Bok, I.I.: European Successes in the Eastern Half of Africa in Recent Years

Title

Uspekhi evropeitsev v vostochnoi polovine Afriki za poslednie gody, Sankt-Peterburg 1899

European Successes in the Eastern Half of Africa in Recent Years

Keywords

Summary

In the opening lines, the author asserts that Africa has long been the battleground for European powers, who sought to compensate for the limited space of their countries in Europe by securing extensive territories on the African continent. The book offers brief overviews of the history of European colonies and their borders in the late 19^th century. It begins by examining the colonies established by British and Portuguese colonists, analysing them from geopolitical, geographical, and economic perspectives. The author highlights the presence of natural resources in these territories, and underscores their strategic importance in terms of commerce. Part two delves into recent explorations and conquests within Africa (particularly in the lakes area), undertaken by German colonists. Part three dwells on Emin Pasha, also providing brief summaries of journeys undertaken by other explorers from America, France, Italy, and England. Part four delves into the history of Sudan after the fall of the Mahdist state, while part five explores the colonial policies of Italy and France in Africa.

Bio

Ivan Bok (Johan von Bock) was a statistician and geologist, who co-edited the Geographical-Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire (1863-1885) along with Petr Tian-Shanskii, Leonid Maikov and others. He also authored other works devoted to mainly to geology or the social infrastructures of Russia, for instance A Geological Survey, Carried out in the Vyshnevolotsk and Novotorzhsk Counties (1871) and A Few Words on the Question of Supplying the City of Saint Petersburg and its Neighbourhood with Clean and Good Water (1909).

Sources

“Johann Wilhelm (Ivan Ivanovich) von Bock”, in Erik-Amburger-Datenbank Ausländer im vorrevolutionären Russland, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, https://amburger.ios-regensburg.de/index.php?id=5293;

“Bok Ivan Ivanovich”, General’nyi alfavitnyi katalog knig na russkom iazyke (1725-1998), RNB, https://nlr.ru/e-case3/sc2.php/web_gak/lc/10697/1.

A.F., M.E.