it is highly improbable that Semitic
influence should have permeated any distance from the east
coast. An extremely interesting section of the population
not hitherto mentioned is constituted by the Pygmy tribes
inhabiting the densely forested regions along the equator
from Uganda to the Gabun and living the life of nomadic
hunters. The affinities of this little people are undecided,
owing to the small amount of knowledge concerning them. The
theories which connected them with the Bushmen do not seem to be
correct. It is more probable that they are to be classed among
the Negroids, with whom they appear to have intermingled to
a certain extent in the upper basin of the Ituri, and perhaps
elsewhere. As far as is known they speak no language peculiar
to themselves but adopt that of the nearest agricultural
tribe. They are of a dark brown complexion, with very broad
noses, lips but slightly everted, and small but usually
sturdy physique, though often considerably emaciated owing
to insufficiency of food. Another peculiar tribe, also
of short stature, are the Vaalpens of the steppe region
of the north Transvaal. Practically nothing is known of
them except that they are said to be very dark in colour
and live in holes in the ground, and under rock shelters.
Principal ethnological zones.
Having indicated the chief races of which in various degrees of
purity and intermixture the population of Africa is formed, it
remains to consider them in greater detail, particularly from
the cultural standpoint. This is hardly possible without drawing
attention to the main physical characters of the continent,
as far as they affect the inhabitants. For ethnological
purposes three principal zones may be distinguished; the first
two are respectively a large region of steppes and desert in
the north, and a smaller region of steppes and desert in the
south. These two zones are connected by a vertical strip of
grassy highland lying mainly to the east of the chain of great
lakes. The third zone is a vast region of forest and rivers
in the west centre, comprising the greater part of the basin
of the Congo and the Guinea coast. The rainfall, which also
has an important bearing upon the culture of peoples, will
be found on the whole to be greatest in the third zone and
also in the eastern highlands, and of course least in the
desert, the steppes and savannas standing midway between the
two. As might be expected these variations are accompanied by
certain variations in culture. In the best-watered districts
agriculture is naturally of the greatest importance, except
where the density of the forest renders the work of clearing
too arduous. The main portion therefore of the inhabitants
of the forest zone are agriculturists, save only the nomad
Pygmies, who live in the inmost recesses of the forest and
support themselves by hunting the game with which it abounds.
Agriculture, too, flourishes in the eastern highlands, and
throughout the greater part of the steppe and savanna region
of the northern and southern zones, especially the latter. In
fact the only Bantu tribes who are not agriculturists are the
Ova-Herero of German South-West Africa, whose purely pastoral
habits are the natural outcome of the barren country they
inhabit. But the wide open plains and slopes surrounding
the forest area are eminently suited to cattle-breeding,
and there are few tribes who do not take advantage of the
fact. At the same time a natural check is imposed upon the
desire for cattle, which is so characteristic of the Bantu
peoples. This is constituted by the tsetse fly, which renders
a pastoral life absolutely impossible throughout large tracts
in central and southern Africa. In the northern zone this
check is absent, and the number of more essentially pastoral
peoples, such as the eastern Hamites, Masai, Dinka, Fula,
&c., correspondingly greater. The desert regions yield
support only to nomadic peoples, such as the Tuareg, Tibbu,
Bedouins and Bushmen, though the presence of numerous oases
in the north renders the condition of life easier for the
inhabitants. Upon geographical conditions likewise depend to
a large extent the political conditions prevailing among the
various tribes. Thus among the wandering tribes of the desert
and of the heart of the forests, where large communities are
impossible, a patriarchal system prevails with the family as the
unit. Where the forest is less dense and small agricultural
communities begin to make their appearance, the unit expands
to the village with its headman. Where the forest thins to
the savanna and steppe, and communication is easier, are found
the larger kingdoms and ``empires'' such as, in the north those
established by the Songhai, Hausa, Fula, Bagirmi, Ba-Hima, &c.,
and in the south the states of Lunda, Kazembe, the Ba-Rotse, &c.
But if ease of communication is favourable to the rise of
large states and the cultural progress that usually accompanies
it, it is, nevertheless, often fatal to the very culture
which, at first, it fostered, in so far as the absence of
natural boundaries renders invasion easy. A good example
of this is furnished by the history of the western Sudan
and particularly of East and South-East Africa. From its
geographical position Africa looks naturally to the east,
and it is on this side that it has been most affected by
external culture both by land (across the Sinaitic peninsula)
and by sea. Though a certain amount of Indonesian and
even aboriginal Indian influence has been traced in African
ethnography, the people who have produced the most serious
ethnic disturbances (apart from modern Europeans) are the
Arabs. This is particularly the case in East Africa, where
the systematic slave raids organized by them and carried
out with the assistance of various warlike tribes reduced
vast regions to a state of desolation. In the north and
west of Africa, however, the Arab has had a less destructive
but more extensive and permanent influence in spreading
the Mahommedan religion throughout the whole of the Sudan.
The characteristic African culture.
The fact that the physical geography of Africa affords fewer
natural obstacles to racial movements on the side most exposed
to foreign influence, renders it obvious that the culture
most characteristically African must be sought on the other
side. It is therefore in the forests of the Congo, and among
the lagoons and estuaries of the Guinea coast, that this
earlier culture will most probably be found. That there is a
