AFRICA.

The

were not quelled without several sanguinary engage for us by the enterprise of explorers, the zeal of ments. After the decisive battle of Gujerat (Feb- missionaries, the perseverance of commercial specuruary 21, 1849), the Sikhs were forsaken by the lation, and the military aggressions of Europeans. Afghans; and Dost Mohammed, with about 16,000 The extreme N. and N.E. borders, which in ancient men, fled over the Indus. After this period, Dost times were the seats of civilisation, while all the Mohammed devoted his attention almost exclusively other parts lay hid in darkness, had fallen back into a to the consolidation of his dominions. He died in state of barbarism, but are now partially restored to 1863, appointing Shere Ali, one of his younger sons, a position of importance in connection with the as his heir. At first, the choice was acquiesced in political and commercial interests of Europe. Great by the sixteen sons of Dost Mohammed, a large progress has also been made, from the south or Cape number of whom were governors of provinces; but Colony, in exploring the elevated land of the interior, disputes followed, which for many years kept A. in and introducing commerce among the natives. The a state of anarchy. See CABUL. The British efforts of England to suppress the slave-trade, and government of India had recognised Shere Ali at to open new channels for manufacturing industry, his accession, and when in 1868, after his long also seem likely, in the course of time, to make struggle with his brothers, he obtained possession great alterations in the condition of the countries of Cabul, and became de facto ruler of the greater and tribes of people on the western coast. part of Afghanistan, direct assistance was given chief hindrances are found in the comparatively few him to secure the position for which he had fought accessible points on the coast, the pestilential climate so hard. Sir John Lawrence, then Indian viceroy, of the marshy lowland bordering on the sea, the sent him first two, and afterwards four lakhs of rupees barrenness of vast tracts like the desert of Sahara, with 3500 stand of arms. The next viceroy of over which one must travel rapidly, and only by India, Lord Mayo, met the Ameer in state at certain routes; and lastly, the barbarism and sanUmballa, in March 1869. It was then explained to guinary character of the natives. On the other him that Her Majesty's government had no desire hand, the position of A. is favourable to its explorato interfere with the affairs of A., except to check tion by Europeans. Its most remote harbours are civil war, and by so doing, to secure the peace almost as near as North America-nearer than and prosperity of the country. This intimation was Brazil, and much nearer than British India. A accompanied by another large present. In the same sailing-vessel from Bristol can reach the river year, the Ameer conceived the idea of invading Senegal in about 20 days, Sierra Leone in 30, Cape Bokhara (q. v.) and attacking the Russians, but was Coast in 35, and the Congo in 50. Of course, steam restrained by English advice. After 1869, Shere Ali communication is far more rapid. endeavoured to secure tranquillity in Afghanistan. The valley of the Nile was known in the earliest He was alive to the strife that had been occasioned period of history as the nursery of commerce, arts, by intrusting power to relatives, and he endeavoured and sciences; but while Egypt was flourishing, the to replace the members of his family as much as rest of A. was almost totally unknown, and was possible by strangers. He also indicated very vaguely spoken of as Libya. The Greeks and the distinctly that he did not intend to select as his Romans penetrated into A., probably as far as the heir his son Yakoob-who, at an early age, had Niger; but they had scarcely any definite knowshewn great ability as governor of Herat, and had, ledge of the countries lying beyond Numidia, while on many occasions, given his father most valuable South A. was entirely unknown. The tradition assistance-but a younger son, Abdullah. The that Jewish and Tyrian merchants, on their voyages claims of Yakoob to share in the government of A. to Ophir, explored the east coast of A., is dubious; were ignored, and the result was that, in 1870, he but another account, that, in the time of Pharaohheaded a rebellion against his father; but in the Necho, the Phoenicians circumnavigated A., seems following year a reconciliation was effected through to be well authenticated; and it is probable that the the intervention of England. Yakoob has now Carthaginians had a better knowledge of parts_of great influence in A., and it is thought that any the interior than we have in the present day. For attempt to place Abdullah on the throne on the a history of the older discoveries in A., we may death of Shere Ali, will lead once more to anarchy. refer to Murray's Historical Account of Discoveries After the threatened invasion of Bokhara in 1869, and Travels in Africa (2 vols., Edin. 1817), and to negotiations were entered into between England Leyden's Sketch of the Discoveries in Northern and and Russia, the nature of which was explained in Western Africa (Edin. 1799). a long debate in the House of Commons, on 22d April 1873. The understanding come to, seems to have been that Balkh, Badakshan, and Wakhan, all the provinces between the Oxus and the Hindu Kush, should be considered to form part of Afghanistan. The want of cordial feeling between the Ameer and his energetic son Yakoob is still a source of much anxiety. The countries included within the present boundaries of A. are the following, to articles on which reference is made: (1) Cabul; (2) Candahar; (3) Herat; (4) Afghan Turkestan, or Bactria, including Balkh, Badakshan, and Wakhan; (5) Kafiristan.

The 15th c. was marked by an extension of geographical knowledge in A. as elsewhere. Henry the Navigator sailed round the formidable Cape Nun (non plus ultra); Diaz and Vasco de Gama discovered the Cape of Good Hope; and both the western and the eastern coasts were partly explored by several European voyagers. The older travels and discoveries may be arranged in the following order: In the 14th c., the travels of the Arabian Ebn Batuta in the north of A. In the 15th c., the Portuguese discoveries of Madeira, Cape Blanco, Senegal, Guinea, Benin, the Cape of Good Hope, &c., and the navigation of the east coast by the See A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, by Portuguese Covilham, who first travelled in Abys Lady Sale (Lond. 1843); a History of the War in sinia. In the 16th c., the travels of Leo Africanus Afghanistan, by J. W. Kaye (Lond. 1851); and an through Barbary and Sahara to Abyssinia; the article on the Recent History of Afghanistan,' in travels of the German Ranwolf in North A., and the Edinburgh Review for July 1873.

A'FRICA, one of the great divisions of the globe -the second in point of size, but by far the least important as regards the civilisation and progress of the human species. This continent, so long a land of mystery, has, in modern times, been partly opened

Windham's voyage to Guinea, which was followed 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 Thomson, in their journey to Timbuktu, opened British