Inside Africa

When I picked this up off my shelf, finally mentally prepared to tackle it, I imagined it to be a book of around 500 pages, judging by the spine thickness. The gossamer thin pages however make this a book of almost 960 pages! As such, this has taken a while to get through, with some diversions into other books. Published in 1955 it captures much of Africa in a transition from colonial rule to independence (for better or worse - both are demonstrated), and a glance at the various maps show how very different the borders and collections of countries were administered from today.

Gunther has written a load of books, including a number of the Inside... series, Inside Africa appears to be the largest, as one might expect when it comes to summarising this continent of variation. From the Sahara in the north, the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Central Africa, the Ethiopian highlands and other mountain ranges, the various rivers and lakes and the savanna of east and southern Africa. And that is just the geography.

I am paraphrasing, but near the start Gunther says this is not a book about his travels in Africa, but a description of the contemporary history and politics of Africa. There is however a lot of his travel through the many countries, and for me these were some of the most interesting parts! With an undertaking such as this book it can't be a literal snapshot in time. As I understand it Gunther visited all the places he writes about - so it can't be a magical summary as at 1954 (published 1955) - it is the culmination of information gathering and trips to Africa in 1926, 1929, 1936 and 1943, then he spend 1952-53. He says of the 44 countries or political sub-divisions of the time he visited ‘most, including all those important', which is good enough for me. It is simplistic to say that in Africa there is always something afoot - but there are defiantly some interesting things happening at the time this book was published.

I started out writing a few notes about each country - they are below in a spoiler, as they quickly got out of hand, and I know my reviews are often painfully long under normal circumstances, without this effort!

Rather than a few sentences bout each, I will paraphrase what Gunther says about each of the colonial powers in place in Africa at the time of writing:
France - French policy is based on assimilation, ie in the long run to make Africans Frenchmen.
Britain - British objective is to train the Africans for complete self-government, within the Commonwealth.
Belgium - Which means the Belgian Congo -Gunther says the essence of the Belgian system is to buy off discontent by giving economic opportunity. There seems to be a disconnect with the Belgians in this book - Gunther seems overwhelmingly positive in spite of the horrendous treatment dished out to the locals.
Portugal - Portuguese policy seems to consist of keeping them from any modern advancements, and retaining slave labour.
Spain - (Spanish Morocco, Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara), Spanish Guinea (Equatorial Guinea).) Spanish Morocco is the only of the three which gets more than a few sentences. Spanish Morocco is heavily militarised, and doesn't really get a short summary from Gunther.

While Gunther does go off on various tangents, hr does provide some basics for each - size relative to other countries and/or states of USA, the population (incl a split between Europeans and natives) and a description of the system of rule.

I found this a far more interesting read than I had perhaps expected. It did need some skimming when the politics got too dull, and the interviews too long. It certainly helped backfill some colonial history I was a bit vague on, and some parts were fascinating.

4 stars

Commencing in Northern Africa, Gunter spends a lot of time explaining Morocco. At this time, Morocco consisted of the main body of land Morocco administered by the French; Spanish Morocco; the Tangier International Zone. Then moves on to French controlled Algeria, and Tunisia.Libya had been relieved of Italian control in WWII, and became a kingdom in 1951. Egypt in 1952 declared itself a republic, freeing itself from British control of the Suez Canal, and the Naguib/Nasser period had commenced. Sudan was experiencing finding its own way after Britain and Egypt stepped back from their joint sovereignty, and was declared an independent state.Ethiopia is next on the list, where Haile Selassie is described with the least respect I have seen - referred to as dainty and 'exceptionally short'; although the author was granted an audience. He does a reasonable job of describing the emperor's rule over the recent period. Eritrea and the Somalia's (French, British and actual) get a brief description, focussed mostly on the 'secret' American military base in Eritrea (comms & weather).Kenya, described a 'trilemma' of the white Europeans, the Indians and the Africans. This section goes deep into British governance, then the Mau-Mau, and covers off Zanzibar and relationship between the Sultan and the British Resident. Tanganyika, starting with Kilimanjaro and Uganda make up the section on British East Africa - Tanganyika being a UN trust territory administered by the British, Uganda a protectorate. There is plenty here about the famous lakes, the tribes and the political relationships.The long section on South Africa is bogged down in politics and race, and individual biographies of prominent people, and for 30 or so pages my attention waned. A chapter on gold and diamonds completed the South Africa section with more vigour, and then a short chapter on 'German' South-West Africa, which is now Namibia. Basutoland, at the time a High Commission Territory and British protectorate, now Lesotho which concentrated mostly on ritual murders. Swaziland gets a brief review then Bechuanaland, now Botswana.Briefly Portuguese Africa is next, comprising Mozambique and Angola. Then the island of Madagascar, and onto Rhodesia (North (now Zambia) & South (now Zimbabwe)) and Nyasaland, (now Malawi), which together made the Central African Federation, which was formed when the author visited. It would last about another 5 years as a federation. Much effort in these chapters was spent on history and politics. São Tomé and Príncipe gets a passing mention.The Belgian Congo was next - a horrendous history under Leopold but orchestrated to look like a success. The chapters here did only a limited amount to expose this, but I would suggest King Leopold's Ghostby Adam Hochschild for far better exposure.The Belgian Congo also had about another 5 years before independence was achieved for Congo and Congo Crisis began, followed by more torrid ruling as the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, then back to Congo DR. Tacked on the end of the Belgian Congo section was a short explanation of the Forest People - or Pygmies, and a small section on Ruanda-Urundi (now Rwanda and Burundi.French Equatorial Africa is next. This territory comprised the current countries of Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Gabon, and operated from 1910 to 1958, so was nearing its conclusion when Gunther visited. French Cameroon (now Cameroon) while not a part of French Equatorial Africa is next. The majority of this section is dominated by a lengthy interview with Albert Schweitzer - theologian, philosopher, missionary and physician (retired and aged 77 at the time) - who I admittedly have never heard of and was skimming over quickly. Fernando Po gets a page too.British West Africa, comprising Nigeria, the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Sierra Leone and the Gambia - for the largest time the Slave Coast and the White Man's Grave (more specifically Sierra Leone). There is a good explanation of the Malaria which devastated the Europeans who visited here. Sierra Leone, like Liberia was set up as a haven for freed slaves, but British instead of American. The Gambia is a strange little piece of land, sleeved around the Gambia River. Nigeria gets a long mention - held up as the most advanced and successful British protectorate, already partly self-ruled and moving towards full independence by 1960. Ghana gets an indulgent interview with the (black) Prime Minister, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, then a quick side trip to Togoland - British Togoland, which was joined to Gold Coast and is now part of Ghana, and French Togoland - now Togo.Liberia is next, with corruption, the story of Firestone, and Mr Tubman the topics on show here.French West Africa rounds out Mr Gunther's journey. FWA is made up of Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Haute Volta (French Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. There is only a page on each, and a few pages on FWA, almost as if the author had run out of steam - although I can see how that might be.