The Congo Free State, with an area of 800,000 square miles and a population of 24,000,000, was constituted in 1885, and its status defined by the International Conference held at Berlin. It was declared neutral and free to the trade of all nations, and has been recognized by all the leading countries of the world. The state was placed under the immediate sovereignty of the King of the Belgians, and is governed by an Administrator-General, who resides at Boma, the capital.

Eastern Equatorial Africa is controlled by Germany and England, under the arrangements of the commission appointed by these two nations in 1886. It embraces, including Zanzibar, and the German and English protectorates, a little over 250,000 square miles.

The Portuguese colonies, south of the equator, are named respectively Angola and Mozambique, the former with an area of 115,000 square miles and a population of 1,000,000, the latter with an area of 80,000 square miles and a population of 600,000.

The French colonies, sometimes called Equatorial France, comprise the Gaboon and Ogowe-Congo regions, which, as divided by the Berlin Conference, have an area of 174,000 square miles, with about 1,700,000 inhabitants.

The German colonies, otherwise known as Luderitzland, lie on the southwest coast, and embrace an area of 200,000 square miles, with about 236,000 inhabitants, comprising all the land between the Cunene and Orange rivers, with the exception of Walfish Bay.

Central Africa also includes the territory of Soudan and a number of colonial possessions on the Guinea and Zanzibar coasts. All of these countries are populated almost entirely by negroes.

Liberia, or the Land of Liberty, is a republic, founded as a home for liberated slaves from the United States. The capital, Monrovia, is the principal city, and was named in honor of President Monroe of the United States.

Sierra Leone, meaning the Negro's Paradise, is a British colony, settled largely by negroes liberated from slave-ships.

Ashantee and Dahomey are inhabited by native tribes noted for their cruelty.

Zanzibar includes a long strip of the Atlantic coast, together with a number of islands, inside of which Germany and Great Britain obtained the foothold above referred to, the ostensible object of this move being to prevent the Arabs from carrying on the slave-trade.

All of Central Africa is regarded as an impossible place for the Caucasian race to live for any length of time.