Population of Africa.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 42, 1 January 1880, Page 4

Population of Africa.

We cannot hope for many years yet to have anything like accurate statistics on the population of Africa. Several regions, the population of which is certainly great, wi'l probably long escape anything like a thorough examination. There are, for example, in the regions of the Great Lakes, countries quite as thickly peopled as many of the States of Europe. Stanley tells us of countries of relatively small extent, and which yet ’possess millions of inhabitants. When we shall have su - ceeded in making an approximate census of all the populations, we shall probably reach a figure considerably higher than the present estimate. Some authorities accord to Africa not more than one hundred millions of inhabitants ; others less still. German geographers suppose that Africa contains somewhat more than 200 millions of inhabitants; the latest English publications estimate the population at one hundred and eighty-six millions, which for an area of 11 i million square miles gives an average of 16 inhabitants per square mile, or a specific population 11£ rimes less than iliafc, qf. ~ France. Africa, which has 57 tiraesj. the" hrea of France, has probably scarcelymore than eight times the population. The suppression of the slave trade, and the influence of European civilsation, may lead to an increase of population, very rapid and very great. It should be observed that the approximate figure of the specific population, appliedto the whole of the African continent, wilhiot give a just idea of the compact character of the population of the interior. According to Behna the negro regions are by far the most populous parts of the continent. If the populations are sparse in the desert parts, they arc very dense in other regions. Thus, in the Soudan, the population is estimated at 80 millions, or about 53 per square mile ; the town of Bida, on the Niger, lias a population of 80,000 inhabitants. The population of East Africa is estimated at about 30 millions, and that of Equatorial Africa at 40 millions. One of the latest authorities divides the population of Africa as follows among the great families into which ethnologists have divided the peoples; Negroes, 130,000,000; Hamites, 20,000,000 > Saptus, 13,000,000; Fulahs, 8,000,000; Nubians, J,500,000 ; Hottentots, 50,000. This would give a total population of 172,550,000. These figures fti'# of course only approximate, and may hff mueh modified by new and more precise information, The Bantus, for example, Byho, according to F. M. Muller, form-fit least one quarter of the population of Africa, might be found to number 50 millions. These data ws take fpom a paper by M. A. Rabaud, in the “ Bulletin of the Marseilles Geographical Society. _____________