Africa

later Secondary and Tertiary formations were being laid down in North

Africa and around the margins of the rest of the continent, Africa received

its last great accumulation of strata and at the same time underwent a

consecutive series of earth-movements. The additional strata consist of the

immense quantities of volcanic material on the plateau of East Africa, the

basalt flows of West Africa and possibly those of the Zambezi basin. The

exact period of the commencement of volcanic activity is unknown. In

Abyssinia the Ashangi traps are certainly post-Oolitic. In East Africa the

fissure eruptions are considered to belong to the Cretaceous. These early

eruptions were followed by those of Kenya, Mawenzi, Elgon, Chibcharagnani,

and these by the eruptions of Kibo, Longonot, Suswa and the Kyulu

Mountains. The last phase of vulcanicity took place along the great

meridional rifts of East Africa, and though feebly manifested has not

entirely passed away. In northern Africa a continuous sequence of volcanic

events has taken place from Eocene times to latest Tertiary; but in South

Africa it is doubtful if there have been any intrusions later then

Cretaceous.

During this long continuance of vulcanicity, earth-movements were in

progress. In the north the chief movements gave rise to the system of

latitudinal folding and faulting of the Moroccan and Algerian Atlas, the

last stages being represented by the formation of the Algerian and Moroccan

coast-outline and the sundering of Europe from Africa at the Straits of

Gibraltar. Whilst northern Africa was being folded, the East African

plateau was broken up by a series of longitudinal rifts extending from

Nyasaland to Egypt. The depressed areas contain the long, narrow,

precipitously walled lakes of East Africa. The Red Sea also occupies a

meridional trough.

Lastly there are the recent elevations of the northern coastal regions,

the Barbary coast and along the east coast. (W. G.*)

III. ETHNOLOGY In attempting a review of the races and tribes which

inhabit Africa, their distribution, movements and culture, it is advisable

that three points be borne in mind. The first of these is the comparative

absence of natural barriers in the interior, owing to which

intercommunication between tribes, the dissemination of culture and tribal

migration have been considerably facilitated. Hence the student must be

prepared to find that, for the most part, there are no sharp divisions to

mark the extent of the various races composing the population, but that the

number of what may be termed ``transitional'' peoples is unusually large.

The second point is that Africa, with the exception of the lower Nile

valley and what is known as Roman Africa (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 culture

distinctive of this area, irrespective of the linguistic line dividing the

Bantu from the Negro proper, has now been recognized. Its main features may

be summed as follows:—-a purely agricultural life, with the plantain, yam

and manioc (the last two of American origin) as the staple food;

cannibalism common; rectangular houses with ridged roofs; scar-tattooing;

clothing of bark-cloth or palm-fibre; occasional chipping or extraction of

upper incisors; bows with strings of cane, as the, principal weapons,

shields of wood or wickerwork; religion, a primitive form of fetishism with

the belief that death is due to witchcraft; ordeals, secret societies, the

use of masks and anthropomorphic figures, and wooden gongs. With this may

be contrasted the culture of the Bantu peoples to the south and east, also

agriculturists, but in addition, where possible, great cattle-breeders,

whose staple food is millet and milk. These are distinguished by circular

huts with domed or conical roofs; clothing of skin or leather; occasional

chipping or extraction of lower incisors; spears as the principal weapons,

bows, where found, with a sinew cord, shields of hide or leather; religion,

ancestor-worship with belief in the power of the magicians as rain-makers.

Though this difference in culture may well be explained on the supposition

that the first is the older and more representative of Africa, this theory

must not be pushed too far. Many of the distinguishing characteristics of

the two regions are doubtless due simply to environment, even the

difference in religion. Ancestor-worship occurs most naturally among a

people where tribal organization has reached a fairly advanced stage, and

is the natural outcome of patriotic reverence for a successful chief and

his councillors. Rain-making, too, is of little importance in a well-

watered region, but a matter of vital interest to an agricultural people

where the rainfall is slight and irregular.

Within the eastern and southern Bantu area certain cultural variations

occur; beehive huts are found among the Zulu-Xosa and Herero, giving place

among the Bechuana to the cylindrical variety with conical roof, a type

which, with few exceptions, extends north to Abyssinia. The tanged

spearhead characteristic of the south is replaced by the socketed variety

towards the north. Circumcision, characteristic of the Zulu-Xosa and

Bechuana, is not practised by many tribes farther north; tooth-mutilation,

on the contrary, is absent among the more southern tribes. The lip-plug is

found in the eastern area, especially among the Nyasa tribes, but not in

the south. The head-rest common in the south-east and the southern fringe

of the forest area is not found far north of Tanganyika until the Horn of

Africa is reached.

In the regions outside the western area occupied by the Negro proper,

exclusive of the upper Nile, the similarities of culture outweigh the

differences. Here the cylindrical type of hut prevails; clothing is of skin

or leather but is very scanty; iron ornaments are worn in profusion; arrows

are not feathered; shields of hide, spears with leather sheaths are found

and also fighting bracelets. Certain small differences appear between the

eastern and western portions, the dividing line being formed by the

boundary between Bornu and Hausaland. Characteristic of the east are the

harp and the throwing-club and throwing-knife, the last of which has

penetrated into the forest area. Typical of the west are the bow and the

dagger with the ring hilt. The tribes of the upper Nile are somewhat

specialized, though here, too, are found the cylindrical hut, iron

ornaments, fighting bracelets, &c., characteristic of the Sudanese tribes.

Here the removal of the lower incisors is common, and circumcision entirely

absent. Throughout the rest of the Sudan is found Semitic culture

introduced by the Arabized Libyan. Circumcision, as is usual among

Mahommedan tribes, is universal, and tooth-mutilation absent; of other

characteristics, the use of the sword has penetrated to the northern

portion of the forest area. The culture prevailing in the Horn of Africa

is, naturally, mainly Hamito-Semitic; here are found both cyhnddcal and bee-

hive huts, the sword (which has been adopted by the Masai to the south),

the lyre (which has found its way to some of the Nilotic tribes) and the

head-rest. Circumcision is practically universal.

As has been said earlier, the history of Africa reaches back but a short

distance, except, of course, as far as the lower Nile valley and Roman

Africa is concerned; elsewhere no records exist, save tribal traditions,

and these only relate to very recent events. Even archaeology, which can

often sketch the main outlines of a people's history, is here practically

powerless, owing to the insufficiency of data. It is true that stone imple.

ments of palaeolithic and neolithic types are found sporadically in the

Nile valley, Somaliland, on the Zambezi, in Cape Colony and the northern

portions of the Congo Free State, as well as in Algeria and Tunisia; but

the localities are far too few and too widely separated to warrant the

inference that they are to be in any way connected. Moreover, where stone

implements are found they are, as a rule, very near, even actually on, the

surface of the earth; nothing occurs resembling the regular stratification

of Europe, and consequently no argument based on geological grounds is

possible.

The lower Nile valley, however, forms an exception; flint implements of a

palaeolithic type have been found near Thebes. not only on the surface of

the ground, which for several thousand years has been desert owing to the

contraction of the river-bed, but also in stratified gravel of an older

date. References to a number of papers bearing on the discussion to which

then discovery has given rise may be found in an article by Mr H. R. Hall

in Man, 1905, No. 19. The Egyptian and also the Somali land finds appear to

be true palaeoliths in type and remarkably similar to those found in

Europe. But evidence bearing on the Stone age in Africa, if the latter

existed apart from the localities mentioned, is so slight that little can

be said save that from the available evidence the palaeoliths of the Nile

valley alone can with any degree of certainty be assigned to a remote

period of antiquity, and that the chips scattered over Mashonaland and the

regions occupied within historic times by Bushmen are the most recent;

since it has been shown that the stone flakes were used by the medieval

Makalanga to engrave their hard pottery and the Bushmen were still using

stone implements in the 19th century. Other early remains, but of equally

uncertain date, are the stone circles of Algeria, the Cross river and the

Gambia. The large system of ruined forts and ``cities'' in Mashonaland, at

Zimbabwe and elsewhere, concerning which so many ingenious theories have

been woven, have been proved to date from medieval times.

Origin and spread of the racial stocks.

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