ABSTRACT
In Chapter II. of this part of my book we entered upon a detailed investigation of the policy of European States and the effects of that policy in various geographical divisions of Africa. We have now accomplished at least a portion of this task in two divisions, Mediterranean and East Africa. I must confess that, when I started upon Part II., I had the intention of making the investigation complete, and of writing a complete history of policy, during the years 1880-1914, in the whole of the Continent. But it soon became clear that this would require not one, but three or four volumes. Such a history of imperialism in Africa would, I believe, be of some value; but for the purposes which I explained in Part I. the data already obtained are probably sufficient. I do not propose therefore to pursue the investigation into the divisions of South Africa and West Africa. It is true that conditions determining policy in those divisions have in some important respects differed from those which determined policy in the north and the east; but the differences are not vital; they would not invalidate conclusions drawn from the policy of the four Great Powers, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy, all of which we have been able to study in Mediterranean, Ethiopian, and Eastern Africa.
