and Lunda peoples are found stretching nearly across the
continent, the latter, from at any rate the end of the 16th
century until the close of the 19th century, more or less
united under a single ruler, styled Muata Yanvo. These seem
to have been the most recent immigrants from the south-east,
and to exhibit certain affinities with the Barotse on the
upper Zambezi. Among the western Baluba, or Bashilange,
a remarkable politico-religious revolution took place at
a comparatively recent date, initiated by a secret society
termed Bena Riamba or ``Sons of Hemp,'' and resulted in
the subordination of the old fetishism to a cult of hemp, in
accordance with which all hemp-smokers consider themselves
brothers, and the duty of mutual hospitality, &c., is
acknowledged. North of these, in the great bend of the Congo,
are the Balolo, &c., the Balolo a nation of iron-workers;
and westward, on the Kasai, the Bakuba, and a large number
of tribes as yet imperfectly known. Farther west are the
tribes of Angola, many of whom were included within the
old ``Congo empire,'' of which the kingdom of Loango was an
offshoot. North of the latter lies the Gabun, with a large
number of small tribes dominated by the Fang who are recent
arrivals from the Congo. Farther to the north are the Bali
and other tribes of the Cameroon, among whom many primitive
Negroid elements begin to appear. Eastward are the Zandeh
peoples of the Welle district (primitive Negroids with a
Hamitic or, more probably, Libyan strain), with whom the
Dor trine of Nilotes on their eastern border show certain
affinities; while to the west along the coast are the Guinea
Negroes of primitive type. Here, amidst great linguistic
confusion, may be distinguished the tribes of Yoruba speech
in the Niger delta and the east portion of the Slave Coast;
those of Ewe speech, in the western portion of the latter;
and those of Ga and Tshi speech, on the Gold Coast. Among the
last two groups respectively may be mentioned the Dahomi and
Ashanti. Similar tribes are found along the coast to the
Bissagos Islands, though the introduction in Sierra Leone and
Liberia of settlements of repatriated slaves from the American
plantations has in those places modified the original ethnic
distribution. Leaving the forest zone and entering the more
open country there are, on the north from the Niger to the
Nile, a number of Negroids strongly tinged with Libyan blood and
professing the Mahommedan religion. Such are the Mandingo, the
Songhai, the Fula, Hausa, Kanuri, Bagirmi, Kanembu, and the
peoples of Wadai and Darfur; the few aborigines who persist, on
the southern fringe of the Chad basin, are imperfectly known.
Peculiar conditions in Madagascar.
The island of Madagascar, belonging to the African continent,
still remains for discussion. Here the ethnological conditions
are people were the Hova, a Malayo-Indonesian people who
must have come from the Malay Peninsula or the adjacent
islands. The date of their immigration has been line subject
of a good deal of dispute, but it may be argued that their
arrival must have taken place in early times, since Malagasy
speech, which is the language of the island, is principally
Malayo-Polynesian in origin, and contains no traces of
Sanskrit. Such traces, introduced with Hinduism, are
present in all the cultivated languages of Malaysia at
the present day.The Hova occupy the table-land of Imerina
and form the first of the three main groups into which the
population of Madagascar may be divided. They are short, of
an olive-yellow complexion and have straight or faintly wavy
hair. On the east coast are the Malagasy, who in physical
characteristics stand halfway between the Hova and the
Sakalava, the last occupying the remaining portion of the
island and displaying almost pure Negroid characteristics.
Though the Hova belong to a race naturally addicted to
seafaring, the contrary is the case respecting the Negroid
population, and the presence of the latter in the island has
been explained by the supposition that they were imported
by the Hova. Other authorities assign less antiquity
to the Hova immigration and believe that they found
the Negroid tribes already in occupation of the island.
As might be expected, the culture found in Madagascar
contains two elements, Negroid and Malayo-Indonesian.
The first of these two shows certain affinities with the
culture characteristic of the western area of Africa, such as
rectangular huts, clothing of bark and palm-fibre, fetishism,
&c., but cattle-breeding is found as well as agriculture.
However, the Negroid tribes are more and more adopting the
customs and mode of life of the Hova, among whom are found
pile-houses, the sarong, yadi or tabu applied to food, a
non-African form of bellows, &c., all characteristic of their
original home. The Hova, during the 19th century, embraced
Christianity, but retain, nevertheless, many of their old
animistic beliefs; their original social organization in
three classes, andriana or nobles, hova or freemen, and
andevo or slaves, has been modified by the French, who have
abolished kingship and slavery. An Arab infusion is also to be
noticed, especially on the north-east and south-east coasts.
It is impossible to give a complete list of the tribes inhabiting
Africa, owing to the fact that the country is not fully explored.
Even where the names of the tribes are known their ethnic
relations are still a matter of uncertainty in many localities.
The following list, therefore, must be regarded as purely tentative,
and liable to correction in the light of fuller information:-
AFRICAN TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION
LIBYANS
(North Africa, excluding Egypt)
Berbers, including--
Kabyles
Mzab
Shawia
Tuareg
LIBYO-NEGROID TRANSITIONAL
Fula (West Sudan)
Tibbu (Central Sudan)
HAMITES
(East Sudan and Horn of Africa)
Beja, including--
Ababda
Hadendoa
Bisharin
Beni-Amer
Hamran
Galla
Somali
Danakil (Afar)
Ba-Hima, including--
Wa-Tussi
Wa-Hha
Wa-Rundi
Wa-Ruanda
HAMITO-SEMITES
Fellahin (Egypt)
Abyssinians (with Negroid admixture)
HAMITO-NEGROID TRANSITIONAL
Masai
Wa-Kuafi
NEGROID TRIBES
West Sudan Central Sudan Eastern
Tukulor Songhai Fur Kargo
Wolof Hausa Dago Kulfan
Serer Bagirmi Kunjara Kolaji
Leybu Kanembu Tegele Tumali
Mandingo, including-- Kanuri Nuba
Kassonke Tama
Yallonke Maba Zandeh Tribes
Soninke Birkit (Akin to Nilotics, but
Bambara Massalit probably with Fula
Vei Korunga element)
Susu Kabbaga Azandeh (Niam Niam)
Solima &c. Makaraka
Malinke Mundu
Mangbettu
Probably also-- Ababwa
Mossi Mege
Borgu Abisanga
Tombo } Mabode{ probably
Gurma } Momfu { with Pygmy
Gurunga } { element
Dagomba } Probably with Mandingan element Allied are--
Mampursi } Banziri Languassi
Gonja } Ndris Wia-Wia
&c. } Togbo Awaka
&c.
NEGROES
West African Tribes
Tribes of Tshi and Ga Tribes of Yeruba
speech, including--- speech, including--
Khabunke
Balanta Ashanti Yoruba
Bagnori Safwi Ibadan
Bagnum Denkera Ketu
Felup, including-- Bekwai Egba
Ayamat Nkoranza Jebu
Jola Adansi Remo
Jigush Assin Ode
Vaca Wassaw Illorin
Joat Ahanta Ijesa
Karon Fanti Ondo
Banyum Angona Mahin
Banjar Akwapim Bini
Fulum Akim Kakanda
Bayot Akwamu Wari
&c. Kwao Ibo
Bujagos Ga Efik
Biafare Andoni
Landuman Tribes of Ewe speech, Kwa
Nalu including-- Ibibio
Baga Ekoi
Sape Dahomi Inokun
Bulam Eweawo Akunakuim
Mendi Agotine Munshi
Limba Krepi Ikwe
Gallina Avenor
Timni Awuna
Pessi Agbosomi
Gola Aflao
Kondo Ataklu
Bassa Krikor
Kru Geng
Grebo Attaldoami
Awekwom Aja
Agni Ewemi
Oshiu Appa
Central Negroes Eastern Negroes
Bolo Pure Nilotics
Yako Shilluk
Tangala Nuer
Kali Dinka
Mishi Jur (Diur)
Doma Mittu
Mosgu, including-- Jibbeh
Mandara Madi
Margi Lendu
Logon Alur (Lur)
Gamergu Acholi
Keribina Abaka
Kuri Golo
&c.
Nilotics with affinity
Nilotics with Affinity with Masai
with Zandeh tribes Latuka
Dor (Bongo) Bari
NEGRO-BANTU NILOTIC-BANTU
TRANSITIONAL TRANSITIONAL
Bali Ba-Kwiri Ja-Luo
Ba-Kossi Abo
Ba-Ngwa Dualla
Ba-Nyang Bassa PYGMY TRIBES
Ngolo Ba-Noko Central Arica
Ba-Fo Ba-Puko Akka
Ba-Kundu Ba-Koko Ja-Mbute
Isubu Ba-Bongo
Ashango
&c.
BANTU NEGROIDS
Western Central Eastern
Ogowe Luba-Lunda Group Lacustrians
Ashira Ba-Luba, including-- Ba-Nyoro
Ishogo Ba-Songe Ba-Toro
Ashango Wa-Rua Wa-Siba
Bakalai Wa-Guha Wa-Sinja
Nkomi Katanga Wa-Kerewe
Orungu Ba-Shilange (with Wa-Shashi
Mpongwe Ba-Kete element) Wa-Rundi
Oshekiani Ba-Iro
Benga Ba-Lunda Ba-Ganda
Ininga Probably connected Ba-Soga
Galao are-- Ba-Kavirondo,
Apingi Manyema including--
Okanda Ba-Kumu Awaware
Osaka Wa-Regga Awarimi
Aduma Ba-Rotse, including-- Awakisii
Mbamba Ma-Mbunda &c.
Umbete Ma-Supia
Bule Ma-Shukulumbwe
Bane Ba-Tonga Bantu of Recent
Yaunde and probably Immigration
Maka Va-Lovale
Bomone Wa-Kikuyu
Kunabembe Tribes of the Congo Wa-Kamba
Fang (recent immigrants bend Wa-Pokomo
from the Congo group) Ba-Kessu Wa-Duruma
Ba-Tetela Wa-Digo
Ba-Songo Mino Wa-Giriama
Ba-Kuba Wa-Taita
Ba-Kongo, Ba-Lolo Wa-Nyatura
including-- Ba-Kuti Wa-Iramba
Mushi-Kongo Ba-Mbala Wa-Mbugwe
Mussorongo Ba-Huana Wa-Kaguru
Kabinda Ba-Yaka Wa-Gogo { possible
Ka-Kongo Ba-Pindi Wa-Chaga { Masai
Ba-Vili Ba-Kwese { element
Ma-Yumbe &c.
Ba-Lumbo Older Bantu
Ba-Sundi Tribes of the Congo Wa-Nyamwezi,
Ba-Bwende bank including--
Ba-Lali Wa-Genia Wa-Sukuma }Trans-
Ba-Kunya Ba-Soko Wa-Sumbwa }itional
Ba-Poto Wa-Nyanyembe }to
Mobali Wa-Jui }Bantu
Mogwandi Wa-Kimbu }of
Na-Ngala{ Connected Wa-Kanongo }recent
Ba-Bangi{ with Zandeh Wa-Wende }immi-
{ group }gration
Wa-Buma
Ba-Nunu Wa-Gunda
Ba-Loi Wa-Guru
Ba-Teke Wa-Galla
Wa-Pfuru Wa-Sambara
Wa-Mbundu Wa-Seguha
Wa-Mfumu Wa-Nguru
Ba-Nsinik Wa-Sagara
Ma-Wumba Wa-Doe
Ma-Yakalia Wa-Khutu
&c Wa-Sarmo
Wa-Hehe
TRANSITIONAL Wa-Bena
FROM CENTRAL Wa-Sanga
TO SOUTHERN Wa-Swahili (with Arab
BANTU elements)
Amoela Connected are--
Ganguela Wa-Kisi
Kioko Wa-Mpoto }
Minungo Ba-Tonga }
Imbangala Ba-Tumbuka }
Ba-Achinji Wa-Nyika }
Golo Wa-Nyamwanga } Akin to
Hollo A-Mambwe } Luba-
&c. Wa-Fipa } Lunda
Mbunda peoples, Wa-Rungu } group
including-- A-Wemba }
Bihe A-Chewa }
Dembo A-Maravi }
Mbaka Ba-Senga }
Ngola Ba-Bisa }
Bondo A-Jawa (Yaos)
Ba-Ngala Wa-Mwera
Songo Wa-Gindo
Haku Ma-Konde
Lubolo Ma-Wia
Kisama Ma-Nganja
&c. Ma-Kua
SOUTHERN BANTU
(South and South-East Africa)
Ba-Nyai } Ama-Zulu, including--
Ma-Kalanga, } Affinity Ama-Swazi
including } with Ama-Tonga
Mashona } Bechuana Matabele
Ba-Ronga } Angoni
Ba-Chuana, Ma-Gwangwara
including-- Ma-Huhu
Ba-Tlapin Ma-Viti
Ba-Rolong Ma-Situ
Ba-Ratlou Ma-Henge
Ba-Taung &c.
Ba-Rapulana Ama-Xosa, including--
Ba-Seleka Ama-Gcaleka
Ba-Hurutsi Ama-Hahebe
Ba-Tlaru Ama-Ngqika
Ba-Mangwato Ama-Tembu
Ba-Tauana Ama-Pondo
Ba-Ngwaketse &c.
Ba-Kuena Ova-Herero
&c. Ova-Mpo
HAMITO-BANTU BUSHMEN
BUSHMEN
TRANSITIONAL
Hottentots, }
including-- } S. W.
Namaqua } Africa
Koranna }
TRIBES IN MADAGASCAR
MALAYO-INDONESIANS BANTU-NEGROIDS
Hova Sakalava, including--
Betsileo (slight Bantu admixture) Menabe
Milaka
HOVA-BANTU Ronandra
TRANSITIONAL Mahafali
&c.
Malagasy, including--
Bestimisaraka Antanosi
Antambahoaka Antsihanaka
Antaimoro Antanala
Antaifasina Antaisara
Antaisaka &c.
IV. HISTORY
The origin and meaning of the name of the continent are
discussed elsewhere (see AFRICA, ROMAN.) The word Africa
was applied originally to the country in the immediate
neighbourhood of Carthage, that part of the continent
first known to the Romans, and it was subsequently extended
with their increasing knowledge, till it came at last to
include all that they knew of the continent. The Arabs
still confine the name Ifrikia to the territory of Tunisia.
Phoenician and Greek colonization.
The valley of the lower Nile was the home in remotest
antiquity of a civilized race. Egyptian culture had,
however, remarkably little direct influence on the rest of
the continent, a result due in large measure to the fact
that Egypt is shut off landwards by immense deserts. If
ancient Egypt and Ethiopia (q.v.) be excluded, the story
of Africa is largely a record of the doings of its Asiatic
and European conquerors and colonizers, Abyssinia being the
only state which throughout historic times has maintained its
independence. The countries bordering the Mediterranean
were first exploited by the Phoenicians, whose earliest
settlements were made before 1000 B.C. Carthage, founded
about 800 B.C., speedily grew into a city without rival in
the Mediterranean, and the Phoenicians, subduing the Berber
tribes, who then as now formed the bulk of the population,
became masters of all the habitable region of North Africa
west of the Great Syrtis, and found in commerce a source of
immense prosperity. Both Egyptians and Carthaginians made
attempts to reach the unknown parts of the continent by
sea. Herodotus relates that an expedition under Phoenician
navigators, employed by Necho, king of Egypt, c. 600
B.C., circumnavigated Africa from the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean, a voyage stated to have been accomplished in
three years. Apart from the reported circumnavigation of the
continent, the west coast was well known to the Phoenicians
as far as Cape Nun, and c. 520 B.C. Hanno, a Carthaginian,
explored the coast as far, perhaps, as the Bight of Benin,
certainly as far as Sierra Leone. A vague knowledge of
the Niger regions was also possessed by the Phoenicians.
Meantime the first European colonists had planted themselves in
Africa. At the point where the continent approaches nearest
the Greek islands, Greeks founded the city of Cyrene (c. 631
B.C..) Cyrenaica became a flourishing colony, though being
hemmed in on all sides by absolute desert it had little or
no influence on inner Africa. The Greeks, however, exerted
a powerful influence in Egypt. To Alexander the Great the
city of Alexandria owes its foundation (332 B.C.), and
under the Hellenistic dynasty of the Ptolemies attempts were
made to penetrate southward, and in this way was obtained
some knowledge of Abyssinia. Neither Cyrenaica nor Egypt was
a serious rival to the Carthaginians, but all three powers
were eventually supplanted by the Romans. After centuries of
rivalry for supremacy1 the struggle was ended by the fall of
Carthage in 146 B.C. Within little more than a century from
that date Egypt and Cyrene had become incorporated in the Roman
empire. Under Rome the settled portions of the country were
very prosperous, and a Latin strain was introduced into the
land. Though Fezzan was occupied by them, the Romans
elsewhere found the Sahara an impassable barrier. Nubia
and Abyssinia were reached, but an expedition sent by the
emperor Nero to discover the source of the Nile ended in
failure. The utmost extent of geographical knowledge of the
continent is shown in the writings of Ptolemy (2nd century
A.D.), who knew of or guessed the existence of the great
lake reservoirs of the Nile and had heard of the river
Niger. Still Africa for the civilized world remained simply
the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The continual
struggle between Rome and the Berber tribes; the introduction
of Christianity and the glories and sufferings of the
Egyptian and African Churches; the invasion and conquest of
the African provinces by the Vandals in the 5th century; the
passing of the supreme power in the following century to the
Byzantine empire--all these events are told fully elsewhere.
In the 7th century of the Christian era occurred an event
destined to have a permanent influence on the whole continent.
North Africa conquered by the Arabs.
Invading first Egypt, an Arab host, fanatical believers in
the new faith of Mahomet, conquered the whole country from the
Red Sea to the Atlantic and carried the Crescent into Spain.
Throughout North Africa Christianity well-nigh disappeared,
save in Egypt (where the Coptic Church was suffered to exist),
and Upper Nubia and Abyssinia, which were not subdued by the
Moslems. In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries the Arabs in
Africa were numerically weak; they held the countries they had
conquered by the sword only, but in the 11th century there was
a great Arab immigration, resulting in a large absorption of
Berber blood. Even before this the Berbers had very generally
adopted the speech and religion of their conquerors. Arab
influence and the Mahommedan religion thus became indelibly
stamped on northern Africa. Together they spread southward
across the Sahara. They also became firmly established along
the eastern sea-board, where Arabs, Persians and Indians
planted flourishing colonies, such as Mombasa, Malindi and
Sofala, playing a role, maritime and commercial, analogous
to that filled in earlier centuries by the Carthaginians on
the northern sea-board. Of these eastern cities and states
both Europe and the Arabs of North Africa were long ignorant.
The first Arab invaders had recognized the authority of the
caliphs of Bagdad, and the Aghlabite dynasty--founded by Aghlab,
one of Haroun al Raschid's generals, at the close of the 8th
century--ruled as vassals of the caliphate. However, early in
the 10th century the Fatimite dynasty established itself in Egypt,
where Cairo had been founded A.D. 968, and from there ruled
as far west as the Atlantic. Later still arose other dynasties
Appearance of the Turks.
such as the Almoravides and Almohades. Eventually the
Turks, who had conquered Constantinople in 1453, and had
seized Egypt in 1517, established the regencies of Algeria,
Tunisia and Tripoli (between 1519 and 1551), Morocco remaining
an independent Arabized Berber state under the Sharifan
dynasty, which had its beginnings at the end of the 13th
century. Under the earlier dynasties Arabian or Moorish culture
had attained a high degree of excellence, while the spirit
of adventure and the proselytizing zeal of the followers of
Islam led to a considerable extension of the knowledge of the
continent. This was rendered more easy by their use of the
camel (first introduced into Africa by the Persian conquerors
of Egypt), which enabled the Arabs to traverse the desert.
In this way Senegambia and the middle Niger regions fell under
the influence of the Arabs and Berbers, but it was not until
1591 that Timbuktu--a city founded in the 11th century--became
Moslem. That city had been reached in 1352 by the great
Arab traveller Ibn Batuta, to whose journey to Mombasa and
Quiloa (Kilwa) was due the first accurate knowledge of those
flourishing Moslem cities on the east African sea-boards.
Except along this sea-board, which was colonized directly
from Asia, Arab progress southward was stopped by the broad
belt of dense forest which, stretching almost across the
continent somewhat south of 10 deg. N., barred their advance
as effectually as had the Sahara that of their predecessors,
and cut them off from knowledge of the Guinea coast and of
all Africa beyond. One of the regions which came latest
under Arab control was that of Nubia, where a Christian
civilization and state existed up to the 14th century.
For a time the Moslem conquests in South Europe had virtually
made of the Mediterranean an Arab lake, but the expulsion
in the 11th century of the Saracens from Sicily and southern
Italy by the Normans was followed by descents of the conquerors
on Tunisia and Tripoli. Somewhat later a busy trade with
the African coast-lands, and especially with Egypt, was
developed by Venice, Pisa, Genoa and other cities of North
Italy. By the end of the 15th century Spain had completely
thrown off the Moslem yoke, but even while the Moors were still
in Granada, Portugal was strong enough to carry the war into
Africa. In 1415 a Portuguese force captured the citadel of Ceuta
on the Moorish coast. From that time onward Portugal repeatedly
Spain and Portugal invade the Barbary States.
interfered in the affairs of Morocco, while Spain acquired many
ports in Algeria and Tunisia. Portugal, however, suffered a
crushing defeat in 1578 at al Kasr al Kebir, the Moors being
led by Abd el Malek I. of the then recently established Sharifan
dynasty. By that time the Spaniards had lost almost all their
African possessions. The Barbary states, primarily from the
example of the Moors expelled from Spain, degenerated into mere
communities of pirates, and under Turkish influence civilization
and commerce declined. The story of these states from the
beginning of the 16th century to the third decade of the 19th
century is largely made up of piratical exploits on the one
hand and of ineffectual reprisals on the other. In Algiers,
Tunis and other cities were thousands of Christian slaves.
But with the battle of Ceuta Africa had ceased to belong solely
to the Mediterranean world. Among those who fought there was
Discovery of the Guinea coast--Rise of the slave trade.
one. Prince Henry ``the Navigator,'' son of King John
I., who was fired with the ambition to acquire for Portugal
the unknown parts of Africa. Under his inspiration and
direction was begun that series of voyages of exploration
which resulted in the circumnavigation of Africa and the
establishment of Portuguese sovereignty over large areas
of the coast-lands. Cape Bojador was doubled in 1434,
Cape Verde in 1445, and by 1480 the whole Guinea coast was
known. In 1482 Diogo Cam or Cao discovered the mouth of the
Congo, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled by Bartholomew Diaz
in 1488, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama, after having rounded
the Cape, sailed up the east coast, touched at Sofala and
Malindi, and went thence to India. Over all the countries
discovered by their navigators Portugal claimed sovereign
rights, but these were not exercised in the extreme south of the
continent. The Guinea coast, as the first discovered and the
nearest to Europe, was first exploited. Numerous forts and
trading stations were established, the earliest being Sao
Jorge da Mina (Elmina), begun in 1482. The chief commodities
dealt in were slaves, gold, ivory and spices. The discovery
of America (1492) was followed by a great development of
the slave trade, which, before the Portuguese era, had been
an overland trade almost exclusively confined to Mahommedan
Africa. The lucrative nature of this trade and the large
quantities of alluvial gold obtained by the Portuguese drew
other nations to the Guinea coast. English mariners went
thither as early as 1553, and they were followed by Spaniards,
Dutch, French, Danish and other adventurers. Much of Senegambia
was made known as a result of quests during the 16th century
for the ``hills of gold'' in Bambuk and the fabled wealth of
Timbuktu, but the middle Niger was not reached. The supremacy
along the coast passed in the 17th century from Portugal to
Holland and from Holland in the 18th and 19th centuries to
France and England. The whole coast from Senegal to Lagos
was dotted with forts and ``factories'' of rival powers,
and this international patchwork persists though all the
hinterland has become either French or British territory.
Southward from the mouth of the Congo2 to the inhospitable
region of Damaraland, the Portuguese, from 1491 onward, acquired
influence over the Bantu-Negro inhabitants, and in the early
part of the 16th century through their efforts Christianity was
largely adopted in the native kingtom of Congo. An irruption
of cannibals from the interior later in the same century
broke the power of this semi-Christian state, and Portuguese
activity was transferred to a great extent farther south, Sao
Paulo de Loanda being founded in 1576. The sovereignty of
Portugal over this coast region, except for the mouth of the
Congo, has been once only challenged by a European power,
and that was in 1640-1648, when the Dutch held the seaports.
Neglecting the comparatively poor and thinly inhabited regions
of South Africa, the Portuguese no sooner discovered than
they coveted the flourishing cities held by Arabized peoples
between Sofala and Cape Guardafui. By 1520 all these Moslem
The Portuguese in East Africa and Abyssinia.
sultanates had been seized by Portugal, Mozambique being
chosen as the chief city of her East African possessions.
Nor was Portuguese activity confined to the coast-lands. The
lower and middle Zambezi valley was explored (16th and 17th
centuries), and here the Portuguese found semi-civilized
Bantu-Negro tribes, who had been for many years in contact
with the coast Arabs. Strenuous efforts were made to obtain
possession of the country (modern Rhodesia) known to them
as the kingdom or empire of Monomotapa, where gold had been
worked by the natives from about the 12th century A.D.,
and whence the Arabs, whom the Portuguese dispossessed,
were still obtaining supplies in the 16th century. Several
expeditions were despatched inland from 1569 onward and
considerable quantities of gold were obtained. Portugal's
hold on the interior, never very effective, weakened during
the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century ceased
with the abandonment of the forts in the Manica district.
At the period of her greatest power Portugal exercised a strong
influence in Abyssinia also. In the ruler of Abyssinia (to
whose dominions a Portuguese traveller had penetrated before
Vasco da Gama's memorable voyage) the Portuguese imagined they
had found the legendary Christian king, Prester John, and when
the complete overthrow of the native dynasty and the Christian
religion was imminent by the victories of Mahommedan invaders,
the exploits of a band of 400 Portuguese under Christopher da
Gama during 1541-1543 turned the scale in favour of Abyssinia
and had thus an enduring result on the future of North-East
Africa. After da Gama's time Portuguese Jesuits resorted to
Abyssinia. While they failed in their efforts to convert the
Abyssinians to Roman Catholicism they acquired an extensive
knowledge of the country. Pedro Paez in 1615, and, ten years
later, Jeronimo Lobo, both visited the sources of the Blue
Nile. In 1663 the Portuguese, who had outstayed their welcome,
were expelled from the Abyssinian dominions. At this time
Portuguese influence on the Zanzibar coast was waning before
the power of the Arabs of Muscat, and by 1730 no point on
the east coast north of Cape Delgado was held by Portugal.
It has been seen that Portugal took no steps to acquire the
southern part of the continent. To the Portuguese the Cape of
English and Dutch at Table Bay--Cape Colony founded.
Good Hope was simply a landmark on the road to India, and mariners
of other nations who followed in their wake used Table Bay only
as a convenient spot wherein to refit on their voyage to the
East. By the beginning of the 17th century the bay was much
resorted to for this purpose, chiefly by English and Dutch
vessels. In 1620, with the object of forestalling the
Dutch, two officers of the East India Company, on their own
initiative, took possession of Table Bay in the name of King
James, fearing otherwise that English ships would be ``frustrated
of watering but by license.'' Their action was not approved
in London and the proclamation they issued remained without
effect. The Netherlands profited by the apathy of the
English. On the advice of sailors who had been shipwrecked
in Table Bay the Netherlands East India Company, in 1651,
sent out a fleet of three small vessels under Jan van Riebeek
which reached Table Bay on the 6th of April 1652, when,
164 years after its discovery, the first permanent white
settlement was made in South Africa. The Portuguese, whose
power in Africa was already waning, were not in a position
to interfere with the Dutch plans, and England was content
to seize the island of St Helena as her half-way house to the
East3. In its inception the settlement at the Cape was not
intended to become an African colony, but was regarded as the
most westerly outpost of the Dutch East Indies. Nevertheless,
despite the paucity of ports and the absence of navigable
rivers, the Dutch colonists, freed from any apprehension of
European trouble by the friendship between Great Britain and
Holland, and leavened by Huguenot blood, gradually spread
northward, stamping their language, law and religion indelibly
upon South Africa. This process, however, was exceedingly slow.
During the 18th century there is little to record in the history of
Africa. The nations of Europe, engaged in the later half of the
Waning and revival of interest in Africa.
century in almost constant warfare, and struggling for
supremacy in America and the East, to a large extent lost
their interest in the continent. Only on the west coast
was there keen rivalry, and here the motive was securance
of trade rather than territorial acquisitions. In this
century the slave trade reached its highest development,
the trade in gold, ivory, gum and spices being small in
comparison. In the interior of the continent--Portugal's
energy being expended--no interest was shown, the nations with
establishments on the coast ``taking no further notice of the
inhabitants or their land than to obtain at the easiest rate
what they procure with as little trouble as possible, or to
carry them off for slaves to their plantations in America''
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 3rd ed., 1797). Even the scanty
knowledge acquired by the ancients and the Arabs was in the
main forgotten or disbelieved. It was the period when--
Geographers, in Afric maps, With savage pictures filled their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs Placed elephants for want of towns.
(Poetry, a Rhapsody. By Jonathan Swift.)
The prevailing ignorance may be gauged by the statement in
the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica that ``the
Gambia and Senegal rivers are only branches of the Niger.''
But the closing years of the 18th century, which witnessed
the partial awakening of the public conscience of Europe
to the iniquities of the slave trade, were also notable for
the revival of interest in inner Africa. A society, the
African Association,4 was formed in London in 1788 for the
exploration of the interior of the continent. The era of
great discoveries had begun a little earlier in the famous
journey (1770-1772) of James Bruce through Abyssinia and
Sennar, during which he determined the course of the Blue
Nile. But it was through the agents of the African Association
that knowledge was gained of the Niger regions. The Niger
itself was first reached by Mungo Park, who travelled by way
of the Gambia, in 1795. Park, on a second journey in 1805,
passed Timbuktu and descended the Niger to Bussa, where he
lost his life, having just failed to solve the question as to
where the river reached the ocean. (This problem was ultimately
solved by Richard Lander and his brother in 1830.) The first
scientific explorer of South-East Africa, Dr Francisco de
Lacerda, a Portuguese, also lost his life in that country.
Lacerda travelled up the Zambezi to Tete, going thence towards
Lake Mweru, near which he died in 1798. The first recorded
crossing of Africa was accomplished between the years 1802
and 1811 by two half-caste Portuguese traders, Pedro Baptista
and A. Jose, who passed from Angola eastward to the Zambezi.
Although the Napoleonic wars distracted the attention of
Europe from exploratory work in Africa, those wars nevertheless
Effects of the Napoleonic wars--Britain seizes the Cape.
exercised great influence on the future of the continent, both
in Egypt and South Africa. The occupation of Egypt (1798-1803)
first by France and then by Great Britain resulted in an
effort by Turkey to regain direct control over that country,5
followed in 1811 by the establishment under Mehemet Ali of
an almost independent state, and the extension of Egyptian
rule over the eastern Sudan (from 1820 onward). In South
Africa the struggle with Napoleon caused Great Britain to take
possession of the Dutch settlements at the Cape, and in 1814
Cape Colony, which had been continuously occupied by British
troops since 1806, was formally ceded to the British crown.
The close of the European conflicts with the battle of
Waterloo was followed by vigorous efforts on the part of
the British government to become better acquainted with
Africa, and to substitute colonization and legitimate trade
for the slave traffic, declared illegal for British subjects
in 1807 and abolished by all other European powers by
1836. To West Africa Britain devoted much attention. The
slave trade abolitionists had already, in 1788, formed a
settlement at Sierra Leone, on the Guinea coast, for freed
slaves, and from this establishment grew the colony of Sierra
Leone, long notorious, by reason of its deadly climate, as
``The White Man's Grave.''6 Farther east the establishments
on the Gold Coast began to take a part in the politics
of the interior, and the first British mission to Kumasi,
despatched in 1817, led to the assumption of a protectorate
over the maritime tribes heretofore governed by the Ashanti.
An expedition sent in 1816 to explore the Congo from its
mouth did not succeed in getting beyond the rapids which bar
the way to the interior, but in the central Sudan much better
results were obtained. In 1823 three English travellers,
Walter Oudney, Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton, reached
Lake Chad from Tripoli--the first white men to reach that
lake. The partial exploration of Bornu and the Hausa states
by Clapperton, which followed, revealed the existence of
large and flourishing cities and a semi-civilized people
in a region hitherto unknown. The discovery in 1830 of the
mouth of the Niger by Clapperton's servant Lander, already
mentioned, had been preceded by the journeys of Major A.
G. Laing (1826) and Rene Caillie (1827) to Timbuktu, and
was followed (1832-1833) by the partial ascent of the Benue
affluent of the Niger by Macgregor Laird. In 1841 a disastrous
attempt was made to plant a white colony on the lower Niger,
an expedition (largely philanthropic and antislavery in its
inception) which ended in utter failure. Nevertheless from
that time British traders remained on the lower Niger, their
continued presence leading ultimately to the acquisition of
political rights over the delta and the Hausa states by Great
Britain.7 Another endeavour by the British government to open
up commercial relations with the Niger countries resulted in
the addition of a vast amount of information concerning the
countries between Timbuktu and Lake Chad, owing to the labours
of Heinrich Barth (1850-1855), originally a subordinate,
but the only surviving member of the expedition sent out.
Meantime considerable changes had been made in other parts
of the continent, the most notable being--the occupation of
Algiers by France in 1830, an end being thereby put to the
piratical proceedings of the Barbary states; the continued
expansion southward of Egyptian authority with the consequent
additions to the knowledge of the Nile; and the establishment
of independent states ((Orange Free State and the Transvaal)
by Dutch farmers (Boers) dissatisfied with British rule in Cape
Colony. Natal, so named by Vasco da Gama, had been made a
British colony (1843), the attempt of the Boers to acquire
it being frustrated. The city of Zanzibar, on the island
of that name, founded in 1832 by Seyyid Said of Muscat,
rapidly attained importance, and Arabs began to penetrate
to the great lakes of East Africa,8 concerning which little
more was known (and less believed) than in the time of
Ptolemy. Accounts of a vast inland sea, and the discovery
in 1848-1840, by the missionaries Ludwig Krapf and J.
Rebmann, of the snow-clad mountains of Kilimanjaro and
Kenya, stimulated in Europe the desire for further knowledge.
At this period, the middle of the 19th century, Protestant
missions were carrying on active propaganda on the Guinea
The era of great explorers.
coast, in South Africa and in the Zanzibar dominions. Their
work, largely beneficent, was being conducted in regions
and among peoples little known, and in many instances
missionaries turned explorers and became pioneers of trade and
empire. One of the first to attempt to fill up the remaining
blank spaces in the map was David Livings tone, who had
been engaged since 1840 in missionary work north of the
Orange. In 1849 Livingstone crossed the Kalahari Desert
from south to north and reached Lake Ngami, and between
1851 and 1856 he traversed the continent from west to east,
making known the great waterways of the upper Zambezi.
During these journeyings Livingstone discovered, November
1855, the famous Victoria Falls, so named after the queen of
England. In 1858-1864 the lower Zambezi, the Shire and Lake
Nyasa were explored by Livingstone, Nyasa having been first
reached by the confidential slave of Antonio da Silva Porto, a
Portuguese trader established at Bihe in Angola, who crossed
Africa during 1853-1856 from Benguella to the mouth of the
Rovuma. While Livingstone circumnavigated Nyasa, the more
northerly lake, Tanganyika, had been visited (1858) by Richard
Burton and J. H. Speke, and the last named had sighted Victoria
Nyanza. Returning to East Africa with J. A. Grant, Speke
reached, in 1862, the river which flowed from Victoria
Nyanza, and following it (in the main) down to Egypt, had the
distinction of being the first man to read the riddle of the
Nile. In 1864 another Nile explorer, Samuel Baker, discovered
the Albert Nyanza, the chief western reservoir of the
river. In 1866 Livingstone began his last great journey, in
which he made known Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu and discovered
the Lualaba (the upper part of the Congo), but died (1873)
before he had been able to demonstrate its ultimate course,
believing indeed that the Lualaba belonged to the Nile
system. Livingstone's lonely death in the heart of Africa
evoked a keener desire than ever to complete the work he left
undone. H. M. Stanley, who had in 1871 succeeded in finding
and succouring Livingstone, started again for Zanzibar in
1874, and in the most memorable of all exploring expeditions
in Africa circumnavigated Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika, and,
striking farther inland to the Lualaba, followed that river
down to the Atlantic Ocean--reached in August 1877--and proved
it to be the Congo. Stanley had been preceded, in 1874, at
Nyangwe, Livingstone's farthest point on the Lualaba, by Lovett
Cameron, who was, however, unable farther to explore its course,
making his way to the west coast by a route south of the Congo.
While the great mystery of Central Africa was being solved
explorers were also active in other parts of the continent.
Southern Morocco, the Sahara and the Sudan were traversed
in many directions between 1860 and 1875 by Gerhard Rohlfs,
Georg Schweinfurth and Gustav Nachtigal. These travellers
not only added considerably to geographical knowledge,
but obtained invaluable information concerning the people,
languages and natural history of the countries in which they
sojourned.9 Among the discoveries of Schweinfurth was one
that confirmed the Greek legends of the existence beyond
Egypt of a pygmy race. But the first discoverer of the
dwarf races of Central Africa was Paul du Chaillu, who found
them in the Ogowe district of the west coast in 1865, five
years before Schweinfurth's first meeting with the Pygmies;
du Chaillu having previously, as the result of journeys in
the Gabun country between 1855 and 1859, made popular in
Europe the knowledge of the existence of the gorilla, perhaps
the gigantic ape seen by Hanno the Carthaginian, and whose
existence, up to the middle of the 19th century, was thought
to be as legendary as that of the Pygmies of Aristotle.
In South Africa the filling up of the map also proceeded
apace. The finding, in 1869, of rich diamond fields in
the valley of the Vaal river, near its confluence with the
Orange, caused a rush of emigrants to that district, and
led to conflicts between the Dutch and British authorities
and the extension of British authority northward. In
1871 the ruins of the great Zimbabwe in Mashonaland, the
chief fortress and distributing centre of the race which
in medieval times worked the goldfields of South-East
Africa, were explored by Karl Mauch. In the following year
F. C. Selous began his journeys over South Central Africa,
which continued for more than twenty years and extended
over every part of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. (F. R. C.)
V. PARTITION AMONG EUROPEAN POWERS
In the last quarter of the 19th century the map of Africa was
transformed. After the discovery of the Congo the story
of exploration takes second place; the continent becomes
the theatre of European expansion. Lines of partition,
drawn often through trackless wildernesses, marked out the
possessions of Germany, France, Great Britain and other
powers. Railways penetrated the interior, vast areas were
opened up to civilized occupation, and from ancient Egypt
to the Zambezi the continent was startled into new life.
Before 1875 the only powers with any considerable interest
in Africa were Britain, Portugal and France. Between 1815
and 1850, as has been shown above, the British government
devoted much energy, not always informed by knowledge,
to western and southern Africa. In both directions Great
Britain had met with much discouragement; on the west coast,
disease, death, decaying trade and useless conflicts with
savage foes had been the normal experience; in the south
recalcitrant Boers and hostile Kaffirs caused almost endless
trouble. The visions once entertained of vigorous negro
communities at once civilized and Christian faded away;
to the hot fit of philanthropy succeeded the cold fit of
indifference and a disinclination to bear the burden of
empire. The low-water mark of British interest in South
Africa was reached in 1854 when independence was forced
on the Orange River Boers, while in 1865 the mind of the
nation was fairly reflected by the unanimous resolution of
a representative House of Commons committee:10 ``that all
further extension of territory or assumption of government,
or new treaty offering any protection to native tribes, would
be inexpedient.'' For nearly twenty years the spirit of that
resolution paralysed British action in Africa, although many
circumstances--the absence of any serious European rival, the
inevitable border disputes with uncivilized races, and the
activity of missionary and trader--conspired to make British
influence dominant in large areas of the continent over
which the government exercised no definite authority. The
freedom with which blood and treasure were spent to enforce
respect for the British flag or to succour British subjects in
distress, as in the Abyssinian campaign of 1867-68 and the
Ashanti war of 1873, tended further to enhance the reputation
of Great Britain among African races, while, as an inevitable
result of the possession of India, British officials exercised
considerable power at the court of Zanzibar, which indeed
owed its separate existence to a decision of Lord Canning, the
governor-general of India, in 1861 recognizing the division
of the Arabian and African dominions of the imam of Muscat.
It has been said that Great Britain was without serious rival.
On the Gold Coast she had bought the Danish forts in 1850 and
acquired the Dutch, 1871-1872, in exchange for establishments in
Sumatra. But Portugal still held, both in the east and west of
Africa, considerable stretches of the tropical coast-lands, and
it was in 1875 that she obtained, as a result of the arbitration
of Marshal MacMahon, possession of the whole of Delagoa
Bay, to the southern part of which England also laid claim by
virtue of a treaty of cession concluded with native chiefs in
1823. The only other European power which at the period
under consideration had considerable possessions in Africa was
France. Besides Algeria, France had settlements on the
Senegal, where in 1854 the appointment of General Faidherbe
as governor marked the beginning of a policy of expansion; she
had also various posts on the upper Guinea coast, had taken
the estuary of the Gabun as a station for her navy, and had
acquired (1862) Obok at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
In North Africa the Turks had (in 1835) assumed direct control of
Tripoli, while Morocco had fallen into a state of decay though
retaining its independence. The most remarkable change was
in Egypt, where the Khedive Ismail had introduced a somewhat
fantastic imitation of European civilization. In addition
Ismail had conquered Darfur, annexed Harrar and the Somali
ports on the Gulf of Aden, was extending his power southward
to the equatorial lakes, and even contemplated reaching the
Indian Ocean. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, had a great
influence on the future of Africa, as it again made Egypt
the highway to the East, to the detriment of the Cape route.
Any estimate of the area of African territory held by European
nations in 1875 is necessarily but approximate, and varies chiefly
The division of the continent in 1875.
as the compiler of statistics rejects or accepts the vague claims
of Portugal to sovereignty over the hinterland of her coast
possessions. At that period other European nations--with
the occasional exception of Great Britain--were indifferent
to Portugal's pretensions, and her estimate of her African
empire as covering over 700,000 sq. m. was not challenged.11
But the area under effective control of Portugal at that time
did not exceed 40,000 sq. m. Great Britain then held some
250,000 sq. m., France about 170,000 sq. m. and Spain 1000 sq.
m. The area of the independent Dutch republics (the Transvaal
and Orange Free State) was some 150,000 sq. m., so that the
total area of Africa ruled by Europeans did not exceed 1,271,000
sq. m.; roughly one-tenth of the continent. This estimate,
as it admits the full extent of Portuguese claims and does not
include Madagascar, in reality considerably overstates the case.
Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan, Tunisia and Tripoli were
subject in differing ways to the overlordship of the sultan
of Turkey, and with these may be ranked, in the scale of
organized governments, the three principal independent states,
Morocco, Abyssinia and Zanzibar, as also the negro republic of
Liberia. There remained, apart from the Sahara, roughly one
half of Africa, lying mostly within the tropics, inhabited
by a multitude of tribes and peoples living under various
forms of government and subject to frequent changes in respect
of political organization. In this region were the negro
states of Ashanti, Dahomey and Benin on the west coast, the
Mahommedan sultanates of the central Sudan, and a number
of negro kingdoms in the east central and south central
regions. Of these Uganda on the north-west shores of
Victoria Nyanza, Cazembe and Muata Hianvo (or Yanvo) may be
mentioned. The two last-named kingdoms occupied respectively
the south-eastern and south-western parts of the Congo
basin. In all this vast region the Negro and Negro-Bantu races
predominated, for the most part untouched by Mahommedanism
or Christian influences. They lacked political cohesion,
and possessed neither the means nor the inclination to extend
their influence beyond their own borders. The exploitation
of Africa continued to be entirely the work of alien races.
The causes which led to the partition of Africa may now be
considered. They are to be found in the economic and political
Causes which led to partition.
state of western Europe at the time. Germany, strong and
united as the result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870,
was seeking new outlets for her energies --new markets for
her growing industries, and with the markets, colonies.
Yet the idea of colonial expansion was of slow growth in
Germany, and when Prince Bismarck at length acted Africa was
the only field left to exploit, South America being protected
from interference by the known determination of the United
States to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, while Great Britain,
France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain already held
most of the other regions of the world where colonization was
possible. For different reasons the war of 1870 was also the
starting-point for France in the building up of a new colonial
empire. In her endeavour to regain the position lost in
that war France had to look beyond Europe. To the two causes
mentioned must be added others. Great Britain and Portugal,
when they found their interests threatened, bestirred themselves,
while Italy also conceived it necessary to become an African
power. Great Britain awoke to the need for action too late to
secure predominance in all the regions where formerly hers was
the only European influence. She had to contend not only with
the economic forces which urged her rivals to action, but had
also to combat the jealous opposition of almost every European
nation to the further growth of British power. Italy alone
acted throughout in cordial co-operation with Great Britain.
It was not, however, the action of any of the great powers
of Europe which precipitated the struggle. This was brought
about by the ambitious projects of Leopold II, king of the
Belgians. The discoveries of Livingstone, Stanley and others
had aroused especial interest among two classes of men in western
Europe, one the manufacturing and trading class, which saw in
Central Africa possibilities of commercial development, the
other the philanthropic and missionary class, which beheld in the
newly discovered lands millions of savages to Christianize and
civilize. The possibility of utilizing both these classes in
the creation of a vast state, of which he should be the chief,
formed itself in the mind of Leopold II. even before Stanley
had navigated the Congo. The king's action was immediate; it
proved successful; but no sooner was the nature of his project
understood in Europe than it provoked the rivalry of France
and Germany, and thus the international struggle was begun.
Conflicting ambitions of the European powers.
At this point it is expedient, in the light of subsequent
events, to set forth the designs then entertained by the
European powers that participated in the struggle for
Africa. Portugal was striving to retain as large a share
as possible of her shadowy empire, and particularly to
establish her claims to the Zambezi region, so as to
secure a belt of territory across Africa from Mozambique to
Angola. Great Britain, once aroused to the imminence of
danger, put forth vigorous efforts in East Africa and on the
Niger, but her most ambitious dream was the establishment of an
unbroken line of British possessions and spheres of influence
from south to north of the continent, from Cape Colony to
Egypt. Germany's ambition can be easily described. It was
to secure as much as possible, so as to make up for lost
opportunities. Italy coveted Tripoli, but that province
could not be seized without risking war. For the rest
Italy's territorial ambitions were confined to North-East
Africa, where she hoped to acquire a dominating, influence
over Abyssinia. French ambitions, apart from Madagascar,
were confined to the northern and central portions of the
continent. To extend her possessions on the Mediterranean
littoral, and to connect them with her colonies in West Africa,
the western Sudan, and on the Congo, by establishing her
influence over the vast intermediate regions, was France's first
ambition. But the defeat of the Italians in Abyssinia and
the impending downfall of the khalifa's power in the valley
of the upper Nile suggested a still more daring project to
the French government--none other than the establishment of
French influence over a broad belt of territory stretching
across the continent from west to east, from Senegal on the
Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Aden. The fact that France
possessed a small part of the Red Sea coast gave point to this
design. But these conflicting ambitions could not all be
realized and Germany succeeded in preventing Great Britain
obtaining a continuous band of British territory from south
to north,while Great Britain, by excluding France from
the upper Nile valley, dispelled the French dream of an
empire from west to east. King Leopold's ambitions have
already been indicated. The part of the continent to which
from the first he directed his energies was the equatorial
region. In September 1876 he took what may be described
as the first definite step in the modern partition of the
continent. He summoned to a conference at Brussels
representatives of Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Italy and Russia, to deliberate on the best
methods to be adopted for the exploration and civilization of
Africa, and the opening up of the interior of the continent
to commerce and industry. The conference was entirely
unofficial. The delegates who attended neither represented
nor pledged their respective governments. Their deliberations
lasted three days and resulted in the foundation of ``The
International African Association,'' with its headquarters at
Brussels. It was further resolved to establish national
committees in the various countries represented, which should
collect funds and appoint delegates to the International
Association. The central idea appears to have been to put the
exploration and development of Africa upon an international
footing. But it quickly became apparent that this was an
unattainable ideal. The national committees were soon working
independently of the International Association, and the
Association itself passed through a succession of stages until
it became purely Belgian in character, and at last developed
into the Congo Free State, under the personal sovereignty
of King Leopold. At first the Association devoted itself
to sending expeditions to the great central lakes from the
east coast; but failure, more or less complete attended its
efforts in this direction, and it was not until the return of
Stanley, in January 1878, from his great journey down the
Congo, that its ruling spirit, King Leopold, definitely
turned his thoughts towards the Congo. In June of that year,
Stanley visited the king at Brussels, and in the following
November a private conference was held, and a committee
was appointed for the investigation of the upper Congo.
Stanley's remarkable discovery had stirred ambition in other
capitals than Brussels. France had always taken a keen interest
The struggle for the Congo.
in West Africa, and in the years 1875 to 1878 Savorgnan
de Brazza had carried out a successful exploration of the
Ogowe river to the south of the Gabun. De Brazza determined
that the Ogowe did not offer that great waterway into the
interior of which he was in search, and he returned to Europe
without having heard of the discoveries of Stanley farther
south. Naturally, however, Stanley's discoveries were keenly
followed in France. In Portugal, too, the discovery of the
Congo, with its magnificent unbroken waterway of more than a
thousand miles into the heart of the continent served to revive
the languid energies of the Portuguese, who promptly began
to furbish up claims whose age was in inverse ratio to their
validity. Claims, annexations and occupations were in the
air, and when in January 1879 Stanley left Europe as the
accredited agent of King Leopold and the Congo committee,
the strictest secrecy was observed as to his real aims and
intentions. The expedition was, it was alleged, proceeding
up the Congo to assist the Belgian expedition which had
entered from the east coast, and Stanley himself went first to
Zanzibar. But in August 1879 Stanley found himself again at
Banana Point, at the mouth of the Congo, with, as he himself has
written, ``the novel mission of sowing along its banks civilized
settlements to peacefully conquer and subdue it, to remould
it in harmony with modern ideas into national states, within
whose limits the European merchant shall go hand in hand with
the dark African trader, and justice and law and order shall
prevail, and murder and lawlessness and the cruel barter of
slaves shall be overcome.'' The irony of human aspirations was
never perhaps more plainly demonstrated than in the contrast
between the ideal thus set before themselves by those who
employed Stanley, and the actual results of their intervention in
Africa. Stanley founded his first station at Vivi, between
the mouth of the Congo and the rapids that obstruct its course
where it breaks over the western edge of the central continental
plateau. Above the rapids he established a station on Stanley
Pool and named it Leopoldville, founding other stations on the
main stream in the direction of the falls that bear his name.
Meanwhile de Brazza was far from idle. He had returned to
Africa at the beginning of 1880, and while the agents of King
Leopold were making treaties and founding stations along the
southern bank of the river, de Brazza and other French agents
were equally busy on the northern bank. De Brazza was sent
out to Africa by the French committee of the International
African Association, which provided him with the funds for the
expedition. His avowed object was to explore the region
between the Gabun and Lake Chad. But his real object was to
anticipate Stanley on the Congo. The international character
of the association founded by King Leopold was never more
than a polite fiction, and the rivalry between the French and
the Belgians on the Congo was soon open, if not avowed. In
October 1880 de Brazza made a solemn treaty with a chief on
the north bank of the Congo, who claimed that his authority
extended over a large area, including territory on the southern
bank of the river. As soon as this chief had accepted French
protection, de Brazza crossed over to the south of the
river, and founded a station close to the present site of
Leopoldville. The discovery by Stanley of the French station
annoyed King Leopold's agent, and he promptly challenged
the rights of the chief who purported to have placed the
country under French protection, and himself founded a Belgian
station close to the site selected by de Brazza. In the
result, the French station was withdrawn to the northern
side of Stanley Pool, where it is now known as Brazzaville.
The activity of French and Belgian agents on the Congo had
not passed unnoticed in Lisbon, and the Portuguese government
saw that no time was to be lost if the claims it had never
ceased to put forward on the west coast were not to go by
default. At varying periods during the 19th century
Portugal had put forward claims to the whole of the West
African coast, between 5 deg. 12' and 8 deg. south. North of
the Congo mouth she claimed the territories of Kabinda and
Molemba, alleging that they had been in her possession since
1484. Great Britain had never, however, admitted this
claim, and south of the Congo had declined to recognize
Portuguese possessions as extending north of Ambriz. In
1856 orders were given to British cruisers to prevent by
force any attempt to extend Portuguese dominion north of that
place. But the Portuguese had been persistent in urging their
claims, and in 1882 negotiations were again opened with the
British government for recognition of Portuguese rights over
both banks of the Congo on the coast, and for some distance
inland. Into the details of the negotiations, which were
conducted for Great Britain by the 2nd Earl Granville, who was
then secretary for foreign affairs, it is unnecessary to enter;
they resulted in the signing on the 26th of February 1884 of a
treaty, by which Great Britain recognized the sovereignty of
the king of Portugal ``over that part of the west coast of
Africa, situated between 8 deg. and 5 deg. 12' south latitude,'' and
inland as far as Noki, on the south bank of the Congo, below
Vivi. The navigation of the Congo was to be controlled by
an Anglo-Portuguese commission. The publication of this
treaty evoked immediate protests, not only on the continent
but in Great Britain. In face of the disapproval aroused
by the treaty, Lord Granville found himself unable to ratify
it. The protests had not been confined to France and
the king of the Belgians. Germany had not yet acquired
formal footing in Africa, but she was crouching for the
spring prior to taking her part in the scramble, and Prince
Bismarck had expressed, in vigorous language, the objections
entertained by Germany to the Anglo-Portuguese treaty.
For some time before 1884 there had been growing up a
general conviction that it would be desirable for the powers
who were interesting themselves in Africa to come to some
agreement as to ``the rules of the game,'' and to define
their respective interests so far as that was practicable.
Lord Granville's ill-fated treaty brought this sentiment
to a head, and it was agreed to hold an international
conference on African affairs. But before discussing the
Berlin conference of 1884-1885, it will be well to see what
was the position, on the eve of the conference, in other
parts of the African continent. In the southern section of
Africa, south of the Zambezi, important events had been
happening. In 1876 Great Britain had concluded an agreement
British influence consolidated in South Africa.
with the Orange Free State for an adjustment of frontiers, the
result of which was to leave the Kimberley diamond fields in
British territory, in exchange for a payment of L. 90,000 to the
Orange Free State. On the 12th of April 1877 Sir Theophilus
Shepstone had issued a proclamation declaring the Transvaal--
the South African Republic, as it was officially designated--to
be British territory (see TRANSVAAL.) In December 1880 war
broke out and lasted until March 1881, when a treaty of peace was
signed. This treaty of peace was followed by a convention,
signed in August of the same year, under which complete
self-government was guaranteed to the inhabitants of the
Transvaal, subject to the suzerainty of Great Britain, upon
certain terms and conditions and subject to certain reservations
and limitations. No sooner was the convention signed than
it became the object of the Boers to obtain a modification of
the conditions and limitations imposed, and in February 1884
a fresh convention was signed, amending the convention of
1881. Article IV. of the new convention provided that ``The
South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement
with any state or nation other than the Orange Free State,
nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the
Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the
Queen.'' The precise effect of the two conventions has been
the occasion for interminable discussions, but as the subject
is now one of merely academic interest, it is sufficient to
say that when the Berlin conference held its first meeting
in 1884 the Transvaal was practically independent, so far
as its internal administration was concerned, while its
foreign relations were subject to the control just quoted.
But although the Transvaal had thus, between the years 1875
and 1884, become and ceased to be British territory, British
influence in other parts of Africa south of the Zambezi
had been steadily extended. To the west of the Orange Free
State, Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape in 1880,
while to the east the territories beyond the Kei river were
included in Cape Colony between 1877 and 1884, so that in the
latter year, with the exception of Pondoland, the whole of
South-East Africa was in one form or another under British
control. North of Natal, Zululand was not actually annexed
until 1887, although since 1879, when the military power of
the Zulus was broken up, British influence had been admittedly
supreme. In December 1884 St Lucia Bay--upon which Germany was
casting covetous eyes--had been taken possession of in virtue
of its cession to Great Britain by the Zulu king in 1843, and
three years later an agreement of non-cession to foreign powers
made by Great Britain with the regent and paramount chief of
Tongaland completed the chain of British possessions on the
coast of South Africa, from the mouth of the Orange river
on the west to Kosi Bay and the Portuguese frontier on the
east. In the interior of South Africa the year 1884 witnessed
the beginning of that final stage of the British advance
towards the north which was to extend British influence from the
Cape to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. The activity
of the Germans on the west, and of the Boer republic on the
east, had brought home to both the imperial and colonial
authorities the impossibility of relying on vague traditional
claims. In May 1884 treaties were made with native chiefs
by which the whole of the country north of Cape Colony,
west of the Transvaal, south of 22 deg. S. and east of 20 deg. E.,
was placed under British protection, though a protectorate
was not formally declared until the following January.
Meanwhile some very interesting events had been taking place
or: the west coast, north of the Orange river and south of the
Portuguese province of Mossamaede. It must be sufficient here
to touch very briefly on the events that preceded the foundation
of the colony of German South-West Africa. For many years
before 1884 German missionaries had settled among the Damaras
(Herero) and Namaquas, often combining small trading operations
with their missionary work. From time to time trouble arose
between the missionaries and the native chiefs, and appeals
Germany enters the field.
were made to the German government for protection. The
German government in its turn begged the British government
to say whether it assumed responsibility for the protection of
Europeans in Damaraland and Namaqualand. The position of the
British government was intelligible, if not very intelligent.
It did not desire to see any other European power in these
countries, and it did not want to assume the responsibility
and incur the expense of protecting the few Europeans settled
there. Sir Bartle Frere, when governor of the Cape (1877-1880),
had foreseen that this attitude portended trouble, and had
urged that the whole of the unoccupied coastline, up to
the Portuguese frontier, should be declared under British
protection. But he preached to deaf ears, and it was as something
of a concession to him that in March 1878 the British flag was
hoisted at Walfish Bay, and a small part of the adjacent land
declared to be British. The fact appears to be that British
statesmen failed to understand the change that had come over
Germany. They believed that Prince Bismarck would never give
his sanction to the creation of a colonial empire, and, to
the German inquiries as to what rights Great Britain claimed
in Damaraland and Namaqualand, procrastinating replies were
sent. Meanwhile the various colonial societies established
in Germany had effected a revolution in public opinion,
and, more important still, they had convinced the great
chancellor. Accordingly when, in November 1882, F. A. E.
Luderitz, a Bremen merchant, informed the German government
of his intention to establish a factory on the coast between
the Orange river and the Little Fish river, and asked if he
might rely on the protection of his government in case of
need, he met with no discouragement from Prince Bismarck.
In February 1883 the German ambassador in London informed
Lord Granville of Luderitz's design, and asked ``whether
Her Majesty's government exercise any authority in that
locality.'' It was intimated that if Her Majesty's government
did not, the German government would extend to Luderitz's
factory ``the same measure of protection which they give
to their subjects in remote parts of the world, but without
having the least design to establish any footing in South
Africa.'' An inconclusive reply was sent, and on the 9th of
April Luderitz's agent landed at Angra Pequena, and after a
short delay concluded a treaty with the local chief, by which
some 215 square miles around Angra Pequena were ceded to
Luderitz. In England and at the Cape irritation at the news
was mingled with incredulity, and it was fully anticipated
that Luderitz would be disavowed by his government. But
for this belief it can scarcely be doubted that the rest of
the unoccupied coast-line would have been promptly declared
under British protection. Still Prince Bismarck was slow to
act. In November the German ambassador again inquired if Great
Britain made any claim over this coast, and Lord Granville
replied that Her Majesty exercised sovereignty only over
certain parts of the coast, as at Walfish Bay, and suggested
that arrangements might be made by which Germany might assist
in the settlement of Angra Pequena. By this time Luderitz
had extended his acquisitions southwards to the Orange river,
which had been declared by the British government to be the
northern frontier of Cape Colony. Both at the Cape and in
England it was now realized that Germany had broken away from
her former purely continental policy, and, when too late, the
Cape parliament showed great eagerness to acquire the territory
which had lain so long at its very doors, to be had for the
taking. It is not necessary to follow the course-of the
subsequent negotiations. On the 15th of August 1884 an
official note was addressed by the German consul at Capetown
to the high commissioner, intimating that the German emperor
had by proclamation taken ``the territory belonging to Mr
A. Luderitz on the west coast of Africa under the direct
protection of His Majesty.'' This proclamation covered the
coast-line from the north bank of the Orange river to 26 deg. S.
latitude, and 20 geographical miles inland, including ``the
islands belonging thereto by the law of nations.'' On the
8th of September 1884 the German government intimated to Her
Majesty's government ``that the west coast of Africa from
26 deg. S. latitude to Cape Frio, excepting Walfish Bay, had
been placed under the protection of the German emperor.''
Thus, before the end of the year 1884, the foundations of
Germany's colonial empire had been laid in South-West Africa.
In April of that year Prince Bismarck intimated to the British
government, through the German charge d'affaires in London,
Nachtigal's mission to West Africa.
that ``the imperial consul-general, Dr Nachtigal, has been
commissioned by my government to visit the west coast of
Africa in the course of the next few months, in order to
complete the information now in the possession of the Foreign
Office at Berlin, on the state of German commerce on that
coast. With this object Dr Nachtigal will shortly embark at
Lisbon, on board the gunboat `Mowe.' He will put himself into
communication with the authorities in the British possessions
on the said coast, and is authorized to conduct, on behalf of
the imperial government, negotiations connected with certain
questions. I venture,'' the official communication proceeds,
``in accordance with my instructions, to beg your excellency
to be so good as to cause the authorities in the British
possessions in West Africa to be furnished with suitable
recommendations.'' Although at the date of this communication
it must have been apparent, from what was happening in South
Africa, that Germany was prepared to enter on a policy of
colonial expansion, and although the wording of the letter was
studiously vague, it does not seem to have occurred to the British
government that the real object of Gustav Nachtigal's journey
was to make other annexations on the west coast. Yet such was
indeed his mission. German traders and missionaries had been
particularly active of late years on the coast of the Gulf of
Guinea. German factories were dotted all along the coast in
districts under British protection, under French protection
and under the definite protection of no European power at
all. It was to these latter places that Nachtigal turned his
attention. The net result of his operations was that on
the 5th of July 1884 a treaty was signed with the king of
Togo, placing his country under German protection, and that
just one week later a German protectorate was proclaimed
over the Cameroon district. Before either of these events
had occurred Great Britain had become alive to the fact that
she could no longer dally with the subject, if she desired
to consolidate her possessions in West Africa. The British
government had again and again refused to accord native
chiefs the protection they demanded. The Cameroon chiefs
had several times asked for British protection, and always in
vain. But at last it became apparent, even to the official
mind, that rapid changes were being effected in Africa,
and on the 16th of May Edward Hyde Hewett, British consul,
received instructions to return to the west coast and to make
arrangements for extending British protection over certain
regions. He arrived too late to save either Togoland or
Cameroon, in the latter case arriving five days after King
Bell and the other chiefs on the river had signed treaties with
Nachtigal. But the British consul was in time to secure the
delta of the river Niger and the Oil Rivers District, extending
from Rio del Rey to the Lagos frontier, where for a long
period British traders had held almost a monopoly of the trade.
Meanwhile France, too, had been busy treaty-making. While
the British government still remained under the spell of the
French and British rivalry in West Africa.
fatal resolution of 1865, the French government was strenuously
endeavouring to extend France's influence in West Africa, in
the countries lying behind the coastline. During the year
1884 no fewer than forty-two treaties were concluded with
native chiefs, an even larger number having been concluded
in the previous twelve months. In this fashion France was
pushing on towards Timbuktu, in steady pursuance of the
policy which resulted in surrounding all the old British
possessions in West Africa with a continuous band of French
territory. There was, however, one region on the west coast
where, notwithstanding the lethargy of the British government,
British interests were being vigorously pushed, protected and
consolidated. This was on the lower Niger, and the leading
spirit in the enterprise was Mr Goldie Taubman (afterwards
Sir George Taubman Goldie). In 1877 Sir George Goldie visited
the Niger and conceived the idea of establishing a settled
government in that region. Through his efforts the various
trading firms on the lower Niger formed themselves in 1879
into the ``United African Company,'' and the foundations
were laid of something like settled administration. An
application was made to the British government for a charter in
1881, and the capital of the company increased to a million
sterling. Henceforth the company was known as the ``National
African Company,'' and it was acknowledged that its object
was not only to develop the trade of the lower Niger,
but to extend its operations to the middle reaches of the
river, and to open up direct relations with the great Fula
empire of Sokoto and the smaller states associated with
Sokoto under a somewhat loosely defined suzerainty. The
great development of trade which followed the combination
of British interests carried out under Goldie's skilful
guidance did not pass unnoticed in France, and, encouraged by
Gambetta, French traders made a bold bid for a position on the
river. Two French companies, with ample capital, were
formed, and various stations were established on the lower
Niger. Goldie realized at once the seriousness of the
situation, and lost no time in declaring commercial war on the
newcomers. His bold tactics were entirely successful, and a
few days before the meeting of the Berlin conference he had
the satisfaction of announcing that he had bought out the
whole of the French interests on the river, and that Great
Britain alone possessed any interests on the lower Niger.
To complete the survey of the political situation in Africa at
the time the plenipotentiaries met at Berlin, it is necessary to
The position in Tunisia and Egypt.
refer briefly to the course of events in North and East
Africa since 1875. In 1881 a French army entered Tunisia,
and compelled the bey to sign a treaty placing that country
under French protection. The sultan of Turkey formally
protested against this invasion of Ottoman rights, but the
great powers took no action, and France was left in undisturbed
possession of her newly acquired territory. In Egypt the
extravagance of Ismail Pasha had led to the establishment in
1879, in the interests of European bondholders, of a Dual
Control exercised by France and Great Britain. France had,
however, in 1882 refused to take part in the suppression
of a revolt under Arabi Pasha, which England accomplished
unaided. As a consequence the Dual Control had been abolished
in January 1883, since when Great Britain, with an army
quartered in the country, had assumed a predominant position
in Egyptian affairs (see EGYPT.) In East Africa, north of
the Portuguese possessions, where the sultan of Zanzibar was
the most considerable native potentate, Germany was secretly
preparing the foundations of her present colony of German East
Africa. But no overt act had warned Europe of what was
impending. The story of the foundation of German East Africa
is one of the romances of the continent. Early in 1884 the
Society for German Colonization was founded, with the avowed
object of furthering the newly awakened colonial aspirations
of the German people.12 It was a society inspired and
controlled by young men, and on the 4th of November 1884,
eleven days before the conference assembled at Berlin, three
young Germans arrived as deck passengers at Zanzibar. They
were disguised as mechanics, but were in fact Dr Karl Peters,
the president of the Colonization Society, Joachim Count
Pfeil, and Dr Juhlke, and their stock-in-trade consisted of
a number of German flags and a supply of blank treaty forms.
They proposed to land on the mainland opposite Zanzibar, and
The German flag raised in East Africa.
to conclude treaties in the back country with native chiefs
placing their territories under German protection. The
enterprise was frowned upon by the German government;
but, encouraged by German residents at Zanzibar, the three
young pioneers crossed to the mainland, and on the 19th of
November, while the diplomatists assembled at Berlin were
solemnly discussing the rules which were to govern the game of
partition, the first ``treaty'' was signed at Mbuzini, and
the German flag raised for the first time in East Africa.
Italy had also obtained a footing on the African continent
before the meeting of the Berlin conference. The Rubattino
Steamship Company as far back as 1870 had bought the port of
Assab as a coaling station, but it was not until 1882 that
it was declared an Italian colony. This was followed by the
conclusion of a treaty with the sultan of Assab, chief of the
Danakil, signed on the 15th of March 1883, and subsequently
approved by the king of Shoa, whereby Italy obtained the
cession of part of Ablis (Aussa) on the Red Sea, Italy
undertaking to protect with her fleet the Danakil littoral.
One other event must be recorded as happening before the
meeting of the Berlin conference. The king of the Belgians had
Recognition of the International Association.
been driven to the conclusion that, if his African enterprise
was to obtain any measure of permanent success, its international
status must be recognized. To this end negotiations were
opened with various governments. The first government to
``recognize the flag of the International Association of the
Congo as the flag of a friendly government'' was that of the
United States, its declaration to that effect bearing date
the 22nd of April 1884. There were, however, difficulties
in the way of obtaining the recognition of the European
powers, and in order to obtain that of France, King Leopold,
on the 23rd of April 1884, while labouring under the feelings
of annoyance which had been aroused by the Anglo-Portuguese
treaty concluded by Lord Granville in February, authorized
Colonel Strauch, president of the International Association,
to engage to give France ``the right of preference if, through
unforeseen circumstances, the Association were compelled
to sell its possessions.'' France's formal recognition of
the Association as a government was, however, delayed by
the discussion of boundary questions until the following
February, and in the meantime Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, Austria-Hungary, Holland and Spain had all recognized
the Association; though Germany alone had done so--on the
8th of November--before the assembling of the conference.
The conference assembled at Berlin on the 15th of November
1884, and after protracted deliberations the ``General Act of
The Berlin Conference of 1884-85.
the Berlin Conference'' was signed by the representatives of
all the powers attending the conference, on the 26th of February
1885. The powers represented were Germany, Austria-Hungary,
Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Great
Britain, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and
Norway, and Turkey, to name them in the alphabetical order
adopted in the preamble to the French text of the General
Act. Ratifications were deposited by all the signatory powers
with the exception of the United States. It is unnecessary
to examine in detail the results of the labours of the
conference. The General Act dealt with six specific subjects:
(1) freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, (2) the slave
trade, (3) neutrality of territories in the basin of the Congo,
(4) navigation of the Congo, (5) navigation of the Niger,
(6) rules for future occupation on the coasts of the African
continent. It will be seen that the act dealt with other
matters than the political partition of Africa; but, so far as
they concern the present purpose, the results effected by the
Berlin Act may be summed up as follows. The signatory powers
undertook that any fresh act of taking possession on any portion
of the African coast must be notified by the power taking
possession, or assuming a protectorate, to the other signatory
powers. It was further provided that any such occupation to be
valid must be effective. It is also noteworthy that the first
reference in an international act to the obligations attaching
to ``spheres of influence'' is contained in the Berlin Act.
It will be remembered that when the conference assembled,
the International Association of the Congo had only been
Constitution of the Congo State.
recognized as a sovereign state by the United States and
Germany. But King Leopold and his agents had taken full
advantage of the opportunity which the conference afforded,
and before the General Act was signed the Association had
been recognized by all the signatory powers, with the not
very important exception of Turkey, and the fact communicated
to the conference by Colonel Strauch. It was not, however,
until two months later, in April 1885, that King Leopold,
with the sanction of the Belgian legislature, formally assumed
the headship of the new state; and on the 1st of August
in the same year His Majesty notified the powers that from
that date the ``Independent State of the Congo'' declared
that ``it shall be perpetually neutral'' in conformity
with the provisions of the Berlin Act. Thus was finally
constituted the Congo Free State, under the sovereignty of
King Leopold, though the boundaries claimed for it at that
time were considerably modified by subsequent agreements.
From 1885 the scramble among the powers went on with renewed
vigour, and in the fifteen years that remained of the
The chief partition treaties.
century the work of partition, so far as international
agreements were concerned, was practically completed. To
attempt to follow the process of acquisition year by year
would involve a constant shifting of attention from one part
of the continent to another, inasmuch as the scramble was
proceeding simultaneously all over Africa. It will therefore
be the most convenient plan to deal with the continent in
sections. Before doing so, however, the international
agreements which determined in the main the limits of the
possessions of the various powers may be set forth. They
are:-- I. The agreement of the 1st of July 1890 between Great
Britain and Germany defining their spheres of influence in
East, West and South-West Africa. This agreement was the
most comprehensive of all the ``deals'' in African territory,
and included in return for the recognition of a British
protectorate over Zanzibar the cession of Heligoland to Germany.
II. The Anglo-French declaration of the 5th of August 1890, which
recognized a French protectorate over Madagascar, French influence
in the Sahara, and British influence between the Niger and Lake Chad.
III. The Anglo-Portuguese treaty of the 11th of June
1891, whereby the Portuguese possessions on the west
and east coasts were separated by a broad belt of
British territory, extending north to Lake Tanganyika.
IV. The Franco-German convention of the 15th of March 1894, by
which the Central Sudan was left to France (this region by an
Anglo-German agreement of the 15th of November 1893 having been
recognized as in the German sphere). By this convention France
was able to effect a territorial )unction of her possessions
in North and West Africa with those in the Congo region.
V. Protocols of the 24th of March and the 15th of April 1891,
for the demarcation of the Anglo-Italian spheres in East Africa.
VI. The Anglo-French convention of the 14th of June 1898,
for the delimitation of the possessions of the two countries
west of Lake Chad, with the supplementary declaration
of the 21st of March 1899 whereby France recognized the
upper Nile valley as in the British sphere of influence.
Coming now to a more detailed consideration of the operations
of the powers, the growth of the Congo Free State, which
The growth of the Congo State.
occupied, geographically, a central position, may serve as the
starting-point for the story of the partition after the Berlin
conference. In the notification to the powers of the 1st of
August 1885, the boundaries of the Free State were set out in
considerable detail. The limits thus determined resulted partly
from agreements made with France, Germany and Portugal, and
partly from treaties with native chiefs. The state acquired
the north bank of the Congo from its mouth to a point in the
unnavigable reaches, and in the interior the major part of
the Congo basin. In the north-east the northern limit was 4 deg.
N. up to 30 deg. E., which formed the eastern boundary of, the
state. The south-eastern frontier claimed by King Leopold
extended to Lakes Tanganyika, Mweru and Bangweulu, but it
was not until some years later that it was recognized and
defined by the agreement of May 1894 with Great Britain.
The international character of King Leopold's enterprise had
not long been maintained, and his recognition as sovereign
of the Free State confirmed the distinctive character
which the Association had assumed, even before that event.
In April 1887 France was informed that the right of pre-emption
accorded to her in 1884 had not been intended by King Leopold
to prejudice Belgium's right to acquire the Congo State,
and in reply the French minister at Brussels took note of
the explanation, ``in so far as this interpretation is not
contrary to pre-existing international engagements.'' By his
will, dated the 2nd of August 1889, King Leopold made Belgium
formally heir to the sovereign rights of the Congo Free
State. In 1895 an annexation bill was introduced into the
Belgian parliament, but at that time Belgium had no desire to
assume responsibility for the Congo State, and the bill was
withdrawn. In 1901, by the terms of a loan granted in
1890, Belgium had again an opportunity of annexing the Congo
State, but a bill in favour of annexation was opposed by the
government and was withdrawn after King Leopold had declared
that the time was not ripe for the transfer. Concessionaire
companies and a Domaine de la Couronne had been created
in the state, from which the sovereign derived considerable
revenues--facts which helped to explain the altered attitude
of Leopold II. The agitation in Great Britain and America
against the Congo system of government, and the admissions of an
official commission of inquiry concerning its maladministration,
strengthened, however, the movement in favour of transfer.
Nevertheless in June 1906 the king again declared himself
opposed to immediate annexation. But under pressure of public
opinion the Congo government concluded, 28th of November
1907, a new annexation treaty. As it stipulated for the
continued existence of the crown domain the treaty provoked
vehement opposition. Leopold II. was forced to yield, and
an additional act was signed, 5th of March 1908, providing
for the suppression of the domain in return for financial
subsidies. The treaty, as amended, was approved by the
Belgian parliament in the session of 1908. Thus the Congo
state, after an existence of 24 years as an independent
power, became a Belgian colony. (See CONGO FREE STATE.)
The area of the Free State, vast as it was, did not suffice to
satisfy the ambition of its sovereign. King Leopold maintained
that the Free State enjoyed equally with any other state the
right to extend its frontiers. His ambition involved the
state in the struggle between Great Britain and France for
the upper Nile. To understand the situation it is necessary
to remember the condition of the Egyptian Sudan at that
time. The mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed, had preached a holy war
against the Egyptians, and, after the capture of Khartum and
the death of General C. G. Gordon, the Sudan was abandoned
to the dervishes. The Egyptian frontier was withdrawn to
Wadi Haifa, and the vast provinces of Kordofan, Darfur and
the Bahr-el-Ghazal were given over to dervish tyranny and
misrule. It was obvious that Egypt would sooner or later
seek to recover her position in the Sudan, as the command of
the upper Nile was recognized as essential to her continued
prosperity. But the international position of the abandoned
provinces was by no means clear. The British government,
by the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, had secured the
assent of Germany to the statement that the British sphere
of influence in East Africa was bounded on the west by the
Congo Free State and by ``the western watershed of the basin
of the upper Nile''; but this claim was not recognized either
by France or by the Congo Free State. From her base on the
Congo, France was busily engaged pushing forward along the
northern tributaries of the great river. On the 27th of April
1887 an agreement was signed with the Congo Free State by
which the right bank of the Ubangi river was secured to French
influence, and the left bank to the Congo Free State. The
desire of France to secure a footing in the upper Nile valley
was partly due, as has been seen, to her anxiety to extend
a French zone across Africa, but it was also and to a large
The contest for the upper Nile.
extent attributable to the belief, widely entertained in
France, that by establishing herself on the upper Nile France
could regain the position in Egyptian affairs which she had
sacrificed in 1882. With these strong inducements France set
steadily to work to consolidate her position on the tributary
streams of the upper Congo basin, preparatory to crossing into
the valley of the upper Nile. Meanwhile a similar advance
was being made from the Congo Free State northwards and
eastwards. King Leopold had two objects in view---to obtain
control of the rich province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and to
secure an outlet on the Nile. Stations were established on
the Welle river, and in February 1891 Captain van Kerckhoven
left Leopoldville for the upper Welle with the most powerful
expedition which had, up to that time, been organized by the
Free State. After some heavy fighting the expedition reached
the Nile in September 1892, and opened up communications
with the remains of the old Egyptian garrison at Wadelai.
Other expeditions under Belgian officers penetrated into
the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and it was apparent that King Leopold
proposed to rely on effective occupation as an answer to any
claims which might be advanced by either Great Britain or
France. The news of what was happening in this remote region
Of Africa filtered through to Europe very slowly, but King
Leopold was warned on several occasions that Great Britain
would not recognize any claims by the Congo Free State on the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. The difficulty was, however, that neither from
Egypt, whence the road was barred by the khalifa (the successor
of the mahdi), nor from Uganda, which was far too remote from
the coast to serve as the base of a large expedition, could
a British force be despatched to take effective occupation
of the upper Nile valley. There was, therefore, danger
lest the French should succeed in establishing themselves
on the upper Nile before the preparations which were being
made in Egypt for ``smashing'' the khalifa were completed.
In these circumstances Lord Rosebery, who was then British
foreign minister, began, and his successor, the 1st earl of
The Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894.
Kimberley, completed, negotiations with King Leopold which
resulted in the conclusion of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of
12th May 1894. By this agreement King Leopold recognized the
British sphere of influence as laid down in the Anglo-German
agreement of July 1890, and Great Britain granted a lease
to King Leopold of certain territories in the western basin
of the upper Nile, extending on the Nile from a point on
Lake Albert to Fashoda, and westwards to the Congo-Nile
watershed. The practical effect of this agreement was to
give the Congo Free State a lease, during its sovereign's
lifetime, of the old Bahr-el-Ghazal province, and to secure
after His Majesty's death as much of that territory as lay
west of the 30th meridian, together with access to a port on
Lake Albert, to his successor. At the same time the Congo
Free State leased to Great Britain a strip of territory,
15 1/2 m. in breadth, between the north end of Lake Tanganyika
and the south end of Lake Albert Edward. This agreement
was hailed as a notable triumph for British diplomacy. But
the triumph was short-lived. By the agreement of July 1890
with Germany, Great Britain had been reluctantly compelled
to abandon her hopes of through communication between the
British spheres in the northern and southern parts of the
continent, and to Consent to the boundary of German East
Africa marching with the eastern frontier of the Congo Free
State. Germany frankly avowed that she did not wish to have a
powerful neighbour interposed between herself and the Congo Free
State. It was obvious that the new agreement would effect
precisely what Germany had declined to agree to in 1890.
Accordingly Germany protested in such vigorous terms that, on
the 22nd of June 1894, the offending article was withdrawn by
an exchange of notes between Great Britain and the Congo Free
State. Opinion in France was equally excited by the new
agreement. It was obvious that the lease to the Congo Free
State was intended to exclude France from the Nile by placing
the Congo Free State as a barrier across her path. Pressure
was brought to bear on King Leopold, from Paris, to renounce the
rights acquired under the agreement, and on the 14th of August
1894 King Leopold signed an agreement with France by which, in
exchange for France's acknowledgment of the Mbomu river as his
northern frontier, His Majesty renounced all occupation and all
exercise of political influence west of 30 deg. E., and north of
a line drawn from that meridian to the Nile along 5 deg. 30' N.
This left the way still open for France to the Nile,
and in June 1896 Captain J. Marchand left France with
secret instructions to lead an expedition into the Nile
valley. On the 1st of March in the following year he left
Brazzaville, and began a journey which all but plunged Great
Britain and France into war. The difficulties which Captain
Marchand had to overcome were mainly those connected with
transport. In October 1897 the expedition reached the banks
of the Sue, the waters of which eventually flow into the
Nile. Here a post was established and the ``Faidherbe,'' a
steamer which had been carried across the Congo-Nile watershed
in sections, 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 were
specially 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.