ABSTRACT
European knowledge of African geography had made great strides. For several periods during the years when Britain could have picked up a large African empire if she had chosen, she was ruled by Liberal Governments under the influence of Gladstone. The Liberals disapproved of interfering in the affairs of other countries and thought that Africans should be left free to manage their own affairs; on the other hand, they believed strongly that unrestricted trade would be the best way of putting down the slave trade and slavery. Curiously enough, it was Britain that took the first step forward in the scramble for Africa; and moreover, it was a Liberal Government under Gladstone that took it. In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt. The British and the French might have done better to cooperate with Arabi Pasha, even though he was the leader of a nationalist rebellion against the Turkish Khedive.
