Identifier: modernhistoryeur00west (find matches)
Title: Modern history; Europe
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: West, Willis Mason, 1857- (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Allyn and Bacon
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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Belgium was declared to be merely personal; but in his will (1889)Leopold made Belgium heir to his rights of sovereignty in the new state. Belgium has also advanced money for internal improvements; and in return, by treaty with the Congo State,has acquired the right fully to annex the territory, if she chooses to do so. Indeed, the Congo. State to-day is essentially a Belgian colony. The administration is Belgian; and in 1903, of the European population (some twenty-five hundred), about half was Belgian.2 The territory covers about one million square miles, and the natives number some thirty millions. The establishment of the Congo State and the Berlin Conference were followed by the raising of the German flag in 1 This was the first European Congress at which the United States was represented. 2 In 1903 it came to light that the Belgian officials, in their efforts to secure large amounts of ivory, were treating the natives with horrible cruelty. The subject is suitable for a special report.
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§587) EXPANSION OF EUROPE INTO AFRICA. 609 Africa (§ 484); and then began a wild scramble for territory,which at the end of six years (1891) left all the continent European, except Abyssinia, Tripoli, and Liberia.1 The possessions of Italy and Spain, however, are little in ore. than foot-holds and are not likely to be materially extended, while the Portuguese territories are not new acquisitions, but the remains of a fading empire. The three leading European Powers in Africa, and the only ones that need to be considered seriously, are England, France, and Germany. Of these, England is far in the lead. Aside from small territories at other parts on the coast, her sway extends over the whole Nile valley, the richest part of the continent, and over extensive territories in the south. Her ambition has been to unite her possessions north and south; but the Congo state and German East Africa were thrust between too soon. However, in the near future, an English railway (through the neutral Congo Stat

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