The Dark Continent - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 355

S UDAN
“Bordering Egypt in the south is the Sudan, a territory that forms part of the British protect-
orate. It is 1898 and the Sudan is in turmoil and rebellion. Led by a holy man, The Mahdhi,
it makes war on the British. And Britain reacts swiftly. It sends gunboats on the Nile; its
soldiers equipped with rifles and Gatling Guns, forerunner of the machine gun. Battles are
fierce. Hundreds of British solders die; thousands of the Mahdi's followers do as well. The
British have formed in hollow squares; the Mahdi's men swarm forward.
“And two remarkable men are part of the British forces: Charles 'Chinese' Gordon
and Winston Churchill. Gordon will die defending the fortress-palace at Khartoum. And
Churchill will charge forward in one of the last cavalry charges against warriors wearing
medieval chain mail.
S OUTH A FRICA
“We came to South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, at the invitation of
shipboard friends. We had heard and read much about its stormy and cruel race rela-
tions—whites dominating and abusing Blacks, Indians, and those of mixed races. And of,
course, its almost saintly leader, the long imprisoned Nelson Mandela, kept for years in
solitary confinement for his demands for Black and White equality. Located at the south-
ernmost tip of Africa, its seas roil with winds and the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans. First ships to land or round the Cape on the way to India were often shipwrecked
or damaged, almost unable to proceed.
“We were warned by our hosts to take care while walking or even driving. Crime,
sometimes violent, abounds. Rape is common and frequent. And as we saw as guests, the
White middle class lives in gated communities enclosed with barbed wire.
“The country was born in war. Among its first settlers were Dutch farmers who named
themselves Boers. When Britain claimed the Cape, the Boers trekked inward to escape hav-
ing their culture and their government controlled by the British. But the discovery of dia-
monds and gold put an end to their isolation. Outsiders from around the world poured in to
'get rich.' And to uphold law and order, the British went to war, called the Boer War. The
British withstood at siege in Natal at a place called Ladysmith and the British public were
aroused in anger. Parliament dispatched more troops to lift the siege. And among the first
to attempt to lift the seige was Winston Churchill, who marched to capture the Boer capital
of Pretoria. The war was fought from 1889 to 1902.
“Winston Churchill wrote a series of dispatches about the war and returned home to
find himself a hero.
B OTSWANA : T HE H APPY C OUNTRY
“I lectured about Botswana aboard a ship of the Holland America Line, whose next port of
call was Botswana. It is a country of two million, one of the world's least populated coun-
tries. Its largest city is Gaborone, its capital. By African standards it is a wealthy country
with a per capita income of more than $16,000, most derived from its diamond mines and
its flourishing herds of cattle.