Africa and its inhabitants . alley. The Arabs above aU othershad benefited by the European discoveries in the Upper Congo basin, where theircaravans for a time penetrated into the vast region lying between the Niloticlakes and the Lo-Mami river. But their trading stations scattered over thecountry dealt not only in ivory and other local produce, but also and chiefly mslaves. Taking advantage of, and even fomenting the petty wars, thoyprocured the captives on easy distributing them as so much merchandisethroughout the markets of the interior and even on the seaboard. But tho
Africa and its inhabitants . alley. The Arabs above aU othershad benefited by the European discoveries in the Upper Congo basin, where theircaravans for a time penetrated into the vast region lying between the Niloticlakes and the Lo-Mami river. But their trading stations scattered over thecountry dealt not only in ivory and other local produce, but also and chiefly mslaves. Taking advantage of, and even fomenting the petty wars, thoyprocured the captives on easy distributing them as so much merchandisethroughout the markets of the interior and even on the seaboard. But thoyreserved the young men, arming them with rifles, and thus mainfainmg bands ofcombatants irresistible to the surrounding populations, and luck-ing aU poUtical coherence. Hence the great material advanUgos enjoyed by theArabs over their European rivals, who were compeUed to deal with freemen and to AFRICA II. H 9 442 WEST AFRICA. pay dearly for the transport of goods. Under these circumstances the Arabs o I bX). Jliiiiililittiiiliiiltill»^^^^^^^^^ ?^: had constituted in the Upper Congo regions a new empire, some hundred THE CONGO FREE STATE. 443 thousand square miles in extent, which was able to hold its ground for severalyears against the forces of the Congo Free State. But, possessing no seaport onthe Indian Ocean, they could not possibly maintain their footing in the countryafter their ivory trade with Bombay was permanently interrupted. The Congo Free State. The committee established iinder the presidency of the King of the Belgiansafter Stanleys expedition of 1878, for the purpose of studying the relations in the Fig. 220.—Zone Open to Feee Teade in thb Conoo Basin. Scale 1 ; 30,000,000.
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Keywords: ., bookauthor, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology
