The partition of Africa was designed for the expansion of European markets. The population of Africa is about one hundred and seventy million, and the continent is practically without manufacturing enterprises. The people, therefore, must be supplied with clothing and other commodities. In 1900 the total trade of Africa with the rest of the world was about one and one-third billion dollars, of which the United States had a little more than two per cent., mainly cotton cloth and coal-oil. =Egypt.=--The Egypt of the maps is a region of indefinite extent so far as its western and southern boundaries are concerned; the Egypt of history is the flood plain of the Nile. From the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo the cultivable area is not far from one hundred miles in width; from Cairo to Khartum it varies from three to seven or eight miles wide. [Illustration: AFRICA] The food-producing power of Egypt depends on the Nile. In lower Egypt a considerable area is made productive at the ordinary stage of water by means of irrigating canals, but in upper Egypt the crops must depend upon the annual flood of the river, which occurs from June until September. During this period the river varies from twenty-five to forty feet above the low-water mark. In the irrigated regions three crops a year may be produced; in the flooded lands only one is grown. In order to add to the cultivable area two great engineering works have been constructed. A barrage and lock control the flow of water at Assiut; a huge dam at Assuan impounds the surplus of the flood season. These structures, it is thought, will increase the productive power of the country about one-fourth. Rice, maize (an Egyptian variety), sugar, wheat, and beans are the staple crops. Rice is the food of the native people, but the crop is insufficient, and the deficit must be imported. The wheat, maize, and beans are grown for export to Europe, the last named being extensively used for horse-fodder. The sugar-growing industry is protected by the heavy yield and the cheap fellahin labor. The raw sugar is sent to the refineries along the Mediterranean. Onions are exported to the United States. The cotton-crop is an important factor, and in spite of its own crop the United States is a heavy purchaser of the long-staple Egyptian cotton, which is used in the manufacture of thread and hosiery. The cultivation of tobacco is forbidden by law, but Egyptian cigarettes are an item of considerable importance. They are made of imported Turkish tobacco by foreign workmen. There is a heavy export duty on native tobacco exported, and the ban on the inferior native-grown article is intended to prevent its admixture with the high-grade product from Turkey, and thereby to keep up the standard of the cigarettes.