Africa

was put together and launched. On the 1st of May 1898 Marchand started on

the final stage of his journey, and reached Fashoda on the 10th of July,

having established a chain of posts en route. At Fashoda the French flag

was at once raised, and a ``treaty'' made with the local chief. Meanwhile

other expeditions had been concentrating on

The French at Fashoda.

Fashoda—a mud-flat situated in a swamp, round which for many months raged

the angry passions of two great peoples. French expeditions, with a certain

amount of assistance from the emperor Menelek of Abyssinia, had been

striving to reach the Nile from the east, so as to join hands with Marchand

and complete the line of posts into the Abyssinian frontier. In this,

however, they were unsuccessful. No better success attended the expedition

under Colonel (afterwards Sir) Ronald Macdonald, R.E., sent by the British

government from Uganda to anticipate the French in the occupation of the

upper Nile. It was from the north that claimants arrived to dispute with

the French their right to Fashoda, and all that the occupation of that

dismal post implied. In 1896 an Anglo-Egyptian army, under the direction of

Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener, had begun to advance southwards

for the reconquest of the Egyptian Sudan. On the 2nd of September 1898

Khartum was captured, and the khalifa's army dispersed. It was then that

news reached the Anglo-Egyptian commander, from native sources, that there

were white men flying a strange flag at Fashoda. The sirdar at once

proceeded in a steamer up the Nile, and courteously but firmly requested

Captain Marchand to remove the French flag. On his refusal the Egyptian

flag was raised close to the French flag, and the dispute was referred to

Europe for adjustment between the British and French governments. A

critical situation ensued. Neither government was inclined to give way, and

for a time war seemed imminent. Happily Lord Salisbury was able to

announce, on the 4th of November, that France was willing to recognize the

British claims, and the incident was finally closed on the 21st of March

1899, when an Anglo-French declaration was signed, by the terms of which

France withdrew from the Nile valley and accepted a boundary line which

satisfied her earlier ambition by uniting the whole of her territories in

North, West and Central Africa into a homogeneous whole, while effectually

preventing the realization of her dream of a transcontinental empire from

west to east. By this declaration it was agreed that the dividing line

between the British and French spheres, north of the Congo Free State,

should follow the Congo-Nile water-parting up to its intersection with the

11th parallel of north latitude, from which point it was to be ``drawn as

far as the 15th parallel in such a manner as to separate in principle the

kingdom of Wadai from what constituted in 1882 the province of Darfur,''

but in no case was it to be drawn west of the 21st degree of east

longitude, or east of the 23rd degree. From the 15th parallel the line was

continued north and north-west to the intersection of the Tropic of Cancer

with 16 deg. E. French influence was to prevail west of this line, British

influence to the east. Wadai was thus definitely assigned to France.

When, by the declaration of the 21st of March 1899, France renounced all

territorial ambitions in the upper Nile basin, King

Fate of the Bar-el-Ghazal.

Leopold revived his claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province under the terms

of the lease granted by Article 2 of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894.

This step he was encouraged to take by the assertion of Lord Salisbury, in

his capacity as secretary of state for foreign affairs during the

negotiations with France concerning Fashoda, that the lease to King Leopold

was still in full force. But the assertion was made simply as a declaration

of British right to dispose of the territory, and the sovereign of the

Congo State found that there was no disposition in Great Britain to allow

the Bahr-el-Ghazal to fall into his hands. Long and fruitless negotiations

ensued. The king at length (1904) sought to force a settlement by sending

armed forces into the province. Diplomatic representations having failed to

secure the withdrawal of these forces, the Sudan government issued a

proclamation which had the effect of cutting off the Congo stations from

communication with the Nile, and finally King Leopold consented to an

agreement, signed in London on the 9th of May 1906, whereby the 1894 lease

was formally annulled. The Bahr-el-Ghazal thenceforth became undisputedly

an integral part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. King Leopold had, however, by

virtue of the 1894 agreement administered the comparatively small portion

of the leased area in which his presence was not resented by France. This

territory, including part of the west bank of the Nile and known as the

Lado Enclave, the 1906 agreement allowed King Leopold to ``continue during

his reign to occupy.'' Provision was made that within six months of the

termination of His Majesty's reign the enclave should be handed over to the

Sudan government (see CONGO FREE STATE.) In this manner ended the long

struggle for supremacy on the upper Nile, Great Britain securing the

withdrawal of all European rivals.

The course of events in the southern half of the continent may now be

traced. By the convention of the 14th of February

Portugal's trans-African schemes.

1885, in which Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the Congo Free State,

and by a further convention concluded with France in 1886, Portugal secured

recognition of her claim to the territory known as the Kabinda enclave,

lying north of the Congo, but not to the northern bank of the river. By the

same convention of 1885 Portugal's claim to the southern bank of the river

as far as Noki (the limit of navigation from the sea) had been admitted.

Thus Portuguese possessions on the west coast extended from the Congo to

the mouth of the Kunene river. In the interior the boundary with the Free

State was settled as far as the Kwango river, but disputes arose as to the

right to the country of Lunda, otherwise known as the territory of the

Muato Yanvo. On the 25th of May 1891 a treaty was signed at Lisbon, by

which this large territory was divided between Portugal and the Free State.

The interior limits of the Portuguese possessions in Africa south of the

equator gave rise, however, to much more serious discussions than were

involved in the dispute as to the Muato Yanvo's kingdom. Portugal, as has

been stated, claimed all the territories between Angola and Mozambique, and

she succeeded in inducing both France and Germany, in 1886, to recognize

the king of Portugal's ``right to exercise his sovereign and civilizing

influence in the territories which separate the Portuguese possessions or

Angola and Mozambique.'' The publication of the treaties containing this

declaration, together with a map showing Portuguese claims extending over

the whole of the Zambezi valley, and over Matabeleland to the south and the

greater part of Lake Nyasa to the north, immediately provoked a formal

protest from the British government. On the 13th of August 1887 the British

charge d'affaires at Lisbon transmitted to the Portuguese minister for

foreign affairs a memorandum from Lord Salisbury, in which the latter

formally protested ``against any claims not founded on occupation,'' and

contended that the doctrine of effective occupation had been admitted in

principle by all the parties to the Act of Berlin. Lord Salisbury further

stated that ``Her Majesty's government cannot recognize Portuguese

sovereignty in territory not occupied by her in sufficient strength to

enable her to maintain order, protect foreigners and control the natives.''

To this Portugal replied that the doctrine of effective occupation was

expressly confined by the Berlin Act to the African coast, but at the same

time expeditions were hastily despatched up the Zambezi and some of its

tributaries to discover traces of former Portuguese occupation.

Matabeleland and the districts of Lake Nyasa werespecially mentioned in the

British protest as countries in which Her Majesty's government took a

special interest. As a matter of fact the extension of British influence

northwards to the Zambezi had engaged the attention of the British

authorities ever since the appearance of Germany in South-West Africa and

the declaration of a British protectorate over Bechuanaland. There were

rumours of German activity in Matabeleland, and

Rhodesia secured for Great Britain.

of a Boer trek north of the Limpopo. Hunters and explorers had reported in

eulogistic terms on the rich goldfields and healthy plateau lands of

Matabeleland and Mashonaland, over both of which countries a powerful

chief, Lobengula, claimed authority. There were many suitors for

Lobengula's favours; but on the 11th of February 1888 he signed a treaty

with J. S. Moffat, the assistant commissioner in Bechuanaland, the effect

of which was to place all his territory under British protection. Both the

Portuguese and the Transvaal Boers were chagrined at this extension of

British influence. A number of Boers attempted unsuccessfully to trek into

the country, and Portugal opposed her ancient claims to the new treaty. She

contended that Lobengula's authority did not extend over Mashonaland, which

she claimed as part of the Portuguese province of Sofala.

Meanwhile preparations were being actively made by British capitalists

for the exploitation of the mineral and other resources of Lobengula's

territories. Two rival syndicates obtained, or claimed to have obtained,

concessions from Lobengula; but in the summer of 1889 Cecil Rhodes

succeeded in amalgamating the conflicting interests, and on the 29th of

October of that year the British government granted a charter to the

British South Africa Company (see RHODESIA.) The first article of the

charter declared that ``the principal field of the operations'' of the

company ``shall be the region of South Africa lying immediately to the

north of British Bechuanaland, and to the north and west of the South

African Republic, and to the west of the Portuguese dominions.'' No time

was lost in making preparations for effective occupation. On the advice of

F. C. Selous it was determined to despatch an expedition to eastern

Mashonaland by a new route, which would avoid the Matabele country. This

plan was carried out in the summer of 1890, and, thanks to the rapidity

with which the column moved and Selous's intimate knowledge of the country,

the British flag was, on the 11th of September, hoisted at a spot on the

Makubusi river, where the town of Salisbury now stands, and the country

taken possession of in the name of Queen Victoria. Disputes with the

Portuguese ensued, and there were several frontier incidents which for a

time embittered the relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, north of the Zambezi, the Portuguese were making desperate but

futile attempts to repair the neglect

Anglo-Portuguese disputes in Central Africa.

of centuries by hastily organized expeditions and the hoisting of flags. In

1888 an attempt to close the Zambezi to British vessels was frustrated by

the firmness of Lord Salisbury. In a despatch to the British minister at

Lisbon, dated the 25th of June 1888, Lord Salisbury, after brushing aside

the Portuguese claims founded on doubtful discoveries three centuries old,

stated the British case in a few sentences:—

It is (he wrote) an undisputed point that the recent discoveries of the

English traveller, Livingstone, were followed by organized attempts on the

part of English religious and commercial bodies to open up and civilize the

districts surrounding and adjoining the lake. Many British settlements have

been established, the access to which from the sea is by the rivers Zambezi

and Shire. Her Majesty's government and the British public are much

interested in the welfare of these settlements. Portugal does not occupy,

and has never occupied, any portion of the lake, nor of the Shire; she has

neither authority nor influence beyond the confluence of the Shire and

Zambezi, where her interior custom-house, now withdrawn, was placed by the

terms of the Mozambique Tariff of 1877.

In 1889 it became known to the British government that a considerable

Portuguese expedition was being organized under the command of Major Serpa

Pinto, for operating in the Zambezi region. In answer to inquiries

addressed to the Portuguese government, the foreign minister stated that

the object of the expedition was to visit the Portuguese settlements on the

upper Zambezi. The British government was, even so late as 1889, averse

from declaring a formal protectorate over the Nyasa region; but early in

that year H. H. (afterwards Sir Harry) Johnston was sent out to Mozambique

as British consul, with instructions to travel in the interior and report

on the troubles that had arisen with the Arabs on Lake Nyasa and with the

Portuguese. The discovery by D. J. Rankin in 1889 of a navigable mouth of

the Zambezi—the Chinde—and the offer by Cecil Rhodes of a subsidy of L.

10,000 a year from the British South Africa Company, removed some of the

objections to a protectorate entertained by the British government; but

Johnston's instructions were not to proclaim a protectorate unless

circumstances compelled him to take that course. To his surprise Johnston

learnt on his arrival at the Zambezi that Major Serpa Pinto's expedition

had been suddenly deflected to the north. Hurrying forward, Johnston

overtook the Portuguese expedition and warned its leader that any attempt

to establish political influence north of the Ruo river would compel him to

take steps to protect British interests. On arrival at the Ruo, Major Serpa

Pinto returned to Mozambique for instructions, and in his absence

Lieutenant Coutinho crossed the river, attacked the Makololo chiefs and

sought to obtain possession of the Shire highlands by a coup de main. John

Buchanan, the British vice-consul, lost no time in declaring the country

under British protection, and his action was subsequently confirmed by

Johnston on his return from a treaty-making expedition on Lake Nyasa. On

the news of these events reaching Europe the British government addressed

an ultimatum to Portugal, as the result of which Lieutenant Coutinho's

action was disavowed, and he was ordered to withdraw the Portuguese forces

south of the Ruo. After prolonged negotiations, a convention was signed

between Great Britain and Portugal on the 20th of August 1890, by which

Great Britain obtained a broad belt of territory north of the Zambezi,

stretching from Lake Nyasa on the east, the southern end of Tanganyika on

the north, and the Kabompo tributary of the Zambezi on the west; while

south of the Zambezi Portugal retained the right bank of the river from a

point ten miles above Zumbo, and the western boundary of her territory

south of the river was made to coincide roughly with the 33rd degree of

east longitude. The publication of the convention aroused deep resentment

in Portugal, and the government, unable to obtain its ratification by the

chamber of deputies, resigned. In October the abandonment of the convention

was accepted by the new Portuguese ministry as a fait accompli; but on the

14th of November the two governments signed an agreement for a modus

vivendi, by which they engaged to recognize the territorial limits

indicated in the convention of 20th August ``in so far that from the date

of the present agreement

British and Portuguese spheres defined.

to the termination thereof neither Power will make treaties, accept

protectorates, nor exercise any act of sovereignty within the spheres of

influence assigned to the other party by the said convention.'' The

breathing-space thus gained enabled feeling in Portugal to cool down, and

on the 11th of June 1891 another treaty was signed, the ratifications being

exchanged on the 3rd of July, As already stated, this is the main treaty

defining the British and Portuguese spheres both south and north of the

Zambezi. It contained many other provisions relating to trade and

navigation, providing, inter alia, a maximum transit duty of 3% on imports

and exports crossing Portuguese territories on the east coast to the

British sphere, freedom of navigation of the Zambezi and Shire for the

ships of all nations, and stipulations as to the making of railways, roads

and telegraphs. The territorial readjustment effected was slightly more

favourable to Portugal than that agreed upon by the 1890 convention.

Portugal was given both banks of the Zambezi to a point ten miles west of

Zumbo—the farthest settlement of the Portuguese on the river. South of the

Zambezi the frontier takes a south and then an east course till it reaches

the edge of the continental plateau, thence running, roughly, along the

line of 33 deg. E. southward to the north-eastern frontier of the

Transvaal. Thus by this treaty Portugal was left in the possession of the

coast-lands, while Great Britain maintained her right to Matabele and

Mashona lands. The boundary between the Portuguese sphere of influence on

the west coast and the British sphere of influence north of the Zambezi was

only vaguely indicated; but it was to be drawn in such a manner as to leave

the Barotse country within the British sphere, Lewanika, the paramount

chief of the Marotse, claiming that his territory extended much farther to

the west than was admitted by the Portuguese. In August 1903 the question

what were the limits of the Barotse kingdom was referred to the arbitration

of the king of Italy. By his award, delivered in June 1905, the western

limit of the British sphere runs from the northern frontier of German South-

West Africa up the Kwando river to 22 deg. E., follows that meridian north

to 13 deg. S., then runs due east to 24 deg. E., and then north again to

the frontier of the Congo State.

Before the conclusion of the treaty of June 1891 with Portugal, the

British government had made certain arrangements for the administration of

the large area north of the Zambezi reserved to British influence. On the

1st of February Sir Harry Johnston was appointed imperial commissioner in

Nyasaland, and a fortnight later the British South Africa Company intimated

a desire to extend its operations north of the Zambezi. Negotiations

followed, and the field of operations of the Chartered Company was, on the

2nd of April 1891, extended so as to cover (with the exception of

Nyasaland) the whole of the British sphere of influence north of the

Zambezi (now known as Northern Rhodesia). On the 14th of May a formal

protectorate was declared over Nyasaland, including the Shire highlands and

a belt of territory extending along the whole of the western shore of Lake

Nyasa. The name was changed in 1893 to that of the British Central Africa

Protectorate, for which designation was substituted in 1907 the more

appropriate title of Nyasaland Protectorate.

At the date of the assembling of the Berlin conference the German

government had notified that the coast-line on the

Germany's share of South Africa.

south-west of the continent, from the Orange river to Cape Frio, had been

placed under German protection. On the 13th of April 1885 the German South-

West Africa Company was constituted under an order of the imperial cabinet

with the rights of state sovereignty, including mining royalties and

rights, and a railway and telegraph monopoly. In that and the following

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