.,m.uz..?¥ V A 5., Va. J” in t _: :eawfimw THE PARTITION OF AFRICA BY J. SCOTT KELTIE ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SQCIETY EDITOR OF ‘THE STATESMAN’S YEAR—EOOK,’ ETC. WITH TWENTY—ONE MAPS LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD “x 27 COCKSPUR STREET, CHARING CROSS, SW. T893 All rig/115 resen'ea’ PREFACE FEW words of preface are necessary. The main purpose of this volume is to give a brief connected narrative of the remarkable events which, during the last eight years, have led to the partition of the bulk of Africa among certain of the Powers of Europe. The process of partition has been so bewilderingly rapid, there has been such a jostling crowd of episodes over some millions of square miles, that it is difficult to realise clearly the various stages that have led to the existing conditions. It is hoped that the present volume may enable those interested in Africa to form a fairly clear conception of a story unprecedented in the case of any other continent. In order to connect the main subject with the past history of the Con— tinent, an attempt is made in the earlier chapters to trace the relations of what we may call the outside world with Africa from the Egyptian times down- wards. The book does not profess to be either a history of African exploration or a treatise on the geography of the Continent. Incidentally these matters vi THE PARTITION OF AFRICA may be referred to; but the main purpose is to deal with attempts at settlement, partition, and industrial development. One chapter does deal with the econo- mical aspects of the geography of Africa. Those who desire to study the geography of the Continent in detail need have no difficulty in doing so; there are several easily accessible works. A list of the leading works consulted for the present volume will be found- in the Appendix. I must acknowledge the kindness of Sir John Kirk in reading the whole work, and making many im- portant suggestions. Sir George Taubman Goldie (Royal Niger Company), Mr. George S. Mackenzie (Imperial British East Africa Company), and Mr. George Cawston and Mr. C. H. Weatherley (British South Africa Company), have been good enough to revise the chapters in which they are specially in- terested. Mr. E. G. Ravenstein has been good enough to draw up the Statistical Table in the Appendix. The Index has been made by Dr. James Murie. The Maps, which have been done under the care of Mr. Stanford’s cartographer, Mr. John Bolton, have been specially selected and compiled to illustrate the various stages and aspects dealt with in the work. J. S. K. 4f/zja/zzlmy 1893. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE AFRICA OF THE ANCIENTS PAGE Antiquity of African civilisation—America—Australia—The Egyp- tians—Phoznicians and Carthaginians—Ophir—Arabs on the East Coast—Carthaginians on the West Coast—Phoenician knowledge of Africa—Relations with the interior—The first Greek settlements—Hecatzeus—Herodotus—The Nassamo- nean youths—Enterprise under the Ptolemies—Eratosthenes —Ptolemy’s map—Roman enterprise —A 7716 Perz'plzts— Ptolemy’s knowledge of Africa ——Nile exploration under Nero . . . . . . . I ' CHAPTER II THE ISLAMIC INVASION Africa after the division of the Empire—An early Teutonic settle- ment—The Islamic conquest—North Africa—The Sahara and Sudan—East Africa—Timbuktu—Arab commerce and geo- graphy—Islamism in North and East Africa—\Vest Africa— Arab settlements on the East Coast—Central Sudan—Distri- bution of Islamism . . . . . . 24 CHAPTER III THE PORTUGUESE CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS Venice, Genoa, Dieppe—-Prince Henry’s training—Europe in Prince Henry’s time—Portugal’s exploring energy—Prince viii THE PARTITION OF AFRICA PAGE Henry’s enterprise—First African Company formed—First Portuguese establishments—Congo discovered—The Cape rounded—Result of discovery of America——Vasco da Gama sails up the East Coast—The “Kingdom of Congo” St. Paul de Loanda founded—Conquest of East Coast . . 32 CHAPTER IV PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION Portuguese “discoveries” in the interior —— Genesis of map of Central Africa—Discovery as a claim to possession—Estab- lishment of Portuguese influence—The Monomotapa Empire— African “ kingdoms ”——-Francisco Barreto’s expedition—~Other expeditions into the interior—The Treaty of Monomotapa— Real nature of Portuguese dominion in East Africa . . 4 5 CHAPTER V THE BEGINNING OF RIVALRY Portugal’s monopoly of Africa—Slaves and gold—English enter- prise begins—French enterprisewEngland begins the slave- trade—First English chartered Company—Beginning of a new era—The Dutch enter the field—Growth of the slave-trade— First British chartered Company—The British Company of I662—Another new Company—Danish forts—Brandenburg colonies—The French—The English Company’s new position —The Dutch at the Cape—The English in Tangier . . 59 C H A P T E R VI STAGNATION AND ‘SLAVERY Position in beginning of eighteenth century—Settlements in West Africa—New English African Company—~Wars of the eighteenth century—Sierra Leone—The Cape—The slave- trade—Thc Portuguese in East Africa—An Austrian Settle- ment— Feeling against the sla‘ge-trade . . . 74 \ CONTENTS CHAPTER VII THE POSITION IN 1815 The struggle between France and England—The Colonies and the Mother Country—Imperialism and Federation—Europe’s share in Africa in 1815—Portugal in West Africa—Portuguese claims in the interim—Cape Colony—Po1tugal on the East Coast— Central Africa . . CHAPTER VIII SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION Activity after 181 5—French conquests: Algeria—Senegambia— The Gambia and Sierra Leone—Liberia—The Gold Coast—Lagos —The Niger—The Cameroons and the Cape—South Africa —Livingstone’s work—The Zanzibar region—Opening up of Central Africa—Early German aspirations—British influence at Zanzibar—The—Red Sea—Egyptian conquests—The Suez Canal—Position in 1875 . l CHAPTER IX_7‘ PRELIMINARIES TO PARTITION slave—trade—Interest in exploration~Stanley’s influence— Germany—The King of the Belgians’ ambitions—The Brussels Conference of 1876—The International African Association— National Committees—Expeditions to East Africa—Karema founded—The work of National Committees—A new phase —Stanley’s return—Missions in Central Africa—Stanley and the King of the Belgians—The Congo Committee : its object V —Mr. Stanley returns to the Congo—Annexation 1n the air— Aims of the Congo Committee —A purely Belgian enterprise—— International ’Congo Association—Crude ideas of a Congo State—The King’s aims—Stanley on the Congo—Stanley’s plogress—Proposed creation of :1 Congo State~StanleKom- pletes his work . . PAGE 85 95 112 x THE PARTITION OF AFRICA CHAPTER X HA FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO—VARIOUS FRENCH AND ENGLISH ENTERPRISES PAGE M. De Brazza—De Brazza on the Congo—De Brazza and Stanley —A national scramble—Portugal interferes——- Portugal’s claim to the Congo—Negotiations with England—An Anglo-Portu- guese Congo Treaty—The Treaty abandoned—-International Conference decided on—Bismarck’s opinion of Portugal—The position on the Niger—German enterprise on the Niger—A Trans-Saharan railway—Tunis—Assab and Obock . . I 34 CHAPTER XI BRITISH ADVANCES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST South Africa——Bechuanaland— Damaraland— South African Con- federation —- Matabeleland —— Nyassaland — Zanzibar — The Sudan—Socotra . . . . . I 51 CHAPTER XII GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD The position in 1884—— Early German colonisation—German Colonial Societies— The German African Society—Exploring activity—The German Colonial Society—Bismarck and the Chambers of Commerce—Bismarck’s early search for colonies ——Colonia1 literature—Progress of German trade in Africa— The German and British Foreign Offices—Damaraland and Namaqualand—The Rhenish Missionaries—British protection requested—Increase of trade—Sir Bartle Frere—British Juris- diction confined to \Valfish Bay—BlindneSS of British states- men to Germany’ 5 aspi1ations—Germany’ s cautious advances —Herr Liideritz—Bismarck sounds the British Foreign Office —Liideritz proceeds to Angra Pequefia—Liideritz obtains concession—German flag raised— Indignation in England and the Cape—Evasive conduct of Blitish Government—Germany declares p1otect0rate over Angra Pequefia—Continued British delusions—England recognises German protectorate—Atti- tude of England and the Cape . . . . 159 CONTENTS xi CHAPTER XIII GERMANY IN THE CAMEROONS AND THE GULF OF GUINEA PAGE Further operations in S.VV. Africa Attempt to annex St. Lucia Bay—German traders on the \Vest Coast—British influence on the “fest Coast—England’s dilatory action—Germany takes action—-—The Dubreka river—~Togoland declared a German protectorate—The Cameroons—Annexation by Germany—The Oil Rivers secured to England—Feeling in Germany and England—-Bismarck’s part . . . 191 CHAPTER XIV ~3< THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND THE CONGO FREE STATE A Conference necessary—Origin and purpose of the Conference—- The General Act—Rule as to effective occupation—Creation of the Congo Free State—The reversion to France—King Leopold becomes sovereign of the State—The Free State made over to Belgium—Boundaries of the Free State—Great things expected of the Free State—Becomes a purely Belgian undertaking—Disappointed traders—Exploring activity—Ad- ministration Abuses—Missions—Trade—Slow devel'opment of trade—What the State has done : its future . . 205 CHAPTER XV GERMAN EAST AFRICA Germany and East Africa—British suspicion aroused—Rohlfs’s mission—Karl Peters—Pounds a new society—A secret expe- dition~to East Africa—Treaty-making—The German East Africa Company—The first German charter—Sir John Kirk— Friendly attitude of the British Government—Extent of Sultan’s dominions-—Relations of Germany and England— British projects in East Africa—Initiation of the British East Africa Company—The Sultan protests—“’itu—Harmony between England and Germany—45; delimitation commission ——Extent of territory allotted to the Sultan—Spheres of influence—Limits of German sphere—The Sultan’s position—— Boundary between German and Portuguese territories—The xii THE PARTITION OF AFRICA 'Tungi Bay incident—Fresh difficulties between England and Germany—Development of the German sphere—Germany leases the Sultan’s strip—An administration established“ Results of the German administration—A rebellion organised— Wissmann appointed Imperial Commissioner—Insnrrection sub- dued—Sultan’s rights bought—The Imperial administration— German military methods-—Confidence restored—Expeditions to the interior—Arrangements between Germany and England CHAPTER XVI THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER Activity on the West Coast—Native States in Senegal and Upper Niger basins—French campaigns—Ahmadu and Sammy—— The Futa Jallon—Within the bend of the N iger—Expeditions to Lake Chad—British activity on the Lower Niger—Pioneers —Obstacles to trade—A Company formed—The French on the Lower Niger The French bought out—German attempts on the Niger—The Company triumphs—Becomes the Royal Niger Company—Progress made—The Company’s powers— Freedom of navigation on the Niger—Utility of chartered companies—The Oil Rivers—The West African colonies— Lake Chad and the Central Sudan—French expedition to Lake Chad—International arrangements concerning West Africa—Liberia—I’osition of England and France in West Africa—French and British spheres in the Niger region—On the west of the Middle Niger—In the Chad region—Import- ance of the Chad States—Their division between France and England—The French Sahara A Trans-Saharan railway— French railway dreams—Colonisation projects French ad- ministration in \Vest Africa Spanish claims—Position of the three Powers CHAPTER XVII GERMAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA German South-west Africa—Delimitation between the German and British 5 heres in South-west Africa The resources of South- vm The ameroons—Delimitations—Administra- tion—Exploration and development of the country—Togoland —Its development—Delimitation—The German sphere in Africa PAGE 224 258 296 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER XVIII BRITISH EAST AFRICA PAGE Former position of England at Zanzibar—Initiation of the British East Africa Company—Extent of the Sultan’s territories-— Witu—Hesitations of British Government—The Sultan‘s territories defined—Delimitation of British and German spheres—The British East Africa Association—Imperial British East Africa Company’s Charter—The Company’s difficult task—~The Company’s work—Initial troubles— Pioneer expeditions—Dr. Peters attempts to outflank the Company—Analo~German a reement of 1890—Emin Pasha —-The Comm ations—A railway— British occupation of Uganda—Captain Lugard—Treaty with King of Uganda—Lugard extends British occupationwest- abandon Uganda—Action of the Government—Work accomplished by the Company—Bitish protectorate in Zanzibar and Pemba . 313 CHAPTER XIX THE ITALIAN SPHERE AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN Italy occupies Assab Bay—Massowa—Hostilities with Abyssinia— Treaty with Abyssinia—Colony of Eritrea—Annexations on the Somali coast—Italian relations with the British East African Company—Italy’ 5 position in Africa—The Egyptian Sudan . . . 348 CHAPTER XX ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA British advance in South Africa—The Transvaal and Bechuanaland —Various annexations—Mashonaland and Matabeleland— The Boers and Mashonaland—Portugal and Matabeleland—- British supremacy secured—Lobengula and his warriors-— Claims 'of Portugal—The rival companies—Cecil Rhodes: his Company—A charter obtained—The various companies —P0rtuguese companies—The Government and the Char- tered Company—Value of Matabeleland—The Company takes possession—Progress made—Collision with the Portuguese-— Anglo-Portuguese arrangement—British enterprise in the Lake xiv THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Nyassa region—Claims of Portugal—A trans-African Empire —Troubles with the Arabs—Portuguese attempts to take possession—H. H. Johnston frustrates them—Extended British enterprise—A British Commissioner appointed to Northern Zambesia—Progress in Northern Zambesia CHAPTER XXI AFRICAN ISLANDS Madagascar—Neighbouring islands—Islands off the West Coast Extent and monotony of Africa CHAPTER XXII THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA The tropical continent par excel- lenrefllts relation to the ocean Monotony of outline—Con- figuration of the surface Lack of mountain ranges—High mean elevation—Ternperature—Obstruction to river-naviga- tion——Prevailing winds and rainfall Lakes and rivers— Results of peculiar geography of Africa Economical char- acteristics of tropical regions—North and South Africa— Extent of desert land—Distribution of animals—Minerals— Communications—Modes of conveyance—The natives—~ Labour supply—Density of population—Commercial value of Central Africa How are its resources to be developed P—Can the natives be utilised P—«The 723/6 of the white man—Colonisa- tion—North Africa—\Vhite colonisation—South Africa, its value CHAPTER XXIII CONCLUSION -—1/ Africa before and after the scramble—France’s share—Germany— Portugal—-Italy—Spain—Congo Free State—Great Britain— Tropical Africa the great problem—Limits to European colonisation—Can the native African be trained to work P— Slave-raiding and the Brussels Act—Value of African com- merce—Europe’s duty to the natives—\V'hat remains to be scrambled for—Egypt and British supremacy—England’s duty . . . . . . . PAGE 356 401 405 444 - CONTENTS APPENDIX I THE PARTITION OF AFRICA, JANUARY 1893 APPENDIX II LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE PRE- SENT VOLUME . . . . INDEX XV. 464 4-73 \ wary-1:41» we 1 LIST OF MAPS TO FACE PAGE I. Carthaginian Settlements on the Coast of Africa . . . 8 Africa according to— - 2' Herodotus, 450 B'c' 1 072 one s/zeet . . . . I6 3. Eratosthenes, 200 B.C. 4' Ptolemy, ISO A'D' } on one sheet .. . . . 18 5. Al Idrisi, 1154 A.D. 6. Ptolemy, adapted to a modern map . . - . . . 20 7. Al Idrisi, reproduced from Lelewel’s Atlas . . . 28 8. Martin Behaim, 1492 A.D. . . . . . . 4o 9. Diego Ribero, 1529 21.11. . . . . . . 46 1o. ' Pigafetta, 1591 A.D. . . . . . . 48 II. Jacob van Meurs, I668 A.D. . . . . , _ 66 12. H. Moll, 1710 A. D. . . . . . . 76 13. C. Smith, 1815 A. 1). . ' , 86 14. Africa, showing political divisions, 1893, with an inset Map showing Eulopean Africa 1n 1876 . . . . 400 I 5. Orographical Map of Africa . . 410 I6. Hydrographical Map of Africa showing the navigable waterways 416 17. Temperature Map of Africa for January 18. ,, ,, ,, July 19. Mean Annual Temperature and Rainfall Map 20. Vegetation Map of Africa 21. Population Map of Africa . . . . . . . 430 on one sheet . 418 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA CHAPTER I THE AFRICA 019 THE ANCIENTS Antiquity of African cwilisation——Anierica»Australia—The Egyptians— l’hcenicians and Carthaginians—Ophir-—Arabs on the East Coast Cnrthaginians on the \Vest Const—~thnician knowledge of Africa Relations with the interior—The first Greek settlements—Heca— tzeus—Herodotus—The Nassamonean youths——Enterprise under the Ptolemies—Eratosthenes—Ptolemy’s map Roman enterprise—~T/zr Per:'j>lzu~—Ptolemy‘s knowledge of Africawe Nile exploration under Nero. \VE have been witnesses of one of the most remarkable oArniiiiliig episodes in the history of the world. During the past 3311‘“- eight years we have seen the bulk of the one barbarous continent parcelled out among the most civilised Powers of Europe. That continent is no recent discovery. It is not a new world like America or Australia. It enters into the oldest traditions and the most ancient history. \Vhile yet Europe was the home of wandering bar- barians, long before Abraham left his father’s fields or the Phoenicians had settled on the Syrian coast, one of the most wonderful civilisations on record had begun to work out its destiny on the banks of that Nile, the B America. ,. ... '1 ‘ I~‘ '- Ir‘ :7. ,: .7 #5117 ,vA/crnnozv 0/«'A1~'1¢1CA . . . v. 1 ' a . . , ,mystery of whose source, so long sought for, has been solved only within our own time. It does not enter into the scope of this work to discuss the origin or trace the history of Egypt; it is enough for us that the continent on which the oldest, or, at least, one of the oldest, civilisations was born and was developed through thousands of years is even now less known than a continent discovered 400 years ago, and has only during the past few years been taken seriously in hand by the peoples who have the making of the world’s commerce and the world’s history. Let us, by way of contrast, glance briefly at what has happened with respect to America and Australia. Just 400 years ago Columbus stumbled upon a new world with a land area of 1 6,000,000 square miles, about five times the size of Europe. With the exception of fringes of undeveloped civilisations, the secret of whose origin we have not yet fathomed,‘ the American continent was given over to barbarians ; it is doubtful if its total population exceeded 4,000,000; the population of North America was probably not much more than half a million. In the 400 years that have elapsed since this momentous discovery, the feeble indigenous civilisations have disappeared, the copper-coloured bar- barians have been driven into recesses, exterminated, or reduced to what is little better than slavery; and over the face of the Continent have spread some I 30,000,000 of people of European origin or descent. In the United States alone, covering about the same area as Europe, there are probably now 57,000,000 of white people, and in Canada another 4,000,000. All 1' THE AFRICA OF THE ANCIExVTS , 3 the arts and industries and cultures of the highest civilisation flourish on the American continent as they do in Europe. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce. are advancing with giant strides. The trade of the United States is about the same in value as that of Germany or that of France. In less than another century the New World may be running a neck— and—neck race with the Old along every line of progress. It is little more than a century since the first con- vict settlement was established in New South \Vales. It is only about half a century since Australia may be said to have had a free hand. In size it is somewhat less than Canada or EurOpe. \V hen it was discovered it is doubtful if the native population amounted to more than half a million, belonging to the lowest type of humanity. The country was absolutely virgin soil: the conditions were much less favourable than in America. In the brief period during which Europe has been in touch with Australia, the half million savages have given way to over 3,000,000 whites, mostly of British origin; and these 3,000,000 have so far developed the resources of the Continent that the total trade amounts to about £120,000,000 sterling annually. Such is the progress that has been made in two continents; one discovered only 400 years ago, the other practically untouched by Europe until about a century ago. Let us now briefly trace the efforts made to appro— priate the African continent by those whose interests and enterprise have extended beyond their own homes. Australia. The Egyp- tians. 4 T/‘l/E PARTITION 0/” AFRICA We do not venture to account for the origin of the Egyptians or of their civilisation. Whether the civilisa- tion of Egypt was of purely indigenous growth, or whether its w were introduced from the outside, does not concern our present purpose. Were the Egyptians the first to begin the partition of Africa from the outside? That depends on what we mean by partition. Ages before the seed of Egyptian civilisation was sown, humanity had begun to pour in from Asia, and the north coast of Africa must have been peopled by a race which formed the basis of the ’Berber population of the present day. But these were wandering barbarians, just as were the pigmies, the Zulus, the Hottentots, farther south. The portion of Africa on which‘the Egyptians flourished for ages was even to a late period regarded as a part of Arabia. The Egyptians are not generally credited with being great navigators till the time of the Ptolemies, but there has recently been found on the monuments the record of a great national expedition sent down the Red Sea by a queen of the period, about the year 1200 11C. Its destination was the country of Punt, about the situation of which there is even more doubt than there is about that of Ophir. Except along the coast-land of the Mediterranean, the knowledge of Africa westwards, possessed by the Egyptians, was until a comparatively recent period probably bounded by the Nile Valley. How far south their knowledge extended it is impossible precisely to say. Very early in their history, as early, probably, as 2000 B.C., they had dealings with 'l‘llli .-1Fl\‘1C.-I 0F 7711.5 ANCIENTS ' 5 Ethiopia (the country generally lying south of Ecrypt proper, including Nubia, _Northern Abyssinia, and possibly Kordofan), and so their knowledge of the river may have extended as far as the site of Khartum, though even that is doubtful. It may be said that an enterprising people like the Egyptians, who carried their arms far and wide, who must have had an extensive trade with the peoples dwelling along the Nile, and who in all probability were regularly supplied with slaves from the interior, must have had some knowledge, even if only based on rumour, of the sources of the great river on which their very existence depended. Wthey may; but if so, that knowledge never found (13:20:13,; or if it did, the record has been lost. It is just as probable that they remained till the time of the Phcenicians, Cartha- ginians, and Greeks in complete ignorance of all that lay beyond the latitude of Ethiopia. Let us realise how vague were the notions of both the Greeks and the Romans of Central and Northern Europe, and of Asia beyond India and Persia. For untold ages the Old World knew nothing of the New. Only half a century ago the map of Central Africa was a blank from 10° north latitude to the confines of the Cape Colony. It is about thirty years since we obtained any certain knowledge of those great lakes which from an early period were rumoured to exist in the centre of the Continent. It is only fourteen years since the course of Africa’s greatest river was traced out by Mr. Stanley. If, then, 400 years after the discovery of a new Continent, with all the intense eagerness of the thm’eians and Cartha- ginians. 6 THE PA /1’ T 1 7 7 01V 0/" A Flt’lC/I modern world for increasing knowledge, with half a dozen great nations representing some 200,000,000 of the most advanced peoples of the earth keenly competing in the exploration of the world and in the acquisition of wealth and of power we are still ignorant of great ar We SW and other nations of antiquityLwith wants ifilgmfiganh,. CWd with ours, with a total populationLM’ scarcely e ual to that of one of em great states, with all Europe and all Asia before them where to choose, continent and its savages alone, taking from it my what could be conveniently reached from trading‘ stations on the coast, or through the “W of the Nile? No should it be for otte 1.. u .cameL. for it in " the Sahara, the mst formidable. barrier/to the penetration of Central Mom—the nfih. Mo1e01 01, it should be remembered that Egypt, especially in the height of her greatness, was on , g with Asia than with {11101; indeed, as we have seen, up to a comparatively late period. ligygt, east of—the Nile, was regarded as part of Arabia. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians did far more to extend the knowledge of Africa than did the Egyptians ; and it may have been from them that Homer and Hesiod derived their knowledge of the Mediter- ranean coast. Thebes was about the limit of Homer’s knowledge of Africa 011 the south, though he had heard of the Ethiopians and the pigmies, who thus \v ole, more concernec THE AFRICA 01" THE AIVCIEJVTC 7 figure on the map of Africa from a very remote» period ; they are, probably, the remnants of the aboriginal population. But it would be a mistake to attribute much reality to Homer’s geography, though, perhaps, it fairly indicated the knowledge which in his time existed among his countrymen. The Egyptians themselves, as has been stated, were not great navigators ; indeed, they seem not to have possessed a fleet of any importance till the time of the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Philadelphus maintained two powerful fleets in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. But long before this the Phoenicians had appeared in the Mediterranean, and soon achieved a position as traders, navigators, and colonisers unequalled by any people of ancient times except perhaps the Arabians. Doubtless their example stimulated the Egyptians to more enter- prise as navigators, but for a long period we know the Phoenicians had almost a monopoly of the carrying trade of the Mediterranean world, and their sailors were in demand for the ships of other nations. About their connection with Africa there is no doubt. They were probably not the first of the Semitic family to settle in North Africa; Hamites, at least, there were in plenty. ty e as was th ' n alon the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Utica, perhaps the earliest Phoenician (Syrian) colony in Africa, was founded about I 100 B.C., even before Gades (Tarshish), on the coast of Spain, and 280 years before Carthage, a few miles distant on the same Tunisian coast. Before Carthage was founded, Utica had established stations or trading 8 'l‘flli /’A If T l 7 701V 0]" g] lv‘lx’lC/l factories along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and down the Atlantic coast, where Lixus became a great centre. Syrian colonies were thickly planted as far as the mouth of the river now known as the Draa, to the south of Morocco, and thence, it is believed, there were caravan routes to the country of the Blacks. Their trading stations or factories were no doubt very similar to those which at a later period were planted by Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch along the coast of Central Africa, to which native traders brought the products of the interior in exchange for goods of European origin. Carthage, as it grew in power, also, like Utica, established its stations west and south along the African coast. Many of these settlements were more than mere trading stations. Cultivation of various kinds was carried on, and from the African coast of the Mediterranean corn was exported in large quantities. We have pretty certain information as to ”the extent of knowledge which the Carthaginians had of the African west coast, but considerable doubt exists as to how far the Phoenicians were in the habit of voyaging down the east coast of the Continent. The story of the circum— navigation of the Continent by Phoenicians in the time of King Necho, about 610 B.C., has often been told. So far as the dam go, that a Phoenician expedition starting from the Red Sea sailed down the east coast, round the south coast, and north by the west coast to the Pillars of Hercules and on to Egypt, there is no difficulty in crediting the story. At that period the ships of the l’hoenicians must have been quite as capable of coasting along Africa as they were of navigating the 10 S t. of Columns' RTHAGINIAN SETTLEMENTS IN .AFREA. ’ V! § 0 5 10 o ' ‘ ‘ ' K .4 ‘ ,V Gyzant e S Byz azkium Mes < Syj'btis Magné, Scale of 9 50 1(I)0 - 290 300 M1188 p i) w~ 4‘ Lonflnn; Eihvanl SW26 8c27 Cockspur St.,Charin§ Cross, SW .5de Geog? 3mm 7Y1]? AFRICA 01" THE .-1NC1ENT5 9 Atlantic, crossing the Bay of Biscay to the shores of Britain. They knew the west coast of the Continent for a considerable distance south, and they probably knew the east coast at least to beyond the Red Sea. The passage is well known in which it is stated that Solomon (about 1000 13.0.) equipped a fleet at Ezion Gebir on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, and how, with the help of Hiram, King of Tyre, it was sent to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold. In another passage it is related how the united fleets of Solomon and Hiram went every three years and brought back not only gold, but silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks, besides sandalwood and precious stones. Where was Ophir? Volumes have been written on Ophir. the subject, and it has been identified with at least a dozen localities of the present day. Able critics main- tain that it was on the south-west coast of Arabia, and was really only an entrepét or great distributing centre. Quite recently, since the opening up of the gold-pro- ducing country on the south of the Zambesi—Mashona— land and Manica—the view has been revived that there we must look for Ophir. \Ve have only conjecture to guide us; it is a balance of probabilities. \Vherever Ophir may have been situated, there can be little doubt that the traders of the period, Phoenicians, Arabs, Egyp- tians, had access to some rich, gold-producing country, for the quantity of the precious metal used, not simply for trinkets and vessels, but even for temple and house decoration, must have been enormous. There were gold-mines accessible from the Nile Valley ; but no Old— VVorld country known and accessible to these ancient Arabs on the East; Coast. [0 77115 1% If T] ’l‘lOZV 0 l" A ['71)] C4 nations, not Arabia, not India, not Abyssinia, not any l\/Iediterranean country, can be compared with the Zambesi region in its gold-productiveness. Let it be remembered that the Arabians themselves were great traders and navigators; that the Phoenicians were in constant communication with them; that they must have known the coast of Africa, which was quite within hail of their country; that there is every reason to believe they had settlements there from a remote period, and in all probability were familiar with the East African coast far to the south. Indeed, the Arabians seem to have jealously guarded the east coast of Africa, the Phoenicians acting as intermediaries between them and Egypt and the other countries on the Mediterranean. That some people, long before the Portuguese, worked the mines of Mashonaland is evidenced by the great ruins scattered over the country; whether they were Arabians, Persians, Indians, or Pheenicians, remains to be discovered; it is certain that these ruins are older than the Mohammedan period. But that the gold supplies obtained by the l’htenicians, through the Arabs in such lavish abundance, may have been brought from the rich mines of South Africa is not at all im— probable. Directly or indirectly, then, it is probable the ‘east coast of Africa was known to the Arabians as far south as about Mozambique. If the Phoenicians knew of this they kept their knowledge to themselves, or at least did not communicate it to the Greeks, from whom our knowledge of what the Phoenicians did and knew is derived. Unfortunately not a scrap of Phoeni— cian or Carthaginian literature has come down to us. THE A F R] CA 01" TIIE A NCIENTS l I We have much fuller and more precise knowledge of gfiggzgtigé the extent of Phoenician, or rather Carthaginian, know- Westcoast- ledge and enterprise on the west than on the east coast of Africa. According to one statement the Phoenician settlements on the west coast had been attacked some 500 years before Christ by the natives of the interior, and some of them destroyed. However this may have been, there is little doubt that about that date Hanno, a Carthaginian admiral, was sent out with a large fleet of vessels containing some 30,000 natives of the district round Carthage, some of them pure Carthaginians, most of them probably natives subject to the state, who had been to a certain extent civilised. Hanno settled contingents of these colonists at various places along the west coast, and succeeded with his fleet in getting as far south as about Sierra Leone; some critics would even take him to the Bight of Benin. The Phoenicians may thus fairly be regarded as the $333113? first to begin the partition of Africa some 3000 years ago; °f Africa- though it is, as we have seen, possible that the Arabs had stations on the east coast at quite as remote a date. The Egyptians go back to so remote a period that they may almost be classed as indigenous, like the Abys— sinians and other natives who spread in wave after wave over the Continent from Asia. The Phoenicians may also be considered as the earliest of explorers, though their explorations were always with a View to trade. Much of the knowledge of Africa possessed by the Greeks, who have transmitted it to us, was obtained from the Phoenicians and their colonists on the Medi- Relations with the interior. I 2 7 71/5 PA I“ T] TION O l" A 171?] CA terranean coast. But after all, this partition of Africa did not amount to much. The doctrine of the Hz’m‘er/am/ had not been invented at that early date. Though Carthage was a great and a powerful state it was a comparatively tiny one. Its greatness and the great- ness of the motherland, Phoenicia, was to a very large extent dependent on their colonies, such as they were. With the disappearance of their colonies the mother country succumbed. Carthage, the most powerful of these Phoenician colonies, was really even more than England a nation of shopkeepers, though culture reached a high state of development. How far the trading relations of Carthage and her colonies or factories along the north and west coasts extended into the interior of Africa we have no means of knowing. That Carthaginian or other Phoenician traders themselves travelled into the interior across the Sahara for trading purposes is in the highest degree improbable. No attempt seems to have been made, as was the case with Egypt, and as is the case at the present day in Algeria, to push conquests into the interior. True, the attacks of the natives on the borders of the settlements had often to be repelled, and these border tribes may to some extent have been within the sphere of influence of the more powerful colonies, but that was all. The farthest south people known to the settlements on the Mediterranean were the Garamantes. It is probable enough that with these and other natives trading relations may have been established, and so from stage to stage a connection may have been formed with the Sudan region beyond the Sahara. liven in the I ‘HE A FRI CA 0F Til/i A N C] If N T5 1 3 time of the Carthaginians the Sahara may not have been so much of a desert as it is at the present day; there is evidence that at one time it must have teemed with life. But the absence of the camel, almost indis— pensable for desert traffic, was a serious obstacle to any- thing like extensive trade: and there is little doubt that it was only after the Mohammedan conquest that the camel was introduced into North Africa. That there was considerable cultivation along the Mediter— ranean slopes we know, and manufactures also in the larger settlements; but the trade with the far interior of Africa must have been of the most limited character, while the knowledge which the Carthaginians possessed of this interior probably did not extend many miles beyond their own borders. Before the date of the possible circumnavigation under Necho, over a century before the voyage of Admiral Hanno, we hear of the first establishment of a Euro— pean power on the coast of Africa. There is evidence that long before this Greeks had found their way to Egypt, and to the Phoenician settlements, and that there was a busy intercourse between the two shores of the Mediterranean; but it was only in 631 RC. that the Greeks planted a settlement of their own on the Continent. They chose one of the most delightful and fertile spots inall Africa—the district which bulges out into the Mediterranean on the east of the Great Syrtis, that part of Tripoli known as Barca. Here the city of Cyrene was founded and the district was known as Cyrenaica. In time other cities were founded, and a flourishing Greek The first Greek set~ tlements. Hecataaus. 14 TH]? PARTITIOJV OF AFRICA settlement grew up, which carried on agriculture and had trade relations with the Nassamones and Garamantes of the interior. Greeks flocked to this African settlement, many of them as colonists, some few of them out of curiosity as visitors. The inter- course between Greece and Africa became more and more constant, and before Herodotus arrived in Egypt, about the middle of the fifth century B.C., he had, doubt- less, been preceded by others, though by no one so eager for information nor so skilled in recording it. But we do not in those early times hear of any enterprises corresponding to our modern exploring expeditions, the main object of which is the increase of knowledge. We find men like Herodotus, and others after him, going about the world of the period, but it was rather in the capacity of tourists than explorers. Herodotus was the Mr. Froude or the Sir Charles Dilke of his time. All this going to and fro for commerce, for conquest, for curiosity, could not however fail to add to the knowledge of the world possessed by the Greeks, who, so far as we are concerned, were the centre of the knowledge of the time. One of the earliest Greek geographical writers, if not the earliest, to make a map of the world was Hecataeus of Miletus, and in this map he embodied all the knowledge of Africa which existed among the Greeks at that period. We unfor- tunately cannot reproduce a copy of the actual map of Hecatzeus, but the map introduced affords a very fair idea of the extent to which Africa was known to the Greeks about 500 B.C. Hecataeus had not heard of Hanno’s voyage, nor evidently of the earlier one THE AFRICA OF THE ANCIENTS 15 . under Necho, King of Egypt. He had a fair know— ledge of the Mediterranean coast, of the Middle and Lower Nile, which was supposed to rise in the cir- cumambient ocean, but of scarcely anything beyond. Europe occupies a space quite out of proportion to its size, while Africa is regarded as only a part of Asia. The map of Herodotus, which may be dated fifty Herodotus. years later, does not differ greatly from that of Hecatzeus. “’0 have a little more detail and a little more precision in parts. Unfortunately we have only fragments of the text of Hecataeus, while so far as Africa is concerned we have the work of Herodotus-~ traveller, geographer, historian—intact : and it is to him we are indebted for our knowledge of what the Greeks knew of the Continent in the fifth century B.C. He visited Egypt and Cyrene about 448 13.C., and there set himself diligently to collect information concerning the interior of Africa. He gives a very fair picture of the social and political condition of the peoples of the Nile Valley at the date of his visit. For the first time we hear of Meroe, the capital city of the Ethiopians. Herodotus knew of the desert that extends to the west— ward of Egypt, and of some of its oases, and of the mountains that divide that desert from the Mediter— ranean on the west. He gives us the names of various peoples that lived on the northern borders of the desert. He had heard of the voyage of Hanno down the west coast, and of the circumnavigation during Necho’s reign. He The Nassa- heard, at fourth hand it is true, of certain youths from $1111? among the Nassamones to the south—west of Cyrenaica, who made a long journey into the interior across the Enterprise under the Ptolemies. Bratos - thenes. I6 'l'l'llc‘ /’/1 I? TIT/0N 0/" A FIB/CA desert in a south-west direction, and were taken prisoners by a tribe of pigmies and carried off to a great river that flowed eastwards, and on which stood a large city. The conditions are so very similar to those which we know to exist in the Niger region that the story has been accepted by good authorities as essen- tially true ; but there are grave reasons for doubt if the youths really crossed the Sahara. Herodotus took the river to be the Nile, and on this account, and because he too, like Hecatzeus, foreshortened the Continent, he makes the Nile flow from the west and north-west. The Nile, Herodotus tells us, was known to the Egyptians as far as the country of the Automolm, four months’ journey beyond the confine of Egypt at Syene. Evidently he knew nothing of the great tributaries of the Nile, and of its sources the Egyptians were entirely ignorant. About 100 years after Herodotus came the Con- quest of Egypt by Alexander: ultimately it became a Greek province. Under the Ptolemies it rose to a great height of power and prosperity; commerce and navigation were encouraged ; the Red Sea coast was studded with commercial centres; and Egypt itself was explored far to the south. We shall see from the map illustrative of the knowledge of Eratosthenes, the first scientific geographer, the great progress which had been made. The Highlands of Abyssinia were known, and the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile, and probably also the \Vhite Nile, which, ' it was said, flowed from some lakes in the south; the great bend of the river between Syene and Meroe was correctly laid down; the coast was known as far as AFRICAACCOBDnvGTo BERODOTUS 450 BC. Yr, ,7, ¥__,__. LIBYVA THERIODES WinBensm} ‘Ezgion of M i h” ws ‘5 we $099.2 NV” my“ ‘8‘" ”9 Atla‘s‘f 2"} Q a?“ W l. l B Y A Autonwlz’, AETHIOPIANS e, .99 {~7— mfi x V b Macro AFRICA ACCORDINGIO ERATOSTBENES 200 B.C. Meridian 01" JWNZ. Alexandria THE AFRICA 0F YHE AZVCIENTS 17 Cape Guardafui ; even something had been learned of Cerne and other Carthaginian settlements on the west coast. Thus the knowledge of the Nile region had grown considerably during the time of the Ptolemies, though it is evident that Eratosthenes knew little more than did Herodotus of the rest of Africa. But we need not trace in detail the extension of the fiaolemy’s map of Africa from one geographer to another. Ptolemy, . the famous Alexandrian astronomer, who flourished about 140 years after Christ, may be regarded as sum- ming up all the knowledge of the Continent that had accumulated since Egypt began her career, 4000 years at least before his time. About I 70 years before Ptolemy’s time (35 15.0) Egypt had become a Roman province, Carthage having succumbed to the same fifii’éfiisa all-conquering power over 100 years before that. The Greeks, and after them the Romans, were there— fore the first European poWers to obtain an extensive footing in Africa; but, after all, it was only along its northern borders. The whole of North Africa became a part of the Roman Empire, while the Phoenician and Carthaginian settlements on the west coast appear rapidly to have decayed or lapsed into barbarism. The Punic wars and the travels of Polybius in the early part of the second century B.C. extended the knowledge of Africa to the south of the Mediterranean; Polybius, indeed, who had voyaged for 600 miles down the west coast, considerably extended the area of the Continent to the south, and had abandoned the circumambient ocean of Hecatzeus. Before Ptolemy’s time traders and navigators had pushed round Cape Guardafui, and we C The Peri~ plus. Ptolemy’ 5 knowledge of Africa 18 77/15 /’A /\"/'/'[‘/(}1V ()1" AFRICA know from the /’(v'z'/7///.r (ff [/m Emil/1.177711 5m that there were many towns and trading centres at least as far south as the latitude of Zanzibar, if not farther. This Peri/#113, which dates some sixty years before Ptolemy, is a great storehcmse of information as to the extent to which East Africa was known, and the nature of the trade that was carried on. It is a sort of navigation guide or directory to the coasts of the Red Sea, and of Africa from the Straits of Babelmandeb down to about the latitude of Zanzibar. l’robably it was not very long before the date of the l’z’nflus that the Egyptians had rounded the Cape Guardafui, and the towns they found on the coast were in all likelihood inhabited not by aboriginal £~\fricans, but by Arab and Indian settlers from the opposite coast of Asia. But it is evident that early in the Christian era traders from Egypt, starting from Red Sea ports, sailed round by Cape Guardafui, and calling at many ports on the way, went far down the as far as the mouth of the Zambcsi. l’tolemy himself was no traveller. lie was, in truth, east coast, possibly what is sometimes called an armchair geographer. He not only availed himself of the knowledge accumu— lated by previous geographers. but collected itineraries from traders and travellers from all parts of the world. These, unfortunately, he did not record verbatim. He tabulated their results, so to speak, and plotted them on maps. His distances are often very much out; his statements inconsistent with what we know to be the facts, and often unintelligible; but when all allowance is made, it will be seen that during the 600 or 700 years that had elapsed since the time of Herodotus, the AFRICA ACCORDING To PTOLEMY 150 AD v122§adzema “late Wu“;- Q'RQ. fiaudns M. "302.1. uklxplzal. 1 Agisymba, regin Sac : K ‘ I: I. IM‘N “.3 ‘, 9‘50 a h meontes i Terra Incognita w:an-ditzmlll. Incognita l _,, AFRICA ACCORDING TO AL IDRJSI 1154 AD. THE Alv‘li’lCA OF THE AZVCIENTS 19 knowledge of the world generally, and of Africa in particular, had advanced considerably; in the case of Africa, however, mainly along the coasts, and up the Nile. Let us recall the fact that in the meantime Egyptian, Carthaginian, and Greek in Africa had all become subject to Roman sway. The world had grown, and civilisation had extended, and with it, no doubt, trade had expanded. Along the h/lediterranean and Red Sea shores of Africa and down by the shores of the Indian Ocean traders and navigators were busy; but the old settlements down the west coast seem to have been abandoned. On the north we have no record of - any expeditions across the Sahara. While there was constant fighting between native princes and Roman troops, and border warfare frequently enough, effective occupation, except at certain points, hardly extended beyond the coast region, and the lower slopes of the Atlas westwards. \Ve do read of an expedition in the reign of Nero about 60 A.D., an expedition, too, which had for its object a search for the sources of the Nile, the first of a long series “which may be said to have culminated in Mr. Stanley’s exploration of the Semlike. The expedition was under the charge of a military officer, and was of small dimensions. From the description which these early explorers brought back of immense marshes, and of a river so choked up by vegetation as to be impass- able, it has been thought by the best authorities that they may really have reached the region above the Sobat, on the White Nile, about 9° north latitude, where Nile ex- ploration under Nero. 20 T1115 l’.-’1/L’7L/I'10A' OF AFRICA Baker and other explorers of our own century have had to struggle with a similar obstruction. This, then, probably gives us the limit of exploration in the African interior from the north, and of precise know- ledge of that interior until the time when the pro- selytising Moslems made their way across the Sahara. Ptolemy, no doubt, in constructing his maps had at his command this as well as other information. He, it should be remembered, was a citizen of Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander 400 years before Ptolemy's time, and at that date one of the greatest seaports of the world. It was the centre of all African trade, the ' resort of skippers and travellers from all parts of the coast of North Africa, from whom and from all other available sources, evidently Ptolemy made a point of gathering information. Yet he does not seem to have known the Peri/>121: of the 1273071766275 Sea. Egyptian traders had evidently found their way round the Horn of Africa in the early years of the first century. What, then, can we learn from the map of Ptolemy as to the knowledge of Africa possessed in the second century of our era by the Romans and those whose knowledge and possessions they had inherited? Of the Mediterranean coast we may say they had a very complete knowledge, though their conception of its contour and extent was far from being accurate. 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Islamism in North Africa was of the most aggressive character, and swept away almost all traces of previous religions and previous civilisations. Berbers, Romans, Greeks, Visigoths soon merged all their distinctions in lslamisrn. At the present day the religion of Islam is still of a fanatical character, intensely so in the Central Sudan, where there has been comparatively little contact with Europeans. On the east coast again, where it estab- lished itself independently, it has all along been of a milder type. In the north Islamism was established at the point of the sword; in the east it was introduced by the Arab and Indian traders. These did not exhibit any great proselytising zeal ; and indeed, so far as we can learn, the Arab traders of East Africa did not, until a comparatively recent period, themselves move far from the coast, and, except perhaps in the south of ‘ the Zambesi, had no permanent settlements in the interior. About the middle of the eleventh century there seems to have been a fresh migration of Nomad Arabs v from Upper Egypt into West Africa. Between the ’ eleventh and the thirteenth centuries the religion of ‘ Mohammed made its way southwards, and found a home in Kanem, on the north of Lake Chad, and in the Sonrhai or Songhay Country, lying between that and the Middle Niger. Probably also about the same period lslamism first reached those Fulbe or Fellatah >" "A” ‘ W MW? if; J” AB mejm ' ' ”fl" Wit ,0 s ‘ W TABULA no'rumu .>1>‘¢>1>33,>> g 19>: l 3‘ Ya, )« I" 1" v}; “‘0 /' J ',’> '1l m (R 3);: )>>( . .>>>.!H ‘\‘ . ‘ Vu. ’ >«~ \KW‘ H: 7W1 ”H u ”Mn. '1, .\_ .' \‘>' ‘ ‘g‘fi’lfiufiflm E“ h 1,;1 ‘ «PE-.35 9‘?»ng . ~ ,“\ >>>>>2>>>>>r~ ~ 1 ' >3fi>>r>>>m> ,_ I, .> w" > $1 WWW «3 - I a, ‘u > ‘4 \ ‘1 "> ' ' >‘> m ’ 1 "a Ii ,1, n" {1 \\ \ >, - , . ., . I, , \ u ,1 > >, u 1 > v " . ‘ 4 I , V” > V r n ‘1' . I A.A.A.4.M.._4_HA__.A.\,1L ‘ .-_:» » 3%.“ pk“ 5’ ”Beak \__AL.-~..~. ”Am“. yum; THE ISL/1311C IzVL'A 510A' 29 who have played so conspicuous a part in the chequered history of the W'estern Sudan. The first settlements of Islamic Asiatics on the east $123319. coast took place about the year 740 A.D., when political 33:8?“ and religious dissensions broke up the unity of the faith. Among the states and towns founded in the first place by Arab and later on by Persian refugees on the east coast the more prominent were: (I) Magdoshu; (2) Kilwa or Quiloa ; (3) Brava, Mclinde, and Mombaz or Mombasa. Magdoshu was supreme in the north and Kilwa in the south. \Vith the declining power of these two states and towns, Melinde and Mombasa, situated midway between them, appear to have increased in influence and importance. Magdoshu was founded between 909 and 9 51 A.D.; Kilwa between 960 and [000. These Arabian cities and communities were prosperous, and in some degree civilised; but they were deficient in military organisation.1 They had been founded by traders, emigrants, and exiles, who behaved peaceably to the natives. Each settlement seems to have been either an independent sultanate or republic, the inhabitants caring only for their trade with the natives, and making no great efforts to proselytise outside their own retainers. By the time the Portu— guese reached the east coast it was studded with populous cities as far south as Sofala, and it is evident that there was regular intercourse with the gold— yielding region, south of the Zambesi. It was not until 1 To the Persian element which arrived on the coast from Shiraz, fleeing from religious persecution about the tenth century, we owe most of the civilisation that existed, and of which evidence is still to be seen in buildings, the ruins of which are scattered on the coast at Kilwa and elsewhere. Central Sudan. Distribu- tion of Is- lamism. 30 THE PARTITION 0/" AFRICA the fifteenth century that Mohammedanism found its way into Somaliland and the region aroundzZeila and Harar. It is probable that Nubia and Kordofan succumbed to the new religious invasion early in the fourteenth century. By the end of the seventeenth century the whole of the Central Sudan, and even much of the region to the west of the Niger, may be regarded as under the sway of Islam, largely by the efforts of the fanatical lf‘ellatah. 1n the end of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries there was a fresh outburst of religious fanaticism on the part of the Fellatah, which spread over the Senegambian region, including Sokoto and neighbouring countries of the Niger, and carried the religion of Mohammcd even down to the Gulf of Guinea. Generally speaking, it may be said that Islam has a firm hold over the whole of Africa north of 10° ‘north latitude, and has a prevailing influence between that and 5°. Towards the cast it comes even farther ‘ south, to the shores of Victoria Nyanza, and is met with on the east coast even to Cape Delgado. The Arab traders and slavers who have found their way into Central Africa from Zanzibar have carried Islam in a mild form as far as Lake Tanganyika and the Upper Congo; but south of 5° north it does not seem destined to take a permanent hold. liven in the countries watered by the Niger and its t1ibutaries uhc1e the fanatical and in- . telligent I‘ellatah are dominant, Mohammedanism has but a slende1 hold among the bulk of the people , they . are to all intents and purposes pagans. The dist1ibution of Mohammedanism is of import— 771E ISL/1 J]! C IA'VA SION 3i ance, as it is a factor to be taken into account in the attempt tovspread European influence. But it is antici- pating events even thus briefly to trace the spread of the religion of Mohammed down to the present day. it was, however, something more than the spread of a religion ; Islamism brought with it, almost without fail, political organisation, a certain amount of civilisation, R commercial activity, and the establishment of slavery as an institution. Venice, Genoa, Dieppe. CHAPTER III THE PORTUGUESE CIRCUMXAV'IUATIONS Venice, Genoa, Dicppe—Prince Henry's training-«AEurope in Prince Henry’s. time - Portugal’s exploring energy — Prince Henry’s enterprise—First African Company formed——l"iist Portuguese estab- lishments-reseCongo discovered—The Cape rounded—Result of dis. covery of America Vasco da Gama sails up the East Coast—«The “Kingdom Of Congo "” MSt. Paul de Loanda foundedwConquest of East Coast. THE sailors of Venice and Genoa, which, with other Italian cities, were for so long the dominant mercantile and maritime states of the world, especially from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, were more familiar with the eastern Mediterranean and its offshoots than with the Pillars of Hercules. In the fourteenth century Dicppe was one of the most prosperous and enterprising seaports of Europe. Her sailing ships ventured everywhere,and volumes have been written to prove that as early as I 364 the merchants of Dieppe had formed a trading station, which they named Petit Dieppe, on a point of the Guinea Coast, half-way between Cape Palmas and Sierra Leone. They are said to have had their comptoz'rs, or factories, extending from Cape Verde to the Gold Coast, and to have built a church at El Mina. French patriotism THE PORTUGUESE CIRCUIIIA’A VIGA TIONS 33 naturally makes the most of the evidence on which the story of these enterprises is founded, and it is of so feeble a character as to demand some such support. If the occupation of the West African coast by Dieppe mer- chant adventurers ever took place, it must have been of very brief duration, and exercised no influence upon the permanent partition of the Continent. There is much more probability in the statement that Italian emigrants found their way down the west coast as far, at least, as Cape Bojador about the middle of the fourteenth cen— tury. The Rio d’Oro, Madeira, and the Canaries are found on maps of about that date. It is even stated on good authority that an Englishman, Robert O’Machin, eloped with a young lady and a vessel from Bristol and was drifted to the shores of Madeira. In the first decade of the fifteenth century the Norman, Jean de Bethencourt, began the conquest of the Canaries. All this at least shows that before the Portuguese began those explorations, which ended in the discovery of the whole of the African coast, and crowned their nation with glory, the west coast was fairly well known as far as Cape Nun. The beginning of the modern exploration and parti— Prince _ - Henry’s ton of Africa is with justice dated from the famous training. siege of Ceuta on the coast of Morocco, opposite Gibraltar, by the Portuguese in I4I'5. After six centuries of oppression the Moors had been driven from Portugal, though they lingered in the south of Spain. But the little kingdom had still to struggle for many years ere she was able to secure her independence from the dominion of Castile. \Vhen Prince Henry, I.) 34 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA who earned for himself the title of “the Navigator,” was born in I 394, the son of the able and brave King John I. and Philippa, daughter of the English John of Gaunt, Portugal, through many trials and struggles, had reached 'a position respected and feared by her enemies, Christian and Moslem. By the time Prince Henry had reached the age of manhood, and was eager to earn his“ knightly spurs,” King John was in a position to carry his enter- prises beyond the shores of his own country and to strike a blow at the stronghold of the enemies of Christendom. At the storming and capture of Ceuta, Prince Henry and his two elder brothers bore themselves bravely. Whether it was this visit to the coast of Africa that inspired the prince with a burning desire to trace its outline we do not know; but three years thereafter he sent out the first of those expeditions which continued year after year to the time of his death, and earned for him his title of “Navigator.” While in Africa he heard much from the Moors of the trade by caravan to Timbuktu and Guinea, and of the reported wealth of the interior of the Continent. A man of the prince’s intelligence and enterprise had doubtless heard of the discoveries of the Arabs in Africa and elsewhere; and it is only reasonable to suppose that he had at least seen the Catalan map, and had read the geography of Edrisi. Nor is it an extravagant supposition that he had come to the conclusion that, by sailing round the coasts of Africa to such places as Sofala, Kilwa, and Zanzibar, familiar to Arab geo- graphers, he would be able to make his way to India. There is no doubt that India had, long before the PORTUGUESE CIRCU/IINA VIGA TIONS 35 rounding of the Cape, become 'the goal of the enter- prising Portuguese navigators. Much of the foreign trade of Europe was still in the gurope 1n hands of the Venetians, whose ships met the caravans Iienrs's which, passing through Mohammedan countries, brought to the shores of the Levant the treasures of the East. A sea-route to India would destroy this monopoly. \Vhen Portuguese enterprise in Africa began, Venice was at the height of her power and mercantile prosperity. The various ethnical groups which compose the popu~ lation of Europe had settled down roughly within the areas they now occupy, and were being segregated into the states of modern Europe. The Moslem invasion, which threatened to swamp the infant civilisation of the \Vest, had been pushed back, and now lingered only in the corners of the Continent. But the Turks had barely begun their European career, and it was only toward the end of the next century (the sixteenth) that they were driven back from Central Europe into the Balkan Peninsula. Henry V. reigned in England when Prince Henry the Navigator sent out his first expedition, and Henry VII. (the patron of Cabot) was on the throne when the Cape was first rounded. Columbus was born about twenty years before Prince Henry died, and Luther about twenty years after “/71 It would be interesting to inquire into the causes Portugal’s exploring which led to the remarkable display of exploring and energy conquering energy manifested by Portugal for the 160 years between 1420 and 1580, when dynastically she became united to Spain; but such an inquiry would be foreign to the purpose of this volume. It Prince Henry’s enter- prise. 36 THE PARTITIOZV OF AFRICA should be remembered that in the population of the Iberian peninsula there was a large infusion of Teutonic blood, of that blood which, under different climatic conditions, has led to such different results. In whatever way it is to be explained, the fact remains that after a century and a half of energetic enterprise, during which all Africa, and it may be said all India, was within her power, Portugal suddenly collapsed, and never again recovered the place she had won before her sixty years’ incorporation with Spain. But this opens up wide and fundamental questions which cannot be entered upon here. Portugal has a right to be proud of the part she played as a pioneer among the European nations in the exploration of Africa. Under Prince Henry and his successors, within the space of some seventy years, single-handed she traced the contour of the west, south, and east coasts of Africa, initiated the modern European colonisation of the Continent, and began that partition which is only now being concluded. The record of this with the record of her conquests and explorations in Asia and in America must render the name of Portugal for ever memorable in the history of the world. Ceuta itself may be said to have been the first an- nexation in Africa by a modern European power. Into a detailed history of the Portuguese exploration of Africa it is not of course possible to enter; a brief sketch of the successive stages must suffice. In order to be as near as possible to the contemplated scene of operations, Prince Henry established himself upon the lonely point of Sagres (Cape St. Vincent), which may be said to PORTUGUESE CIRCUMNA VIGA TIONS' 37 overhang the west coast of Africa. Three years after the siege of Ceuta, Prince Henry began his great enter- prise, his first goal being Cape Bojador, then regarded as a veritable Cape of Storms. It was not, however, till 1434 that Gil Eannes succeeded in rounding it. After that point had been passed, the outline of the West African coast was followed down by expedition after expedition. But it was not till 1443 that the next was doubled, and the Rio d‘Oro reached by Antonio Gonsalvez, who brought home prominent Cape—Blanco with him some gold dust and ten slaves, probably the first gold and the first slaves taken from the western shores of Africa by modern Europeans. The slaves were pre- sented by Prince Henry to Pope Martin V., who there- upon conferred upon Portugal the right of possession and sovereignty of all the country that might be discovered between Cape Bojador and the Indies. This was the beginning of that traffic in black humanity which was carried on almost uninterruptedly for four centuries. Portugal was the first European power to begin the traffic and the last to leave it off. The river Senegal was reached, and Cape Verd doubled in 1446 by Dinis Fernandez, and two years later the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone was made. The voyages of Cadamosto in 1455 and 1456 to the Cape Verd Islands, the Senegal, and the Gambia, were remarkable for the inform— ation which he obtained concerning Timbuktu and the countries in the interior; concerning the trade in gold and ivory with the coast, and the caravan trade of the Mediterranean. But we have no evidence that the Portuguese themselves ever penetrated so far as Tim- First African Company formed. First Portu- guese es- tablish- ments. 38 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA buktu, except the bare statement of De Barros, who gives no details. It was not till I462 that Pedro da Cintra succeeded in getting three degrees beyond Sierra Leone. Prince Henry had died two years before, but his great undertaking was continued by Alfonso V. and John 11. During Henry’s lifetime 1800 miles of the West African coast had been foblowed out from Cape Nun southwards during half a century of effort. Before the Prince’s death a company had been formed for the purpose of carrying on a trade in slaves and gold dust between Portugal and Africa, the first of those companies which have formed so prominent a feature in the European connection with the Continent. The first expedition despatched by the Company re- turned with a cargo of 200 slaves. In I471 the Guinea Coast was doubled and followed round by the Bight of Benin as far as the delta of the river Ogové. At the Ogové the Portuguese were content to rest for thirteen years, having been the first Europeans to cross the line. \ So early as 1448 Prince Henry had begun a fort on the Bay of Arguin, south of Cape Blanco, from which an attempt was made to carry on intercourse with the interior, and by which the traders, who had stations on the islands in the bay, might be protected. This fort seems to have been rebuilt in' 1461, and for many years afterwards continued to be the headquarters of Portuguese commercial enterprise in West Africa. This was in the reign of John 11., on whom the Pope con- ferred the title of “ Lord of Guinea,” a title attached to the crown of Portugal even to our own time. But ._.. _ ._. __ ..,.s._..._....._' ._ .m. POR TU G UE SE C [RC UMNA VI GA T I ONS 39 probably the first regular settlement or colony estab- lished on the continent of Africa was on the Gold Coast, at a spot to which the name of El Mina was given, and where the Portuguese flag was ‘raised in January 1482. Here a fort was built, one of the strongest on the coast; it may be seen at the present day. But long before this, traffic in the gold from which the Gold Coast gets its name had begun, and attempts had been made to establish relations with the interior. Thus may be said to have commenced the Portuguese annexation of Africa, though of course all the coast discovered by the navigators of Portugal was regarded as the perquisite of their sovereign. In 1484 exploration was again started with renewed vigour. In that and the following year Diego Cam pushed his way for 1200 miles south of the Ogove’, discovering the mouth of the Congo, up which he sailed for some distance. On board Diego Cam’s ship was the great German geographer, Martin Behaim, whose map of Africa in 1492 shows the results of exploration up to that date. The year after Diego’s return Bar- tholomew Diaz set out, and all unknowing passed the south—west point of Africa and pushed eastwards as far as Algoa Bay; it was only on his return journey that he sighted what he called the Cape of Storms, but which King John rechristened the Cape of Good Hope. Thus the turning-point in the history of Africa was reached, for Diaz had come to almost within hail of the Arab settlements on the east coast. The true contour of the Continent had been gradually filled in, and even Martin Behaim’s Africa was a great advance on any- Congo dis- covered. The Cape rounded. W” Result of_ discoverypf America. 40 TIIE PARTITION OF AFRICA thing that had gone before. The most famous of all these Portuguese navigators, the first to reach India by the Cape route, Vasco da Gama, completed the work of his predecessors, not, however, until ten years after the return of Diaz. Meantime Pero de Covilham had gone to India by the Red Sea route. On his return he visited Sofala and other Arab settlements, heard of the gold mines in the interior, and even visited Abyssinia in search of the mysterious Christian potentate, Prester John. \Vhen Vasco da Gama set out on his famous voyage in 1497 he knew, from the information sent him by Covilham, that Sofala would be reached by doubling the Cape, and that thence it was plain sailing to India. That same year, I497, marked the discovery of Newfoundland by Sebastian Cabot, five years after Columbus had lighted upon the New World. This great discovery, we may be sure, had a marked effect in retarding the exploration, partition, and development of the African continent ; the energy which was diverted across the Atlantic, and which was devoted with such marvellous success to the peopling of America by Europeans and the development of its resources, would no doubt, to a large extent, have been devoted to the much less hopeful continent, whose contour was being revealed to the world by the Portuguese. At the same time the discovery of the New World enhanced the value of Africa in one respect. The rapid destruction of the feeble natives of the West Indies rendered im- ported labour indispensable for the development of the islands. An ample supply was found among the hardy and unfortunate children of Ham, the trade in whom MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLdBE 14.92. "Eastern U‘c away/‘05 Jamar a s 0.5: Jé‘JV'J‘JIJJ 2? ML , £39.? fimul' Winn “thf‘flu with” 33wa _7 W mafia “Aminfif? “a; gr'ufi t- ’ ' 7 s «33%? sesw' a» \ . $azvcfiy‘wf 2“ mu“! E“ “Q“ “1:, r ‘ I 11 211 .3! . JC ‘ 06 gm‘rwm ‘3““off8 r "33;"ng .3.) 0%” ‘01“ a1)“ ($2331! Quay” 0Q.) 1 u . J’ r ‘ ( a a v k ”.moflnx‘ ""3"" PORTUGUESE CIRCUAINA VIGA TJONS 4x soon exceeded in value all the other exports from the Dark Continent. It was only when America was all but parcelled out and filled up that European powers, in search of foreign possessions, seriously turned their attention to Africa. On the 22nd November 1497 Gama doubled the Vascoda Gama sails Cape of Good Hope. A month later he touched 33:33“ at and named Natal. He proceeded leisurely along the coast, calling at Sofala, Mozambique, Melinde, Mombasa, and other places, all which he found in possession of the Arabs, prosperous and flourishing, as well they might be, for they had been there for centuries before the birth of Islam. But India was the destina- tion of Gama, and the conquest and settlement of Africa were left to others. As we have seen, occupation had already begun on The “King- the west coast and was continued there. Diego Cam 03:18:?” took back with him to Lisbon in 1485 some natives from the Congo, and returned with an army of priests. In a remarkably short time the king and natives of the “ Kingdom of Congo,” lying to the south of the lower river, were converted. The capital was renamed San Salvador. The king and chiefs were given pompous Portuguese titles ; churches were erected, and an appear- . ance of civilisation prevailed. By the middle of the sixteenth century San Salvador had become a great . centre of Portuguese influence and the chief town of the Portuguese possessions there. Churches and houses i had been built, and the priests were supreme. A sudden invasion of a powerful wandering tribe, known as Jaggas (were they a wave of the Zulus ?), suddenly destroyed 42 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA all this ; but by 1560 the Jaggas were expelled, and San Salvador waxed more important than ever. By about the middle of the seventeenth century it is said to have had 40,000 inhabitants. The king’s palace, of wood surrounded by a stone wall, is stated to have been spacious and luxurious. There was a cathedral and many churches and fine private houses. Jesuits, priests, and monks had imposing mansions, and there was a general appearance of peace and prosperity. The king, who claimed sovereignty over an extensive territory, including Angola, about the middle of the century, made over to the Portuguese the country of the Sova, or chief who ruled over the region lying between San Salvador and the Lower Congo, down to the sea. The Sova objected to this and opposed the Portuguese domination by force of arms. The result was not only the exclusion of the Portuguese from the territory ceded to them, but also the hostility of the King of Congo, who renounced the domination of Portugal. From this time until the date of the Berlin Congress, San Salvador and the kingdom of Congo were really independent. The town itself fell into decay, and its churches and other buildings went to ruin, so that now San Salvador is simply a native town of mud huts, and it is difficult for the traveller to detect amid the wreck any remains of its former greatness. Still the new king is always anointed by a priest from St. Paul de Loanda, and among the natives, in their language and customs, may be detected some remnant of the old ecclesiastical in- fluence. The king still bears a Portuguese name. The death of Dom Pedro V. was announced in PORTUGUESE CIRCUJL’VA VIGA TIONS 43 1891. St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of the west Egafigglde coast colonies, was founded in 1578. Other settle- “undea- ments were planted along the west coast. The neighbouring territories, Angola, Benguela, and Mos- samedes, were gradually taken in, and stations planted in the interior; occupation here, it is only just to say, was comparatively effective. J ' i . ° c t. f On the opp051te coast Sofala was taken in 150 5 by E33153 Sg- Pedro de Anhaya, who made the king tributary to Portugal, and laid the foundations of a fort. Tristan da Cunha captured Socotra and Lamu in 1507, and in the same year Duarto de Mello founded the fort of Mozambique. Quiloa had been taken in 1506, and the Portuguese established themselves there in 1508. Other cities along the coast—Melinde, Mombasa, Zanzibar Island, Magdoshu,—succumbed in time, as did Sena and other settlements on the Lower Zambesi. Though used as a place of call by Portu- guese and other vessels, Portugal never established herself at the Cape. At all these places, and indeed all along the east coast, the Moors, as the Portuguese called them—that is to say, Moslem Arabs—had estab- lished themselves, had built up a flourishing commerce, and erected handsome and well-fortified cities. There . does not seem, however, to have been any sort of union wor confederation among these Arab settlements; each city was under its own sheik, who exercised more or less jurisdiction over the neighbouring territory. It was not always an easy task for the Portuguese to overcome the sheiks or sultans of these Arab cities or states, mostly independent of each other, and the 44 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA cruelties which were characteristic of the adventurers of the period had free play. Mombasa and Melinde were burned down more than once, and little tenderness was shown even to women and children. The whole of the east coast from Lourenco Marquez to Cape Guardafui was thus virtually in the power of the Portuguese by the year 1520. As the result of all the enterprise referred to, by the close of the sixteenth century, the contour of the African coast was at last laid down with surprising accuracy. No one seeks to deprive the Portuguese of the glory of this great achievement. CHAPTER IV PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION Portuguese “ discoveries ” in the interior—Genesis of map of Central Africa—Discovery as a claim to possession—Establishment of Portu- guese influence—The Monomotapa Empire—African “kingdoms” —Francisc0 Barreto’s expedition Other expeditions into the interior ——-The Treaty of Monomotapa—Real nature of Portuguese dominion in East Africa. IT would be foreign to the purpose of this work to {tagger}? discuss in detail the discoveries in the interior claimed 1328;011:119 by the Portuguese. It will be remembered that Ptolemy makes the Nile issue from his lakes south of the equator, and Ptolemy probably believed that the Continent itself did not extend much farther south. These lakes continued to figure in the Arab maps. As the Portuguese explorations proceeded, the Continent was found to extend farther and farther south. This involved an alteration in the interior economy of Africa. The Nile was, so to speak, stretched out in a southerly direction, and its lakes went with it. Even in the map of Martin Behaim (who accompanied Diego Cam in 1484), published in I492, we find a great lake far south of the equator, though no great river seems to issue from it. This, it should be remembered, was only a few years after the discovery of the Congo, and 46 ' THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the planting of the mission at San Salvador. Juan de la Cosa’s map of 1500 does not differ greatly from that of Behaim; in both the interior is crowded with mountain ranges, cities, and palaces, which can only be regarded as originating in the fancy of the carto- grapher. In the map of Diego Ribeiro of 1529 the outline of the coast begins to assume recognisable shape. Its interior is still covered with features which can be only regarded as imaginary, for even the most zealous Portuguese geographer will hardly maintain that within that brief period his countrymen had traversed the whole of Central Africa. In Ribeiro’s map the hydrography begins to assume the form which may be regarded as typical of African maps down to the time of D’Anville. The Nile lakes (three in num- ber lying in a line east and west) are located some ten degrees south of the equator, and give origin to several rivers. In the map of Duarto Lopez, given in Piga- fetta’s narrative of 1591, the two lakes lie north and south, separated by about ten degrees. On Mercator’s map of 1541 there is one long lake which in shape recalls Tanganyika. In the map of Ortelius of 1587 the hydrography becomes more and more complicated, while in Dapper, a century later (1686), we have the old imaginary geography of Africa at its height—the interior filled with an impossible'network of rivers and lakes, the Nile and the Congo having the same origin. It must be said that Lake Maravi (Nyassa) figures vaguely in Portuguese maps of 1546 and 1623 ; and there seems evidence that a Portuguese may have visited the lake early in the seventeenth century. According . 1 . ‘ ‘ AFRICA ACCORDING TO DIEGO RIBERO, 529 1- icon )e 2.99 a o Reproduced from, the second Borg-inn map made at Seville. . " ‘ ‘ :z‘“ “a j‘: :9 ° , .v . 3 , o 0"“ ‘n. _ Ink \ . .2' '3- ': tit; 3,15%“;- vv g _ ,, _. . .--- ’7 :‘J .. ,f '.s- ‘ _ 'ss’ wrgi. at, ‘1‘}, .. “a. Li\ ' \ \ ’ ~ ~44 ' r ,‘ \ / 7"" , . ' r" . * ...'- ‘ . .. e . * fl .. " I "we ‘ , .v‘. ‘1; . ,- ' 'f‘w‘liglflj - . ghkhu‘w , ,1 .- 3'th u: ' \~ ~ ' ’ , I. -r I u '/r, ~. ' ;. g ‘1‘ E733}. 3';‘l’ r: I,\ / ,’ ' ' 'r' ’3 '3 -" 5; ‘ ' ~- - - r Y ' ‘ . ~ 3 ‘ ~s‘..~ , ‘ . - *1 , “" . . P Q ' N'a-f ‘ . , g, , 5 MM? A RI \ I ; 6*, J’— ,. I ‘ > 8‘ f 1 . .w- .. 3: ~ . .. Wigs"? ’ f .I'. ‘ ' I y." . I ‘ I ‘ ul ‘ “ g t v - . , . . A» ~. , . - . ‘ . z 7‘ '. , \a _ 59$ 4‘ 6“ 2 r6’“ ‘ .. . £1.11. fix 5‘ * x . ' ’ 1-». .-- - . a \ 1 *‘ tit!" * _ s .I ; ~ 5-. .. " ' \ ‘l 2 \ {‘10 . u . . , . l V . F. )5 ~_‘ ' 1 J / U w 6 4 II ‘ 9 / «J, ‘ ' \ , y“. ‘ 5r; 1 ’ fl - \ 1 I \\ r _.-» ' _ : f ‘ . . ‘ I K }‘ If" 3):; J). " " I . (,w- \‘k I t/ I: . v; w ["an ' J”, I , . . X0, ‘0‘? W ah: \ i. n . 3’ I: / a, I EA ‘ ‘5‘," . ‘\ r ‘5’ 1 . / \V D “5%; J7 . yo'x d 3 "'2". “’1 .u 't e’ -.:. ‘1 ‘ ' a "I V fir ' ' 5% ’". u. / :5 i, ~ g 1) / t ‘\ :- Y / \ 13.2%?“ CV5! ‘3‘- \ . 5.. 5.31.4; ., x .,...i. r , ,9, 3.1. m, . I . A > I /\, l . If 1// 1W9: v ‘ \ 153ml». ._ . , . ’ it "3" ‘k A -’\\ ‘19,;L“:u§-\ ' Ma ’ (A ' I -‘ ' ' “CM" 14:.ng ( w l, JWOML’: keg-1.384113, 9. a}. n x PORTUGAL 1A7 POSSESSION 47 to early Portuguese authorities, a lake in the position of Nyassa extended right'northwards to the latitude of Mombasa. The question is how came all these lakes and rivers Genesis of and mountains to be located in Central Africa within $332313 so short a period after the Portuguese had sailed down its coasts? There is no evidence forthcoming to con- vince even a partial inquirer that Portuguese adven- turers, explorers, or missionaries had succeeded in penetrating so far into the interior as Tanganyika on the one side, and the Nile lakes on the other, nor indeed to Lake Nyassa itself. It is evident, from the fantastic hydrography of these old maps, that their lakes and rivers were not laid down from trustworthy observation. Even if Portuguese missionaries had seen these lakes with their own eyes, the results, as given Ein the maps and in the old treatises on geography, are so erroneous and misleading as to be worthless. The probability is, as may be seen from Pigafetta’s narra- tive, that information was obtained from the natives, .who then, as now, in some parts, had relations with Central Africa, of great “seas” or lakes or waters, which existed in the interior. Similar rumours had been brought down to the east coast long before Burton and Speke set out to “discover” Tanganyika. It is possible enough that rumours reached the ‘missionaries in the kingdom of Congo—who seem to :have journeyed occasionally for some distance into the :interior—of a great sheet of water in the far interior, from which rivers took their rise; similar rumours may .well have reached Mombasa as to Victoria Nyanza, 48 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and putting this information alongside the Ptolemaic maps, the unscientific and credulous cartographers and geographers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had no difficulty in filling up the centre of the Con- tinent with a congeries of features that no doubt proved satisfactory enough to the ignorance of their time. Even in our own days the map of Central Africa exhibits features which no white man has seen, but which have only been heard of from Arab traders or wandering natives. That the crowded maps of Africa of .the sixteenth century represented the results of discovery in our sense of that term, is an idea that cannot be entertained. The task which the Portuguese. really did accomplish requires no fanciful addition of this kind to enhance its importance, or heighten the glory of their enterprising princes and daring navigators. Discovery All this would have only an academic interest, $3033??? were it not for the fact that in recent years Portugal sum. has based her claims to large areas in Central Africa on priority of discovery. But even if she were the first in the field, if her early explorers had wandered on the shores of Tanganyika, Victoria Nyanza, and Nyassa, had navigated the Congo and the Zambesi from their sources to the sea, it would constitute no claim to exclusive ownership apart from effective occupation. Even old treaties, if not followed by continuous and effective occupation, accompanied by security to life and property, cannot be held as giving any Power the monopoly of a territory; that may be taken as one of the principles accepted by the Berlin Congress. The fact that Portugal has thought it AFRICA swam-Eng to Pigafgtta, 1591. ‘ » \ n — \\\>g—\.. I_ _ m *- . I. ’ , L' MI ,I . 533x“ 9 ~«\\ 5 htbering. tie m ,. , . v ., J M" ‘ i.‘ :“'>L .. . . - , I \w' w ‘ . Siflo PP-V-szcuu Wanna- abmddlaR mm, mu ! Kw ilad'ortiama Stat» cégg'gmjqutggfi Obs/arbigféw [1&Tnlhb ' Cmce [{fiufiaellmfiflngmrdmudt arty/er ['4 I o qua/icro cal: Iamn' 'pnuédbnfatm'I/e duec'alanm Ewan}! d’AnItanmoJmpa Miriam )zflaiue fiaS‘J’nItro, 611' J‘Pmlg' E flaw/u: Clue”, 63mm ”lazq'P a1},algzLaggladElchcnrpfmani,Idv/afcdzmnm, Thar; pita]: I'meIII wtmqld'Ialibrtrm'UIIzthzrmzfll’nmmmlfic' C ahdvinetm.Zita‘l’dgguadqulmflmRoma Icon gag-14:40:“. . , to ixx-nugilIa.IromppI-un olaxnuartafinwnc,ém‘em,& 1mm; I taiv'pcrf'flxqwbflg.memalgé/IC' Iitolio/Idammdaigfl :1ij ang'a tm/gmarzfif’rgmlzlcflrdtf' anamvrM‘an/h’m X1!- :in . ; gum”,dzllazaaggtaRanzcamoIdafifig mm; ' iu’tu _ rwcchia d1: upgruncnrmlth Vlgnyx'gtamm zga'n m I {1 cm. W 3 g: pimda Wa/lgé fligammda talhmflc Chm: ' dpfl 1‘ dzII mayaRam‘ E ‘ 'I import» ilrar odLPiplPRthzd‘PMro a" Mmfamg (glare ml] 0/; ’ I Ira dnlm'a e natplz-g’lmagaa‘lmlifloqbn dtlla am Sun ant . uennlmfli [LZLJ'mIm Dtdqtolfinremmarq 0/1." {gum/0.43%: ‘ ;: :elrc Vtmui angmmio Era-fl aretafirtifimnda con balmy gilt ‘~ . . Mont/altoImp/71nd.6w]!5-Srtlcfinafiudngqulafludhdelta/crimem "' if: FgrmoIé-p'ut ('nllcggil’uno mBo/ggm chtmmthlzibrchbni,d 7’ ’ \altm ' Rag/I di'S- 80 w; 21: 2.0 [yam [fialuw’ag mun A ' m (391: ‘ ‘J‘Jaq'mmi ma Ifllrf'fipttj am Ialamgfi'amw gl‘ : I ‘11an [Ir/kIIlIru/ita in 54ch 91:03:17::Itfimgpr/Mmzqfl-ffinrhtrfle I ' V :1 tqnve 597p PFJIII .I'I/tIcnpwxltgm (film a 11'}?an ma!» M amt ' ward $11927»! rbmmnqae mm; .144 m [mwmcegwllctllfllwflflh .,, \. 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' [In gmflaz IrrIriInarefm-nu Her 1a mmy’qufmuo mm {1: .a‘fi Ilfito defl’lmdz’crm E gate . ,. \ (am: ingu; m wzola ucrwm [Impala taranmrlwz uImJ. quanta hiflfl racnt‘em to 113110. per haqerlo du: no It mmnmItaje {my raIn dillgm‘m :(cgmiaI vflm‘tezm 2M1». ’\ ' , 17170 «Sim c931 1(1th re Jggrzariiluo 3b: 1’” jot/(u! tile/1017M: fit/[J Cw’telln .rapmpafia, ‘ . Mammy/1:111 nomx' d1 attrchrdzmo: - "01' Randi a I: d'AFrIIc Max CX . DI -V-J', Eff“ 5:15,! filtsza Pfigwflttma ,‘ ’ _ ”i -‘ — k. ~ I _— 1% ml- .— . . . I I I "W MW (11; Congo? 311%th MET LI I . , ‘ I {m l \ I ,I , I . I V I , I I I ,1 II PORTUGAL 1N POSSESSION ‘ 49 advisable to strengthen the treaties which she main- tains she made in the seventeenth century in certain parts of Africa by other treaties in the later years of the nineteenth century, is proof enough that she herself feels that the former are practically invalid. And yet it must be said that in these early days of European connection with Africa, the planting of a fort on the coast seems to have been held as constitut- ing a claim to an immense tract of land in the interior. In the early years of the Portuguese occupation 131183313)th- there seems to have been more activity on the west Pmugum influence. _‘ coast than on the east, and there existed but little rivalry with other powers. The influence of Portugal in the Congo region and in Angola continued to extend, both on the coast and towards the interior, as also on the Guinea Coast and north to the Bay of Arguin. On the east coast the Arab and Indian traders continued their trading operations under Portu- guese auspices and to the profit of Portuguese officials and r Portuguese traders. Attention was very soon directed to the gold mines of Manica, and the powerful “empire of Monomotapa ” in the interior. That at the time when the Portuguese first established themselves on the east coast there was on the south of the Zambesi a king or chief, whose official title was Monomotapa, who lorded it over a number of smaller chiefs, there can be little doubt. According to Pigafetta and other authorities, there was a similar potentate who ruled on the north of the Zambesi, as far as the confines of the kingdom of Prester John (Abyssinia); the “kingdom ” of that potentate was called Monemoezi. It is difficult if not B 50 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA impossible to discover how far the early descriptions of these so-called kingdoms correspond with reality. Along the coasts were smaller chiefships—Sofala, Mozambique, Quiloa, Mombasa, Melinde; these, of course, were Arab settlements, and they may have been subject to the powerful potentates in the interior, or on terms of friendship with them. Portuguese writers describe the coast chiefs or kings and their wives as having been almost white, and richly dressed and adorned. These were, no doubt, Asiatics settled on the coast. The Mono- Of the great interior kingdoms, and especially that £33132“ of the Monomotapa, the most wonderful descriptions are given ; as for the Monemoezi kingdom, if it existed at all, its extent must have been greatly exaggerated. Tales are told of the Monomotapa’s capital ; his palace, with its innumerable halls and chambe‘rs richly adorned with tapestry, of the army of Amazons, of the rich dresses of the king and his daughters, of the ceremonies of his court, of the tribute brought to him by outlying chiefs, and many other details, as ifthe African chief had been a great semi-civilised potentate of Central Asia. We have no reason to believe that these descriptions are founded on the direct observations of trustworthy Portuguese travellers ; they seem to have been obtained from the Arab settlers on the coast, or to have filtered down through native channels from the interior. Judging from the description given of the kings and princes of the kingdom of Congo, the glowing accounts of the glories of the Monomotapa may simply be the old chroniclers’ way of describing what might have been PORTUGAL 1N POSSESSION 51 seen in our own days at the “court” of the Muato Yanvo, of the King of Dahomey, or of the potentate of Uganda. If we may believe these chroniclers, the natives even of the Guinea Coast were much more civilised than they have been since trustworthy travellers visited those countries. “Kingdoms” like that of the Monomotapa have Agican been common enough in Africa. Some poweiful chief flow" established his sway over his neighbours, as the Muato Yanvo did in Lunda for some three centuries, or the Muato Cazembe in the Lake Moero region, or as Chaka did some sixty years ago in the Zulu countries, as Lobengula’s father did in the Matabelei region, as Umzila did in Gazaland. It is very doubtful if the Monomotapa was more advanced, more civilised, than any of these; certainly not more than was the late King Mtesa of Uganda, who after all was but a bar- barous potentate living in a big hut, surrounded by a great kraal. That the wonderful ruins, known as Zimbaye or Zimbabwe, scattered over the country between the Zambesi and Limpopo, are those of the capital or other “cities” of the Monomotapa, is not suggested by any serious Portuguese writer. The Monomotapa’s “ c1ty seems to have been built of wood and mud; these ruins are of stone, and must, in all probability, have been erected by a people much further advanced in civilisation than any natives of South Africa ever have been. The existence of these ruins proves that at the time there may have been a busy traffic between the gold—yielding country in the interior and the coast between the 52 TIIE PARTITION OF AFRICA Zambesi and the Limpopo. The traffic to some extent existed when the Portuguese appeared on the coast, and in this way they could no doubt obtain much of the information that we find in Pigafetta and other chroniclcrs. With regard to these African “empires” the words of the late De Andrade Corvo in his invaluable work, As Prow'mz'as Ultra 7/za7'z'7zas, with reference to the empire of Monomotapa are well worth quoting. Referring to the sad state of affairs in Eastern Africa at the period when the Philips of Spain held Portugal, De Andrade Corvo says: “ There is no part of the world which offers a better example of the weakness of power than among the savage rulers of the interior of Africa, where, at a moment’s notice, a potentate is overthrown and a new empire founded, where before only existed wandering and dispersed tribes. And this new empire increases, strengthens, and grows with wonderful rapidity, and extends and spreads itself through vast regions, subjugating exten- sive provinces, and incorporating in itself various powers, until it finally becomes so great as to be wholly un- manageable, and then, with the same rapidity with which it came into existence, it dwindles down to insignificance and crumbles away.” With regard to the extent of the dominion of the Monomotapa, it is evident, from the description of its boundaries in Pigafetta and other authorities, that it coincided very nearly with the area over which Loben— gula, King of Matabeleland, claims sovereignty. On the east was Manica, between which and the coast apparently was the kingdom of the Quiteve ; and on the PORTUGAL [N POSSESSION 53 north of Manica, on the Zambesi, the district of Chicova, where adventurers were lured for a time in the vain hope of finding silver mines. According to some writers the empire of Monomotapa embraced all these “kingdoms,” and would thus have extended almost to Francisco the coast. One of the most famous and earliest of Eiifigison. Portuguese expeditions into the interior was that made by Francisco Barreto in I 569. Barreto seems to have had a distinguished career in India before he was appointed to the government of Monomotapa. At this time, and until the seventeenth century, East Africa was included in the government of India. The most inconsistent accounts are given of this expedition. Barreto’s force is said to have consisted of a thousand men of arms, besides a large number of Portuguese cavaliers, eager to distinguish themselves. With this force he ascended the Zambesi as far as Sena, and then marched along the south bank of the river to a place named Mengos, the chief of which had revolted against Monomotapa. Barreto had agreed to chastise the chief on condition that Monomotapa would permit him to proceed through his territory to the gold mines of Manica. But, according to the latest authoritative version of the story, issued by Dr. Paiva e Pona, under the auspices of the Lisbon Geographical Society, Barreto went down to Mozambique, and died two days after his return to Sena, where and at Tete he had founded forts. One of Barreto’s captains, Vasco Fernandez Homem, cure;t _ . expe 1 ions it IS stated, started a few years later from Sofala, suc- iiiigrigi: ceeded in reaching the mines of Manica, where he The Treaty of Mono- motapa. 54 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA witnessed the primitive process of extracting gold. But his expedition ended in disaster. Even before Barreto, a missionary priest, Gonsalvo da Silveira, in 1560 succeeded in reaching the territory of Mono- motapa; at first well received, he was put to death a year after as a spy at the instigation of the Arabs, which seems to show that the latter had consider- able influence with the native chiefs. The result of the really disastrous expeditions of Barreto and Homem was that the Portuguese government of Mono- motapa was abolished as quickly as it had been erected. We read in the pages of later Portuguese writers of various other expeditions into the interior, of mis- sionaries building churches in Manica, in the region we now call Mashonaland, westwards as far as Tati, north- wards along the Zambesi, and in the country between Manica and the coast. Fairs, as they were called, Le. factories or trading centres, were established, and forts, we are assured, were built. This went on through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it was only disasters in India, and the discovery of gold and diamonds in Brazil, that led to the practical abandon- ment of the mines and fairs and churches in Mono- motapa’s empire. As evidence of all this, we are told to look at the numerous ruins still scattered over the country. According to one authority the Emperor of Mono- motapa (as he was ealled) in 1607 ceded to the Portu— guese all the mining rights of his territories. But the celebrated Treaty of Monomotapa, which was adduced 'in connection with the Delagoa Bay arbitration, and PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION 55 given more recently as a proof that Portugal had a claim to Mashonaland, is generally dated 1630, though other dates are given. The common version has the emperor’s mark (X) and a host of signatures of so-called Portuguese officials, but not of the Governor of Mozam- bique. It is difficult to treat the document seriously, or to believe that a potentate, who was far more powerful in that part of Africa than the Portu- guese themselves, should ever have been induced to bind himself hand and foot to their service, for that is what he does in this extraordinary document. It is remarkable that De Andrade Corvo, at one time Portuguese minister of Foreign affairs, makes no allu— sion whatever to this famous treaty in dealing in some- what minute detail with the history of the Portuguese settlements in East Africa. Throughout his work he writes in the most despairing tone of the criminal mismanagement which prevailed from the beginning in these east coast possessions. But little real effort was made to develop the gold mines, while all other com- mercial resources were neglected—the traffic in slaves being the one thing that flourished and prospered. Portuguese writers tell us that at one time the chiefs of Sofala rendered as rent for their lands 80 bars of gold (said to be equal to £2,500,000). That this quantity of gold was obtained annually in early times from the Manica gold mines is in the highest degree probable; but no proof is forthcoming that it actually was obtained. ‘No statistics available back to the beginning of the present century show a tithe of the above sum for gold among the exports. The total exports now do not Real nature of Portuguese dominion in East Africa. 56 THE P.4/L’T1T101V OF AFRICA exceed £300,000 sterling, and generally therein gold does not figure at all. Summing up the history of the Portuguese possessions in East Africa during the seventeenth century, De Andrade Corvo says: “It was one ,full of woes for our colonies in the east, and particularly in East Africa. The Kaffirs in the south, and the Arabs in the north, attacked our dominions and punished us most cruelly for our frankness. At times victors, and at others beaten on all sides, we dragged out a sad existence in Mozambique, without pro- gressing in colonisation, without developing commerce or industries, and without the famous gold and silver mines giving the marvellous results which were ex— pected from them, and which the Government wished to zealously guard for itself. Moreover, in propor- tion as the colony goes on decaying, the pomp and luxury of the governors continue to increase; and truly the corruption increased, as it still continues to do, more and more.” Of the condition of things at the end of last century, De Andrade Corvo gives an equally lament- able account. Even such places as Inhambane, Sofala, Sena, and Tete, he speaks of as abandoned; the ancient commerce of the two former, so flourishing in the days of the Arab, was actually extinguished. Quoting from the report of Mogueira de Andrade on Mozambique, 1789, De Andrade Corvo writes: “We have no true and real dominion in this country." Gomes Laurciro, as quoted by De Andrade Corvo, writes in 1824 of the deplorable state of Mozambique, and says : “ Whatever claims we may have to sovereignty PORTUGAL 1N POSSESSIOIV 57 : over certain parts, we have certainly no dominion over 3 any part outside Mozambique.” The real nature of the 3 connection of Portugal with East Africa, and of what éshe has done for the commercial development of the )country during the centuries she has been planted on rthe coast, is well summed up in the words of De . Andrade Corvo: “The early Portuguese did no more ‘ than substitute themselves for the Moors, as they called 'them, in the parts that they occupied on the coast; and their influence extended to the interior very little, unless, indeed, through some ephemeral alliances of no value whatever, or through missionaries, or without any practical or lasting results. The true conquest is still (I 885) to be made.” It is remarkable that, in describing the geography even of the coast region of the country north and south of the Zambesi, De Andrade Corvo, formerly Portuguese foreign minister, is almost entirely indebted to English travellers. It is clear from the work of this authoritative Portuguese writer that, in his opinion, Portugal never possessed dominion in any of the territories north and south of the Zambesi, except perhaps in a few coast towns, and not always even there. This conclusion is confirmed by the course of events in Zambesia itself. The native tribes carried on their wars as before. The Monomotapa’s empire was broken up some time in the eighteenth century, though long before that it must have been tottering. Probably by that time the irresistible Zulu had made his way south of the Zambesi, and was sweeping all before him as he did on the north. The Portuguese were helpless to prevent 58 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA this, as they were helpless some sixty years ago to pre- vent Lobengula’s father from taking possession of . Matabeleland (the old “empire” of Monomotapa); and Gungunhana’s father from doing the same with Gaza- land, including the rich, gold-bearing Manica region. What would be the value of our dominions in India if we were powerless to prevent war among the native states, and were ourselves swept down to our stations on the coast? The importance of the subject in View of recent events must be the excuse for following briefly the con- nection of Portugal with East Africa down practically to the present time. By the end of the sixteenth century, of all her East African conquests, she possessed, according to the testimony of her own chroniclers, only Sofala, Mozambique, and Mombasa. By this time, however, she had planted two forts on the Morocco coast, one at Mazagan; but these did not serve her long. It is but just to recall the fact that in I 5 80 Portugal became united to Spain, and during the sixty years till 1640 that the union lasted, it was peculiarly humiliating to Portugal, and left the little country, that had before shown such phenomenal energy, spiritless and apparently exhausted. Up to the date of this subjection it may fairly be said that Portugal had in her power all the coasts of Africa, except that of the Mediterranean and Red Sea. CHAPTER V THE BEGINNING OF RIVALRY ‘I’ortugal’s monopoly of Africa—Slaves and gold—English enterprise begins—French enterprise—England begins the slave-trade—First English chartered Company—Beginning of a new era—The Dutch enter the field—Growth of the slave-trade—First British chartered Company—The British Company of 1662 Another new Company ——Danish forts—Brandenburg colonies—The French—The English Company’s misfortunes—The Dutch at the Cape—The English in Tangier. BEFORE the close of the fifteenth century the Portuguese Portugal’s [had erected forts at Arguin and El Mina, had established $031933;an trading factories on the Senegal, the Gambia, the Rio ,Grande, on the Gold Coast and the Gulf of Benin, and :on the Congo; had planted colonies on Madeira, the Cape Verd Islands, and the Island of St. Thomas. By about 1520 Portugal, as we have seen, had made :herself mistress of all the coasts of Africa, except that of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and even in the latter, a few years later, attempts were made to obtain possession of Massawa and other ports, and to establish Portuguese influence over Abyssinia. While, :no doubt, Africa was valued by Portugal for its own sake, and especially for its gold, and ultimately for its slaves, it was probably, especially the east coast stations, ,> regarded mainly as a half—way house to India and the :TEast, the conquest of which absorbed the energies of 60 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Portugal during the first half of the sixteenth century. The triumphs of the Portuguese conquistadores in Asia, far excelled all that was accomplished in Africa, both in brilliancy, extent, and the value of the commercial results. But the glory of Portugal was even more shortlived in Asia than in Africa. During much of' the sixteenth century she had no rivals in the latter continent. The other powers of Europe—England, Spain, France—were absorbed with the conquest of the New World, Portugal had taken Brazil on the way to Africa. By 1526 Cortez had conquered Mexico, and Magellan had passed through the Straits that bear his name. So early as I 508 the Spaniards had introduced negro slaves into the West Indies. Cartier entered the St. Lawrence in 1535, and the colonisation of Canada by France began in 1542, a year after De Soto had been on the Mississippi. Not until our own times was there any activity on the African continent to be com- pared with that which, within a century after its dis- covery, made America an appanage of Europe. Rivals were slow to enter the African field, and when they did they were kept at bay by the ships of Portugal. It is strange, in the light of recent events, to read a passage like the following which occurs in Postlethwayte. After referring to the forts established at a few places on the west coast, he goes on to say: “By virtue of which possession they not only claimed, and for many years enjoyed, the right in and to all the said land, but like- wise seized and confiscated the ships of all other nations as often as they found any of these traders in any parts of the said coast.” THE BEGINNIZVG 0F RIVALR Y 61 But this monopoly was shortlived, at least on sixes and lthe west coast. Bosman, one of the most amusing :and instructive writers on Africa of his time (the end of the seventeenth century), tells us that “for- rmerly the Portuguese served for setting dogs to spring [the game, which, as soon as they had done, was seized (by others.” Long before Barreto’s disastrous expedi-- i'tion into the country of the Monomotapa, the export of slaves, not only to America, but to Europe, had become tone of the most lucrative branches of Portuguese trade in Africa. By the middle of the fifteenth century 700 nor 800 slaves were exported annually to Portugal .2 alone; and in 1517 Charles V. granted a patent to a ' Flemish trader, authorising him to import 4000 slaves : annually to the W'est Indies. In virtue of a bull from the Pope a market was opened in Lisbon ; and as early ,as 1537, it is said, 10,000 to 12,000 slaves were brought to that city, and transported thence to the \Vest Indies. This “carrying trade,” as it was called, 'rapidly increased, for Portugal was in time joined by other powers. Gold, no doubt, was obtained from the Gold Coast and from Manica, but the exportation of natives soon became the staple trade of Africa. It is difficult to estimate the value of the gold exported, but ' from the Gold Coast, at least, it must have been for a . . . l time consrderable. It was no doubt that Wthh brought ‘- l the first rivals of Portugal into the field. As early as the last year of the reign of Edward VI. Eggrigfise (155 3) the first English ships were fitted out for Guinea begins by some London merchants. Captain Thomas Windham made a voyage “for the trade of Barbary.” “He 62 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA sailed,” says Astley, “to Marokko; this was the first voyage we meet with to the western coast of Africa. “Here, by the way,” Windham tells us in Hakluyt, “it is to be observed that the Portuguese were much offended with this our new trade into Barbary; and both in our voyage the year before, and also in this, gave out in England, through the merchants, that if they took us in these parts they would use us as their mortal enemies.” How are the mighty fallen! In 1552 Windham made a second voyage, and this time succeeded in reaching the Gold Coast, his great quest, as was the case with all other adventurers at this period, being gold. He returned satisfied with I 50 lbs. of the precious metal. A third voyage made by Windham in 1553 ended in disaster. One of the most interesting of these early English trading voyages to Guinea was that of John Lok in 1554. He had three small vessels and a pinnace or two. He describes his voyage in minute detail. He tells us that off the Canaries both Spanish and Portuguese carried on fishing on a considerable scale at certain seasons. Lok took over two months to get to the Gold Coast. He and his companions traded along the coast near Cape Three Points and Elmina. They bartered cloth for Guinea pepper, elephant tusks, and gold. Lok brought home with him 400 lbs. of gold, 36 cwts. of Guinea pepper, and about 250 tusks of ivory, some of them weighing 90 lbs. each. Thus Master Lok’s venture was a very successful one in spite of the obstacles placed in his way by the Portuguese. In the following year William Towrson made a THE BEGINNING OF RIVALRI/ 63 isimilar trading voyage to the Gold Coast, stopping 'severy few miles to trade with the natives, who evidently (had learned to drive hard bargains. The favourite .articles of exchange were brass vases, or bowls, besides :beads, cork, and other things. For these Towrson {obtained a good supply of pepper, ivory, and gold. 'On several occasions the Portuguese fired upon the -:boats, but did no harm. Towrson sailed some distance beyond Cape Three Points. He went out again in the following year, and when near the Guinea Coast Tfell in with a small fleet of French traders, who joined themselves to Towrson, so that they might combine to .resist the attacks of the Portuguese ships that were ;cruising about the coast to drive off intruders. French giggfise' vessels were also met with by other English traders, which shows that at this early date France had her eye on \Vest Africa. Indeed, some French writers tell us that she had never entirely ceased her connection with Africa since the old days of the Dieppe adventurers in the fourteenth century, and that one of the old forts was still occupied on the river Senegal. But there is no satisfactory evidence that such was the case. Towrson did good business again in this voyage, though he was attacked by the Portuguese and deserted by the French. In the third voyage in I558 he again met with several French vessels, but treated them as rivals, and put them to flight. Thus, by the middle of the sixteenth century, a busy traffic was carried on by various nationalities with West Africa, though the Portu- , guese lorded it. over all the coast. Beside those at Arguin and at Elmina, it is evident that by this time they had England begins the _ slave-trade. First English chartered campany. 64 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA built forts at other points on the coast. Old Richard Eden speaks of the “arbitrary monopoly of the Portu- guese on this coast, of such who, on account of con- quering 40 or 50 miles here and there, Certain fortresses or block-houses among naked people, think themselves worthy to be lords of half the world, and angry that others should enjoy the commodities which they them- selves cannot wholly possess.” Had Richard Eden lived in our own 'days he might well have used the same language about the Portuguese in Africa. These private English ventures to the coast of Guinea went on during the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. Sir John Hawkins has the credit or discredit of having been the first Englishman to engage in the slave-trade. In 1562 he fitted out three ships, sailed to Guinea, obtained 300 negroes, conveyed them to Hispaniola, sold them, and returned to England with the proceeds. Notwithstanding the indignation of Elizabeth, Hawkins continued the lucrative trade, which the Portuguese and Spanish had already been carrying on for many years. But commercial and political relations were also being established between England and Barbary, and in 1585 Queen Elizabeth granted a patent or charter to the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Leicester, and others, for exclusive trading with Morocco for twelve years. But the first real English chartered African Company was that for which Elizabeth granted a patent in I 588. Three voyages were made under this Company (1589, 1590, and I 591). It was found that the Portuguese had been expelled from the Senegal by the natives, though they still had stations on the Gambia, THE BEGIA‘YVING 0F It’ll/AL]? I" 65 ' while they did their best to ruin the English expeditions ' which, however, secured a varied cargo. It was also found that the French had been trading to the Senegal and the Gambia since 1560. This English Company, be it remembered, was Beginning founded in the year of the Armada, and eight years Sign” after Portugal had been absorbed by Spain. It was about a century after the Cape had been rounded, and . during that century Europe had taken a new departure —she had left the Dark Ages behind. America had been discovered, and was stimulating the pent-up energies of the Old \Vorld to fresh enterprises. Protestantism, and the new Learning, rebellion against old tyrannies, the spirit of modern scientific inquiry—these were some of the characteristics of the new phase on which the world had entered. The Dutch had thrown off the yoke of Spain The Dutch.‘ . t th in 1581, and though they had yet a struggle before 3313i 8 them ere they established their freedom on a firm footing, they too began to look abroad for new fields of enterprise in America, in Africa, in Asia. As 2 Spain was now virtually the possessor of all the acqui- A sitions of Portugal, Holland considered her African i settlements and colonies legitimate spoil. The first Dutch trading voyage to Guinea seems to have been . l imade about the year 1595. Holland rapidly gained l; supremacy all along the coast, and swept not only the '5 ships of Spain and Portugal from these seas, but also ' those of France and England. By the time the Dutch § west India Company was founded in 1621, Holland 3 had obtained; a commanding footing in West Africa. 33 I: {l -zj; yaw-.8125 a, ”I he. a .n-s»-¢/. 3 l V) . Growth of the slave- trade. First British chartered Company. 66 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Goree had been purchased from the king of that country, and various other points on the coast had been occupied by the Dutch. Elmina was taken in 1637, and shortly after Axim and other forts followed, while new. forts were built all along the coast. The Gold Coast was studded with forts, for in those times it was considered absolutely essential that, whenever a coast was taken possession of, forts should be built to keep off intruders. The Charter of the Dutch Company gave it the monopoly of trade from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope. While, no doubt, gold and ivory and pepper were regarded as important articles of trade, the name of the Company is indication enough of its great purpose— the supply of the Dutch and other colonies of the West Indies with negro slaves. By the beginning of the seventeenth century slaves had come to be regarded as the staple commodity of the African soil ; and the great rivalry that grew up between the various European powers for colonies in West Africa was mainly due to the desire to have the monopoly of the slave—market. 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I I .,- ,_ .. ‘ Mm 4h}. ’ 1-3“ , ‘1 . ' 2 * Mm... / - .é - 5‘ If—jiitrr-x 4:“ . « i" " ’ ' _ ,... _ _ ‘ ' ‘ go .7 it; 3 a . _ J i ,, J‘talg/brvi/Zr 0003- M 1 ' Jacob van Meant AmterdaAn 1668 THE BEGINNING OF RIVA LR Y 67 in 1618 by James I., and in 163I by Charles I. The first Company, though its special object was to trade with the Gambia, does not seem to have obtained any permanent footing there. The Company chartered in 1618 made strenuous efforts to push its way up the Gambia in the hope of reaching Timbuktu, which was then regarded as the great trade emporium of the interior. Both the Senegal and the Gambia, it should be remembered, were at the time conjectured to have a connection with the Niger, on which Timbuktu was known to be situated. Several expeditions pushed their way up the Gambia, but ended in disaster. It was intended to build a series of forts on the river, but it soon became evident that the gold which it was hoped would be found in abundance was practically non-existent; and so the English quest for Timbuktu was abandoned. At the time of the Restoration the only forts possessed by Englishmen were on the Gambia, and at Cormantine, near Anamabo, on the Gold Coast. The Company, chartered bv Charles II. in 1662,The British ' Company was more successful, and a fort was built on James “1662- Island in the Gambia. This Company was formed for the purpose of trying to Checkmate the Dutch, vere constantly harassing English traders, seizing ships, and destroying the stations they attempted tablish. The conduct of the Dutch became tolerable that Charles II. declared war against in 1665, and the English captured forts at Seconda, Cape Coast Castle, and other places, and built new ones for themselves. But the British Com- pany continued to be unfortunate, and in 1672 its rights , “1,5,3:er "1‘ '“ ': ;' another new Com- P3111?- Danish forts. , Branden- burg “colonies. 68 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and properties were made over to a new Royal African Company, to which was given the monopoly of trade for a thousand years from the coast of Barbary to the Cape of Good Hope. Forts and factories were built at various places between Dixcove and Accra. By this time also Denmark had joined in this early partition of Africa, and had a fort near Cape Coast Castle, shortly after taken over by England, and renamed Fort Royal. There was another Danish fort at Accra, and others were built at various points along the coast; but all were sold to England in 1850 for £10,000. Still another European power had joined in the early scramble which may be said to have reached its height in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Germany’s recent enormous annexations in Africa are by no means her first efforts to obtain a share in the partition of the Continent. Under the auspices of the G1eat Elector of B1andenburg, Frederick \Villiam 1., trading connections were formed with the west coast of Africa, and the Brandenburg African Company was} founded in 1681. Frederick was the Bismarck of his day, and he had ambitions not only in the direction of Africa but towards India ; and, like Bismarck, one great object which he had in view was the improvement of the navy G1oss Friedrichsburg was built in 1683, near Cape T111 ee Points, and treaties \\ ere made w ith the chiefs of the coast and the interior. Expeditions for t1ade and exploration were sent inland, and for some years there \\ as busy traffic between Prussia and \Vest Africa as far south as Angola. Not only on the Gold Coast, but in Arguin Bay, on the south of Cape Blanco, THE BE GINZVIZV G 0F RIVA LR Y 69 where the Portuguese had built a fort long before, these Prussians also established themselves and carried on a trade with the interior. But events at home were too much for the Elector and his son and successor, and about 1720 Prussia disappeared from the African arena, not to reappear till about eight years ago, when the colonial aspirations, which had been pent up for 160 years, burst forth, and the young German Empire found herself possessed, within a few months, of an African domain of close on a million square miles. It must be said that the French were from the first more persevering and determined than any other power in their attempts to push their way into the interior. A settlement (St. Louis) was formed at the mouth of the Senegal by the Company which had been chartered in France, just as similar companies had been chartered in England and Holland, one great object of all being the export of slaves to America. As with England, so with France; the first companies failed, but others were formed in rapid succession, and French influence spread in this part of the west coast. Under Brue and other enterprising explorers stations were estab- lished far up the Senegal, the great object being to reach Timbuktu, as the English endeavoured to do by way of the Gambia. Arguin and Goree were taken from the Dutch, and many difficulties placed in the way of English operations. It may fairly be said that France has never relaxed her efforts to secure the domination of the Senegambian region and the countries watered by the Niger. The operations which are being The 3 French. . The English Company’s misfor- tunes. 70 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA carried on now on the Upper Niger are but the latest stages of those so successfully begun by Sieur Brue in the latter part of the seventeenth century. In 1695 the French took the Gambia, and when it was restored to England, French influence was in the ascendant, and may be said to have remained so since. Indeed, towards the end of the century, the French Senegal Company harassed the settlements and the ships of all other nationalities. In 1683-85 we find them con- fiscating vessels belonging to the Portuguese, Dutch, and Prussians, and they persistently advanced claims against the Royal African Company until at last a war broke out between the two nations. In 1698 the monopoly of the English Company was abolished for fourteen years, and at the end of that period it was not restored. In consideration of the expense which the Company had been put to in erecting and maintaining forts, a ten per cent (ad Tia/076711) duty was allowed for administrative purposes, but that seems to have been quite insufficient to cover expenses ; and that too, in spite of the monopoly which they obtained by the Treaty of Nimeguen of the importation of slaves into the Spanish West Indies. It is highly instructive to read some of the pamphlet literature of the latter half of the seventeenth and the early part of the eighteenth centuries, and learn of the hot controversies which then raged over the Company and its monopoly. Here is an extract from a pamphlet, published in 1690, entitled “ A Treatise discussing the lntrigues and Arbitrary Proceedings of the Governing Company,by William Wilkinson, Mariner.” It affords an THE BEGINNING OF It’ll/AL]? Y 71 idea of the articles which constituted the trade of W’ est Africa at this period, and also of the bitter feeling which prevailed in certain quarters against the Company. Some of the charges, indeed, remind one curiously of similar charges made in our own day against another British Company, whose sphere is not far from that of the Company of the seventeenth century. “Let us now look toward Africa, and take a View of the riches of that place which is undiscovered to the merchant, and particularly, the boundless woods of Cam, which is a red wood fit for dyeing, the prodigious quantities of dry hides of all sorts, of wild and tame cattle, useful in the making of shoes, boots, trunks, saddles, and furniture, etc. ; the inexhaustible treasure of gold, the vast quantities of elephants’ teeth, bees’-wax, , and honey, and the inestimable riches of gums, ostriches’— . feathers, and amber—grease, which commodities are all ; purchased for the goods of the growth and manufacture a of England, and are brought directly home, which is a 1 m double advantage, as well to the kingdom, as to the royal revenue. “ Or, if we consider the trade of negro servants, which ; proves so advantageous to the western plantations in ,the several islands of America, as well as that con- stinent whose chief commerce is sugar, tobacco, indigo, s ginger, cotton, and dyeing stuffs, which are the natural 'Aproduct of the New World, whose penury or plenty ilies indispensably upon the trade of negro servants '5 from Africa, which the Royal company manage with ’ more than an ordinary slight for their own advantage, Itaking care that the planters shall never be furnished The Dutch at the Cape. 72 THE PARTITJDN OF AFRICA with negroes sufficient to follow their business with satisfaction, and imposing what prices they please, and do trust but for six months; for which they exact such an interest, that they, in a manner, sweep away the profit of their labours, so that although be the planter’s industry never so great, yet he shall not be able to effect his designs, because his hands are thus bound by the company; yet I am sure that if the planters were furnished with negroes from Africa, answerable to their industry, that four times the sugar, indico, cottons, etc., would be imported every year; then let every rational man judge, if this would not be infinitely more advan- tageous to the kingdom in general. “And to such a height is the feuds of this company grown, that they presume not only to oppress the subjects abroad, but likewise to lord it over them here in England, by imposing 40 per cent upon such as with their licence trade to Africa, as Samuel Sherring, and others, now in London, can witness, who paid them the value aforesaid, for a permission to trade at Angola, a place in Africa, and remote from any of their castles and factories, and in the Portugueses territories, which is both hurtful to traffick, and prejudicial to the king’s prc- rogative and revenue, it being a point of religion to pay tribute to Cesar; but I never heard of any law, or gospel, to oblige men to pay tribute to the African Company.” It should be noticed that the Dutch had established themselves at the Cape in 1652, their main if not sole object being to secure a half- way house between Europe and India. The Dutch Government, however, encouraged the settlement of Dutch emigrants, but the THE BEGAN’ZVIA'G OF R] VALR Y 7 3 r white population increased but slowly, and the tyranni- > cal restrictions of the Dutch East India Company did inot encourage settlements. Thus for many years the 2 effective occupation was confined to Cape Town and a lfew miles around it. Although of no importance in connection with the The English {partition of Africa, it may be noted that England held in Tangier' f Tangier, in Morocco, from 1662 to 1684. Portugal, :after many struggles, had obtained possession of this important position in I47I. When, in 1662, Catherine of Braganza was married to Charles II. of :England, Tangier formed part of her dowry. But England found the position so troublesome and :,expcnsive that she abandoned it in 1684, after 'having destroyed the fortifications. Portugal had a 5 footing in Morocco till I 769, when she evacuated Mazagan, while Spain still holds the old fortress of Ceuta. 76 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Cape Coast Castle, Fort Royal, Queen Anne’s Point (these three close together), Annishan, Anamabo, Agga,. Tantumquerry, Winnebah, Shidaoe, Accra, Allampo, Quetta, Whyda, Jacquin, Cabinda. These were all within a few miles of each other, except the last, which was near the mouth of the Congo. Some of them had been abandoned by I 740, though they may have been reoccupied, and in nearly every case they were flanked by Dutch forts. Cabinda had been taken, plundered, and de— stroyed by the Portuguese in 1723 ; and as to Whyda, the remarks of a pamphleteer of the period are Worth quoting. It was “ a place where the English and Dutch only were allowed to trade formerly; for which reason the Royal African Company built and have still kept up and maintained a fort there, called William’s Fort; but some years since the French obtained leave to build a fort at the same place; and it is now through the cunning of the natives made a free port for all natives to resort to; the consequence whereof is, that negroes, which were purchased there when the African Company first settled among them for about fifty shillings or three pounds per head, are now ad- vanced to £20 per head, first cost.” This is the tone in which the African slave-trade Was generally written about during much of the eighteenth century, when this traffic was at its height. The only forts possessed by the Portuguese on all this coast, which they had discovered, and which gave a title to their King, were at Cuchoo and Bissao, where they have a patch at the present day. 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Si. ‘ I. , ‘1 ' STAGNA TIOZV AZVD SLA VERY 77 vwhere we are told they had several forts and a large icity, and where they carried on “a very great and advantageous inland trade for some hundreds of miles.” ‘Their great fort on the Gold Coast, St. George Del :Mina, had long ago been taken and occupied by the Dutch, who possessed sixteen out of the forty—three forts on the coast. Although in I740 Denmark had only one fort on the coast, at Accra, she had later on three others, at ‘Fingo, Adda, and Quetta; all of which she sold to England in 1850 for £10,000. Cape Coast Castle and some of the other forts, Dutch and English, were at the time formidable build- [ings; most of them had “negro houses,” in which the (natives were stored in readiness to be shipped across the Atlantic to the plantations. The maintenance of these forts and the establishments connected therewith was a perpetual source of expense, and if we may believe contemporary statements, the British Company was in a continual state of embarrassment, and in need of subsidies from Government. There 11 as much con- troversy during the first half of the century as to what Angzh should be done with the African Company; whether 6&3in its monopoly should be maintained, or whether it should be abolished, and the African trade thrown open to all comers. Finally, the old Company was succeeded in. 1750 by the African Company of Merchants, con- stituted by Act of Parliament, with liberty to trade and to form establishments on the west coast between 20° north and 20° south latitude. Let us recall the fact that the eighteenth century Wars of the eigh- teenth cen- tury. Sierra Leone. 78 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and the first fifteen years of the nineteenth was a. period of almost chronic war in Europe. There was r the war of the Spanish succession (1700), our ownr rebellions, the Quadruple Alliance against Spain (I 718) Z the Polish troubles, the war of the Austrian succession‘. (1741-48), the Seven Years’ War (1758), the almost: continuous war between France and England ending; in Waterloo, during which we annexed Canada, estab-w lished our supremacy in India, and obtained a firm. footing in other parts of the world, while we lost thew United States, the greatest of all our colonies. During all this period, except in Egypt and at the Cape,; Africa did not receive a large share of attention, though ‘ the forts on the west coast were continually changing i. hands. The Dutch lost the .= of reme place they occu- ~ pied during the latter part of the seventeenth and early « part of the eighteenth century. The British forts and factories were valued mainly as slave depéts, and? similar depots were planted by traders of variour‘ nationalities all over the west coast, and up the estuary ' of the Congo. The French continued to advance steadily in the Senegal region. Towards the end of the century British traders began to establish themselves on the Oil l Rivers, though at that time oil was of little or no account. In I787 England resumed her old connec— tion with Sierra Leone, where a private Company obtained land on which to establish a settlement for freed slaves. Great things were expected to come of this. The first negroes sent out were 400 gathered from the streets of London, together with sixty whites, 5 TA GNA TION AND SLA VER Y 79 mostly women of bad. character. A considerable number of Europeans, chiefly English and Dutch, were also sent out to Sierra Leone apparently under the belief that it was quite possible for Europeans to colonise West Africa. It need hardly be said that the sufferings were great and the deaths appalling. A similar attempt on the part of a number of Swedes at the same time ended in disaster. Among the Swedes was one named Nordenskjold, besides the traveller Sparrmann, and Arrhenius the naturalist. At the Cape French Protestants found a refuge, and The Cape- the Dutch burghers, dissatisfied with the rule of the Company, trekked inland to the Karroo to carry on their farming free from molestation. But the Com— pany’s rule followed tee-m, and magistracies were estab— lished at Swellendam in I745, and at Graaf Reinet. in 1784. In 1788 the boundary of the colony was ex- tended to the Great Fish River. In 1795 the Cape was captured by the English, and with the exception of three years (1803-1806) has remained English ever since. At the date of its capture the whole white population of South Africa was probably under 10,000. During the Dutch period, notwithstanding ,the hard rule of the East India Company, something had been done to develop the colony. The vine was introduced at an early date, and has been cultivated ever since; cattle and sheep rearing was encouraged, experiments were made with various cultures, and wheat was successfully grown and even exported. Occasional expeditions were sent into the interior. One expedi- tion, which sailed round to Natal in 1705-1706, found 80 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA an Englishman established there with two wives and a .1 family. He said he was the only survivor of a number - of men who had been landed there with a view to r establish a colony. It is generally believed that the . Orange river was not crossed till the present century, but Mr. Theal, in his Hisz‘oz'y of Soul/z Africa, tells us , that in I 761-62 a large expedition crossed the river and penetrated into Namaqualand as far as 26° 18’ south. . By this time cattle- runs had been extended to i Olifant’s river, and the Copper mountains of little ‘I Namaqualand were visited by Europeans as far back as ,- 1685. Again, in 1791-92, another expedition crossed the Orange river, this time in the belief that gold was ; to be found in the country beyond; but nothing came ' of it except some information concerning the Damaras. . A year later (1793) an expedition by sea took posses- - sion of Possession Island, Angra Pequefia, VValfish ; Bay, and other places, in the name of the Company, a l fact of some interest in connection with recent events. . Still, when the Colony was taken over by England, it ,; can hardly be said that effective possession extendedl more than 200 miles from the south coast, while the, total annual revenue was only £30,000,——a sum quite 1 insufficient to cover the expenditure. Egdziave. Let us for a moment turn to the slave-trade. There : seems little doubt that the African Company, which was.- dissolved in I 750, was ruined by the famous “Assiento”" contract with Spain of I71 3; the conditions on which' the Company was permitted to export slaves from ' Africa to the Spanish American colonies were such that? one wonders how it ever consented to the treaty. Still; STAGIVA TION AND SLA VERY 81 the trade went on. Macpherson, in his Hz’siory of Commerce, calculates that in I 748 the number of Africans shipped to America and the West Indies by all nations amounted to 97,000; the number of Africans in America at that date was probably con~ siderably over a million. It would be difficult to estimate the number of Africans deported from the Continent from the time of the first European connec- tion with it; but during the eighteenth century alone it was probably not less than six millions. Moreover, the old trade from Central Africa to the Mediterranean, Egypt, and Asia, which had been carried on from time immemorial, was still continued. Take it all in all, the profit from the slave—trade during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was equal to that arising from gold, ivory, gum, and all other products combined. In the eighteenth century the power of the Portu» guese in East Africa rapidly declined, and that of the‘ Arabs, under new auspices, rose on its ruins. As early as 1584 there had been an insurrection all along the coast against the Portuguese (by this time under the domination of Spain) promoted by Ali Bey, who suddenly appeared in these waters and claimed the sovereignty for the Turkish sultan. Many of the towns on the coast fell into his hands. The rebellion, how- ever, was of brief duration ; Ali Bey was captured, and ,most of the cities (except Magdoshu) retaken. The Portuguese seem to have been assisted by the Wasimbu, one of those warrior tribes that have at all times kept Central Africa in terror; but the Portuguese dominion in Africa was doomed. Portugal, to quote Krapf, “ruled G Africa. 82 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ‘ the East Africans with a rod of iron, and her pride and i) cruelty had their reward in the bitter hatred of the :) natives. In East Africa the Portuguese have left 5% nothing behind them but ruined fortresses, palaces, and '» ecclesiastical buildings. Nowhere is there to be seen ' a single trace of any real improvement effected by them.” Sef bin Sultan, the Imaum of Oman, at the request of the people of Mombasa, sent a fleet to East Africa and captured Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Kilwa, and laid siege to Mozambique in 1698. After“ this Portuguese power in East Africa was shaken, for although they reoccupied the coast fort of Mombasa,. which they held up to 1730, there was from this time 7» practically an end to their sovereignty between Cape , Guardafui and Cape Delgado. After this the Imaum‘ of Muscat held a nominal sovereignty over the Eastr Coast of Africa; Mombasa was the centre of the government, the rulership becoming to some extent» hereditary. In the end, as will be seen, this led to the supremacy of the Imaums of Oman over the East Coast‘ from Magdoshu to Cape Delgado, and to the estab—r lishment of Zanzibar as an independent state in 1861. Thus by the beginning of the eighteenth century .1 the power of Portugal in East Africa was at the lowest possible ebb ; she had only a precarious footing at one) of the ports on the coast ; and her main trade was the» export of slaves. She had even abandoned Delagoaa; Bay, and the Dutch from the Cape had built a fort; and a factory there, which, however, were destroyed by: the English in 1727. Fifty years later it is curious to find that even; STAGNATION AND SLAVERY 83 . Austria dreamed of acquiring African possessions. In £38m“ the hope of securing the trade to the east to the 25:31:- Austrian dominions in Flanders, Tuscany, and the Adriatic, Maria Theresa granted a charter in 177 5 to William Bolts, an Englishman who had been in the service of the British East India Company. Bolts gathered together a somewhat disreputable band of emigrants from various Mediterranean countries, and sailed from Leghorn in I 776. He proceeded to Delagoa Bay, and made terms with the chiefs on both sides of the river, who declared they were independent of the Portu- guese and of every other power. The Austrian flag was raised, forts were built, various buildings erected, and a considerable trade with India began. Bolts, who seems to have had some practical sense, sent a Mohammedan priest from India to convert the natives, to whom he thought Islamism was better adapted than Christianity. The settlement, however, only lasted three years. The Europeans died off rapidly, and the Portuguese, awak- ing to what they regarded as their rights, addressed representations and protests to the Austrian Govern- ment. And so ended the only attempt on the part of Austria to share in the partition of Africa. Towards the end of the century public opinion in Feeling. England was rapidly taking up a strong position against Egg“ the the slave—trade. From the first there had been here and there a voice lifted up against this traffic. It was in 17 72 that Granville Sharp succeeded in getting the famous judicial decision, that as soon as any slave set his foot upon English territory he was free, and could not be taken back to be a slave. In I 787 84 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Clarkson, Wilberforce, and others formed themselves into an association to secure the abolition of the slave- a trade. In 1788 a Bill was passed in the British Parliament to regulate it. At this time the annual export of slaves from Africa amounted to 200,000.. Half of them were exported from the west coast to America and the West Indies; the other half partly from the east coast to Persia and the East Indies, and partly from the interior to Egypt and the Mediterranean states. Denmark had the honour to be the first European state to prohibit its subjects (1792) from engaging in the slave-trade. In 1807 the slave-trade was declared illegal for all British subjects. In the same year the United States passed a law forbidding the importation of slaves into the Union. Between’ I 807 and I 8 I 5 most of the other great powers assumed the same position as England, and by 1815 the slave- trade was chiefly carried on under the flags of Spain and Portugal. In that year, at the Congress of Vienna, a declaration was signed by the Powers that the trade was repugnant to humanity, and that its abolition was highly desirable. During the long Napoleonic wars the possessions of England, France, and Holland on the west coast frequently changed hands; but except in the case of Egypt, the struggle for colonial possessions did not greatly affect Africa. Let us now see how the partition of the Continent stood in the memorable year 1815. r! CHAPTER VII THE POSITION IN 1815 The struggle between France and England—The Colonies and the Mother Country—Imperialism and Federation—Europe’s share in Africa in 181 5—Portugal in \Vest Africa—Portuguese claims in the interim—Cape Colony—-—Portugal on the East Coast—Central Africa. PROFESSOR SEELEY, in his Exymmiwz of England, has The shown with convincing clearness that the great aim of igliivgegelzi Napoleon in his prolonged struggle with this country £33323“ was to secure supremacy beyond the seas. He well knew that such supremacy would give to France the political and commercial leadership of the world. Happily for the world at large, Napoleon failed, so that when he was finally crushed in 1815 Britain remained supreme at home and abroad. / With the exception of some patches in India, the deadly colony of Cayenne in South America, a few West India Islands, and the islets of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Newfoundland, the only foreign possessions remaining to France when the struggle was ended were the islands of Re’union and Ste. Marie in the neighbourhood of Madagascar, and the colony of Senegal on the west coast of Africa. England remained mistress of nearly all the lands of the globe most available for European 86 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA settlement—Canada, Australia, the Cape. She was ‘J supreme in India, her influence was paramount in *1 Egypt, she retained some of the best of the West :; India Islands, she possessed patches on the west coast 1 of Africa, while the British flag was planted on the i islands of every ocean. The At the beginning of this new era in the history of': Colonies , , 311M119 the world the old conception of the relation of the wigs?- colonies to the Mother Country still to a large extentl prevailed. Notwithstanding the lesson taught by the- United States, the colonies were still regarded as the- private property of the Imperial Government, to be: exploited for its benefit, with but little regard to the - interests of the colonists. But as the great colonies were filled up by immigration and natural increase, as ~ their resources were developed and their commerce; expanded, as new generations grew up, inheriting the ancestral love of independence, the old relations be- tween the Empirc at home and the Empire beyond the seas inevitably became modified. The maternal ! government was naturally reluctant to recognise the new relation between herself and her grown—up children, , but she wisely yielded, if only inch by inch, and, as it , were, grudgingly. The true imperialistic idea was indeed of slow growth; the conception of the British Empire as one great whole, as an organism more or less homogeneous, which must have room for de- velopment and expansion, is barely more than eight years old. This is not the place for a discussion of the subject of Imperialism and Federation, of the relations which ' THE. POSITION IN 1815 87 should exist between the various members of the imperial- ' n isma Empire ; but It IS necessary to realise clearly the v1ews Peder which were entertained on this point when the European powers may be said to have started afresh seventy—seven years ago, when. England had practically “ all the world before her where to choose” had she realised it to be her interest to expand the bounds of her empire. But she did not. In India, indeed, we were compelled to extend our power more and more over the peninsula; but India is not a colony; it is now, as it has been since we first set foot in it, a profitable estate. In South Africa, also, the safety of the colony, as it stood when we took it over from the Dutch, compelled us at intervals to push the limits outwards; but the Kaffir wars were always entered on with reluctance, and else— where we shrank from expansion. It is easy for us, in the light of recent events, to call this shortsighted policy, just as the unreflecting condemn the intolerance of past centuries, and the horrors of the torture- chamber. Our statesmen, with but rare exceptions, are only average. men, forced by circumstances into positions of prominence, and this was even more true half a century ago than it now is. It was not to be expected that they should see far ahead of their time, or do more than try to conduct affairs quietly along existing lines. It is only pressure from without that can move them to look round and look forwards ; and, until Germany came into the field eight years ago, that pressure was hardly ever strong enough to produce discomfort or to lead to action. Moreover, it is only within comparatively recent years that the need ation. Europe’s share in Africa. in 1815. 88 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA for new markets has been severely felt; only within the memory of most of us have America, Australia, India, and the East become glutted, has commercial rivalry among the great states become intensified, and the necessity for securing new fields for industrial enterprise been irresistibly forced upon us. The only continent that remained available for extended opera- tions was Africa, and on Africa a rush has been made without precedent in the history of the world. Let us endeavour to recall the position of the various European powers on the African continent when the world was left to begin a long period of peaceful expansion seventy—seven years ago. Turkey was the only European power which had a footing in North Africa; she was nominally the suzerain of Egypt, Tunis, and Tripoli, but her power was even then on the wane. Algeria with her corsairs was still the terror of the Mediterranean traders; Morocco was then, as she is now, independent but tottering. To the Saharan “Hinterland” of these Mediterranean states no power laid claim. The Central Sudan was powerful and independent, occupied by semi-civilised Mohammedan fanatics. Indeed, the whole of the Niger region was divided up into some- what small states among which Mohammedanism was rapidly spreading. Mungo Park had perished on the river he longed to explore, while René Caillié had not yet visited Timbuktu. France was left in possession of the west coast from Cape Blanco to the mouth of the Gambia, but, except for a short distance along the Senegal, her power extended but a little way inland. THE POSITION [N 1815 89 ) Portugal had then, as she has now, the Cape Verd Islands and a patch on the coast to the south of the Casamansa. England retained her old station on the Gambia ; her Sierra Leone possession was but a patch ; our stations on the Gold Coast were suffering from the abolition of the slave-trade in 1807, while the colony of Lagos was not founded till long after. Denmark and Holland and Portugal had still several forts along the coast, though the Brandenburg settlement had long ago been abandoned. Liberia was not founded till five years after the date with which we are concerned. The course of the Niger was unknown ; trading stations or factories, mainly British, were dotted here and there on the Oil Rivers, the Cameroons, and the Congo estuary, while the whole coast was the haunt of slavers of every nationality. Spain had Fernando Po, and Portugal one of the smaller islands to the south, but the whole coast down to the Congo was virtually no-man’s-land, ready to be annexed by any nation in search of colonies. Portugal, indeed, claimed that her great West Africa possessions began at 5° south, to the north of the Congo, and this claim was for a moment conceded by England in 1885, though Portu— guese writers admitted there had never been effectual occupation. At the mouth of the Congo itself there were a few gigggann stations—Portuguese, French, English, Dutch; but Africa. these were mainly for slave—trading purposes, though the slave-trade was declared illegal in 1807, and was made piracy in 1817. The Portuguese claims were never admitted, by Great Britain at least, except for a Portuguese claims in the in- terim. 90 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA moment in 1885 as already stated, to extend beyond Ambrizette, well to the south of the Congo; of this there is abundant evidence in the voluminous Blue Book correspondence which exists on the subject. It was only at the date of the Berlin Act, 1885, that a concession of the strip between Ambrizette and the Congo was finally made to Portugal. From Ambrizette to Cape Frio, in 18° south, no one denied the claims of Portugal; indeed, European indifference to Central Africa at this period was almost absolute, and continued to be so, except from the geographical standpoint, until within the past few years. Had Portugal then claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Africa lying between her east and her west coast possessions, it is doubtful if any European Power would have troubled about it any more than if she had claimed jurisdiction over the North Pole. As a matter of fact, no evidence exists that any such claim was ever made till within the last few years. No doubt one or two isolated expeditions were sent into the interior, and half-castes and natives with Portuguese names and titles may even have crossed between Angola and Mozambique; but neither legiti- mate trade nor knowledge of the country was promoted by such excursions, and only despair would treat them as an evidence of effective occupation. This effective occupation was really confined to a few points on the coast. There were doubtless here and there isolated stations in the interior belonging to half-castes, but the great bulk of the extensive area now conceded to Portugal was untouched; the old kingdom of Congo had been abandoned long before. The immense stretch THE POSITION IN 1815 91 of coast between Cape Frio and Buffels River was seventy-five years ago unclaimed ; although, as we have seen, Walfish Bay and Angra Pequefia were occupied by the Dutch Cape colonists in the previous century. The Cape Colony, only finally made over to England Cape in 18 I 5, though it had been occupied continuously since many 1806, did not extend beyond Buffels River on the west, and its limit northward was confined within an irregular line drawn from Buffels River_south—east to the Great Fish River. All beyond this, all the region where now are Cape farmers—the Orange Free State, Transvaal, N atal—was as unknown and as untamed as the wildest parts of Matabeleland and the country of the Barotse. The total area of Cape Colony was only I20,000 square miles, and the total population 61,000, of whom 15,000 were in Cape Town, two-thirds slaves—Negroes and Malays,—the latter introduced at an early period by the Dutch. Elephants and other big game were still accessible within a few miles from the coast, beyond which few settlers were to be found. The first British settlement on the Natal coast was not made for some years after this ; and it was not until twenty years later that the first Dutch trek was begun, which culminated in the founding of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. England objected to the Boers settling in Natal, but her statesmen and her colonists at the Cape did not see far enough ahead to extend her claims beyond the Orange River. At Delagoa Bay we once more come upon ground ffigtgggéw claimed by Portugal, whose territory stretched as far Coast. north as Cape Delgado, though the precise limits north 92 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and south remained to be settled at a later period. At this date, 1815, and for many years after, no serious claim of dominion was advanced by the Portuguese beyond a strip of the coast, varying in width, and along the river Zambesi as far as Zumbo; Portuguese writers themselves admit that effective occupation did not ex— tend beyond the precincts of their coast towns and their stations. Expeditions had been sent into the interior as far as Cazembé’s town ; but these were not expeditions of conquest. It is admitted, as we have seen, that at an early period Portuguese adventurers did make their way for some distance into the interior from Sofala and from Tete, as far, probably, as Manica ; that there were deal- ings with the chief, whom we know under the name of Monomotapa; and that attempts were made to work the gold of the interior. But if the so-callcd treaty of Monomotapa is admitted to have been genuine, and if we further admit that his territory was as extensive as the ignorance of the time made it to be, it is clear that long before 1815 effective occupation away from the strip of coast and the river had been abandoned, if it ever existed, and that new tribes and new chiefs had taken the place of those with whom the Portuguese came first into contact. This, however, is a subject that will come up for discussion more appropriately at a later stage. The Portuguese themselves in 1815 did not claim more than the strips referred to. Consider— ably more than a hundred years before Portugal was compelled to abandon all her conquests to the north of Cape Delgado; the whole coast from thence to Maga— doshu, if not farther north, was under the sway of the THE POSITION IN 1815 93 Imaums of Muscat, who had gradually extended their influence between 1698 and 1807, partly by conquest gggitcraajl from the Portuguese, and partly from native chiefs. France had been toying with Madagascar for I70 years, and had actually established a small colony at Fort Dauphin on the south-east coast in the seventeenth century; but in 1815 the island was practically inde- pendent. Mauritius had been made over to England, while France retained Bourbon (Reunion). The interior of the Continent was, broadly speaking, unknown, and was regarded as of no interest, save in the eyes of the geographer. The Somali and Galla countries were in practically undisputed possession of native tribes. Neither England, France, nor Italy seems to have dreamed of possessions on the Red Sea. Abyssinia was uncoveted, and Egypt had not yet cut her off from the coast. Not for five years after 1815 did Egypt begin to stretch her malign hand southwards over Nubia and the Sudan; the Upper Nile was unknown, Khar- tum had not been founded; Kordofan, Darfur, and their neighbours were still independent, though an Englishman (Browne) had explored them some years before ; the great lakes only existed on the half-mythical maps of Ptolemy and the medizeval geographers. Thus, then, three—quarters of a century ago, when Europe was at liberty to start on that career of progress in all directions, which has had undreamed-of results, her African possessions consisted of only a few factories and stations and towns on the coasts ; effective occupa- tion hardly existed beyond the seaboard ; the heart of Africa was an unknown blank; the serious occupation 94 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of the Continent as a whole, as America and Australia were being occupied, was probably unthought of. Germany, in the modern sense, did not exist; Holland was satisfied with her great colonies of culture; France had hardly bethought herself of fresh colonial expan- sion; England had quite enough occupation for the energies of her surplus population, and for her com- mercial adventurers, in Canada, Australia, India, and the East. Africa she valued mainly as affording stations to guard her route to her great Asiatic empire. For sixty years Africa was left in comparative peace except for the explorers. The total value of the commerce of the African Continent in 18I5 (including slaves) probably did not exceed £30,000,000 sterling. The total exports could hardly have been more than £ I 5,000,000, more than half coming from Egypt and the countries on the Mediterranean. 11,. CHAPTER VIII SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION Activity after 1815—French conquests: Algeria——Senegambia—Gambia and Sierra Leone—Liberia—The Gold Coast—Lagos—The Niger— The Cameroons and the Cape—South Africa—Livingstone’s work —-—The Zanzibar region—Opening up of Central Africa—Early Ger- man aspirations—British influence at Zanzibar—The Red Sea— Egyptian conquests—The Suez Canal—Position in 187 5. ALTHOUGH during the sixty years after I 8 I 5 the most important annexation made in Africa by a European Activity after 1815. power was that of Algeria by France, work was being quietly done which has led to important results within the past few years. During the latter part of the period especially we were enabled, through the exertions of adventurous explorers, to form some idea of the character of the African interior. Even before the Conquest of Algeria in 1830, Caillié had reached Tim- buktu, and other explorers——Denham, Clapperton, Laing, and other Englishmen—had crossed the desert, or entered from the west coast, and made known the Lake Chad region, the Niger, and the Central Sudan states. It was in this region and in Abyssinia and the Upper Nile countries that the greatest exploring activity was manifested until Livingstone began his wanderings. Tuckey’s failure to ascend the Congo French conquests : Algeria. i,‘ 77.! 96 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA farther than the first rapids left that great river to sweep its broad way unutilised across the Continent for another sixty years. Even if he had succeeded in re- vealing its magnificent upper course, it is doubtful if the time had come for Europe to scramble for its. control. It can hardly be said that the interesting discoveries made in North Africa and the Niger region up to 1860 had much effect in arousing the covetous- ness of Europe. The French Conquest of Algeria, begun in 1830 and completed only after long years of sanguinary struggle, was a benefit to the civilised world, and prob- ably no other Power envied France the possession of that haunt of corsairs and home of Moslem fanaticism. The truth is that France, for many years, was more eager than any other European Power for dominion in Africa. She was, indeed, the only Power that sought to rival England in the creation of a colonial empire ; she has striven hard to make up by annexations elsewhere for all that she lost to England through the wars of last and the beginning of the present century. Unfor— tunately for her, there remained nothing to be annexed that could be compared to the territories she had lost. Neither in Asia nor the Pacific has she been able to find anything that can be put in comparison with India and Australia, where early in the century she endeavoured to forestall us. Algeria as a colony of settlement can never rival Canada, nor even, except perhaps for southern Europeans, British South Africa. It has a desert for its _ “ Hinterland.” Algeria has, no doubt, prospered greatly under French rule, though it will be long ere France is SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 97 able to recoup herself for the outlay of the ,5 I 50,000,000 sterling which its conquest has cost her. But the resources of the country are being developed ; agriculture is spreading; by means of irrigation the cultivable area is being extended far into the desert, and in time a line of oases may run from Algeria to the bend of the Niger. The idea of connecting by railway Algeria with the French possessions in Senegambia is not a new one. In 1880 and 1881 the unfortunate Flatters expedition was sent out to survey a railway route be- tween the two territories. The scheme is again under consideration, and, no doubt, another attempt will be made to accomplish it. \Vhile France was consolidating her position in Algeria, she was steadily extending her influence in the Senegambian interior. So long as fifty years ago she made attempts to open communications between Senegambia and Algeria, but without success. The Senegambians, like the Cape colonists, were continually on their defence against the natives of the interior, who, under their Mohammedan leaders, such as El-Haj Omar, did their best to drive the French into the sea. But there could be little doubt of the ultimate result. \Vhen Colonel (afterwards General) Faidherbe retired from his long governor-ship of the colony in 1865, the French occupation extended to the Upper Senegal; French influence was recognised by treaty from Cape Blanco to British Gambia; the coast region from St. Louis , to the British frontier, and even at Casamansa on the - south, and for a considerable distance into the interior, had been brought under subjection; an administration had H Senegam- bia. Gambia and Sierra. Leone. 98 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA been established ; and attempts had been made to intro- duce the cultivation of cotton, indigo, and other products, not, however, with much success. In the whole interior of the Senegambian region, France, during these fifty years, had entire command of the situation, England not con- ceiving that her interests demanded interference on her part. Yet she could, had she yielded to the solicitations of native chiefs, have extended her influence over the whole of the Upper Niger. Indeed, in 1865 a strong committee of the House of Commons came unanimously to the resolution “that all further extension of territory or assumption of government, or new treaty offering any protection to native tribes, would be inexpe- dient.” Though not rigorously adhered to, the policy has, in the main, been carried out with respect to the prominent African colonies ever since, thus leaving France a free hand to extend her possessions between the Senegal and the Gulf of Guinea. The exclusive right retained by England in the Treaty of 1783 to trade for grain with the Arabs 0f Portendic, on the coast between the Senegal and Cape Blanco, was exchanged in 1857 for the French factory at Albreda on the north bank of the Gambia. Till 1816 Gambia had been all but abandoned, owing to the abolition of the slave-trade in 1807. A few British merchants from Senegal then settled on the island of St. Mary at the mouth of the river. From 1821 to 1843 it was subject to the Government of Sierra Leone; then after twenty-three years of inde- pendence it became in 1866 part of the government of the \Nest African settlements. During the whole SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 99 period of French activity on both sides of the Gambia no attempt was made to extend British influence in any direction, and by the latest Anglo-French arrange- ment that influence is practically restricted to the banks of the river. A little more activity was shown . in Sierra Leone, which acquired various islands and‘ tracts of country by treaty before 1865, though no attempt was made to push British influence into the interior or along the coast towards Portuguese Guinea. Portuguese Guinea remained virtually as it had been from the time when Portugal was freed from Spanish ‘ domination ; its precise limits have only quite recently been defined. In 1820 the Washington Colonisation Society made Liberia. the first settlement of freed negroes at Cape Mesurado, and so laid the foundation of the republic of Liberia, recognised by the European powers as an independent state in 1847. The republic extended its domain along the coast to the borders of Sierra Leone, and. south-east to the negro settlement of Maryland, which was absorbed in 1857; while it pushed its influence for an indefinite distance into the interior. Meantime the British settlements on the Gold 3325.01le Coast had a very chequered career; now they were under Government jurisdiction, and again they were abandoned to the merchants. Troubles with Ashanti complicated matters, while the Dutch and Danish settlements hampered trade operations. Happily, in 1850, Denmark made over her settlements at Accra, -Fort Quetta, Nongo, and Adda to England for £10,000. By a convention which came into force Lagos. The Niger. 100 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA in 1868, the Dutch were confined to the west of the Sweet river, their extensive possessions of the previous century having now dwindled down to Dixcove, Apol- lonia, Secondee, and Commenda, with a protectorate over the two \Nassaws, Denkera, and the country of Apollonia. In 1871 Holland transferred all her rights on the Gold Coast to Great Britain. Although France claims to have acquired portions of the coast (Grand Bassam and Assinie) to the west of the British Colony in 1838 and 1842, and a station on the east, Porto Novo, in 1868, these were really unoccupied till 1884, and at any time up to within the past few years there would have been no obstacle to declaring the whole of the coast from the Liberian boundary to the Gaboon under British protection. Had this been done it would have prevented much of the international bitterness of late years. In 1861 Lagos was acquired by England from the native king; since which time the colony has been extended east and west, until now it stretches from the Benin river to the Denham Waters at Kotonu. It is interesting to note that in the seventeenth century the French attempted to effect a settlement at the mouth of the Niger (at that date of course not known to be connected with the great river), but nothing came of it. Meantime British trade continued to be developed along the rivers which may be regarded as constituting the Niger delta, though some of the streams or creeks are independent of that river. British traders have been settled on the Oil Rivers for a century, at first mainly for the purpose of carrying on the slave—trade. SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 'on British missionaries have been at work in the Calabar region for more than half a century, and over a long stretch of coast British influence was actually, if not nominally, supreme; but no active steps seem to have been even thought of to secure the whole region from any risk of foreign interference, which until quite recently could easily have been done. The period, however, between 1815 and 1875 was marked by extensive exploring enterprise in the Niger region—— enterprise mainly conducted by British subjects or at British cost. Lander had traced the river from Bussa to its mouth. Expedition after expedition, with which the names of Allen, Baikie, Laird, and others are connected, at a fearful expenditure of suffering and life endeavoured to explore the great river and its tributary the Benue’, and establish British influence and British trade. Baikie founded a station at Lokoja, at the confluence of the two rivers; model farms were established elsewhere, and efforts made to suppress the slave—trade. The great expedition of Barth from the north, under British auspices, contributed a wealth of information on the whole Niger region. Sixty years ago the far-sighted and shrewd geographer M‘Queen urged in the strongest terms the duty of England to establish herself in the Niger region and create a great “Central African Empire.” But the “craven fear of being great,” the dread of extending Imperial respon- sibilities, still possessed those charged with the interests of the Empire, as indeed it did till only eight years ago. After much expenditure of life and, money the Niger was virtually abandoned——given 10: THE PARTITION OF AFRICA over to the unsupported enterprise of private traders. All the time France was steadily pursuing her way inland to the great river. 33:33:11?” An English mission station was founded at Victoria. thecape- on the Cameroons coast, in 1858, and British traders virtually dominated the coast. In 1842 France estab- lished herself on the fine estuary of the Gaboon, and twenty years after took possession of the Ogové. It .... . was not, however, till fifteen years later that, under the leadership of Savorgnan de Brazza, French dominion was extended into the interior, and the foundations were laid for the immense acquisitions of France between the coast and the Congo in 1884. The coast down to the Cape boundary remained much as it was in 1815. Private trading firms of various nationalities had stations at the mouth of the Congo and along the coast to the north, but no one had the curiosity to seek to discover what lay beyond Tuckey’s farthest point at Yellala Falls. Portugal was undis- turbed in her West African possessions, whose resources she did little or nothing to develop. Her traders had stations in the interior, from which caravans went to and from the coast, mainly for slaves and ivory. To Portugal ought naturally to have fallen the exploration of the Congo, but such enterprise as that had long been beyond the range of her energies. Missionaries, explorers, and traders had ventured into Damaraland and Namaqualand. Although a number of islands off Angra Pequefia were declared British in 1867, and Walfish Bay in 1878, the latter was not actually annexed to the Cape till 1884. SIXTY YEARS OF PRE PA RA T 10A" 103 Meanwhile, Cape Colony itself .had its hands full of $333, trouble. War after war with the Kaffirs kept up for years a feeling of insecurity, and compelled the Cape to push its boundaries farther and farther north. Kaffraria was annexed in 1865; in 1871 Basutoland came under British ‘rule. A constitution was estab- lished in 1853, and responsible government in 1872. Meanwhile, by opening up the country by roads and railways, and encouraging immigration, the colony steadily developed. The Orange River had been reached; the Orange Free State and the Transvaal had been founded and recognised, the former in 1854 and the latter in 1852; Natal had been created an independent colony in 18 56; and, though patches of native territory still here and there awaited formal annexation, by 1875 all the country up to the Orange River and the Orange Free State was virtually under British influence, though the extension of this influence was carried on slowly and with reluctance on the part of the Home Government. Beyond Natal there remained the Zululand gap between the British and Portuguese spheres, the latter undergoing little or no change during the long interval. Movements were taking place among the native tribes both to the north and the south of the Zambesi; thirty years before 1875 the Matabele had crossed the Limpopo and established themselves by force in the country of the Mashonas and kindred tribes. In 1823 Captain Owen, while carrying out his surveys on the east coast, obtained from native chiefs a cession of Delagoa Bay, which was, moreover, claimed for England in virtue of Living- stone’s work. 104 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the Dutch settlement there in 1820. England went so far as to found a station named Bombay opposite Lourengo Marquez, and there were continual disputes for possession between her and Portugal up to 1875, the Transvaal also putting in a Claim for a patch of coast. At last the rival claims were referred for arbitration to the President of the French Republic, - . Marshal MacMahon, who decided in favour of Portugal, even going to the extreme of giving Portugal more territory than she had claimed in her statement. The 'chief ground of Portugal’s claim was the shadowy “Treaty of Monomotapa,” which had lapsed long before. The present town of Lourengo Marquez was only founded in 1867 on the site of an old village of the same name. But a new era for the Continent had begun. Livingstone had entered Africa, and had initiated those explorations which opened up the heart of the Continent, and led to that scramble which is now all but completed. Before his death in 1873 he had been to Lake Ngami, had completed that journey across the Continent which revealed the course of the Zambesi, gave us the first authentic information as to the character of the country watered by it and its tributaries, and carried the British name and British influence into regions which only the other day have become appanages of the Imperial Crown. Others had followed in Livingstone’s footsteps ——-Galton and Andersson in Damaraland, Baines in the same region and east to Matabeleland (whose riches he was the first to discover) and the Zambesi; while others ~——missionaries, explorers, hunters, and traders—were SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARA TIOIV 105 penetrating into every corner of the country to the south of the Zambesi. Livingstone himself had concluded his great Zambesi expedition in I863, which, disastrous as it was in some respects, opened up a new country-to the world (for new it was despite all that the Portu- guese claim to have done), and led to the foundation of those trading and missionary stations in Nyassa- land, which were destined to form the basis of British influence in one of the finest regions of Central Africa. In 1865 Livingstone began his final wanderings, which led him through the heart of Africa to Tanganyika and ' the Lualaba, which he would fain have followed to its outflow at the sea ; but he was destined instead (1873) to die on the swampy shores of Bangweolo, one of the mysterious river’s great lake—feeders. Meantime Stanley had already entered the threshold of that Continent (january 1871), which he was, directly or indirectly, destined within the next few years to transform. In the Zanzibar coast region, which, since the be- ginning of the seventeenth century, had been nominally . at least under the Imaums of Muscat, there were con— -. stant attempts of the local sultans to establish their 'z independence; and on the change of dynasty in Oman, which took place on the accession of the Al bin Saidi : to power, several of the lieutenant-governors on the coast refused to accept allegiance. The Imaum Said ' Said, however, had made himself master of Patta, ' Brava, Lamu, Zanzibar, Pemba, and Kilwa, and - threatened to attack Mombasa, where the aged Soli- man Ben Ali, as representing the governor under the older rulers of Oman, was in power. Soliman appealed The Zanzibar region. 106 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to Captain Owen, whose squadron was then surveying the coast, and he, in 1824, took under the protection of Great Britain Mombasa and its dependency, l’emba, and all the coast between Melinde and Pangani ; Brava also was placed under our protection, and many advan- tageous concessions were made to the British. But, alas! Captain Owen had been long before his time ; in I826 the British Government peremptorily declined the concession, and all the region was abandoned to its fate for another sixty years. This was towards the end of the Earl of Liverpool’s long administration; troubles were brewing at home, and at that remote date it was no doubt difficult to see what benefit the acquisition of a long stretch of East African coast could be to Great Britain. The struggles of Mombasa with Muscat were re- newed, but the latter in the end prevailed, so that when, in I 861, Seyyid Majid was confirmed by Lord Canning in the territories of Zanzibar, the Sultan’s rule extended over the whole coast and the islands from Cape Delgado Opening up to Magdoshu. Moreover, the Sultan’s infiuence, if not of Central Africa. jurisdiction, had extended far into the interior, and his orders were obeyed even on Lake Tanganyika. But before Livingstone set eyes on that lake great things had been done in this section of Central Africa; dis- coveries had been made which changed the whole aspect of the interior, and led to further enterprises, which culminated in the scramble of the last few years. The Arabs, returning from these journeys in the interior, had told of great lakes which they themselves had navigated. In 1848 Rebmann caught sight of the SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 107 snows of Kilimanjaro. Ten years later Burton and Speke went into the interior to find those great lakes, already known to the Arabs, and they were able to place Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza on our maps. Speke, who first saw the latter, had thus discovered the great source of the Nile, and, with his companion Grant a year or two later, he was able to add still further to our knowledge of Egypt's historical river, and to tell us of the great kingdom of Uganda and its ruler Mtesa, who subsequently played so important a part in unwittingly promoting British interests. In 1864 Baker discovered the Albert Nyanza, and made further additions to our knowledge of a region which is now virtually within the British sphere. Burton and Speke found stations far in the interior, founded by Arabs, through whose enterprise the slave—trade had reached gigantic dimensions. While to British explorers is due the credit of the fizgigfi; bulk of the important work done in Central Africa “Ons- up to,1875, it must not be forgotten that travellers of other nationalities contributed their share to the opening up of the Continent to knowledge and enter- prise. One of the most prominent names connected with the exploration of East Africa is that of Von der Decken. Between 1860 and 1865 he undertook ex- tensive explorations in the Kilimanjaro region, and visited several parts of the coast between Cape Delgado and the river Juba. While exploring this river he lost his life, but not before he had conceived the idea of a German occupation of these districts of Africa. 'From the Iuba river on 14th August 1864, he 108 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA writes: “I am persuaded that in a short time a , colony established here would be most successful, Tr and after two or three years would be self-support- F ing. It would become of‘ special importance after r the opening of the Suez Canal. It is unfortunate .. that we Germans allow such opportunities of acquiring colonies to slip, especially at a time when it would be- of importance to the navy.” As a German writer has said, had it not been for Von der Decken’s death”: Germany might have had colonies twenty years sooner:- than she did. Two years later Otto Kersten, one of Von der Decken’s companions, published an article onw the Colonisation of East Africa, in which he wrote: “Von der Decken on many occasions said that he :- would not hesitate, if Seyyid Majid agreed to it, to buy ,- Mombasa from the Sultan in order to found an estab-- lishment and place the commerce of the interior in thew hands of Europeans, and especially of Germans. After‘z two or three years’ stay at Chagga, on the eastern shore» of Victoria Nyanza, the colonists would obtain more) results than emigrants who wander far across the seas: I recommend to my country an enterprise as advan— tageous as it is glorious for individuals and for the) nation.” Though Von der Decken held exaggerated, Views as to the value of this part of Africa for colonising _ purposes, happily for British interests Germany was at: the time too much occupied with her position in Europe: to be able to take steps to improve her position beyondl‘r the seas. But these two utterances are noteworthy asr. being probably the first hint that Germany might in the» future enter the field as a Colonising power in African; SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 109 At the time that Von der Decken wrote, and for twenty years after, British influence was supreme at Zanzibar; British 1n fluence at. the succession of able British representatives at the Zanzibar couit of the Sultan were vi1tually political residents, and guided the Sultan’s policy as really as do similar functionaries at the feudatory courts of India. Sir John Kirk, who was connected with Zanzibar from 1866 to 1887, was undoubtedly more powerful than the Sultan himself; and fifteen years ago, and indeed down to 1884, British supremacy at Zanzibar was deemed almost as indispensable to British interests in India and in East Africa as is the possession of Aden itself. At any moment our position in Zanzi- bar and over the whole of East Africa could have been placed beyond challenge, and indeed was so, but the Government of the time never had the courage to take advantage of the position ; though perhaps it was as much lack of time as lack of courage that must be charged against our overburdened foreign ministers. British Indian merchants were settled all along the coast from Cape Delgado to Mombasa, and all but a l fraction of the trade was in their hands. Proceeding northwards, we find but little alteration in the position between 1815 and 1875. Massawa had been occupied by the Turks early in the seventeenth ' century, and from that date the whole of the Red Sea coast may be regarded as Egyptian, Abyssinia’s ,attempts to obtain a port always ending in failure. Early in the century France began to seek for a footing on the Red Sea. The port of Ait to the north of the Straits of Babelmandeb was purchased by a French The Red Sea. Egyptian conquests. The Suez Canal. Madagas- car. 110 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA merchant in 1835 in the hope of attracting the trade of Abyssinia. Various other attempts were made to obtain a footing near Massawa, and to intrigue against Abyssinia, with no permanent result, except at Obock on Tajurah Bay, opposite Aden, which was bought in 1862, but not effectively occupied till 1883. Italy had not yet appeared on the Red Sea. Egypt had taken possession of Berbera and aimed at extending her influence through Harrar to Shoa, but happily her purpose was defeated. Abyssinia was much as it had been, notwithstanding the attempts of France in the first half of this century, its invasion by a British army, and its troubles with Egypt. This latter power, whose connection with Turkey had become more and more slender, had by 1875 pushed her way southwards along the Nile, and had virtually annexed Kordofan and Darfur, and the whole of the country up to the Albert Nyanza. Gordon was already in her service, and Emin Pasha joined him in the year following. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 is a notable i event in the partition of Africa. As a new highway to India it greatly enhanced the value of Egypt, and led to a more intense rivalry than before between England and France for paramount influence in that country. Moreover, it greatly increased the strategical value not only of Aden, but of the ports on the opposite coast of Africa, and of the island of Socotra, which was taken under the wing of England in 1876, though it was looked upon as under British influence long before that. The greater island of Madagascar, farther south, continued to receive attentions from France at intervals SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION 111 during the whole of the period under notice. The various attempts at establishing a footing on the main island failed, though the island of Ste. Marie on the east coast was reoccupied in 1819, Nossibé on the west coast taken possession of in 1840, and Mayotte in 1841. Thus, then, the progress of partition among the European powers had been comparatively slow and in— significant during the sixty years that had elapsed since 1815. Germany as a colonising power had not yet set foot upon the Continent. Great Britain had certainly pushed her influence and jurisdiction northwards from the Cape as it stood in 1815, but it was reluctantly and slowly. Her west coast colonies were mere patches. True, her influence was felt extensively in the Niger region and in the Zanzibar dominions, but it' was unofficial and unsecured by treaties. Her supremacy in Egypt had been more and more marked. / Position in 875. France was the only power that showed any eagerness '_ for steady annexation and any foresight as to future contingencies. In short, the great struggle had not yet " begun; but it was imminent. Stanley’s memorable journey across the Continent, and especially his discovery of the great Congo waterivay, may be regarded as the initiatory episode. CHAPTER IX PRELIMINARIES TO PARTIQ‘ION The slave-trade—Interest in exploration—Stanley’s influence—Germany , ———The King of the Belgians’ ambitions—The Brussels Conference of l I876—«The International African Associatioanational Committees , Expeditions to East Africa Karema founded—The work of National Committees—A new phase—Stanley’s return—Missions in Central Africa—Stanley and the King of the Belgians—The Congo Committee: its object Mr. Stanley returns to the Congo—An- nexation in the air—Aims of the Congo Committee A purely Bel- gian enterprise International Congo Association—Crude ideas of .1 Congo State—The King’s aims—Stanley on the Congo—Stanley’s progress Proposed creation of 21 Congo State—Stanley completes his work. The slave- FROM about 1850 the interest in Africa grew more I trade. and more intense, and more and more widespread. Even after that date cargoes of slaves were shipped from the west coast to America, but as a result of the : American Civil War and the increased activity of British : anti-slavery cruisers, the horrors of the Transatlantic .' traffic in humanity were at last put an end to. The , traffic may have lingered in the Portuguese parts oft Angola, for there were still Brazil and Cuba to be 7 supplied, and when, many years before, all other civilised 2' nations agreed to suppress the traffic, Portugal begged ' for, and obtained, the insertion of a clause excepting 1 her African ports from the operation of the treaty” PRELIAIIAQJRIES TO PARTITION 113 But if there were those who flattered themselves that the African slave-trade was dead, they were soon undeceived. Livingstone, and other travellers and missionaries, opened our eyes to the fact ‘that the Transatlantic slave—trade Was really only a very small portion of the evil which haunted the Dark Continent. The whole of ”Africa between the tropics was a hunting- ground for the so-called Arabs, who had for long past been making their way from the north and from the coast on the east. \V hen Livingstone reached the heart of the Continent at Nyangwe’ he found their malign influence everywhere present, and his soul was harrowed by their cruelties. The various stages in the spread of Islam in Africa, and the continual growth of the traffic in slaves and ivory carried on by the Arabs and half-breeds from the east, is a subject of vast interest. Formerly these Arabs were content to remain on the coast and purchase from the natives what the latter brought down; but owing to various causes they themselves, in recent years, have led or sent their own caravans into the interior, with what results every reader of Livingstone and Stanley knows. Great regions have been devastated, and whole towns, and even tribes, almost exterminated for the sake of the ivory which they possessed. For every slave brought to the coast to be shipped across to Arabia or Madagascar, or sent north to Morocco, Tripoli, and Egypt by caravan route, probably half a dozen natives '. had been slaughtered. As this sad feature in the life of Central Africa became more and more keenly recognised, the philanthropists of the world combined I Interest in explora- tion. Stanley’s influence. 114 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to suppress it, and in this way the interest in Central Africa was intensified. Another considerable section of civilised mankind became fascinated with the discoveries which were gradually revealing to us the wonderful character of a continent whose rim only was mapped in the school- days of many now living. Rebmann and Krapf; Burton, Speke, and Grant; Baker, Schweinfurth, and Nachtigal; Livingstone above all, besides many men of minor note, had aroused an interest in Africa unparalleled in the annals of geography even in the days when Arctic exploration was at its height. Stanley’s story of how he found Livingstone served to intensify this interest, keen and widespread as it was, while Livingstone’s death turned African ex- ploration into a kind of holy crusade. Missionary effort was greatly increased and strengthened, espe- cially in East Africa, as far inland as Lake Nyassa, with which the name of Livingstone is so intimately associated. Thus it might be said that when Stanley started on his memorable journey across the Dark Continent in 1875, the whole civilised world had an interest in the results of his expedition. Letter after letter from the great explorer, and telegram after tele- gram from the heart of Africa, as to the fate of the expedition, served to fan this interest and kindle it into a world-wide enthusiasm. To the work accomplished by Stanley more than to that of any other explorer it is due that this some- what abstract enthusiasm for Africa was, in the space of a comparatively few years, precipitated into action on PRELIAIINARIES T0 PARTITION 115 the part of the States of Europe. But that action did not come for some time, even after Stanley had emerged from the Congo. He had hardly got well into the Continent ere there was action of a kind, but that action did not result in annexation; this came soon enough, and when it did come, it came with a rush. There is little need here to recount the story of an expedition in many respects among the most remarkable which ever entered Africa. Stanley him- self is a man of action, and will carry out his purpose at all hazards; he is no mere abstract geographer or general philanthropist. As with all great men of action, his deeds beget deeds on the part of others. No man knows better than he how to nerve his fellow- men to action. His letters from Uganda, describing with dramatic realism his long interviews with the clever if somewhat artful Mtesa, roused Christendom to enthusiasm. At once an army of missionaries, English and French, was sent out to take possession, in the name of their Master, of one of the most power~ ful kingdoms in Central Africa. This may indeed be said to have been the first tangible result of Stanley’s journey—a result which was not without its influence in the final scramble. Stanley was still in the heart of Africa when a movement was initiated, which may be regarded as the beginning of the ultimate partition of the Continent among the Powers of Europe. All eyes, as we have seen, were turned to Africa, even before Stanley had started to complete the work of Livingstone. The colonial aspirations of Germany were being awakened. Germany. The King of the Belgians’ ambitions. M ~/ 116 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA She was still flushed with the fruits of her'great victory over France. She was now an united empire, bent on achieving what Germans would call world-greatness. New energy had been infused into her commercial life. Her merchants were on the lookout for fresh fields; their eyes were eagerly turned to the East and to Africa. But at present the only action was that taken by private adventurers; Bismarck had more important matters demanding his energies. It remained for another potentate to inaugurate a move- ment which, within fifteen years, was to make Africa little more than a political appendage to Europe. W'hen Stanley’s first letter came home, Leopold, King of the Belgians, was in his prime. He was just forty years old, and had been on the throne of Belgium for ten years. The King was then as he is now, a man of restless energy, ambitious of distinction for himself and his little kingdom, greatly interested in the pro- motion of commerce and the arts, and with a special love for geography. The field for his energies as the sovereign of a small, neutral, and comparatively poor kingdom was limited. He had -no great army, no great fleet, no ever-recurring political complica- tions to engage his attention outside his own domain. It was natural that a man of his energies and am- bitions should wish for a sphere of more cosmopolitan action than he could find within his own borders, or even in Europe. Possibly also he desired that as his kingdom could not, by any chance, be great politically, it might at least expand commercially; if it could not stretch its limits in Europe, there PRELLMINARIES T0 PARTITION n7 was a whole continent, almost unoccupied and un- touched, in which he and his people might find abundant room for their surplus energies. There is no need to attempt to fathom all the motives of the King of the Belgians in summoning to Brussels on the 1T3ilgssels 12th September 1876 a select Conference to discuss 33%;?” the question of the exploration and the civilisation of Africa, and the means of opening up the interior of the Continent to the commerce, industry, and scientific enterprise of the civilised world. But in summoning the Conference the King indicated his desire that it should consider what measures might be adopted to extinguish the terrible scourge of slavery, which, though put a stop to on the west coast, was known still to continue its desolating influence over wide and populous tracts in the interior of the Continent. It is difficult to forget all that has happened during the sixteen years that have passed since this memorable, this epoch—making, meeting in Brussels. Have we any warrant in concluding that the King of the Belgians had at first in View the ultimate creation of a great African empire, of which he himself would be the head, and which might place Belgium on a level with Holland as a colonising power? It is hard to say; probably His Majesty had not formulated to himself any very precise scheme. It must be remembered that in September 1876 Stanley was on his march from Lake Tanganyika to Nyangwé, and that as yet he had not looked upon the wide Lualaba, which he was destined to trace down to the Atlantic as the Congo. The King of the Belgians, when he convened 118 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the meeting of geographers and philanthropists, knew no mOre about the Lualaba and its ultimate destina- tion than did any one else who took an interest in Africa ; and, indeed, his attention was not directed to West Africa at all, but to the east coast and to East Central Africa. The King had probably no more idea of what would be the ultimate outcome of the meeting than had any one else who took part in it. The object he professedly had in View he had a right to con- ceive was a noble one. In the initiation and direction of an organisation for opening up the long-neglected Continent to science, industry, and civilisation, there seemed ample scope for his energies and philanthropic aspirations, and for that craving for distinction which kings share with ordinary mortals. If we may judge by subsequent events, underlying these philanthropic aspirations were motives of a somewhat grosser nature, but natural enough in the breasts of kings. It must be admitted that had His Majesty’s design been carried out as he planned it, we should have learned more about the heart of Africa in a few years than had been done during the four centuries that have elapsed since the Portuguese began to creep down and around its coasts. But human nature and national jealousies were, as might have been expected, too strong for combined and disinterested international action and for the phil- anthropical aims put forward by the King. At the Brussels meeting of 12th September 1876, which, as has been said, may be regarded as the initiation of the partition of Africa, the nationalities represented were Great Britain, Belgium, Austria- PRELIflIIZVA/CIES T0 PARTITION 119 Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia. England was well represented by Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Rutherford Alcock, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Admiral Sir Leopold Heath, Sir (then Mr.) William Mackinnon, Sir Fowell Buxton, Sir John Kennaway, Colonel J. A. Grant, and Commander Cameron. Sir Harry Verney also took some part in the Conference.1 These national representatives consisted of the presidents of the various Geographical Societies, African explorers, and others interested in the Continent; they were in no sense delegates from their governments. The King of the Belgians himself was really acting in his private capacity, and in no way as involving any responsibility on the part of his kingdom. The Conference sat for three days, and as a result of their deliberations it was agreed that an International Commissionkor International African A s\ A Ms seat at firussels, should be founded for the exploration and civilisation of Central Africa, and that each nation willing to co-operate should form National Committees to collect subscrip— tions for the common object, and send delegates to the Commission. The international character of the movement was 1 The other nations were represented as follows :—For Austria-Hungary —Bar0n von Hofmann, Count Edward Ziehy, Fer. von Hochstetter, Lieu- tenant Lux. For Belgium—Baron Lambermont, M. Banning, M. Emile de Borehgrave, M. Couvreur, M. le Comte Goblet d’Alviella, M. James, M. de Laveleye, M. Quairier, M. Sainetelette, M. Smalderl, M. Van Biervliet, M. Leon Vander Bossehe, M. Jean Van Volxem. For France»— Admiral le Baron de la Ronciere de Noury, M. Henri Duveyrier, the Marquis de Compiegne, M. d’AMmdie, M. Maunoir. For Germany—— Baron \‘On Richthofen, Dr. Nachtigal, Dr. Schweinfurth, Herr Gerhard Rohlfs. For Italy—the Chevalier Cristoforo Negri. For Russia—M. Semenof. / The Inter- na. ional African As- sociation. National Commit- _ tees. 120 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA not long maintained. In England the subject was discussed at the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, to which body naturally fell the task of organising the National Committee in this country. Difficulties of an obvious kind were foreseen, which rendered it desirable that such a Committee, while maintaining friendly relations of correspondence with the Belgian and other Committees, should not trammel itself with engagements of an international nature, or with objects other than those of geography. No dele- gates were therefore appointed to the International Commission at Brussels. Instead, the African Explora- tion Fund of the Royal Geographical Society was established in March 1877; and with the public sub- scriptions obtained the expedition under Mr. Keith Johnston was sent out, an expedition which, after the death of its able leader, was taken command of by his young colleague, Mr. Joseph Thomson, whose brilliant ’ career as an explorer has fully borne out the promise of this early triumph, and has made his name famous in the annals of African travel. National Committees as branches of the Inter- national Association were formed in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as in Belgium. At the meeting of the Central Committee held in Brussels on 20th and 215t June 1877 it was found that the Belgian Committee had [already sub- scribed 287,000 francs, besides 44,000 francs annual contribution. By June 1879 Belgium’s contribution had exceeded 600,000 francs, while small contributions PRELI/WINARIES T0 PARTITION 121 had been sent by the German, Austrian, Hungarian, fixpedti- OHS 0 Dutch, and Swiss Committees. No time was lost in East Africa. beginning operations. By 1877 the first expedition was under way, the object being to establish between the east coast and Lake Tanganyika a series of stations for the purpose of helping explorers and spreading civilisation. From the beginning, misfortune followed the footsteps of this and subsequent expedi- tions. The Belgian officers ‘chosen as leaders were totally unacquainted with the conditions of life-in tropical Africa, and it is to be feared were almost entirely ignorant of the geography of the Continent, even so far as it was known. Into the details of these international expeditions from the east coast it is not necessary to enter. The first which left Zanzibar in 1878 set out with a train of ox-waggons, but had to return shortly after it started, owing to the death of the oxen from the tsetse fly. One or two intermediate stations of a temporary kind were subsequently estab— ilished in the interior, but the first permanent station 'was only founded in 1880 by Captain Cambier at .Karema, on the south-east shore of Lake Tanganyika. £32113; Q. It was in connection with this station that experiments nvere made, at the expense of the King of the Belgians, .with Indian elephants. These, unfortunately, it was .found impossible to acclimatise; they all died. Not- withstanding the great sacrifice of human life and the :‘enormous expenditure of money, these attempts at {founding oases of civilisation in Central Africa were ifailures so far as the objects of the Association were concerned. Karema was really the only station that The work of National Commit- tees. 122 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA survived, and explorers have on more than one occa- sion obtained succour there. The results to explora- tion have been almost 722'], and it is a matter of regret that the intentions of the royal founder of the Association were so sadly marred by ignorance and inefficiency. The solitary station of the Association in East Central Africa, Karema, being now within the German sphere, has been made over to the German authorities in East Africa. The truth is that, so far as the exploration of Africa goes, much more was done by the National Committees than by the International Commission. This is also true of the opening up of the Continent to commerce and civilisation, so that the National Committees, rather than the International Commission, must be credited with having brought about that scramble among the European powers which, in a very brief period, resulted in the partition of Africa. To the work of the English African Committee, independently of the Association, reference has already been made. Their work was purely a work of exploration. The French and Italian National Committees seem to have contributed little or nothing to the central funds ; they too were of opinion that they could best carry out the work which the King of the Belgians had in View by sending out expeditions of their own to those parts of Africa in which they were most interested——Italy in the Abyssinian and Shoan regions, and France in the regions to which her Gaboon colony gave access. Even the Swiss Committee reserved a portion of their funds for specific Swiss undertakings, while the only PRELLWINARIES T0 PARTITION 123 other Committee that seems to have done any real work was that of Germany. But the Association soon ceased to be really inter- national. While meagre subscriptions may, for a short time, have come in from individuals and societies, the International African Association was to all intents and purposes the King of the Belgians, without whose ample private means it would have collapsed long before M. Cambier reached Karema. To the work of the leading National Committees reference will again be made further on. Meantime the International Association entered 311:2: upon an entirely new phase, a phase which made it even more Belgian in character, and which undoubtedly did much to precipitate the partition of the Continent. Stanley landed at Marseilles in January 1878 from figsglggr’s that journey across the Dark Continent, during which he had traced down to the sea its greatest river, and so rendered his name immortal. Even before he had emerged from Africa, as we have seen, his stirring lletters had roused Europe to action. Contingent after contingent of missionaries was sent out, Protestant and gill??? in ,Catholic, and stations were being established not only Africa- in Uganda, but along the route to Tanganyika. On Tanganyika itself 'mission stations of both creeds were planted. One of the most notable of these missionary‘ expeditions was that of the Abbe Debaize, who was sent out by the French Government with a subsidy of 100,000 francs, wherewith he bought among other 5‘things a barrel organ with which to charm the sus- picious savages among whom his course would lie. 124 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA The poor Abbé was unfortunate, and had to abandon z his barrel organ; he took refuge at last with Captain s Hore, the representative of the London Missionary‘ Society on Lake Tanganyika, and in the captain‘s; house he died. That the Abbe’ had more in view than i the conversion of the heathen, there can be little doubt; : the French Government is not given to subsidising missionaries from a purely religious point of View. As it was, his mission was without other result than the establishment of a Roman Catholic station on the lake, where the missionaries seem to be doing good work among the natives. But from our standpoint the main result of Stanley’s great expedition in East Africa was the increase of British mission stations, and the spread of British influence at Zanzibar and in the interior, where, every traveller testified, the Sultan was regarded as paramount. stanley It was, however, on the other side of the Continent Egggfsrhe that Stanley’s journey produced the most immediate results so far as the partition of Africa is concerned. No sooner, he tells us, had he stepped out of the train at Marseilles than he was accosted by commissioners from the King of the Belgians, who was naturally intensely interested in the great waterway into the heart of the Continent which Mr. Stanley had revealed. It was not, however, until June that Mr. Stanley was able to visit His Majesty, and not until November did the farther extension of the King’s great purpose take definite shape. On the 25th of that month Mr. Stanley met the King and several representative gentlemen of various countries, presumably members of the Inter- PRELl/VIZVARIES T0 PARTITION 125 national African Association. At the decisive meeting of the 2nd of January 1879 there were present repre- sentatives of Belgium, Holland, England, France, and America; at this meeting the final plans were adopted, and the necessary sums voted. At the November meeting it had been resolved that a fund should be subscribed, the subscribers to the fund forming them- selves into a “ Comite’ des Etudes du Haut Congo,”— a Committee for the Investigation of the Upper Congo, What the original purpose of this Committee was may be learned from 'Mr. Stanley’s own brief account of the meeting: “After a few minutes it transpired that the object of the meeting was to consider the best way of .promoting the very modest enterprise of studying what might be made of the Congo river and its basin. This body of gentlemen desired to know how much of the Congo river was actually navigable by light— draught vessels? What protection could friendly native chiefs give to commercial enterprises? Were the tribes along the Congo sufficiently intelligent to understand that it would be better for their interests to maintain a friendly intercourse with the whites than to restrict it? What tributes, taxes, or imposts, if any, would be levied by the native chiefs for right—of—way through their country? What was the character of the produce which the natives would be able to exchange for European fabrics? Provided that in future a railway would be created to Stanley Pool from some point on the Lower Congo, to what amount could this produce be furnished? Some of the above questions were answerable even then, others were not. The Congo Committee. Its object. Mr. Stanley returns to the Congo. 126 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA It was, therefore, resolved that a fund should be sub- scribed to equip an expedition to obtain accurate infor- mation, the subscribers to the fund assuming the name and title of‘Comite’ des Etudes du Haut Congo.’ A portion of the capital, amounting to £20,000, was there and then subscribed for immediate use.” The Committee was certainly at first regarded as a special Committee of the International African Association, whose flag—~a white star on a blue ground—it adopted. But while there were no Englishmen in the Inter- national Association, two well-known Englishmen, both of them connected with Africa, formed part of the Committee, and, we believe, subscribed to it. The King was President of both, and both Associations had the same Secretary, Colonel Strauch. It is not clear that this special Committee, possibly not even the Royal President, realised what their real aims were; probably the Committee, as a whole, thought something good was sure to come out of an expedition of which Mr. Stanley was leader. It was publicly announced that the Belgian steamer Barga, taking out three undecked steam-launches, one other steamer, three flat-bottomed boats, a number of galvanised—tin houses, and a great quantity of other material, was really intended to send aid up the Congo to the Belgian expeditions from the east coast. Mr. Stanley himself went first to Zanzibar, and his connec- tion with the expedition was kept a secret as far as possible. \Vhile Mr. Stanley was at Zanzibar, collect- ing a force of natives there, the agents of a Dutch house on the Lower Congo were busy collecting Kroo— PIBELLIIINARIES TO PARTITION 127 boys as porters. But all this was done as quietly as possible. The truth is, annexation was in the air. figg‘iiafhe The French, under De Brazza, had already been push- air. ing inwards from the Gaboon, while the Portuguese were excited by Mr. Stanley’s great discovery to advance claims to the Congo, founded upon what they maintained was old conquest and possession. More- over, that the aims of the so-called International Association had developed, that something more than the mere foundation of civilising and exploring stations was intended, seems evident from a letter written to Mr. Stanley by the Secretary, Colonel Strauch, while the leader of the novel expedition was yet on his way out to the river. It may be said in passing that, while at Zanzibar in May 1879, Mr. Stanley wrote much—needed letters of advice and direction to Captains Cambier and Popelin, the leaders of the first two International East Coast Expeditions, then on their way to the interior. These men evi- dently required instruction in the very elements of African travel, though Mr. Stanley’s very clear and explicit advice did not save the expeditions from practical failure. The cost of these East Central African failures must have been enormous; the bulk ‘ of it came out of the King‘s own pocket. Mr. Stanley admits that from the outset the Congo 33:13:) :11: Committee had separate and distinct objects in view mittee. from the International Association, “ with the ultimate intention of embarking on a grander enterprise if the reports from the Congo region were favourable.” As originally constituted, the Committee included several "‘1 128 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA merchants of various nationalities, or at least had received considerable subscriptions from various mer- cantile firms, who no doubt hoped to profit by the enterprise which Mr. Stanley was to lead. But even . before Mr. Stanley reached the Congo, it was resolved by the Committee to “return every subscription to the merchants of all nationalities who had previously ex- pressed by their various subscriptions their sympathy gegggy with the project.” Thus the new Congo undertaking enterprise- was gradually becoming an almost purely Belgian enterprise. There remained connected with it only those who managed the affairs of the International African Association ; and later on, Mr. Stanley tells us, the Committee, “having satisfied itself that progress Inter and stability were secured, assumed the title of ‘Asso- national . . . . . Congo As- elation Internationale du Congo,’ wh1ch, be it remem- socimon' bered,” he continues, “was originally started with the philanthropic motive of opening up the Congo basin, and of exploring and developing, according to the extent of its means, the resources of the country around each station as soon as it was founded.” We presume that the “grander enterprise” referred to above went : even beyond this admirable scheme—a scheme, the - success of which would depend almost entirely upon the leader, and certainly, to a considerable extent, on the calibre of the men who served under him. That the King, the moving spirit, the life and soul of all this stupendous enterprise, whatever may have been his original motives, had now something more in View than the mere promotion of geographical know- ledge and the development of Africa’s resources, seems PRELI/UIxVA [81155 T 0 PA l\’ T] '1 70A" 129 evident from the letter of his Secretary, Colonel Strauch, just alluded to. It may be that Stanley's discovery of the great waterway had opened up to His Majesty vistas of dominion not dreamed of when he called the Brussels meeting of 1876. We have not that letter itself, but extracts from it occur in Mr. Stanley’s reply, in which the experienced explorer, in mild and courtly language, informed the Colonel that he did not know what he was writing about. After one or two impracticable suggestions, the Colonel writes: “ It would be wise to extend the influence omedeideas the stations over the chiefs and tribes dwelling near gigtgongo them, of whom a republican confederation of free negroes might be formed, such confederation to be in— dependent, except that the King, to whom its conception and formation was due, reserved the right to appoint the President, who should reside in Europe." “ You say also” (Mr. Stanley writes) “‘ that a confederation thus formed might grant concessions (with power to make good what they granted) to societies for the construction v of works of public utility, or perhaps might be able to iraise loans like Liberia and Sarawak, and construct : their own public works.’ " To this Mr. Stanley replies by endeavouring to ,make the Colonel realise what manner of people really occupied the Congo. Only :absolute ignorance of Central Africa could have per- mitted any man of intelligence to suggest the founda— ‘tion of a republic like Liberia. “This project,” he says further on, “is not to create a Belgian colony, but to establish a powerful negro state.” Had Colonel Strauch read Mr. Stanley's T/zrozzg/z t/w Dar/c szz‘z'um/ K The King’s aims. Stanley on the Congo. 130 77/15 l’A/i’l/Y'I'IUN ()l" AFR/CA with attention, surely he would have realised the com- plete impracticability of his proposal. But this is only a sample of the ignorance which still, it is to be feared, prevails in many quarters as to the real conditions of Central Africa, and the true character of its inhabitants. At the same time, it indicates that the King, if not the Committee, had aims of high ambition; that he cherished the hope of founding a great African state, of which he should be the sovereign, in reality if not in name. The ambition was perfectly legitimate, and originated in motives, so far as we know them, credit— able to King Leopold. From our present point of V'iCW, this enterprise of 1879, under Mr. Stanley’s leadership, was the first overt step towards the European partition of Africa on a large scale. “ On the 12th of August 1877," Mr. Stanley writes, “I arrived at Banana Point after crossing Africa, and descending its greatest river. On the 14th August 1879 I arrived before the mouth of this river to ascend it, with the novel mission of sowing along its banks civilised 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.” Alas! It is right to set the highest aims before us; the higher is likely to be our accomplishment. The laud- able objects which the King of the Belgians and his loyal lieutenant, Mr. Stanley, professed to have had in PRELIJIIAM R1155 TO PA 11’ T I T 1 ON I 31 view may, we believe will, in time be accomplished probably after a fashion different from that which they expected and hoped for. Now that energetic men of the great nations of the world, and powerful and wealthy organisations have taken the task in hand, and that dark doings can no longer be concealed, we may be sure that in time the face of the Continent will be changed. But let us remember that Africa is very different from America and Australia, and that we cannot hope in a decade to rouse it from its long sleep of thousands of years Mr. Stanley found the [M] 0a waiting for him at Staggzss Banana Point, and without loss of time the ascent of the river was begun. Evidently his staff-—English, American, Danish, Belgian, French—were as ignorant of African conditions as Colonel Strauch; they had expected to be furnished with all the luxuries of British India, and to be treated with the deference due to imperial officers. It is to be feared that too many of the Congo officials have gone out with equally luxurious ideas, few of them certainly prepared to undergo the hardships absolutely required if they wished to promote ‘their master’s design. Such men as Stanley himself, ' as Joseph Thomson, as Stairs, Jephson, Parke, Nelson, and other Englishmen who could be named, are rare ; " but it is with the assistance of men of their calibre that the development of the Congo could be accomplished :along the lines laid down by the King. Mr. Stanley, twith his usual success in managing men, soothed ?the ruffled tempers of his staff, and after a few days’ delay proceeded up the river to Boma, where, as at Proposed creation of 3 Congo State. 132 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Banana, he found the factories of English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese firms, who had been carrying on trade on the Lower Congo for over a century. Vivi, the limit of navigation on the lower river, was reached on the 26th of September, and preparations were at once made to establish the first station of the Congo Committee here; by the 24th of January 1880 it was finished, and Mr. Stanley was free to proceed up the river to select sites for other stations. Leopoldville was founded on Stanley Pool, treaties made with native chiefs, explorations of the southern tributaries made, and other work done, when Mr. Stanley returned to Europe to make the position clear to the Committee, and urge the construction of a railway from the lower river past the cataracts to the Pool. By this time the “ Comité des Etudes ” had developed into the Committee of the “ Association Internationale du Congo.” Before Mr. Stanley had been long with the Committee he had convinced them not only that a railway was absolutely necessary, but that the final step in the evolution of the so-called International Association must be taken if success were to attend the King’s enterprise on the Congo. Many treaties had been made with native chiefs, and many more would be made on his return. But it was now time that the Powers of Europe should be appealed to to acknowledge the work as valid, to recognise the Asso- ciation not simply as a civilising and exploring company, but as a governing body. In short, it was seen that the time had come for constituting the Congo territory into a State with recognised status, of which the I’RELIJIINARIES TO PARTITION I33 Committee should be the governors, and their Royal President the sovereign. Mr. Stanley, whose health was shattered, had returned to Europe with the intention of staying, but he was persuaded to go back to the Congo and complete the work of organisation. This he did, and was once more at Vivi on the 20th of December 1882. It is unnecessary here to tell the story of Mr. Stanley Stanley’s many troubles—troubles mainly due to ineffi- giggiiertfis cient and discontented subordinates. Nor need we describe in detail the vast work he accomplished while on the Congo as its first organiser and administrator. Suffice it to say that, within a year after his second arrival at Vivi, he had established a series of stations along the river as far up as Stanley Falls (December 1883) ; had made hundreds of treaties with chiefs from Banana to the Falls; had been saddened with the sight of devastation over thousands of miles on the upper river by the Nyangwé Arabs, who had followed in his footsteps down the river; had been able to welcome and instruct his successor, Sir Francis de VVinton ; had shown by advice and example how the work of organi— sation and development ought to be carried on. All this, be it remembered, in five years after first setting foot in Vivi. Never was a state founded in so brief a period. But meanwhile other events were taking place, other African enterprises were rapidly developing, which, as if by magic, suddenly roused the Continent from its sleep of ages. M. de Brazza. CHAPTER X FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO—VARIOUS FRENCH AND ENGLISH ENTERPRISES M. De Brazza—«De Brazza on the Congo—De Brazza and Stanley—A national scramble—Portugal interferes—Portugal’s claim to the Congo—Negotiations with England—An Anglo-Portuguese Congo Treaty—The treaty abandoned—International Conference decided on—Bismarck’s opinion of Portugal—The position on the Niger~~ German enterprise on the Niger—A T runs-Saharan railway—T unis —-Assab and Obock. WHILE Mr. Stanley was pushing his way up the Congo, and beginning the work which issued in the founding of the Congo Free State, events were taking place which threatened at one time to Checkmate him, and render abortive the aims of the King of the Belgians. Count Pierre Savorgnan dc Brazza, Italian by birth and parentage, was born in IS 33. He received his education in France, and entered the French naval service in [870. In the years 1875-78 he, in company with M. Marche and Dr. Ballay, carried out a successful exploration of the Ogové river to the south of the Gaboon, in the hope that it would turn out to be a great waterway into the interior. This hope was disappointed, for after a certain distance the stream became broken by cataracts, an: ‘ FRANCE A ND P013 TU GA 1. ON THE CONGO I 3 5 and rapidly declined in volume. De Brazza crossed over .the hills at the head of the Ogové, and soon found that this formed the water-parting between that river and another which flowed in an easterly direction. This he found to be the Alima, and when he reached it, Stanley had but just arrived in Europe from his momentous voyage down the Congo. Had De Brazza followed the Alima he would also have found himself on the great river, far above its cataracts, and would almost surely have been tempted to see where the magnificent waterway led to. But at the time he had not heard of Stanley’s great discovery, and as his health was shattered and his means exhausted, he returned to Europe with the reputation of a determined and successful explorer. Like Stanley, Dc Brazza did not rest long in Europe. Fortunately Stanley had almost a year‘s start of his French rival; the former left Europe in January 1879, the latter in December of the same year. De Brazza by this time knew that the Alima and the Licona, which he also touched on his previous journey, must enter the Congo. As the agent then of the French Committee of the International African Association, and with funds provided by them, he went out to the Ogové to plant civilising stations. Indeed. it was announced at a meeting of the Paris Geographical Society before De Brazza started that his object was to explore the region between the Gaboon and Lake Chad. . So it was given out, though there can be little doubt i that De Brazza’s aim from the first was to reach the Congo. That he lost no time in carrying it out is evident from the fact that on 7th November 1880 he, De Brazza. on the Congo. De Brazza an Stanley. 136 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA on his way down the river, came upon Stanley pushing in the opposite direction. Stanley at the time knew little about De Brazza. The latter had founded an “ international" station on the Ogové, and rapidly crossing over to the Lefini (the Luvu of Stanley), found no difficulty in following that river down to the broad bosom of the Congo. He seems to have been able to establish friendly relations with the chiefs and people around, and succeeded in discovering one chief who, according to De Brazza’s own report, claimed to be suzerain of all the country around, even to the south bank of the Congo. Thereupon, on 1st October 1880, the representative of the International Association made a solemn treaty with the chief, whereby the latter placed himself under the protection of France, and accepted the French flag. De Brazza lost no time in crossing over to the south side of Stanley Pool, and there founded a station at Ntamo or Kintamo, close by where Leopoldville now stands, and which his admirers in France named after him Brazzaville. The station on the Ogové he himself named Franceville. It will thus be seen that M. de Brazza had cast aside all pretence of carrying out the designs of the International Association; he was simply the emissary of France, doing his utmost to steal a march on Mr. Stanley, and secure the mastery of this magnificent trade—route into Africa for his adopted country. During his two days’ stay with Mr. Stanley near Ndombi Mbongo, De Brazza seems to have said ? not a word about the annexations he had attempted to « make on behalf of France. ‘lt was only when Mr. . FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO 137 Stanley reached Stanley Pool, and met the Senegalese sergeant whom De Brazza had left behind as the representative of France, that he learned what had been done. It is easy to imagine the vexation of the discoverer of the Congo and the agent of the King of the Belgians at his being outwitted in this fashion. But that did not prevent him from proceeding at once to found Leopoldville almost alongside of Brazzaville. Moreover, he discovered in making inquiries that the chief with whom De Brazza treated had no suzerainty except in his own tribe, and certainly not on the south side of the river. In a few months, indeed, the French station was removed to the opposite side of the Pool, the south side being left entirely to Mr. Stanley and the International Association. Meantime De Brazza made his way down the river and back to the Gaboon, where he expected to find Dr. Ballay and a staff for the stations he had founded. But no such support was forthcoming; so that, exhausted as he was, De Brazza had once more to start for the interior, with mechanics, gardeners, and other equip— ment for his stations. Roads were made in other directions to the Alima, on which a station was estab- lished, and down which it was intended to take the expected steamer. After seeing everything in order, he started for the coast in the beginning of 1882, and partly explored the KDilu-Niari river, on which mean— while Mr. Stanley was purposing to establish a series of stations, and as a matter of fact did do so. This river, it was thought, would furnish an easy and rapid access to Stanley Pool, a short line of railway sufficing A national scramble. Portugal interferes. 138 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to connect the two, and so the long series of cataracts would be overcome. De Brazza followed the river for some distance, when he had to make direct to the coast owing to the hostility of the natives. He reached Paris in June I882,just about three months before Mr. Stanley. So far as France was concerned, it was evident that by this time the international features of the enterprise, initiated by the King of the Belgians, were entirely abandoned; and so it was indeed in the case of all the nationalities which took any active part in the work. Indeed, the international character of the Association can hardly be said to have existed beyond the first Brussels meeting; it rapidly degenerated into a national scramble. The doings of Mr. Stanley and M. de Brazza on the Congo were clearly bringing African affairs to a crisis, and intensifying the political character of the expeditions which were now entering the Continent on all sides. ' While Stanley was pushing towards the upper river, making treaties and founding stations, and De Brazza and his companions were skipping about along the right bank, distributing flags and endeavouring to turn Stanley’s flank, another power had entered the Congo field and threatened to paralyse the efforts both of France and of the King of the Belgians. Portugal had at last been aroused from her long sleep. She had sat for centuries within hail of this great river and had never manifested any curiosity to dis- cover where it came from, or to what uses it might be put. It was only when more energetic Powers Fli’AA’CE A XVI) PORTUGAL 01V 7H]? C 01V GO I 39 stepped in to do the work she ought to have done long before that she interfered, not to help but to hinder. _ It was the fiittings hither and thither of M. de Sigiiiigtiairs Brazza, and his indiscriminate distribution of tricolours, “16001193- that rearoused the apprehensions of Portugalp—“re aroused," because the claim she insisted on bringing under the attention of the British Government through Senhor d’Antas, the Portuguese Minister in London in 1882, had been the subject of correspondence and negotiation since the beginning of the century. A Blue Book, covering ninety pages, full, as many Blue Books are, of interesting and even exciting incidents, published in 1883, is entirely occupied with corre— spondence concerning the claim of Portugal to the West African coast between 5” 12' and 8" south lati- tude. “In the name of the Most Holy and undivided Trinity,” in the years 1810, 1815, and 1817, Portugal solemnly agreed not to carry on the export of slaves ;011 any part of the African coast outside her own {territories Her right to export slaves from her own iterritories to Brazil, Portugal jealously maintained, and :this right was continually asserted, down even to the middle of the present century. And yet, in the face of this, Portugal had no hesitation in repeatedly remind— ing the Government of Great Britain that she was the .first State in Europe to come forward and join with ,England in the suppression of the slave-trade. She ’may have deceived herself into this belief, and prided therself on her virtue in confining the traffic in her most lucrative export to her own coast—line, but surely I40 THE l’A/x’T/T/OjV 01' AFRICA she could not hoodwink such shrewd men as Palmerston, Clarendon, and Aberdeen. It is not our purpose here to give a history of the slave-trade, otherwise these Blue Books would afford many thrilling incidents. In all this long correspondence, extending down to 1877, Portugal never let an opportunity pass of claiming sovereignty over the West African coast from 5° 12’ to 8° south latitude. British vessels were con— stantly hovering about these coasts on the watch for slavers, and Portugal constantly protested against their presence. It even seemed at one time as if Great Britain would take possession of part of this coast, a procedure which, according to the voluminous corre- spondence on the subject, the native chiefs would have welcomed. Portugal was particularly jealous of any attempt to dispute her right to the territories of Molcmba and Cabinda, lying immediately to the north of the Congo mouth—territories which figured among the titles of the Portuguese monarch, and which she maintained had been in her possession since 1484. But England never once admitted Portugal’s claim to this stretch of coast. Her Angola territories were held to end on the north at Ambriz, well south of the mouth of the Congo; no effective possession could be proved anywhere to the north of this. After 1877 there seems to have been a lull in the reiteration of these claims. About that time there‘ had been some inhuman cruelties perpetrated by traders 0n the unfortunate natives around the factories . on the lower river—~cruelties which formed the subject ’ of investigation on the part of the British Government. FRANCE AN!) PORTUGAL ON THE COIVGU 14.] Portugal was, her statesmen assured our representative at Lisbon, filled with horror and indignation at these cruelties, and begged that her right to the Lower Congo, and the coast north and south, might be recognised, in order that she might feel herself empowered to estab- lish and maintain good government. Happily, British statesmen at the time were obdurate, and the matter seems to have remained in abeyance till 1882, when De Brazza’s activity convinced the Portuguese Govern- ment that one more desperate effort must be made to obtain a hold over a coast—line the value of which had been greatly enhanced by Stanley’s discovery. Orders had been issued to Her Majesty’s cruisers in 1856 to prevent by force any attempt on the part of the Portuguese authorities “to extend the dominion of Portugal north of Ambriz," and in 1876 the late Lord Derby reminded the Dulce of Saldanha that these orders were still in force. They continued in ‘force down to 1882, when, in a long communication, >dated 8th November of that year, the Portuguese ‘Government approached Earl Granville, the Foreign .Minister of that time, with a renewal of Portugal’s claim to the coast between 5” 12’ and 8° south latitude. Lord Granville, unlike his predecessor, expressed ,without hesitation the willingness of Her Majesty’s ,Government, not to consider the historic claims of 'Portugal over this coast, but to endeavour to come to some arrangement for mutual advantage to the African interests of both countries. It was pointed out, on behalf of Portugal, how desirable it would be Negotia- tions with England. I42 7/7115 PA 11’ TI’I‘IU/V OF A FIB/CA for .a Power so well known to have the interests of civilisation at heart, to have jurisdiction, not only over the coast-line in question, but for an indefinite distance ’ up the Congo. She would give pledges that only the most moderate tariffs would be imposed; that traders of all nations would have equal privileges with those of Portugal; that the navigation of the river would be absolutely free to all flags; and that every means would be taken to suppress slavery in every form. Lord Granville, with all his pliant urbanity and his apparent indifference to the extension of the empire, was astute enough to doubt the zeal of Portugal for the suppression of slavery, and to demand substantial concessions on behalf of the interests of British trade and British missions. He saw insuperable objections to permitting Portugal to claim the right of indefinite extension in the interior, for she more than hinted at her ambition to unite her East and \Vest African colonies. More stringent stipulations as to tariffs were demanded; a definite limit to Portugal’s claim to the Congo; respect for the interests of the Congo Association, and for the treaties which Britain had made with the chiefs on the coast. On the other side of Africa the free navigation of the Zambesi was insisted on; the limit of the claims of Portugal on the Shire to be drawn at the Ruo; the recognition of the claims of Portugal in the interior only as far as she had effectively occupied stations. After much interchange of letters and draft treaties, and much gfirfilnggiigée casuistry on the part of Portugal, a “Congo Treaty” $323))? was at last agreed upon, and signed on the 26th of a FRANCE .4 N!) PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO 14 3 February 1884, by which Great Britain acknowledged the claim of Portugal to the line of coast between 5° 12’ and 8° south latitude, with an interior limit at Nokki, on the south bank of the Congo, below Vivi. Other stipulations with reference to the Congo and Zambesi were agreed to, similar in character to those already mentioned. In the original draft Lord Granville pro— posed that the navigation of the Congo should be under an International Commission, but in deference to the resistance of Portugal this was finally changed to an Anglo—Portuguese Commission. It must be stated in excuse for Lord Granville’s apparently ready assent to an arrangement which seemed to make over the Congo to Portugal—and the statement is made on very high authority—that he was under the impression that the King of the Belgians, after organising an administration on the Congo, intended to make over all his claims to England, which would thus have command of the whole river above its mouth. On the same authority, there is reason to believe that Mr. Stanley himself was under ' this impression during all the time he was pushing the interests of the King on the river. \Vhether it was i that the King had been misunderstood, or whether it was that in the end he changed his mind—for his scheme seems to have developed in magnitude in spite of himself,——we know that he stuck to his river. At all events, it is only right to refer to these conditions 'in justice to Lord Granville, on whose motives and 4 action as Foreign Minister it has been the fashion to place the worst construction. The treaty abandoned. 144 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA During the progress of the negotiations (in 1883), Portugal, feeling uneasy as to what might be the atti- tude of other powers, especially of France, approached the Government of the Republic, with a view to inducing it to recognise her claims in the same sense as the British Government proposed to do ; but as France would not commit herself as to the mouth of the Congo, the negotiations were allowed to drop. Lord Granville, in a communication of the 7th of January 1884, declared that he abandoned the mixed Com- mission with the greatest reluctance. Had that been allowed to stand, there might possibly have been but little opposition to the treaty on the part of other Powers, and certainly the recent difficulties with Por~ tugal in Zambesia and Nyassaland would have been avoided. As it was, what with Great Britain’s and Por- tugal’s absolute control over the mouth of the Congo, and France’s designs on the Niari-Kwilu, the Congo Association, which was soon to become the Congo Free State, would be barred all access to the sea except through foreign territory. Lord Granville himself expressed doubts as to whether the other Powers would permit the treaty to stand; and his doubts were soon verified. There was a universal protest from all the Powers of Europe, which was joined in by the English press, against allowing a retrograde power like Portugal, who had been in Africa for four centuries and had done nothing for its development, but much for its degradation, to have the virtual command of’ one of the finest rivers on the Continent. Prince FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO I45 Bismarck appealed with success to France to join Germany in endeavouring to attain a solution of the difficulty, entering a protest at the same time at Lisbon and at London. The proposal for an International figgpgon Conference came, however, in the first instance from {1355153011. Portugal, who could hardly expect to gain much by it. Meantime, even when the Conference was sitting in Berlin, she took possession of certain points to the north of the Congo, and stationed a squadron on the Congo itself. Lord Granville endeavoured to compromise matters by proposing to revert to the idea of an International Commission; but on the 26th of june 1884 he was compelled, under pressure of public opinion, to announce that he abandoned the Congo Treaty. An International Conference became inevitable, and the programme was virtually arranged between Germany and France—a programme accepted by England, and having in View, among other things, the foundation of a Free State on the Congo, without absolutely fixing its limits. The other Powers rapidly «p declared their adhesion, and the Berlin Conference of i I 884-85 was agreed to. What was Prince Bismarck’s estimate of Portugal $33??? as a colonial power he very clearly expressed in aPOrtugal- »communication through Count Munster to Earl Gran- ‘ville with reference to the Conference, dated 7th June 1884—- “ \Ve are not in a position to admit that the Portu~ gguese or any other nation have a previous right there (on the Congo). We share the fear which, as Lord ,Granville admits, has been expressed by merchants of L The posi- tion on the Niger. 146 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA all nations, that the action of Portuguese officials would be prejudicial to trade, and . . . we cannot take part in any scheme for handing over the administration, or even the direction, of these arrangements to Portuguese officials. Even the provision for limiting the dues to a maximum of ten per cent—~the basis of the Mozambique tariff—would not be a sufficient protection against the disadvantages which the commercial world rightly anticipates would ensue from an extension of the Portuguese colonial system over territories which have hitherto been free.” The dread of the paralysing effect of Portuguese domination is evidently not confined to England. Meantime, let us see the vantage-ground which was being taken up by the Powers elsewhere before the final scramble began. The struggle for the great region watered by the Niger will be treated at length in a subsequent chapter. Here it may be useful to indicate the position just before the meeting of the Berlin Conference. It has already been pointed out how much England did for the exploration of the Niger and the develop- ment of its trade. In time traders of other nation— alities were attracted to the river—French and German ———while among the English firms there was no unity, each house trying to outbid the other for native products. This fierce competition was in the end detrimental to the interests of all concerned. It could not go on without producing disastrous results. At length this became so evident that it induced several of the more important English houses to form them- FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO I47 selves into a United African Company, which, in a short time, was able to command most of the markets, and to regulate the prices of native commodities. But 332%? 31': still there was trouble on the Niger, and cause for the Niger. much anxiety as to the fate of British interests. The late Herr Flegel, who had been settled at Lagos for some time, as early as 1879 ascended the Niger with a View to discover its trading capacities. He had a keen eye to the interests of Germany, and did his best to induce German firms to extend their operations on the river, in the hope that in the end it might be taken over by the German Government. He made repeated journeys up the Niger and Benué, and did much for the exploration of the latter. In the end, as the emissary of the German Colonial Society, he rushed up the river with the intention of making treaties with the native chiefs; but happily the English Company, as will be seen, was able to forestall him, and the river was reserved for the British sphere. The British Company naturally endeavoured to strengthen their hold and extend their operations on the river by, among other means, making treaties with the chiefs on its banks. It was only natural that the French should not look upon these operations on the part of the British with complacency. They had been steadily moving on to the Upper Niger ; and in I 880—8 I Colonel Gall‘ieni advanced as far as Sego, where he succeeded in planting the French flag. Their ultimate .goal was Timbuktu, and the aim of the French was to tap the Niger trade by connecting the upper river with the navigable part of the Senegal by means of a railway. 148 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Meantime, elsewhere, France was doing her utmost to make this section of West Africa untenable for the British. The Gambia colony was closed in until it was almost confined to the river. Sierra Leone was shut out from the Hinterland, and latterly some attempts have been made to ruin the Gold Coast colonies and Lagos, happily so far with but partial success. Even so late as 1884 there were two French houses on the Niger, besides a number of small English houses. But the United African Company, by throw- ing its shares open to the public, greatly increased its capital and swept the French houses entirely out of the river. The Company succeeded in 1884 in getting the treaties it had made with all the chiefs from the mouth of the Niger to the Benué recognised by the British Government, and a protectorate proclaimed over that part of the river, though the upper river was still left insecure. The French, on the one side, were cast- ing longing eyes from the vantage-ground they had gained on the Upper Niger, while the Germans had not abandoned the hope of securing a footing outside the British protectorate. Herr Flegel still haunted the river, while the French were carrying their conquests all along the Upper Niger, and over all the region between that and the coast, and were proposing to run gunboats to Timbuktu. It was inevitable that this fine waterway should come under the cognisance of any African Conference, though the actual crisis did not occur till after the Berlin Meeting. The Company had, when the Berlin Conference met, virtually no- - rivals on the lower river, except the merchants who FRANCE AND PORTUGAL ON THE CONGO 149 had their houses on the coast and the so-called Oil Rivers. These remained aloof from the United Company. At the same time it must be said that German traders also had their stations on the coast, chiefly Hamburg houses, whose principal trade was in the vilest of spirits, with which they flooded the country. At the Berlin Conference they exercised a powerful influence on the attitude of Bismarck, and afforded the prince some excuse for the annexations upon which he entered in 1884. Two notable events in connection with French ATrans- extension took place in 1881. France had long $21111??? dreamed of establishing a route from her Senegambian provinces to her Mediterranean possession, Algeria. If she could succeed in constructing a railway across the Sahara, it would, in her estimation, draw down to the Mediterranean the whole of the trade of the Central Sudan, and so greatly discount the value of the Niger as a trade-route. In order to investigate the practicability of a railway, Colonel Flatters was sent out from Algeria in 1881 to survey a route; but he had not got far into the desert before he and his party were attacked and massacred by the fierce and independent Tuaregs. This unfortunate disaster gave the deathblow for the time to all Trans—Saharan railway schemes; though that such a railway will be attempted, and that soon, is in the highest degree probable. In the same year that the Flatters expedition came to so “untimely an end, France obtained some compensation in the annexation of Tunis, on which she had long cast Tunis. 150 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA covetous eyes. It is unnecessary to enter upon the details of this annexation, or to insist on the frivolous excuse on which Tunis was attacked. France had made up her mind that Tunis was necessary for her expansion in North Africa, and she took it, with the tacit consent of the other European powers, whose approval she considered it advisable to obtain. In this way at one swoop she added 45,000 square miles to her African empire. Italy, who had also developed colonial aspirations, would have treated Tripoli as France did Tunis, but the Powers disap- proved, and she had to be content with only a small Assab and beginning at the Bay of Assab, on the Red Sea coast, Obock. opposite Aden, which she took over in 1880 from a private shipping firm that had had a station there since 1865. In this way she became a near neighbour to the French territory at Obock, on the Bay of Tajurah, which, however, was not actually occupied till 1883, though it had been nominally a French possession since 1862. CHAPTER XI BRITISH ADVANCES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST South Africa—Bechuanaland—Damaraland—South African Confedera- tion—Matabeleland—Nyassaland—Zanzibnr—The Sudan—Socotra. BETWEEN 1875 and 1884 Britain had practically the $111112; whole of South and East Africa before her where to ' choose; but she did not realise the value of her oppor- tunities. Responsible government had been granted to the Cape in 1872, but her statesmen were some— what timid ; and even more timid were the statesmen of the Mother Country, who did not greatly encourage advances towards the north. Still, during the years in question, some progress was made. Griqualand West, to the north of the Upper Orange river, which had existed as a separate province since 1871, was annexed to the Cape in 1877, though its actual occupation did not take place till 1880. On the other side of the Orange Free State the whole of the territories beyond the Kei river were included in the colony between 1877 and 1885. Basutoland, annexed in 1871, was placed under direct imperial rule in 1883. Bit by bit all the country between the Kei river, Natal, and the Orange Free State was taken in, so that in 1884 British dominion, direct or indirect, extended, including Natal B 0011113113 - land. 1522 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and Zululand (not actually annexed till 1887), up to St. Lucia Bay, with the exception of a section of Pondoland, which for some reason even yet remains unannexed. It was in 1875 that Marshal MacMahon made over Delagoa Bay to the Portuguese. It was only in 1887 that, by the Tonga Treaty, British suzerainty was established to the Portuguese boundary. Both the Orange Free State and the Transvaal are independent republics ; the latter under a slender British suzerainty, though, as a matter of fact, it is doubtful if either state would be permitted to enter into relations with foreign Powers save by and with the approval of the Imperial Government. The attempt to incorporate the Transvaal into the British Empire proved a failure. A noteworthy event in the history of that Republic, and as affecting British interests in this part of Africa, is the convention between it and Portugal whereby, among other things, facilities were afforded for the construction of a railway from Delagoa Bay, by which it was hoped, so far as communications are concerned, the Transvaal would be independent of British South Africa. In 1884, roused by the attempts at extension on the part of the Transvaal, and latterly stimulated by the activity of Germany, Britain took her first long step towards stretching her empire up to and beyond the Zambesi. By the labours of Moffat, Livingstone, and their successors, and by many years’ intercourse with hunters and traders, the Bechuanas had long been familiar with the British; Kuruman, Mafeking, Kolobeng, and Shoshong, taking us into the heart of the Bechuana country, have BRITISH ADVANCES IN SOUTH AND EAST 153 been familiar to readers of the records of missionary enterprises for nearly half a century. What with the Germans on the West, and the restless and covetous Boers on the east, there was great danger of this extensive territory, British in everything but the name, slipping out of our hands. With more than usual promptitude and daring, treaties were, in May 1884, made with the native chiefs whereby the whole of the country north of Cape Colony, west of the Trans- vaal, south of 22° south, and east of 20° east longitude, was surrendered to Great Britain, though a British pro- tectorate was not actually proclaimed till March 1885. Later in the same year the southern portion was erected into the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland. The northern and larger portion, in which Khama, an exceptionally intelligent chief, is paramount, remained a protectorate, with Khama’s consent, proclaimed at Sho- shong in May 1885. All this was not brought about without much tact and firmness on the part of Sir Charles Warren, who entered the territory with an armed force to carry out the annexation. It was not without many reservations and doubts that Khama at last agreed to the proposals brought before him by Sir Charles, but in the end he gave in his loyal adherence to Her Majesty, and has adhered to it as loyally ever since. And well he may, for we are now bound, as his suzerain, to protect him against the raids of his old enemy, Lobengula of Matabeleland. Sechele and other chiefs followed Khama’s example, and so some 160,000 square miles were added to the British Empire. This, however, was not accomplished without much hesita- Damara- land. 154 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA tion and vacillation on the part of Mr. Gladstone’s Government, which was in power from April 1880 to June 1885, during which period we lost much that we might have kept, had there been more promptitude on the part of our Colonial Office and the Cape Government. To the events which led to the annexation of the Transvaal under Lord Beaconsfield’s Government there is no need to refer, nor to the retrocession of that state under his successor. The action of Germany in I884 roused both the Home and the Cape Governments from their lethargy, and compelled them to make haste to prevent Germany from entirely blocking the way to the Zambesi. It seems unaccountable now that the Cape did not formally annex Damaraland and Namaqualand as a result of the mission of Mr. Coates Palgrave in 1876. This extensive region seems, indeed, even before Mr. Palgrave’s mission, to have been regarded informally as an appendage to the Cape, which had had relations with it, as we have seen, since the end of last century. Mr. Palgrave represented to the natives the great advantages of their being under the protection of the colony, and to this it would seem they had no objection. But all that was done at the time was the formal annexation of Walfish Bay and the surrounding district, the establishment of a magistracy there, and a residency at Okahanja, the kraal of the chief of the Kamahereros. Magistrates and their staffs were sup- ported by the Cape, which then went to sleep until rudely awakened by the raising of the German flag at Angra Pequefia in 1884. BRITISH ADVANCES IN SOUTH AJVD EAST 155 Meantime, in 1885, the Home Government brought Ellie: the subject of South African Confederation before the ggfedem- Cape Government in a despatch (May) from the Earl of Carnarvon to the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly. The idea was to incorporate under the suzerainty of the British Crown the whole of British South Africa, along with the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Mr. Froude was sent out as the representative of the Colonial Office to take part in the proposed Conference. But the opposition to Confederation was so strong that no Conference was held, and Mr. Froude had to content himself with lecturing on the subject at a series of public meetings. Conferences were afterwards held in London on the subject, but no progress was made, and the movement now stands where it did fifteen years ago. Confederation is still talked of, and talked of hopefully ; and under the new conditions, arising from the enormous extension of British South Africa, some form of federation is apparently becoming inevitable. As early as 1870 the gold—fields of Matabeleland fligabele- had attracted diggers and settlers ; Mohr, on his journey to the Zambesi about that date, found Sir John Swin— burne and other Englishmen settled at Tati and ' working the quartz reefs. Baines had already been in i Matabeleland, and later still Selous and other hunters : traversed the country between the Limpopo and Zam- besi; English missionaries were at work, and in other 1 ways British influence was being spread in a region thich has now become part of the Empire, and pro— :mises to be one of our most important acquisitions in -. Africa. Nyassa- land. 156 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA North of the Zambesi the spread of British influence and British enterprise which had been begun by Living- stone in 1859 was continued, with one or two break by the establishment of various English and Sco h -rr(ssions on the Upper Shiré and on Lake Ny sal; by the placing of steamers on the lake; the estab- lishment of trading stations by the African Lakes Company—founded in 1878; and by exploring journeys in various directions. A road was constructed by a British engineer, James Stewart, between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. Plantations were established on the Blantyre highlands; schools were opened at various points over Nyassaland; industries were introduced, and natives trained in their practice; doctors worked hand in hand with the missionaries; strenuous efforts were made to put a stop to the slave-trade. Thus, in spite of the somewhat feeble action of the Lakes Company, British influence was firmly established over all the Lake Nyassa region by the critical year of I884, while Portugal had made no attempt to claim effective possession of the country. Farther north, at Zanzibar and on all the extensive strip of coast under the Sultan’s jurisdiction, British influence was supreme from 1875 to 1884. Sir John Kirk, Livingstone’s companion on the Zambesi, had been attached to the British agency at Zanzibar since 1866. Since 1868 he had been in actual charge of the post with ever-growing influence and increasing power. He carried out effectually the policy of his predecessors, and under him British influence became more and more supreme. The whole policy of the Sultanate was BRITISH ADVANCES IN SOUTH AND EAST 157 framed to suit the wishes of the British Government. It was under pressure from England that the Sultan abolished the slave-trade, nominally at least. Almost the entire trade of East Africa was in the hands of British firms and British subjects from India. It was to promote the abolition of the slave-trade and to encourage legitimate commerce that Sir William Mackinnon and Sir Fowell Buxton constructed some sixty miles of road into the interior from Dar—es-Salaam. So long ago as 1878 the then Sultan Said Burghash actually offered to make over the commercial exploita— tion of the whole of his dominions to Mr. (now Sir) William Mackinnon, the Chairman of the British India Steam Navigation Company, whose firm had long had intimate trade relations with Zanzibar. Sir William urged the Government of the day (Lord Beaconsfield’s) to authorise his acceptance of this offer, and to support him by declaring Zanzibar a British protectorate; a :step which would have been in accordance with the ) l Sultan’s wishes. But even Lord Beaconsfield, with ~ all his imperial aspirations, shrank from assuming the responsibility. His imperialism was not cosmopolitan ; 2 even he had no suspicion of the colonial aspirations of EGermany, which had then taken deep root; or if he :had, he did not foresee to what they would lead. At V all events, the opportunity was let slip here as it was in Damaraland; our influence, it may have been :thought, was real enough without our saddling our- ; selves with a protectorate. And after all, the loss has r probably not been so great as at first sight appears; . what precisely that loss has been will be seen later on. The Sudan. 158 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA In the Upper Nile ‘regions,—the Egyptian Sudan (which between 1875 and 1884 had been extended as far south as Albert Nyanza),—the struggle with the . forces of the Mahdi was at its hottest in the latter year; Socotra. though it was not till 1885 that the region south of Wady Halfa was abandoned, after the death of Gordon, by the advice of England, who continued to hold Suakin, and established herself at Zeilah and Berbera, on the Somali coast. The island of Socotra was placed within the British sphere in 1875, though it was not till 1886 that it was actually annexed. Italy had been hovering around it in the former year; it was rumoured that she desired to annex it as a convict station. CHAPTER XII GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD The position in 1884—Early German colonisation—German Colonial Societies—The German African Society—Exploring activity—The German Colonial Society—Bismarck and the Chambers of Commerce —Bismarck’s early search for colonies—Colonial literature—Progress of German trade in Africa—The German and British Foreign Offices Damaraland and Namaqualand—The Rhenish Missionaries—British protection requested—Increase of trade—Sir Bartle Frere—British jurisdiction confined to \Valfish Bay—Blindness of British states- men to Germany’s aspirations—Germany’s cautious advances—Herr Liideritz—Bismarck sounds the British Foreign Office—Liideritz pro- ceeds to Angra Pequefia—Liideritz obtains concession—German flag raised—Indignation in England and the Cape—Evasive conduct of British Government—Germany declares protectorate over Angra Pequefia—Continued British delusions—England recognises German protectorate—Attitude of England and the Cape. [LET us briefly resume the position in 1884. Up?) :that year the great European powers in Africa were lEngland, France, and Portugal. This last Power claimed senormous territories, but her influence was feeble, rand her actual occupation of the most limited char- racter. The idea of joining her east and west coast :gpossessions by a broad band across the Continent had (only been hinted at. England had Virtually agreed )‘to consent to her taking possession of the strip of rcountry from 5° 12’ to 8° south, including the mouth of the Congo. The Congo Free State did not exist, .and the King of the Belgians could only be regarded 160 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA as the chief of a semi-private enterprise of a pseudo- international character. France was firmly established in Algeria and Tunis. She was rapidly extending her conquests from the west coast towards the Upper Niger, and had carried her Gaboon territories over an immense area down to the Congo. She had latent claims to one or two points on the Gold Coast, and was struggling to bring Madagascar under her sway. At Obock, on the Red Sea, she had a locus sz‘amz’z', but not much more. Great Britain was practi- cally supreme in South Africa up to the Orange River and Delagoa Bay. She believed no power would dream of questioning her claims to Damaraland and Namaqua- land as her sphere of influence—a phrase, however, which can hardly be said to have existed then. At the same time it must be said that there were serious thoughts at the Cape of abandoning Walfish Bay entirely; and that was the only position actually occupied by the Cape authorities. The Damaras were in a chronic state of war, and the few Whites in their territories in constant dread of attack. Preparations were already on foot to include the whole of Bechuanaland, for the commission to Sir Hercules Robinson to look after British interests in that region was issued in February 1884, possibly instigated by the correspondence which had already passed between the Foreign Offices of London and Berlin. On the west coast England held on half-hesitat- ingly to her four colonies, while the Niger Company was extending its influence on the river and buying out all rivalry. In Nyassaland missionaries and traders GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 161 were fairly at work extending and consolidating British influence. Many settlements had been planted on the ‘ borders of Matabeleland, and British travellers were opening up a country about which we could learn little or nothing from Portuguese sources. At Zanzibar British influence was supreme, though German traders were doing their best to supplant English goods by cheap continental wares. The Transvaal was still in a state of irritation against the British Government; her borders were unsettled, and even so far back as 1874 and 1878 she had toyed with the idea of a German protectorate, which, however, was now beyond her reach. Egypt was fast losing hold of the Sudan; Italy was casting covetous eyes on Tripoli, while her travellers were exploring Abyssinia and Shoa. Spain can hardly be said to have established her footing on the Western Sudan coast, though she claimed rights on the river Muni. Such was the position of affairs in Africa when Germany entered the field and precipitated the com— paratively leisurely partition of the Continent into a hasty scramble. Prince Bismarck was still the (2’6 farm ruler of an empire which had grown in unity and strength and wealth since its birth at Versailles in 1871, whose merchants were finding new markets all ‘over the world, whose people were emigrating in :thousands every year to strengthen the colonies of 2Britain; she was fretting under the conviction that without foreign possessions it could never be con— sidered a great world—power. Germany was tired of . a stay—at-home policy. M Early Ger- man colon. isation. 162 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Cataclysms do not occur in the history of humanity any more than they do in the physical world. Those who care, and are competent to look beneath the surface, have no difficulty in discovering that what seems an unaccountably sudden event or catastrophe is simply the natural and inevitable result of forces that have been accumulating and growing in intensity over a long period of time. The world at large was astonished at the apparently inexplicable outburst of colonising zeal on the part of Germany in the early period of 1884; and none were apparently more surprised than the British Foreign Office and the Government of the Cape, though both might well have been prepared for what occurred. As has already been pointed out, the desire to possess colonies is no impulse of recent birth in Germany. Two hundred years ago Prussia had established herself on the Gold Coast, and would have remained there had all her energies not been required at home; and even Austria, it has been seen, made her one solitary effort to acquire a footing in Africa at the end of last century. In Germany, as in other European countries, after' the continent had had time to recover from the- Napoleonic incubus, as population increased com- petition became more and more intense, as discontent : with their condition spread among the lower strata of l society, the fever for colonisation laid hold of the. country. There was really no Germany then, no: united and powerful empire with surplus wealth and5 surplus energy to acquire colonies for itself. Moreover, even fifty years ago, when the migrating spirit began' GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 163 to increase in strength, all the new fields of settle- ment most suited to Europeans were occupied by other powers. The United States, Canada, Australia, the Cape, were crying out for colonists; there was room for millions of fresh incomers, with an almost perfect climate, a soil that had only to be scratched to yield the richest harvests, and rumours of boundless stores of gold. It is no wonder, then, that the dis— contented surplus population of Germany flocked for the most part to the United States, and a small proportion both to Australia and the Cape. But even fifty years ago there was a feeling in Germany that Germans ought to have some place beyond the seas of their own to which they might go ; that it was a pity for her sturdy sons and lusty daughters to be utilised simply to infuse fresh vigour and enterprise into colonies in which the Anglo—Saxon race is dominant. We find, then, those Germans interested in colonisation trying experiments on various parts of the earth, in— cluding lands already occupied by their English cousins. It is not surprising that Africa does not seem to have been thought of, for Africa, fifty years ago, was, it must be remembered, all but unknown beyond its sea board. There was at that date, not only in Germany, but even in England, considerable attention given to Brazil as a field for colonisation. Certainly it was to this enor— . mous country that the efforts of what we may call ‘independent German colonisation were first directed. . As early as 1843, a society was founded in Dusseldorf gm??? 'for the purpose of promoting emigration to Brazil. Societies- lThis was rapidly followed by other Colonisation 164 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Societies, some directing their attention to Texas, others to the Mosquito Coast, to Nicaragua, to Chile. In 1849, a society for the centralisation of German colonisation was founded at Berlin, but southern Brazil was the favourite sphere, and a considerable share of emigration was directed to that region, where, as a matter of fact, there are at the present day numerous flourishing German colonies, or, as they should perhaps be called, settlements, since the territory on which they are planted belongs to the Brazilian Government. Most of these societies, however, ex- pired without producing permanent results; but the Dresden Society and its Frankfort cousin, as well as the Hamburg Society, still exist and do good work. The events of 1866 gave an impulse to the colonial movement in Germany ; but far more so the results of the war with France and the reconstitution of the German Empire, under the hegemony of Prussia, in 1871. Into the various causes which contributed to give this intensely forward impulse to Germany it is unnecessary to enter; all the scattered energies of Germany in the direction of colonisation, as in other directions, were united into one strong current. But even before I 87 1—in I 868—0ne of the most important societies for the promotion of German interests abroad had been founded—the “Centralverein ftir Handels- geographie und Forderung Deutscher Interesse im Auslande.” It is noteworthy that this society was founded by Otto Kersten, the companion in East Africa of Von der Decken, whose urgent advice to Germany with reference to East Africa was quoted in GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 165 a previous chapter. This society had and has its headquarters in Berlin, with branches in all the lead- ing cities of the Empire, and even in Brazil, the Argentine, and New South Wales. The professed objects of the society were: “ The study of those lands in which organised German settlements already exist; the social and commercial conditions and the spread of information thereon; the promotion of emigration to regions where settlers of German origin are already established, under conditions favourable to the genius of the German people; the promotion of intellectual and material intercourse between the German colonial settlements and the German fatherland; and lastly, furthering the establishment of trade and navigation and the acquisition of colonies.” The programme is certainly ambitious and comprehensive enough, and no doubt the Society in its meetings and those of its branches, and through its ably—conducted weekly organ Expori, has done much, notonly to promote German commerce, but also to foster the colonial spirit. But so far as Africa was concerned the great The German instrument 1n nourlshlng the growth of the sp1r1t for African acquiring colonies was the German African Society of society. Berlin, which with the scientific exploration of the , continent combined the opening up of unknown regions 1 of Africa to trade and industry. This Society was i founded in 1878, from a union of the German Society “for the Scientific Exploration of Equatorial Africa “(founded 1873) and the German African Society (founded in V1876), as a branch of the International African Association, with more practical if somewhat Explorin activity. 1/ \. 166 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA vague objects in View. German explorers had already done much for Africa, but the action of King Leopold in founding the International Association, with its numerous national branches, attracted more attention than ever to Central Africa, from the utilitarian point of view. German stations were founded at Bahama and other centres in the East African interior, from which under Bohm, Kaiser, and Reichard much good exploring work was carried on towards Lake Tanganyika and the upper waters of the‘ Lualaba, while the economical aspects of the region were not slost sight of. Dr. Reichard, indeed, has been one of the most ardent promoters of the colonial movement in Germany. The German African Association showed even more enterprise in West Africa than in East Africa. Shortly after its promotion, Dr. Buchner and Dr. Pogge penetrated from Angola into the interior of the Muata Yanvo’s kingdom (Lunda), while Wiss- . mann’s first work in Africa was carried out in the same region, that watered by the southern tributaries of the Congo, in 1881-84. Schulze, Kund, Wolff, and others followed in the same direction, and there is no doubt that about this period Bismarck enter- tained serious ideas of acquiring a footing in the Congo basin. During 1882-84 Flegel was extremely active on the Niger and Benué, and undoubtedly did much to add to our knowledge of the geography of the region. At the same time, after-events proved that he kept commercial interests keenly in View. All this activity turned the attention of Germany more and more to Africa, and helped to foster the GERAIANY ENTERS THE FIELD 167 rapidly-growing colonial spirit which was still further strengthened by the doings of other Powers between 1876 and 1884. Thus, by the beginning of the latter year, this pent-up spirit was ready to burst forth into action whenever Bismarck chose to open the sluice gate. The activity of all the associations referred to, the in— creasing flow of emigration which went to swell the prosperity of other countries, the growth of commerce, shipping and manufacturing industry, the increase of the Prussian navy—all helped to foster the longing of Germany for colonies of her own. It was no \xonder, then, that when the German 323mm Colonial Society was founded at Frankfort, on ($301331? 6th December 1882, it received widespread and enthusiastic support. By the end of 1883 it had 3260 members belonging to all parts of the Empire, and it boasted almost three times that number of members a few years later. Still another impulse was given to the colonial movement by a manifesto issued by the German African Society in the same year (1883), in which it was stated that the activity of the Society would be concentrated in certain districts, especially the basins of the Niger and Congo, and in which it was urged that the German Government should take steps to prevent these regions from being annexed by any European Power, and to secure that they should be open to the traders of all nations. Another powerful influence was this year brought to bear upon Bismarck, one which perhaps more than Bismarck and the any other determined him to take the final step. He Chambers 0 fCom- had asked the Chambers of Commerce of Hamburg, merce. Bismarck’s early search for colonies. 168 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Bremen, and Lubeck, to express their views as to what would be the most effective means to protect_and encourage German trade, especially in Africa. The replies all pointed, more or less directly, to annexation ; that of the Hamburg Chamber especially, which went into the whole subject in detail, urged with in- cisive clearness the annexation of independent coast regions, the acquisition of a naval station on Fernando Po, and the conclusion of treaties with native chiefs. It was this manifesto from Hamburg, probably, which determined Bismarck to bring the British Foreign Office to book without delay with reference to the question he had already laid before them as to the protection of German interests in South—west Africa. At first, it must be said, the colonial idea did not' find much favour in the eyes of German officialdom. Bismarck himself, it need hardly be said, was always open-minded, watching the moment when it would be safe for him to intervene. Long before 1884 feelers were put out by him to ascertain how the pulse of Prussia beat with regard to foreign possessions. Even as far back as the sixties, a Prussian squadron returned from a prospecting voyage in Eastern Asiatic waters, and in an apparently harmless description of the voyage in the public press a suggestion was made that Formosa would form an excellent naval station for Prussian ships, and might even be utilised as a colony. Later on, Delagoa Bay, the Sulu Archipelago, a part of North Borneo, and other places were referred to in the same tone. But though these feelers attracted attention and drew forth protests from foreign countries, they met GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 169 with no response in Germany. It was only after Ger- many became a united empire under Prussia (1871), when possessed of a navy growing in strength which took the sons of the Fatherland in greater and greater numbers over the seas, that the interest in trans—oceanic matters and in colonial questions began to grow in breadth and depth. Not only the articles which ap- Qolonial peared in the periodical press, but various books which “nature. were published on the subject of colonisation, all tended to help forward the movement. Two of the most important, certainly two of the most influential of these publications, were Dr. Emil Jung’s Deutsc/ze Kolom'en (1879), and Fabri’s Darf Deutsclzlana’ Kolom'eiz (1883). The latter, especially, had a marked influence in intensi- fying the colonial spirit in Germany, so much so that when Fabri died, in 1891, he was referred to in the German press as the father of German colonisation. It was about the year 1840 that German (Ham— 5:25:21“: burg) houses began to have intimate trading relations Eggs? with the West Coast of Africa. At first they had great difficulties in getting their goods into the African market, ' the traders of other nationalities stigmatising them as " “German trash.” It was indeed only by giving their ' wares good English and French trade—marks that they - succeeded in securing a footing at all. But the Ham- : burg traders managed to make headway, and in 1852 7 the well—known Hamburg firm of Woermann entered into - successful trading relations with Liberia, and by 1859 ‘ had factories at various points of the coast, between the Cameroons and the Gaboon, and even as far south as Angola. The Woermanns were soon followed by the 170 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA O’Swalds of Hamburg, who in the fifth decade of this century secured a footing at Zanzibar. In 1854, the O’Swalds established a factory at Lagos (before it became a British colony), and soon did a flourishing business by importing enormous quantities of cowrie shells which they exchanged for native products. These were followed in their African ventures by other Hamburg and Bremen firms, and in 1859 the three Hanse towns concluded a commercial treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar by which certain trade privileges were accorded to them. Ten years later this treaty was made to cover the whole of the North German Confederation. After the formation of the Confedera- tion, and especially after the conversion into one United Empire, the trade of Germany increased with giant strides, and the factories on the \Vest Coast of Africa became more and more numerous, while the commercial intercourse with Zanzibar grew steadily. In the beginning of 1884 there were some fifteen German firms, mostly of Hamburg and Bremen, which had among them about sixty factories on the West Coast of Africa, extending from Portuguese Guinea down through Liberia, the Guinea Coast, the Cameroons, the Rio Campo, Eloby, Corisco, the Gaboon, the Ogové, Fernand Vaz, Sette Kamma, the Kwilu, and the Congo mouth, to Damaraland. In addition the North German and the Basel Missionary Societies had some hundred stations all along the \Vest Coast, and a considerable number in the interior of Damaraland and Namaqualand. Thus when in I884 Bismarck took the decisive step in the creation of a “Colonial Empire,” it GERZVIANY ENTERS THE FIELD 171 was not only the remains of the old Brandenburg Fort of Gross Friedrichsburg, which still existed on the German coast, and the scientific work which had been done by German explorers that suggested Africa as an inviting field. There were substantial German interests all along the West Coast clamouring for the protection of the German flag. It was, moreover, natural that German traders should desire to have fields for their energies independent of the competition of foreign rivals, in which they could impose their own tariffs, and have it all their own way. It is probably known to few that as long ago as 1874 the Sultan of Zanzibar made over- tures for the purpose of having his territory placed under German protection; but Bismarck knew that at that time there was no chance of obtaining a hearing for such a proposal in the German Parliament, and there- fore declined it. Ten years later the position had entirely changed. ' There can be little doubt that the long and irritating £123,131 - d - - . - British correspondence Wthh tOOL place bet“ een the Forelgn Foreign Offices of Germany and Great Britain with regard to omces. the claims of German subjects in the Fiji Islands had much to do in fostering the colonial spirit in Germany 2 and precipitating action'in Africa as well as elsewhere. The whole tone of the communications of the British Foreign Office on the subject reveals the fact that the , colonial aspirations of Germany were either unknown * in that quarter, or were not taken seriously. But when . the first step was taken in Africa no time was lost in coming to an understanding with Germany with refer- ‘ ence to her claims. 172 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA The actual first step towards the acquisition of ' colonies in Africa on behalf of Germany was taken by a private individual. And here let us once more recall the fact that in her new departure Germany’s choice was practically restricted to tropical Africa and the tropical Pacific. It was only in Central Africa that any European power desirous of acquiring foreign pos- sessions, and not caring to go to war for them, had a free hand. At the same time, it will be seen, an effort was made on behalf of Germany to obtain a footing on the south of the Zambesi. It was natural, moreover, that a beginning should be made in West Africa, where German interests were so widespread and so important. Damara- From the beginning of this century missionaries 1 a d l . . §£m£ofi1a. from South Africa had penetrated into Namaqualand land. and Damaraland to carry on their work among the natives in a region much of which is not very far removed from the desert stage. Some of these missionaries were of German nationality, but they were in the service of the London Missionary Society. As has been seen in a previous chapter, however, expeditions were sent from the Cape in the last century, when it was a Dutch colony, to report upon this part of the country, and, as a matter of fact, part at least of the coast region had been annexed to the Colony. This annexation was allowed to lapse, or was forgotten; at any rate no reference was made to it when the Cape Government protested against the recent German occupation. Sixty years ago, when the only route to India was by St. Helena and the Cape, Walfish Bay was utilised for the purpose of exporting cattle to supply the ships calling GER/MANY ENTERS THE FIELD 173 at St. Helena; for, barren as the country is, it does support considerable herds. But no step was then taken for actual annexation to the Cape, and in time the cattle export fell off, though in more recent years it was revived from the Cape. In 1842 the Rhenish The Mission established its first station at Bethanien in Ellis-iii)? Namaqualand. Other stations in the interior were mes. founded, and the German missionaries made numerous converts and acquired considerable influence; at the same time they did not deem it inconsistent with their spiritual functions to carry on trade with the natives in a small way. VValfish Bay still continued to be of importance as the chief harbour on the whole extent of coast—line, and as an outlet for the copper which was discovered in the country about, forty years ago, but of which little could be made. In time, the disputes and wars which arose among the natives endangered the lives and property of the Rhenish missionaries, and they appealed to their Government for protection. This was in 1868. The Prussian Government at once British. communicated with the British Government and sug— ‘r’éiiz‘iaillé’é‘ ; gested a joint demonstration of English and German ' war—ships. England did not approve of this, but , expressed' herself ready to extend the same protection . to German subjects as she would to her own. Of | : course this implied on the part of England that she = claimed Damaraland and Namaqualand as within her sphere, a claim tacitly acknowledged by Germany. As ‘ a matter of fact, England neither directly” nor through i the Cape Government exercised any real influence in the country. It was at this period that the Germans 174 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA actually acquired, for the first time, territory in this country which they could call their own. In 1864 the missionaries bought the ground and buildings of the Walfish Bay Copper Company at Otyimbingue, some distance to the north-east of the bay; and here they tool; every opportunity of hoisting the flag of their {11355256 of country. Trade, moreover, went on expanding, and a missionary trading society was actually founded in Barmen. This trade had, however, to be carrried on through the Cape, the tariffs of which somewhat hampered it, and latterly these tariffs were also applied to Walfish Bay, when the Germans sought to have direct communication with Europe, and Boers from the 18% game Transvaal began to break into the country. Sir Bartlej~ Frere, who was Governor of the Cape (1877-81), was shrewd enough to see what might be the end of these aspirations on the part of German missionary traderfiy but his expressed fears of German designs were ridiculed, and it was only to please the “old man,” as he was called, that Walfish Bay and fifteen miles round it was declared British territory in March 1878. Previous to this, it has been seen, Mr. Coates Palgrave visited and reported on the country. He made treaties with the most powerful chiefs, and the Governor of the Cape urged that the whole country should be formally annexed by the British Government. But the Government of the period (the Earl of Beaconsfield’s) would not go beyond Walfish Bay, where a feeble show of administration was established, which did not extend beyond the station. Frequent complaints were made by the German missionaries of their treatment by the natives, and at GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 175 last Mr. Palgrave was compelled to formally 1nt1mate J13‘fintéglilctm that Great Britain had no power over the native chiefs. $235? 15° Evasive answers were returned to the memorials from the Bay‘ missionaries asking definitely whether they could reckon on the protection of England. At last an appeal was made to the German Consul at the Cape and to the Imperial Government. The result was that in 1880 all British officials were withdrawn from Damaraland, and only Walfish Bay remained 'under the British flag. During 1880 fresh representations continued to be made by the German missionaries—who claimed 5000 converts, and substantial commercial interests in the country—as to the uncertainty of their position. Again Bismarck begged the British Foreign Office to say whether Her Majesty’s Government were prepared to protect both English and German interests in Damara— land and Namaqualand in View of the fact that war was raging in the country. Lord Granville, who was at the head of the Foreign Office at the time, followed the example set by his predecessor, the Earl of Beacons— field, and repudiated all responsibility outside of Walfish Bay; and to make the position quite clear, in the in— - structions given to Sir Hercules Robinson as Governor . of Cape Colony, under date 30th December 1880, it was directly stated that Her Majesty’s Government 7 regarded the Orange River as the north - western :boundary of Cape Colony, and would lend no en- couragement t0 the establishment of British jurisdiction ' in Damaraland and Namaqualand outside of Walfish Bay. The arrangement with regard to the latter Her ' Majesty’s Government would not disturb so long as the Blindness of British statesmen to Ger- many’s as- pirations. 176 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Cape Parliament continued to be responsible for the expenses of its maintenance. This was clear enough, and Cape Colony was apparently quite willing to acquiesce in the practical abandonment of the territory in which for years there had been considerable German activity. Still, the German missionaries were not satisfied, and the German Government showed its-elf quite ready to sympathise with their position and to support their complaints. In August 1881 they again approached the German Government, and begged that a German war-ship should be sent to protect their interests. In October of the same year, in reply to a further com- munication from Berlin, the British Foreign Office once more repudiated all responsibility outside of the narrow circle around Walfish Bay. Such, then, was the position between Great Britain and Germany in the end of 1882, with reference to a great stretch of territory on the border of Cape Colony. The British Government would have nothing to do with "t, and there is nothing on record to prove that the - gCape Government was in the least anxious for its : formal annexation.) Neither at home nor in the Cape f Colony was there any suspicion, apparently, that . Germany was in the least likely to pick up the leav- ' ings of England, and settle down as a colonial power ‘ at the threshold of the Cape. If British statesmen were : aware of the growing colonial movement in Germany, , they did not take it seriously. On the other hand, it should be remembered that a very strong feeling existed Ll r»— among all parties at home, at that date, against the . GERfl/ANY ENTERS THE FIELD I77 extension of Imperial responsibility. As a matter of fact, however, whatever may have been the conception which prevailed in Downing Street, there is no doubt that at the Cape, Damaraland and Namaqualand were somewhat vaguely regarded as within the colonial “sphere of influence.” Unfortunately the events with which we are dealing occurred before the date of the Berlin Congress, and the principle of “spheres of influence” had not been laid down as one of the rules in the great game of colonial aggrandisement. It is, moreover, difficult to realise the vast change which has taken place since 1883 in the prevailing conception of the relation between the mother country and her colonies. The idea of the solidarity of the Empire may by comparison be said to have scarcely existed at that time; Im- perialism'has now a totally different meaning from what it then had. In this respect we ought to be grateful to Germany, if only because through her very practical 7 teaching we have begun to realise the value of our , Empire beyond the Seas. But at that time neither 1 l the one party nor the other foresaw what the near future had in store; Lord Beaconsfield was as in- different, or as blind, as Lord Granville. The truth is, that no one took Germany’s colonial aspirations :seriously; no one seems to have dreamed that she would ever be likely to make large annexations, either " on the Pacific or in Africa. It was hardly realised that :in the short space of twelve years, after the union of the Empire, Germany was ready to become a great .world-power. \Ve have seen how strong the colonial N Germany’s cautious advances. Herr " Liideritz. 178 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA movement had become in Germany, and how diligently and surely Bismarck was feeling the pulse of the country. It seems surprising that after all the corre- spondence which had taken place between the two Governments, the suspicion of the British Foreign Office was not aroused; for it can scarcely be believed that had Bismarck been taken seriously, something would not have been done to retain Damaraland and Namaqua- land within the British sphere, if for no other reason, , with a view to a United British Africa south of the :' Zambesi. Up to the final moment, when the German , flag was raised on the coast of Namaqualand, neither ‘ at Downing Street nor at the Cape apparently was it ; believed that the correspondence which had been going < on for twenty—five years would result in action by ‘ Germany. “Ohne Hast, ohne Rast,” has been the motto of? Germany in her colonial enterprises, as it has been in 1 other spheres—at least, until she actually entered into possession. She proceeded deliberately and openly“ she conducted her game with the admirable foresight; of a consummate chess-player, who sees, far ahead“ what will be the effect of any particular move. The: step taken by the Bremen merchant, Herr F. A. E.. L'Lideritz in the summer of 1882 had certainly some-~ thing more in View than the acquisition of a private: trading station. on the coast of Africa. The inner circle of the colonial party in Germany, we cannot? but think, intended the action of Herr L'uderitz as the 3 first delicate step towards the accomplishment of their: colonial aspirations, a sort of test case,‘that would. A H GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD I79 bring the British Government to book, and force the hand of Prince Bismarck. At the date mentioned Herr L‘uderitz (who may be regarded as the repre- sentative of that section of the German colonial party interested in Africa) had matured his plan and fixed upon the scene of his operations. Under date of November 16, 1882, he communicated his projects to the German Foreign Office, and asked whether he might reckon upon the protection of the German Government for any rights which he might secure. Bismarck was in no hurry. It was not till February 7, 1883, that he sent, through his son, the following cautious communication to the British Foreign Office, a communication which in the light of events that followed seems suggestive enough, but which at the time apparently excited little suspicion at the Foreign Office. The communication may be regarded as in— dicating that Bismarck had at last made up his mind to act, and to carry out as far as practicable the designs of the German colonial party. And yet the reservation contained in the final words is noteworthy: —was it only intended to lull any lurking suspicions of the not too wideawake British Ministers? The follow— ing is the minute made by Sir Julian Pauncefote of a conversation with Count Herbert Bismarck, under date February 7, 1883 :— “ Count Bismarck says that a Bremen merchant is 53131?er (is the about to establish a factory near the Coast, between the 1123;231:2111 Orange River and the Little Fish River, and has asked Office. ' protection of the German Government in case of need. The latter desire to know whether Her Majesty’s Lfideritz proceeds to Angra Pequefia. 180 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Government exercise any authority in that locality. If so, they would be glad if they would extend British protection to the German factory. If not, they will do their best to extend to it the same measure of protec- tion 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.” To this the following reply -was returned under date February 23, 1883, signed by Lord Granville, with the concurrence of Lord Derby 2—— “ I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that, having consulted the Colonial Office upon the subject, I am informed by that department that the Government of the Cape Colony have certain establishments along the coast, but that, without more precise information as to the spot where the German factory will be established, it is not possible to form any opinion as to whether the British authorities would have it in their power to give it any protection in case of need. If, however, the German Government would be good enough to furnish the required information, it would be forwarded to the Government of Cape Colony, with instructions to report whether and to what extent their wishes could be met.” It was, however, clearly not the intention either of Prince Bismarck or of Herr L'uderitz to await the leisure of the Cape Government nor to submit to the procrastinating policy of the British Foreign Office. The lesson taught in connection with the delay in settling the German claims in Fiji had been taken to heart. By the beginning of 1883 Liideritz had col- GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 181 lected very full information with regard to the coast of Namaqualand, and had definitely arranged all his plans. He was, therefore, in a position to ask the German Foreign Office whether he might reckon upon Imperial protection for any territory which he might acquire in South—west Africa. The reply was that if he succeeded in acquiring any harbour to which no other nation could establish any just claim, he might reckon upon Imperial protection for his undertaking. Luderitz at once entrusted the execution of\his plans\ to an energetic agent, Heinrich Vogelsang of Bremen, who went out to the Cape to collect further information concerning the country in which the operations were to take place. He was followed by a vessel, the T 2713/, under Captain Carl Timpe, supplied with every requi- site for the important enterprise, except an ox-waggon, ' a tent, and a few other things which were obtained at , the Cape. Here several Germans familiar with South . African conditions were taken on board, and the Til/y 5 left Cape Town on 5th April, arriving on 9th April at " the Bay of Angra Pequena, about 150 miles to the north of the Orange River, the declared boundary of Cape Colony, and 280 to the south of Walfish Bay, Of which England still claimed possession. With the help of some English seal—fishermen on the islands that protect the Bay, the ship was brought to anchor opposite a safe landing—place; the actual landing was ' effected on the 12th. Word was sent to the mission ,station at Bethany, about 100 miles in the interior, ' the residence of the chief, Joseph Frederick. It was not, however, until 30th April that Herr Vogelsang Liideritz obtains concession. German flag raised. Indigna- tion in Eng— land and the Cape. 182 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and his friends reached Bethany across the almost waterless desert that intervened. On the Ist of May, in a conference with the chief, at which the German missionaries and the chief men of the tribe were pre- sent, Vogelsang explained the object of his mission, and without much difficulty 8. contract was signed by the chief and others interested, by which the former. sold to Herr L'uderitz some 215 square miles of land on the Bay of Angra l’equefia, including all rights of supremacy. This included about IO miles of coast, and an extension inland of some 24 miles. On the day after the conference these pioneers of German colonisation returned to the coast, where with natural jubilation the German flag was raised in front of the storehouse which had been erected, and floated on the breeze over the first German colony. The news of what had taken place was received with enthusiasm by the colonial party in Germany, and contributed greatly to increase its numbers, and enlist the en- thusiasm of the Empire on behalf of its aims. In England the rumour that an “irresponsible German adventurer” or “ filibuster” had dared to raise a foreign flag on the confines of Cape Colony, on a coast that had always been regarded as within the “British sphere” was received with incredulity and ridicule. Bismarck we were assured would never lend his countenance to such an unfriendly, if not actually hostile, act. That the German nation as a whole and Bismarck in particular entertained any serious intention of acquiring colonies in Africa or elsewhere, probably few believed. The statesmen who, at the time, GERAIANY ENTERS THE FIELD I83 had charge of our interests beyond the seas, were only mortal; the Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, to all appearance knew and cared little about colonial matters. The only statesman who during this period seems to have seen ahead of his fellows was Sir Bartle Frere. He in 1877 had strongly urged the annexation of the whole coast between the Orange River and the Portuguese boundary; but as we have seen, Walfish . Bay was all that the Home Government would concede. Even at so early a period as 1877, this far—seeing Proconsul divined that trouble with Germany was brewing. But our Foreign Office had grown so used to Germany’s representations and remonstrances, not only with reference to South Africa, but in connection with Fiji, that it was fondly believed this fresh episode would vanish with another interchange of communica- tions. In the Cape, as might have been expected, the news of Herr Luderitz’s enterprise was received with indignation and incredulity. An English war-ship, the Boaa’z'cea, went from Cape Town to Angra Pequefia, apparently to assert British rights; but she was met there by the German corvette Carola, whose commander informed the English captain that he was in German waters, where he could exercise no authority whatever. The Boadz'cea returned to the Cape on the 3rd of November with the news that Herr Liideritz had * acquired rights over the coast down to the Orange River. The Cape Government was at last awakened to the true position of affairs, though the Home 3 Government still apparently cherished the hope that ‘ the action of Herr Liideritz was unsupported by i84 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA his Government, and that all could yet be arranged to the satisfaction of the Colony. Every scrap of evidence that could prove British rights over the coast was sought for and put forward, but when it came to be coolly weighed, there was no shadow of documentary proof that any step had ever been taken to annex any part of the region except Walfish Bay, and one or'two guano islands off Angra Pequcfia. The evidence was all the other way. British Ministers had repeatedly, during the past twenty-five years, positively declined to undertake the responsibility of annexing Damaraland and Namaqualand. So recently as I881, the Governor of the Cape was informed that the Orange River was the boundary of the Colony. The Cape Government would occasionally express the opinion that this northern territory ought really to be annexed; but when the Home Government asked if the Colony were willing to undertake the necessary expense, the latter always shrank from the burden. Even now its Ministers, Linstead of acting, spent their energies in vain protests. It was only after the country had been irrevocably lost that any real desire for its possession seems to have found expression in Cape Colony; otherwise it is difficult to understand why on the first news of Herr Liideritz’s enterprise steps were not taken to annex at least the great stretch of coast which he had left untouched. Every one knew that much of the country was only one stage removed from desert, and as to the copper and silver mines, even if they proved productive it would never pay to work them. But sentiment, natural enough, obscured the GERMANY ENTERS THE FIELD 185 judgment of Cape statesmen and colonists and led them to aggravate the situation by irritating the Imperial pride of Germany. And yet all this was mingled with a strange indifference that led to the loss of precious time, when every day was of importance. On 18th August 1883 the Imperial Government Evasive nduct of informed the German Consul at the Cape that theyG BormSh were prepared to take Herr Luderitz’s acquisitions under “En their protection if the rights of others were not interfered with thereby; and on 15th October the gunboat Nautilus was ordered to Angra Pequefia to protect German interests. On 12th November, the German Minister in London was instructed to inquire whether or not there were any British claims over the Angra Pequefia district, and if so, on what titles were they based. Ten days later (zlst Nov.) Lord Granville replied that England exercised sovereignty only over certain parts on the coast, as Walfish Bay and some islands opposite Angra Pequefia ; but that at the same time, any claim of sovereignty or jurisdiction on the part of a foreign power over any part of the coast between the Portuguese boundary and the Orange River would be regarded as an encroachment on the legitimate rights of the Colony. The British Govern— ment, Lord Granville stated, to prevent disputes between the Germans and the English who believed they had old rights at Angra Pequefia, had sent a war—ship, and the report of its mission was awaited. The vessel was the Boaa’z'cea, the result of whose visit we have already seen. At the same time Lord Granville hoped that arrangements might be made by which the Germans a 186 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA could take part in the settlement of Angra Pequefia. It is evident that in November 1883 Lord Granville did not in the least realise the seriousness of the situation. This evasive answer failed to satisfy Prince Bismarck, who repeated his question on 3 Ist December, through the German Ambassador, Count Munster, recalling previous correspondence with reference to the German missionaries and the repeated declara- tions of the British Government that they had no jurisdiction over any part of the region in question outside Walfish Bay. Moreover, Bismarck recalled the fact that England herself (as in the case of Spain in the Caroline, Pelew, and Sulu Islands) had asserted a right to interfere directly for the protection of her own subjects where no adequate political admini- stration had been established by the power claiming the territory. This Germany was entitled to do for her subjects at Angra Pequefia, and therefore Bismarck begged to be informed as to the title on which England’s professed claims were based, and as to what means she had taken to protect German subjects so as to relieve Germany from the necessity of protecting them herself. In the light of subsequent events one cannot but admire the skill with which the communication was worded ; Lord Derby subsequently admitted that it lulled all his suspicions. The Home Government communicated with the Cape Government on the subject, but no notice was. taken of this communication and no answer vouchsafed until 29th May 1884, when the Cape Government intimated that their Colony would recommend Parliament to under— l GERZIIANY ENTERS THE FIELD 187 take the control of the whole coast to Walfish Bay, Angra Pequefia included. It is difficult now to realise the ostrich-like blindness Germany declares of both the Home and Colonial Governments to the gggtector- real nature of the situation, and to accomplished facts. While the Cape Government were treating the civil inquiries of Germany with contemptuous neglect, steps were being taken to tighten‘ more and more firmly Germany’s hold on her first trans-oceanic possession. The Bremen merchants were actively opening up the territory and with German thoroughness promoting its exploration and instituting observations on its climate. On 24th April 1884 the German Consul at the Cape was instructed to remove all doubts entertained by the Cape Government by informing it officially that Herr Liideritz and his possessions were placed under the protection of the Empire ; and to enforce the informa- tion a German war—ship was ordered to Angra Pequefia. Still Bismarck can hardly have been taken seriously either at home or at the Cape. The Cape Premier’s message of May has already been alluded to. In reply to a question in the Upper House by Viscount Sidmouth on 12th May, Lord Granville stated that, so far as he knew, Germany had never claimed . sovereignty over any part of the territory in question, i and that the matter was still the subject of discussion " between the two Governments. Two days later Lord Derby informed a deputation who waited upon him, that although England herself never directly annexed Angra Pequefia, she nevertheless claimed the right to exclude all other powers from the coast 0V6 I‘ Angra Pequefia. Continued British de- lusions. England recognises German protector- ate. [88 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA north of the Orange River. Germany had been asking some questions on the subject, but appeared to have no intention of establishing a colony at Angra Pequena. He himself did not share the fears with which some persons regarded the professed projects of the German Government to establish colonies in different parts of the world. Colonisation did not enter into the programme of the German Empire. Germany believed that the secret of her power lay in concentration, and she would never weaken herself by taking possession of lands in distant parts of the world. Cape Colony is ready to annex Angra Pequena, and if ' the British Government sees that it can be done honour- ably and with the prospect of good results, it will give its consent, but in that case, Cape Colony must be prepared to bear all the burdens. In a subsequent memorandum (7th October 1884) on the subject Lord Derby tried hard to prove that the German Govern- ment had all along given him reason to believe that territorial acquisition was not at all in their thoughts; and it must be said that with all their apparent open— ness and frankness, Bismarck’s earlier communications were devised with an amount of skill, sufficient, as it proved, to lull any suspicions on the part of the British Colonial and Foreign Ministers. Bismarck was losing patience. He sent very explicit instructions on 10th June to Count Munster on the subject, and at the same time, Count Herbert Bismarck went to London on a special mission to bring matters to a final issue. The result was inevitable; on 215t june the British Cabinet decided to recognise the GER/MANY ENTERS THE FIELD 189 German Protectorate over Angra Pequena ; as a matter of fact the actual Protectorate had by this time been extended over a considerable part of the coast, and the eminent explorer Dr. Nachtigal was on his way as German Consul -General to formally proclaim the Imperial sovereignty over the whole stretch of un- occupied coast. And yet the Cape Parliament, encour- aged no doubt by Lord Derby’s attitude, ignoring all that had passed during the previous six months, voted unanimously so late as 16th July for the annexation of all the territory between the Orange River and the Portuguese boundary. 'Even at that date, apparently, they had not realised that Bismarck was in earnest, and even so late as 25th August the Cape Ministers pre- sented a minute to the Governor hoping it was not yet too late to secure the whole coast — line for Great Britain. All that followed was simply the filling—in of details. Afttéitutlle d . 0 ng an The great lines had been drawn. Germany was and the Cape. recognised as a colonial power. She had made up 'her mind to have a share of unoccupied Africa; 'she had initiated the scramble by which the long— ' neglected continent, within the space of a few years, 3 it might almost be said months, became parcelled out among the Powers of Europe. Fortunately England ‘ lost little of any material value in allowing Damaraland and Namaqualand to slip out of her hands, and Germany soon recognised that she had not gained much by annexing 250,000 square miles consisting largely of desert. The Home Government and the Cape Govern— ment cannot afford to cast stones at each other for 190 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA their conduct in connection with Angra Pequena; the ,- contemptuous dog—in-the-manger policy of the Cape ; authorities did much to arouse the wrath of Prince : Bismarck and the German people and to strengthen the resolve of the former to throw himself heart and soul ’ into the Colonial movement. The British Government fortunately yielded at last with a good grace and welcomed Germany as a neighbour in Africa, promising to do all that was friendly in promoting her colonial ’ views. There was of course a great outcry among certain ‘ sections of the British public at what had taken place ; * as if the mere fact oszermany desiring to possess colonies were an insult to the British flag. If we hold to what we have, no nation on earth can rival us as a colonial power. It is possible that we might have : done better for ourselves in Africa than we have done, i and there have been humiliating episodes in the part 7 we have taken in the scramble; but we may also con- gratulate ourselves that we have not fared worse than we have done, for we did our best to deserve worse. Further The final scene in what may be regarded as the first annexa- tions, act in the great drama of German colonial enterprise : may be said to have been concluded on .7th August . 1884, when Captain Schering, of His Imperial Majesty’s ship EZz'zabeZ/z, hoisted the Imperial flag over ‘s Angra Pequena in token of the annexation of the coast :1 and twenty geographical miles inland, from the Orange i River to 26° south latitude. This was followed, within the next few days, by the annexation in a similar fashion of all the coast between 26° south and the Portuguese boundary with the exception of VValfish Bay. w, \. u.— L i s“. .4 CHAPTER XIII GERMANY IN THE CAMEROONS AND THE GULF OF GUINEA Further operations in S.\V. Africa—Attempt to annex St. Lucia Bay— German traders on the \Vest Coast—British influence on the \Vest Coast—England’s dilatory action—Germany takes action—The Dubreka river—Togoland declared a German protectorate— The Cameroons—Annexation by Germany—The Oil Rivers secured to England—Feeling in Germany and England—Bismarek’s part. IT has been thought important to dwell at some length Further operations on the first act in the great drama of German colonisa— Egg. tion, because the method adopted by Bismarck with respect to Angra Pequefia was similar to that followed in connection with German colonial enterprises in other parts of Africa ; and it will therefore be unnecessary to deal with them in so much detail. The flfliwe, with Dr” Nachtigal as Imperial Commissioner and Consul—General on board, visited the coast in the end of September I 884, and supplemented the work of the EZz'zaéel/z by' raising more flags and making fresh additions to the German Protectorate. L'uderitz lost no time in sending out well-equipped expeditions to explore the country, open up routes to the interior, discover the value of its mining resources, and make further treaties with chiefs. Several English firms asserted claims to the copper 192 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA mines, and other concessions said to have been made by chiefs, but these did not affect the German supre- macy; a Joint Commission was appointed to settle the claims. Dr. Nachtigal spent some time in visiting various chiefs in the interior and concluding treaties, confirming the German claims to their country. In a despatch to the Cape Government of I 1th November, Lord Derby found it necessary to snub one more hope— less attempt on the part of the Colony to annex terri- tory outside of Walfish Bay. The Germans were not to be interfered with; but, on the other hand, the Government were inclined to consider the advisability of annexing the Kalahari Desert, and also to maintain the route from the Cape to the interior. At the same time, on the 24th of December, Prince Bismarck was officially informed that the British Government had no wish to make any annexations west of 20° E. longitude, which might thus be regarded as the eastern limit of German South-west Africa. While in England itself these arrangements met with general approval, and even sympathy, they naturally excited dissatisfaction at the Cape; a dissatisfaction all the more bitter that the Cape Government felt that it had mainly itself to blame for what had happened. Meantime it may be stated that it was only in 1884 that Walfish Bay was formally annexed to Cape Colony. In the spring of 1885 Liideritz made over all his claims to a German South- west Africa Association; and shortly thereafter an Imperial Commissioner was appointed to the new colony. By this time the British Government, in whose term of office these momentous events had taken place, GEIMIANY [N THE CAAIEROONS, ETC. 193 had (9th June 1885) given place to that of Lord Salisbury, which had during its years of office a not less trying part to play in connection with the partition of Africa. But this brings us far beyond the date of the Berlin Congress, and the events with which this chapter is concerned. Before dealing with that Con- gress let us state briefly what Germany had accom— plished in other parts of Africa before it met. Herr Lijderitz, flushed, no doubt, with his success Attempt to on the West Coast, made, towards the end of 1884, a $1133: Bait strenuous attempt through his representative, Herr Einwold, to flank British South Africa with a German colony and harbour on the East Coast. The relations between the Transvaal Government and Germany were at this time particularly friendly, and the possession of a port by Germany from which a railway could run to the Transvaal seemed in the highest degree desirable. As early as September 1884 propositiOns were made by Herr Einwold to obtain possession of St. Lucia Bay on the coast of Zululand, and he notified his intention to Bismarck. He entered Zululand in November, and succeeded in obtaining some concessions from Dinizulu. But by this time both the Home and the Cape Govern— ments were thoroughly awake. News of Herr Einwold’s doings leaked out, and on 18th December H.M.S. Goslzawk proceeded to St. Lucia Bay and hoisted the British flag in virtue of a treaty with Panda as far back as 1843. There was, of course, the inevitable corre— spondence between the two Governments, questions in Parliament, and excitement in the press, ending (25th June 1885) by a declaration on the part of Germany 0 German traders on the West Coast. 194 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA that she would make no annexations in East Africa south of Delagoa Bay. It has been pointed out in a previous chapter that during the 17th and 18th, and even well on into the 19th centuries, the commercial activity of Europe in Africa was mainly devoted to the Guinea Coast, to the region extending from the Senegal to the Congo; and that the staple export during that period consisted of slaves. After the cessation of slave export the European powers lost interest in the region. The Danes and Dutch quitted it altogether. The English carried on their four colonies in a half-hearted way ; though the French, after the middle of the century, continued steadily to advance their interests along the coast and into the in— terior. Still, those commercial houses which continued to engage in the trade of the Guinea Coast, realised great profits. In return for a few yards of cheap cottons, a few trinkets, obsolete guns, or the vilest and cheapest of spirits, enormous returns were obtained in oil and oil nuts, ivory, gold—dust, and other native products. The German traders, who,like the Chinese,will grow rich where an Englishman would starve, and who, as we have seen, after the re-formation of the empire, developed increas- ing activity abroad, did not overlook the neglected West Coast. Forty years ago German and Swiss missions established themselves on the Guinea Coast, and German commercial houses had agencies in the British Gold Coast Colony. After 1880, however, when the colonial spirit was gaining in strength and German foreign trade was increasing by leaps and bounds, the relations of Germany with the coast became more and GERAIANY [N THE CAJIEROONS, ETC. 195 more intimate. Between the patch on the-West Coast, known as Portuguese Guinea, and the British colony of Sierra Leone, lies a strip of coast now known as the French colony of Rivir‘eres du Sud. On this coast several German factories had been established and a considerable trade developed by 1884. One patch of this coast lying between the Dembra and Dubreka rivers was supposed not to have been actually occupied by France, and there German operations were con- centrated and German influence established. On the Lower Guinea Coast extending from the boundary of Liberia to the colony of Lagos were several patches, which were regarded as No-man’s—land ; France had ancient claims to a part of the coast on the west of the British Gold Coast Colony, and two other patches, somewhat ill defined, between that colony and the colony of Lagos. At various points on this stretch of coast, both in British and French spheres, German factories and German missions had been established. There was one small patch of some thirty miles on the east of the Gold Coast Colony, where at Bagida, Porto Seguro, Little Popo, and other places, German stations had been established since 1880, and trade treaties made with the native chiefs. On the east of these, at Agoue and Great Popo, similar enterprises had been carried out; for although the French had some old claims to the coast it was practically unoccupied. When, in 1883, German colonial enterprise began to :take a distinctly practical turn, German factories and commercial agents, as well as trade consuls, had been established, not only on the British Gold Coast, but on 196 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the unannexed portions to the east. Here, and in other parts of Africa, England had only to put out her hand and take what territory she wanted ; her colonial officials were being constantly besieged by petitions from native chiefs for annexation. But until the Germans entered the field, 720/0 epz'scoparz’ seems to have been the motto of our Government so far as Africa was concerned. It was only when the proffered gifts seemed likely to be snatched by others that our eyes were opened to their value, and we made unseemly haste to grab them; too late unfortunately in certain cases, though after all we have fared better than we deserve. £32231; £1111. Again, between the eastern boundary of the colony 3133359“ of Lagos and the French colony of the Gaboon (the Rio Campo), including the extensive Niger delta (the Oil Rivers) and the Cameroons, German houses had been establishing factories, and drawing to themselves a fair share of trade. The British connection with the region had been growing in closeness and importance for a century. British explorers had done more than those of any other nation to open up the Coast region and the whole of the country watered by the Niger and Benue’. Although Dr. Barth was a German, his expedi- tion was purely British. In the Oil Rivers and the Cameroons British missionaries and British traders had held supreme influence for many years, and thirty years ago Burton raised the British flag in the magnificent Cameroons Mountains. For years the chiefs along the coast had been petitioning British Consuls, British Ministers, and even the Queen herself, to take them under Her Majesty’s protection; but, as a rule, these GERMANY IN THE CAMEROONS, ETC. 197 petitions were unanswered. So long ago as August 1879 five of the Cameroons “ kings” wrote as follows to the Queen : “We, your servants, have joined together and thought it better to write you a nice long letter which will tell you about all our wishes. We wish to have your laws in our territories. We want to have every fashion altered; also we will do according to your Consul’s word. Plenty wars here in our country. Plenty murder, and plenty idol—worshippers. Perhaps these lines of our writing will look to you as an idle tale. We have spoken to the English Consul plenty times about having an English Government here. We never have answer from you, so we wish to write to you our- selves. When we knew about Calabar River, how they have all English laws in their towns, and how they have put away all their superstitions, oh, we shall be very glad to be like Calabar River.” Communications of similar import and tone con- Eligigigs tinued to be sent home; and from the English resi- action- dents in the Cameroons, backed by the British Consul, urgent requests were sent to the Home Government advising annexation. But until the information reached the Foreign Office in July 1883 that a French vessel had been in the Kwa Kwa river and the Malimba river ‘ cajoling the native chiefs into signing treaties, the policy of the British Government was one of procrastination. Even then no haste was manifested in securing one of ' the most desirable regions on the West Coast to British " influence. It was only in the end of 1883 that the Foreign and Colonial Offices concluded between them Germany takes action. 198 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA that it would be desirable to place the Oil Rivers and the Cameroons, including the Baptist Mission that had been established there for many years, under British protection. It was not until 16th May 1884 that Consul Hewett was instructed to return to his post in West Africa and make preparations for declaring a British protectorate over part of it, for the Cameroons chiefs were to be “asked to undertake that they will, if required, cede such portions of their territories as it may be thought desirable to acquire.” On the 6th of July Consul Hewett was in the Bonny river. He pur- posed visiting the Benin and other rivers, as well as the Cameroons, but could not give the commander of Her Majesty’s vessel in which he was to sail any exact date for his Visit. Meanwhile the Germans were losing no time. The recommendations of the Hamburg Chamber of Com— merce in the end of 1883 have been already referred to. The annexation of a part of the coast opposite Fernando Po was part of the programme which they recommended to Bismarck. On 20th April 1884, about one month before Consul Hewett received his instructions, Lord Granville at the Foreign Office re- ceived the following communication from the German Charge’ d’Affaires in London: “ I have the honour to state to your Lordship 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 pos- session of the Foreign Office at Berlin on the state of GERMANY IN THE CAAIEROONS, ETC. 199 German commerce on that coast. With this object Dr. Nachtigal will shortly embark at Lisbon on board the gunboat Illb‘we. He will put himself into communica- tion with the authorities in the English possessions on the said coast, and is authorised to conduct, on behalf of the Imperial Government, negotiations connected with certain questions. Iventure, 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 recommenda— tions.” The Charge d’Affaires was assured that the British colonial authorities should be enjoined to give all pos— sible assistance to the eminent German Consul-General. On the same day the Foreign Office received informa- tion of a strong anti-English pro-colonial article in the Kolm'sc/ze Z ez'tung, which might have aroused their sus— picions as to Dr. Nachtigal’s movements, especially when combined with the events taking place at Angra Pequefia, where already L'Lideritz had hoisted the Ger— man flag. Still the necessity for prompt measures was not realised at Downing Street. On Ist June 1884 the flfb‘zere, with Dr. Nachtigal on The Du. board, accompanied by the ElzisalJet/z, anchored off the breka mar. Los Islands (British), and two days later the German Consul-General went in a steam pinnace to the Dubreka river, where, as we have seen, German factories had been established. Palavers were held with the chiefs, but : nothing definite was done, as there was a suspicion of French claims. Other German expeditions were how— ever in the following months sent to the coast, and the Togoland. declared a. German protector- ate. 200 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA German flag was even hoisted over the station. But on the representations of the French Government Prince Bismarck gracefully gave way here, as he did elsewhere. averring that he would never seek to encroach on an ' territory to which France might show the slig claim, or even preference. Bismarck’s delicacy tow rds French susceptibilities was in all these doings and negotiations in marked contrast to his bluff and uncom- promising treatment of the British Government. Dr. Nachtigal proceeded southwards to the little patch cast of the Gold Coast already referred to, and now known as Togoland. It was, unfortunately, con- siderably to the east of the old Brandenburg settlement at Cape Three Points, so that sentiment could have no part to play in what followed. At eight different places on this coast there were German factories. In January 1884 a German gunboat had touched at the coast and taught the natives that the Germans as well as the English had big ships to look after their interests. Some of the natives, indeed, were deported to Berlin and were brought back, doubtless greatly impressed with the power of Germany. On 2nd July the Mate/e, with Dr. Nachtigal on board, drew up in front of the settlement of Little Popo. Other places were visited, and after arranging matters with M’lapa, King of Togo- land, the German flag was raised at Bagida on 5th July, and Togoland declared a German Protectorate. Other sections of the coast were annexed at later dates. But serious differences threatened to arise between Germany and France, the latter claiming sovereignty over certain parts within the sphere annexed by GERAIANY [N THE CAAIEROONS, ETC. 201 Germany. The two Governments, however, did not find much difficulty in coming to an agreement, though it was not till December 1885 that it was arranged to draw the boundary line between Little Popo and Agoue. fter placing Togoland under the protection of the Ger an flag, Dr. Nachtigal steamed onwards in the Alb'rve towards the Cameroons. Here the ground had been prepared for him. At midnight meetings with King Bell and other potentates in the Cameroons River, the four German traders settled in the place succeeded The Cameroons. in winning their way to the heart of these thirsty chiefs ' by lavish promises of rum and guns and money. As these chiefs had received no replies from the British Government to their repeated requests for annexation, and as these Germans appealed to their weakest side, it is no wonder that they concluded that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush. There can be little doubt that on the whole they would have preferred British to German domination, and they very soon regretted the promises made in a weak moment; but unlimited rum was what they coveted above all, and the temptation offered by the German traders was more than they could resist. Commander Moore, in the Goslzawé, visited the Cameroons River on 10th July and had a palaver with King Bell and some of the other chiefs. He found that the German negotiations had been far advanced, but that no treaty had been actually signed, though the chiefs were tired of waiting ’for a reply to their repeated communications to the British Government. Had Consul Hewett been on board and then and there concluded treaties with the Annexation by Ger- many. The Oil Rivers se- cured to England. Feeling in Germany and. Eng- land. V202 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA chiefs, the Cameroons might have been saved to England. All Commander Moore could do was to beg the chiefs to sign nothing till the Consul arrived. King Bell promised, but hoped the Consul would come soon— “within a week.” It was not, however, till the 19th that the Consul arrived, only to find that treaties had been completed with the chiefs by Dr. Nachtigal, and that the German flag had been floating conspicuously over the place for five days. All he could do was to place the Mission Station of Victoria in Ambas Bay under British protection. Dr. Nachtigal proceeded southwards, raising the German flag over various points of the coast, even beyond the Rio Campo, and so in- truding upon the French sphere. As Bismarck, how- ever, was always inclined in his search for colonies to be particularly complacent towards France, the diffi- culty was easily settled; and the Rio Campo was recognised as the southern limit of German annexation. Meantime Consul Hewett had been thoroughly roused to the seriousness of the situation, and lost no time in making treaties all along the coast from Victoria to the colony of Lagos, thus securing the Oil Rivers and the mouth of the Niger. There was, of course, great ex- citement both in England and Germany. There was naturally jubilation in Germany over the success of the smart policy of Bismarck, while in England reproaches were freely heaped upon the Ministry of the time for their blindness, prevaricating policy, and indifference to British, interests. Lord Granville na‘i'vely reproached Prince Bismarck for intentionally misleading him as to the real purpose of, Dr. Nachtigal’s mission, while Bis- GERMAIVY IN THE CAAIEROONS, ETC. 203 marck taunted Granville for his want of penetration, and maintained that his little deception was perfectly justifiable. Had he frankly informed the British Govern— ment as to his designs, they would of course have done their best to forestall him. The only excuse for the Ministry of the period is that at the time few people even in Germany had any belief in Bismarck’s in— tentions of acquiring colonies; only a few shrewd statesmen, like Sir Bartle Frere, had a perception of future trouble with Germany in this respect. Still, when the mission of Dr. Nachtigal was looked at in the light of the Angra Pequefia correspondence, it does seem strange that the British Ministry made no more haste than they did to secure all the points which they considered it desirable that England should possess. But the new Imperial spirit had hardly then been born, and there still lurked in the minds of a certain school of politicians an aversion to increase ‘ “England’s responsibilities.” Moreover, it should be remembered by way of palliation that Germany was 1 toying with France in order to embarrass our position i in Egypt. As to the part played by Prince Bismarck, his Bismarck’s attitude with respect to the Cameroons was in marked pa ' contrast to his seemingly forbearing, patient, and courteous conduct in the Angra Pequefia affair. Pos- sibly that affair may have worn out his patience, or it may be that he valued the Cameroons more highly, and did not want to run any risk. That he deliberately misled the British Foreign Office as to the real object of Dr. Nachtigal’s mission is apparent; but as he was 204 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA engaged in a diplomatic war against England, he no doubt considered such deception justifiable. Further, the Prince considered that in his colonial aspirations in Africa and the South Seas he had received great provocation from England. The courtesy between France and Germany in connection with these opera- tions was that of enemy to enemy ; the bitterness which sprang up between England and Germany was probably due to the mutual feeling that the one side could not afford to make an enemy of the other. In the Cameroons, as elsewhere in Africa, we fared better than we deserved. Though we had to give up the whole coast at the base of the Cameroons moun- tains as far as the Rio del Rey—Bismarck accused us of trying to shut out the new German colony from the interior—we have been fortunate enough to be able to secure the whole of the Niger Delta and all the coast from the Rio del Rey to the boundary of Lagos. Germany had some trouble with King Bell and his friends before they became reconciled to the new state of things; and,as has been the casein most of Germany’s colonial enterprises, one of her first tasks was to give the chiefs and people a “sharp lesson.” By the time the Berlin Congress met she was fairly in possession at the Cameroons, as well as in Togoland and South-west Africa. She had thus begun the “scramble for Africa,” had entered upon that game, some rules for which it was partly the design of the Congress to lay down. CHAPTER XIV THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND THE CONGO FREE STATE A Conference necessary—Origin and purpose of the Conference—The General Act—Rule as to effective occupation—Creation of the Congo Free State—The reversion to France—King Leopold becomes sovereign of the State—The Free State made over to Belgium— Boundaries of the Free State—Great things expected of the Free State—Becomes a purely Belgian undertaking—Disappointed traders — Exploring activity—Administration — Abuses — Missions—Trade ——Slow development of trade —What the State has done : its future. FOLLOWING the example of Germany, the other great 311331115556} European powers made a rush upon Africa. In— sat-‘7- extricable difficulties were sure to arise unless some rules were laid down on which the great game of scramble was to be conducted. Germany had already made important acquisitions on the West Coast, and England and France had made haste to snatch up the remainder. France and Portugal were struggling with the King of the Belgians on the Congo, while Portugal ' was beginning to be alarmed as to her claims on other parts of the continent. Great Britain had re- ceived a severe lesson at Angra Pequefia, and had at last been aroused to take measures for securing to herself the region which lies on the north of Cape Colony. Already there were agitations as to German Origin and purpose of he Confer- ence. 206 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA interests in Zanzibar. The great struggle, however, it was seen, would be round the centre of the continent, and it would be for the advantage of all concerned that an understanding should be come to as to whether it was to be divided up into exclusive sections, or whether it was to be open to all nationalities, whatever might be their share of the rest of the continent after the scramble was over. It has been seen already that Bismarck strenuously objected to the Anglo-Portuguese arrangement as to the coast at the mouth of the Congo ; he would never consent to the key to such an important highway being placed in the hands of Portugal. The arrange- ment was, indeed, received with such determined op- position by the Powers, that it had to be dropped, and curiously enough the proposal for an International Conference to consider the whole question of the Congo came from Portugal herself. France endorsed the proposal, which was cordially taken up by Bismarck on behalf of Germany. This was in June 1884, and a month later Lord Granville gave in his adhesion on behalf of Great Britain. These three Powers agreed in principle to the creation of a Free State in the basin of the Congo, the precise limitations of which were, however, to be left to separate agreements be- tween the Powers directly interested. The great pur- pose then of the Berlin Conference was to come to an understanding with reference to the Congo basin. It was also agreed to make some arrangement with reference to the Niger, and to fix the conditions under which new an- nexations would be recognised as valid by other Powers. THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STA TE 207 Into the details of the Conference it is unnecessary to enter. Its discussions and protocols occupy a voluminous Blue Book. It began its meetings in Berlin on I5th November 1884, and concluded them on 30th January 1885. Every State of Europe except Switzerland sent one or more representatives, as did the United States of America. The General Act of the Conference was signed by the representatives of all the Powers except the United States on 24th February 1885. Mr. Stanley was present, nominally as a geographical expert on behalf of the United States, but in reality to look after the interests of his patron, the King of the Belgians. The General Act of the Conference enacted freedom :rheGeneral of trade to all natiormvithin the region watered by ct ‘tlTeiConchfi-d'lits'affluents, including the coast of the Atlantic from 20 30’ N. lat. to 8° S. lat. The Free ‘ Trade Line was further prolonged on the north to the 1 East Coast at 5° N. lat., and down that coast to the mouth of the Zambesi ; up the Zambesi to five. miles 3. above the mouth of the Shire, and onwards along the watershed between the Zambesi and Lake Nyassa to :the watershed between the Zambesi and the Congo. This eastern extension, however, was only to be K4 effective if agreed to by the sovereign States having ,5 _ jurisdiction in the regions included therein. Only such ' dues were to be levied as would compensate expendi— .'ture in the interests of trade; no differential duties 3 were permitted, and all rivers were to be free to the flags of all nations. After a lapse of twenty years the x=subjeet of import duties could be reconsidered. The Rule as to efi‘ective 208 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Powers were to combine to suppress the slave-trade and slavery. An International Navigation Commission was instituted to ensure facilities of navigation on the Congo, and to carry out the provisions of the Con- ference with reference to the river and its affluents. This conventional basin of the Congo was to remain neutral under all circumstances. Only certain fixed navigation dues were to be charged, and these could be revised at the end of five years. These then were the principal provisions with regard to the Congo. Essentially the same conditions as regards naviga— tion were applied to the Niger and its tributaries, although these regions were outside the Operation of the rules affecting the free trade zone. Instead of an International Commission being appointed to carry out the conditions, their execution was entrusted to Great Britain and France in respect of those sections of the river which might come under their sovereignty or protection. There was to be perfect freedom of navigation to the ships of all nations ; “ No exclusive privilege of naviga- tion will be conceded to Companies, Corporations, or private persons.” The navigation of the. Niger was not to be “exposed to any obligation in regard to landing- stage or depot, or for breaking bulk or for compulsory entry into any port.” At the same time it was to be understood “that nothing in these obligations shall be interpreted as hindering Great Britain from making any rules of navigation whatever which shall not be contrary to the spirit of their engagements.” Other declarations were included in the work Occupatmn of this remarkable Congress; it laid down the im- THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STA TE :09 portant rule which was to guide the Powers in the great game of the Partition of Africa. Occupa- tions on the Coast of Africa in order to be valid must be effective, and any new occupation on the coast must be formally notified to the Signatory Powers for the purpose of enabling them if need be to make good any claim of their own. In Article 6 there is also notice made for the first time in any International Act of the obligation attaching to spheres of influence —a mode of tenure soon destined to play such an important part. These, then, were the chief provisions of the famous Eggagéggf “General Act of the Conference of Berlin.” To what ”9" State' extent they have been carried out will be seen in the . sequel. But while the main drama, if we may so speak, was being enacted in the Conference Hall, Prince Bis- marck’s Palace, there was a complicated side—play going on, which though not formally acknowledged, had very intimate bearings on the main subject, and was indeed pregnant with even greater results. This was, in fact, the creation of the Congo Iiree State. \lVe have seen how the magnificent projects initiated by the King of ' the Belgians at the Brussels Conference of 1876 had : rapidly developed. There was the International African . Association for scientific and benevolent purposes ; this vwas followed by the Comite’ d’Etudes, which became lthe International Congo Association. Although not ' actually recognised as such, it really assumed the form :of a loosely—organised State, and as early as April 1884 iSir Francis de \Vinton (failing General Gordon) went L out as Governor. On the 22nd April I 884, the United 1) The Rever- sion to France. 210 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA States Government recognised the flag of the Associa- tion (a blue flag with a golden star), “as that of a friendly government.” On the day after the recognition, in a moment of irritation against the British Govern- ment, Colonel Strauch, the President of the Associa- tion, intimated to the French Government that if the Association were ever compelled to part with its possessions, France should have the right of pre- ference in purchasing them. Of course in all these transactions the King of the Belgians was the moving power, and in effect he was the International As- sociation, which depended almost entirely upon His Majesty for funds. There can be no doubt that the King soon came to regret having accorded to France this right of reversion, and three years later His Majesty tried to explain that he did not mean it. A week before the Berlin Congress met, Germany followed the example of the United States, and after laying down certain conditions as to freedom of trade, and the rights and privileges to be accorded to German subjects, recognised the flag of the Association as that of a friendly State, and intimated her readiness to recognise the frontier of the Association and of the New State to be created as indicated in a map joined to the Declaration. The map indicates the boundaries of the State in the main as they were subsequently recog— nised by France and Portugal, with the exception of a few modifications introduced to satisfy those Powers. This declaration was followed by similar declarations on the part of the other powers, the last to give its adhesion being Belgium (23rd February 1885). In 705:1“ l l THE BERLIN COA’FEREIVCE AND COIVGO STATE 211 the agreements between the Association and France and Portugal, the boundaries of the territory of the Association were defined, though these were afterwards subject to modifications on the spot. In the various declarations the Association was recognised as the administrator of the various “Free States established or to be established” in the Congo basin: as a matter of fact the Association was commuted into the one Congo Free State, which so far has been founded on the river. The Association itself signed the General Act as an independent power. The various agree- ments in which the Association had been recognised and the delimitations embodied therein were included in the protocols of the final sitting, and so received the sanction of the Conference itself. It was not till two months after the conclusion King Leo- 1 be- of the Conference (April 30, 1885) that the Belgian $133465 53%"- l legislature authorised King Leopold to be the chief the State- of the State founded in Africa by the Congo Inter— national Association. “The union between Belgium and the New State will be exclusively personal.” On the Ist of August following, King Leopold addressed a notification to all the Powers intimating that the posses— ; sions of the International Association of the Congo were I henceforth to form the Congo Free State of which His Majesty would be chief under the title of Sovereign. At the same time the neutrality of the State was declared. Though anticipating events, it may be appropriate here to state that King Leopold in his will, dated 2nd . August 1889, made Belgium heir to the sovereign ' rights of the Congo Free State. Further, on 3rd July % .\ The Free State made over to Belgium. Boundaries of the Free State. 212 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA 1890, His Majesty made an agreement with the Belgian Government according to which the latter consented to advance a loan of twenty-five million francs, in the course of ten years, on condition that, six months after the expiry of that period, Belgium could annex the Free State. Should Belgium decline the annexation, the Free State is bound to pay back the loan (which bears no interest) in the course of another ten years. By a codicil to the King’s will, dated ZIst July 1890, it is declared that the Free State cannot be alienated—though it is doubtful if this affects the right of pre-emption primarily held by France. Here, then, we have what may be regarded as the first substantial result of the scramble for Africa. It was not, however, until many conferences, negotiations, and compromises had taken place that the precise limits of the Free State claimed in 1885 were recognised by neighbouring Powers. Portugal still fondly clung to 50 I 2’ S. lat. as her northern limit, but she was com- pelled to abandon it and content herself with the patches of Molemba, Cabinda, and Massabi, on the north of the Congo mouth. On the other hand, her Angola colony was pushed northwards to the south bank of the Congo, which she was allowed to appropriate as far as Nokki, 1 30 miles from the mouth. Thence the delimiting line went eastwards to the Kwango, which it followed up to about 80 south. It then turned eastwards with a bend northwards,to the Kassai,which it followed south through the heart of the old kingdom of the Mwata Yanvo (by an agreement of 1891). From the bend of the Kassai the line claimed by the Congo State winds eastwards \ l TliE BERLIN CONFERENCE A1VD CONGO STATE 2I3 between the water-parting of the Congo and Zambesi to Lake Bangweolo and up to Lake Moero and the west shore of Lake Tanganyika. The eastern boundary of the Free State then turns almost direct north along 300 E. long. to 4° N. lat. ; part of these limits so claimed still remains open to discussion with Great Britain. It was only after the solution of many difficult geographical points that the northern limit was settled with France. The Association had at an early period to part with all its stations on the Kwilu (north of the Congo) to France. The Free State, however, secured an irregular block on the north bank of the Congo, from its mouth to about 300 miles up the river. France then claims the north bank of the river as far as the Mobangi, which becomes the common boundary between the French Congo territory and the Free State, until in tracing it eastwards the river strikes the fourth parallel north, which forms the northern boundary, until it meets the eastern limit. The above would give the Congo Free State the enormous area of almost 870,000 square miles, with a population which at a guess may amount to 14,000,000 of savages. It must be said that quite recently the sovereign of the Free State has shown dissatisfaction with the 4° limit on the north, maintaining that this State, like any other state, is at liberty to extend its dominions. France and England strenuously object to this where it affects them. But expeditions from the Congo have 1 been sent with a View to secure a block on the west \ of the Albert Nyanza and the Nile. One formidable expedition, consisting of over 3000 men with a great Great things ex- pected of the Free State . 214 THE PARTITIOIV OF AFRICA number of boats, under Van der Kerckhoven, began to push northwards in 1891, with a View to establish a station in the neighbourhood of Lado, within the British sphere. According to latest accounts, the expedition has actually secured a position at Lado, and has pro- voked an attack from the Mahdiists. But Lord Salisbury repeatedly notified the King that no an- nexation in that region by the Free State would be recognised, a position maintained with equal vigour by his successor Lord Rosebery. Great things were expected from the foundation of the Free State, which was referred to at the time as one of the most remarkable events of the century. At the concluding sitting of the Conference the new organisation was greeted as one of the great civilising and humanitarian agencies of the nineteenth century, as the chief medium through which the work for which the Conference had been summoned would be carried out. The great object for which professedly the International Congo Associa- tion had been founded was the opening up of the interior region included in its operations to civilisation and commerce, as well as the exploration of its geo- graphy. As has been already said, we cannot doubt that the motives which actuated the King of the Belgians in entering upon this enterprise in Africa were to a certain extent disinterested. If to these motives there came in time to be added a kingly ambition to be the ruler of a million square miles of a continent previously given over to savagery and anarchy, this ambition was legitimate, for he could only reap glory and lasting reputation by ruling well. ~11 THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STATE 215 He it was who until quite recently supplied the funds with which the enterprise was carried on, and not- withstanding the increase from other sources, his private purse is still opened to the extent of £40,000 annually. It is not, therefore, surprising that the King should wish to rule his own state in his own way, even though its international character should thus disappear, and Becomesa purely Bel- Belgium be accorded favours not granted to other 3312111511}; nationalities. As a matter of fact, when King Leopold assumed the sovereignty of the Free State it ceased to be international, and rapidly became an almost ex- clusively Belgian undertaking. The officials of other nationalities gave place with few exceptions to Belgians. In this King Leopold was compelled to yield to the wishes and remonstrances of his European subjects. It was found, moreover, that the absolute freedom of trade insisted on in the Berlin Act could not be main— tained; even His Majesty’s large resources were not equal to the necessary expenses of administration, and duties and taxes have had to be imposed which can hardly be said to be consistent with the spirit or the letter of the Act. Of the heavy duty which has been placed on spirits none but those interested in their sale will complain. But, however it is to be accounted Disappoint- for, there can be little doubt that the manner in which ed traders. the imposition of duties and taxes has been carried out, and the keen competition on the part of the Belgian officials, and even of the State, with traders of other nationalities, have had the effect of compelling many of the latter to leave the territory of the State, either quitting the Congo entirely or settling upon French or 216 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Portuguese territory. It would be unjust to blame the King personally for these results; he is in the hands of his officials, and it is hardly to be expected that these are all imbued with the same motives which actuate His Majesty. Besides a company for con- structing a railway for the Lower Congo, past the Cataracts to Stanley Pool, there are five trading com- panies on the Congo, all Belgian, with a nominal capital of £360,000. It is true that in one there is some English capital, and that there are one or two English directors, but even then the Company is essentially Belgian. These Belgian companies have been latterly dealt with in much the same way as traders of foreign nationality. The restrictions placed on the trade of private companies, and the monopolies claimed by the “State,” have been such as to render private enterprise almost impossible. The railway has practically come to a stop after a mile or two had been laid; and unless some relaxations are introduced, private capital may be entirely withdrawn, and the State be- _ come the sole trader: a state of things which can only lead to commercial disaster. More recently the indis- creet conduct of the Free State officers has roused some of the powerful Arab traders to rebellion, with disastrous results to the whites. There can be no doubt that this organisation, from which so much was expected, has reached a critical stage in its career, which can only be safely passed by a radical change in the policy of the government. In truth, a really international “State” of the kind which was originally vaguely con- templatednvas hardly possible at the present stage of J ) i L 1‘ THE BERLIN CONFEREAVCE AND CONGO STA TE 217 the world’s progress; it was inevitable that with a King at its head, and the other Powers of Europe interested in Africa, each scrambling for its own hand, the Congo Free State should become a purely national enterprise. It now possesses hardly anything to distin- guish it from the African colonies of France or Germany. And yet there has been no lack of zeal on the part Exploring of the King to carry out his own aims and part at actimy‘ least of the objects which the Berlin Act had in view. The amount of exploring work accomplished under the auspices of the State is creditable. The whole of the Congo, at least as far as Nyangwe, has been laid down with accuracy. North and south all the great tribu- taries have been explored, and since 1885 nearly 6000 miles of waterway have been opened up to navigation. One great geographical problem—that of the VVellé— has been solved. A fair knowledge has been obtained of the countries watered by these magnificent rivers, ~ and of the various tribes which inhabit them. Again, a regular administration has been established, Adminis- and, considering the comparatively short time that has tramn' elapsed since Mr. Stanley began his work, the limited funds at the disposal of the King, the inexperience of Belgian officers, the savage nature of the country, and the ignorance of its geography, it must be admitted j that there has been a certain amount of success. The .- administrative headquarters are in Brussels, where there .2 are three ministerial departments and a variety of l i functionaries. The State is divided into twelve dis— : tricts or provinces, with a governor-general and a sub- ‘i governor or commissary for each district. There are Abuses. 218 . THE PARTITION OF AFRICA numerous stations not only on the Congo itself but on the great tributaries north and south; the administra- tive staff numbering seventy officials. A system of administrative justice, criminal and civil, has been devised, with courts of first and second instance. On the Lower Congo the judges are all trained jurists; prisons have been established, and hard labour and corporal punishment introduced, as well as other means supposed to be effective in weaning the poor native from his barbarous ways. On the Upper Congo martial law is supreme. That, in the hands of inex- perienced young officers, poorly paid, dealing with savages, under the influence of a tropical climate, far from the controlling influence of public opinion and the restraining hand of their superior officers, there should be abuses of the power entrusted to them, is not to be wondered at. That there have been abuses, that the natives have been at least occasionally, if not fre— quently, treated with great cruelty, and dealt with as slaves, there is only too much evidence to prove. We do not require to go to the Congo State for instances of the degenerating effect which savage surroundings have on even highly civilised men. Nor must it be forgotten that we can hardly deal with Africans as we do with civilised Europeans, and that if any progress is to be made at all a certain amount of compulsion must be used. But if this be so, it imposes the duty of exercising all the more care in selecting officers who will not be tempted to make this compulsion assume the form of cruelty and slavery, and so risk that breaking-up of the Free State which not a few consider to be inevitable. THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGOLSTATE 219 Among the civilising influences at work in the New Missions. State we must reckon that of Christian missions—— Catholic and Protestant, English, American, French and Belgian. There are many stations in various parts of the territory, and among the missionaries are a certain number of the old-fashioned, indiscreet, unprac- tical type ; many of them, however, are men of insight and tact, who realise that there are other ways of rousing the native from his low estate besides preaching at him. There are in all about eighty missionaries. A more or less active trade has of course been Trade. carried on, and trading centres established at various points besides those occupied by the State stations. Altogether there are now (1892) about 750 whites l (there were only 254 in 1886). Of these 338 are Belgians, of whom there were only 46 in 1886. More ' than one-half of these whites are on the lower river; . 271 are in the service of the Free State. It may be asaid that all the white population of the Congo are 1 more or less directly engaged in trade, not even ex- :cluding the officials themselves, either on their own lbehalf or on behalf of the State. Private traders, as has been stated, complain of the increasing compe— 1tition which they must submit to from the State :officials, who, naturally, have great advantages over :their rivals. Practically the free trade clauses of :the Berlin Act are a dead letter; the Congo Free :State is Virtually a Belgian colony; the King has sexpended immense sums on the region; and he can 1hardly therefore be blamed for making an effort to r supplement the drain on his private resources by profits Slow de- velopment of trade. 220 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA derived from the commercial ,development of the country. Whether such a monopolising policy is a wise one, even from a purely business point of view, is, however, doubtful. But be that as it may, the exports from the State territories have increased from £80,000 in 1887 to £321,680 in 1890, though it was only a little over £200,000 in 1891. The total commerce from the Congo basin by the river has increased from £300,000 in 1887 to £564,400 in 1890, falling to £400,000 in 1891. Nearly one-half of the total comes from the possessions of France and Portugal. Of the exports from the territory of the Free State nearly one—half are from the Lower Congo. As yet the exports from the Congo are almost ex- clusively the natural products of Central Africa, viz. ivory, caoutchouc, palm nuts, palm oil, and coffee. Ivory contributes quite one-half of the total exports from the Free State territories. The export of palm nuts and oil in 1890 amounted to £150,000. Of caoutchouc only £22,000 worth came from the Free State, while nearly four times the amount are the pro- duce of French and Portuguese Congo. So with coffee; of the £68,000 worth exported by the Congo in 1890, only £3500 worth can be credited to the Free State. All these items were lower in 1891. _ Thus, though the trade of the Free State and the whole of the Congo basin has certainly increased by a large percentage during the last five years, it is still insignificant. So far, only the natural products of tropical Africa have been dealt with ; practically no- thing has been done to develop the capabilities of the THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STA TE 221 soil, except perhaps on a small scale around the various stations. Such mineral resources as may exist in the Congo region have not been touched. It is only those who fancy that Africa can be transformed into a Europe or an India in a decade that would have ex- pected more. The natural resources of the basin are plentiful enough to yield valuable returns to modest commercial enterprises for many years; but to keep up the expensive machinery of a state, and support an endless series of exploring expeditions, these natural resources will have to be worked on a much larger scale than has hitherto been done. The annual outlay of the Free State is £200,000, and it is constantly in- creasing. Even were the profits accruing from the whole of the Free State trade the perquisite of the King, they would hardly suffice to meet the outlay; as a matter of fact but a small proportion of them go to the credit of the State. The King of the Belgians professed not, it is true, to enter upon his great enter- : prise from purely commercial motives, but it is obvious : that there is a limit even to His Majesty’s finances. It i i t J i l 1 is impossible therefore to blame him for endeavouring, through the Brussels Congress of 1890, to so far modify the. Berlin Act as to be permitted to levy duties on ‘imports as well as exports, nor for adopting other means—house—taxes, trading~licenses, etc—of raising a revenue. If the organisation of a state is to be carried out, it of course involves expenditure ; and the profits .: on Central African trade are so enormous that they can u well afford to yield a percentage in return for the v 1 security which a state is supposed to afford. It might What the State has clone. 222 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA conceivably have been more profitable for all concerned had the development of the Free State been entrusted to a great Chartered Company similar to the Royal Niger Company. But this would have defeated the great object which the King had in View in entering upon African enterprise ; he reaps his reward in realis- ing that he is the active head and moving spirit of a gigantic undertaking which he believes is destined to form a great civilised state in Central Africa. Already we have seen the Congo Railway Company is making a line from the lower to the upper river, though progress is lamentably slow. The Company has a capital of a million sterling. That such a railway would be beneficial in many ways can hardly be doubted, but it will require much more than a million sterling to complete 250 miles, and even when in operation it can hardly be expected to pay without a very great increase in the present trade. The difficulty in obtaining adequate native labour for this railway is so great that (November 1892) the Company has been compelled to import 540 Chinese coolies. There are a few isolated Chinaan in South Africa; but the Congo Free State has the distinction of being the first to try the experiment of substituting Chinese for native labour. While then the dreams of the Berlin Congress have vanished, and the Great International Free State has lapsed into a Belgian colony, while many mistakes have been made and crimes against humanity have been committed, while the expenditure has been lavish and the returns insignificant, while slave — raiding still THE BERLIN CONFEREIVCE AND COzVGO STATE 223 flourishes even within the boundaries of the Free State, and civilisation can hardly be said as yet to have taken I root; while naturally we think it would have been better had the river fallen into British hands; yet it must be admitted that on the whole there has been some progress, or at least change. The change in the fifteen years that have elapsed since Stanley ran the gauntlet from Nyangwe to Boma has been marvellous. It is a disgrace to civilised humanity that in this stage of the world’s progress a whole continent should still be given over to savagery ; and with all its defects the Congo Free State has taken at least a short step to remove the reproach. The Free State may not con- tinue to exist under its present organisation. It may be broken up into several states, or may be divided Itsfuture. among several Powers; but, whatever may be its fate in this respect, it cannot stand still, and it cannot go back. The more it is opened up to the View of civilised humanity, the better it will be for the conduct of its affairs, and for the interests of the natives. It will cer- tainly be looked back to in the future as one of the most remarkable outcomes of the modern contact be— " tween Europe and Africa; while its royal founder will i be reckoned among the most enterprising, ambitious, ; and well—meaning Kings of the century. Germany and East Africa. CHAPTER XV GERMAN EAST AFRICA Germany and East Africa—British suspicion aroused—Rohlfs’s mission— Karl Peters—Four'ids a new society—A secret expedition to East Africa—Treaty-making—The German East Africa Company—The first German charter—Sir John Kirk—Friendly attitude of the British Government Extent of Sultan’s dominions—Relations of Germany and England—British projects in East Africa Initiation of the British East Africa Company—The Sultan protests—Wim— Harmony between England and Germany—A delimitation commis- sion—Extent of territory allotted to the Sultan—Spheres of influence —Limits of German sphere—The Sultan’s position—Boundary between German and Portuguese territories—The Tungi Bay incident —-Fresh difficulties between England and Germany—~Development of the German sphere—Germany leases the Sultan’s strip—An admini- stration established-Results of the German administration—A re- bellion organised—VVissmann appointed Imperial Commissioner— Insurrection subdued—Sultan's rights bought—The Imperial admini- stration—German military methods—Confidence restored—Expedi- tions to the interior—Arrangements between Germany and England. THE fact that the Conference had been convened at Berlin to settle the rules of the game of scramble was not regarded by those taking part in it as a sufficient reason for holding their hands. Even while it was sitting, Germany was making inroads into a region which Great Britain regarded as peculiarly her own. The successful result of the operations in West Africa intensified the Colonial feeling in Germany, and filled the more active spirits with impatience for further GERZIIAN EAST AFRICA 225 annexations. It has already been seen that, as far back as 1865, Kersten, one of the survivors of the unlucky Von der Decken expedition, strongly urged the annexation by Germany of the region lying to the south of the river Jub in East Africa. Years before that, Hamburg trade had found a footing at Zanzibar, and, according to German authorities, it exceeded that of all other European Powers, and was second only to the trade carried on by British Indians. Again in 1875 Vice-Admiral Lurniss, in a communication to the German Admiralty, urged that Zanzibar should be taken under German protection. Three years later,» as has been seen, the Sultan was persuaded to offer to cede the fiscal administration of his territories to England through Sir (then Mr.) William Mackinnon; but although the treaty was actually drawn up, our Government threw difficulties in the way, and eventually the scheme was thwarted. The Sultan’s influence, if not rule, extended, nominally at least, from the river Jub on the north to Cape Delgado on the south, and included all the islands on the coast. There can be no doubt also that his influence extended far into the interior; his commands were obeyed even at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, and at Nyassa. Meantime trade was increasing steadily at Zanzibar; where British influence was still pre- : dominant, and the British Indian traders, both Hindu ; and Mohammedan, of whom thousands were settled on 7 the island, and on the coasts, were a powerful factor in the Sultanate. Again, in 1879 Ernst von Weber, one ‘ of the most strenuous of German colonial pioneers, in i an address to the Can/ml Vera}; 227' Hmzde/srreo m Ink, 0 g Q British suspicion aroused. Rohlfs’s mission. 226 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA drew attention to the river Jub, and the desirability of Germany acquiring a territorial footing in the Zanzibar region ; in this respect reiterating the views enunciated by Gerhard Rohlfs about the same time. Thus it will be seen that the attention of the. German colonial party was directed to East Africa at a much earlier period than to West Africa, though active operations began in the latter. Suspicion was aroused at the British .Foreign Office in the autumn of 1884, and on the 24th of November the British Minister at Berlin obtained an assurance from Prince Bismarck that “Germany was not endeavouring to obtain a protect— orate over Zanzibar.” But an uneasy feeling was again aroused when towards the end of the year it was known that the African explorer, Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs, was making his way by the West Coast and the Cape round to Zanzibar, to which he had been appointed German Consul—General. On January 14, 1885, Earl Granville communicated with Berlirf: somewhat timidly drawing attention to this circumstance, at the same time expressing a confident belief that Germany did not mean to annex Zanzibar. The British Minister pointed out briefly the long and intimate relations of England with Zanzibar, over which she had acted as a sort of guardian and tutelary deity. Prince Bismarek’s reply showed that he, or those by whom he was inspired, had mastered the history of the Zanzibar dominions, and knew how to distort it to their own ends. He knew the part which had been played by England, and was able to correct Lord Granville on some of the dates which the latter had been rash l l GERAIAN EAST AFRICA 227 enough to cite. No direct statement was made as to what was the real object of Dr. Rohlfs’s mission, but on 25th February Earl Granville was informed that the Consul-General was “com- missioned to exert his influence ” to secure freedom of commerce in the Sultan’s dominions. In short, the tone of the communication from Berlin was evidently intended to induce the belief in London that Dr. Rohlfs had no other object in view than to conclude commercial treaties with the Sultan ; Prince Bismarck did not see that the relations between England and Zanzibar were such as to prevent this. Such treaties had been made as far back as 1835 by America, 1839 by England, 1844 by France, and 1859 by the Hanse towns. As England had declared herself warmly on behalf of the independence of Zanzibar, and had in 1864: joined France in a declaration to this effeet, she could not object 1 to the Sultan making treaties with whom he pleased. But the uneasy feeling was not allayed. This is :: clear even from the correspondence in the Blue Books ., which are published on the subject; but these Blue “l Books contain a mere selection from a vast mass of ,: correspondence, the bulk of which' is, though printed, xrsupposed never to be seen except by the official eye. " From this private and confidential correspondence it is, however, still more abundantly evident that both at {Zanzibar and at Downing Street it was felt that some :new German enterprise was in the air. But the British w'Foreign Office professed itself satisfied with the vague :«assurances from Berlin. Karl Peters was in 1884 only twenty-eight years of gag“ Pounds a new society. 228 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA age. He had been educated at German universities, and had resided for a considerable time in England, where he had made himself familiar with the British colonial system. On his return to Germany he threw himself with the keenest enthusiasm into the colonial movement. He is a man of naturally imperious temper and defective sympathy, and from the first seems to have been filled with a feeling of rancorous bitterness towards England. He appears to have con- sidered every means legitimate by which he could circumvent an Englishman, whom he regarded as his natural enemy. The German Colonial Society founded by Prince Hohenlohe Langenberg, with its thousands of members, was not practical enough for his tastes; so in April 1884 he founded a rival society,— the Society of German Colonisation. ’/ This new Society, inspired by Dr. Peters, lost no time in maturing a plan of operations for further wholesale annexations. At first the idea was to annex land in South Africa for the purpose of starting an. agricultural colony; but the St. Lucia Bay incident compelled the abandonment of the scheme, which met with the strongest opposition, not only from the anti—colonial press, but from the partisans of the other Society. Many practical men, including a number of capitalists, gathered round the new society, and soon it was well provided with funds. Then the attention of Dr. Peters and his friends was turned to East Africa, to the region between the coast and Lake Tanganyika, which had been the scene of active exploration for forty years, and where, as we have seen, German explorers had established stations in 1880. 1.1, H’ '~< ‘” m GERMAN EAST AFRICA 229 1/ The greatest secrecy was observed. It was arranged A secret that Dr. Peters, in company with Count Joachim Pfeil, igzgion a contrast to Dr. Peters in every way, and Dr. Jiihlke, I”. who had been promoting German interests on the Pacific, should proceed quietly to Zanzibar. They gave out that they were bound for Liverpool, but un— observed, and in the disguise of mechanics, they made their way to Trieste, and, as deck passengers, thence to Zanzibar, which they reached on the 4th November 1884. After having taken counsel with the German Consul, they left the coast on 12th November, and )9 seven days later the first “ treaty \\ as signed with aTreaklty native chief, and the German flag was hoisted atm mg Mbuzini. Following the Wami River, the three German pioneers went on to the high land of Usagara, and treaties were rapidly negotiated with ten “ independent” chiefs. On 17th December Peters was back at the coast with “ treaties” which gave his Society all rights over the countries of Useguha, Nguru, Usagara, Ukami, Umvomero, and Mukondokwa, a solid block of 60,000 square miles, lying almost direct west from Bagamoyo. Dr. Peters hastened back to Berlin, where, on February 12, 1885, he founded the German East Africa Com- flitgs-t pany, to whom the rights he and his colleagues had 3:32.11; acquired were ceded. On the 27th, almost coincident with the signing of the Berlin Act, the German Emperor issued a “ Schutzbrief,” in which he extended his pro- tection to the territory acquired, or which might be acquired, by the German Society of Colonisation. This $23111 first —. is noteworthy as the first document of the kind issued charter. 1, by the Imperial Government; it was in fact a charter. Sir John Kirk. 230 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA It is no secret that the unsuspecting chiefs were cajoled into appending their signatures or marks to documents which they were assured were perfectly innocent; the three Germans simply wanted the autographs of their African friends to carry back with them to Europe. But, when all is said, Karl Peters’s “treaties” were probably as valid and as valuable as most of those that have been made with native chiefs by adventurers of all nationalities. After the events which had taken place on the West Coast, it can hardly be said that the British Government were taken by surprise. Sir John Kirk, Livingstone’s old friend and companion, had been for many years British representative at Zanzibar, and his tact, experi- ence, firmness, and thorough knowledge of Africa and Africans, had rendered his influence with the Sultan so supreme that he had become Virtual ruler of Zanzibar. Only six years before these very territories which the Germans had quietly pocketed under our nose, as it were, could have been ours for the taking, and an offer amounting to this had been actually made; at any moment Sir John Kirk had but to say the word, and the Sultan would have placed himself under British protection. After the many years during which Sir John Kirk had been riveting British influence at Zanzibar, it was a cruel task which was forced upon him by our Foreign Office :—to use all his exertions to undo what he had done, and induce the Sultan to cede to Germany not only virtually the whole of the interior, but the greater part of the coast. The orders from Downing Street were of the most peremptory GERflIAzV EAST AFRICA 231 character, and Sir John’s anguished remonstrances were of no avail. It was not till 28th April 1885, that the “19mm? attitude of annexation was formally announced to the Sultan. The $233?“ latter immediately sent a strong protest to Berlin against ment‘ the appropriation of what he regarded as his territories, and later on sent similar protests to the British and American Governments. Prince Bismarck accused Sir John Kirk of instigating these protests, but Sir John replied that on the contrary he had exerted his influence to prevent the Sultan from going to Berlin himself to remonstrate. The British representative was instructed to co—operate immediately with the German Consul— General in forwarding German interests. It was not of course the business of Prince Bismarck 312111133111, :f to inform the. British Government beforehand what (1011111110115- were his real designs on East Africa. With regard to the Sultan’s claims, he pointed out that as a matter of fact the Sultan exercised no jurisdiction whatever away from the coast, and that on the latter even, between Cape Delgado and VVarsheikh to the north of the Jub River, a stretch of six hundred and fifty miles, he only occupied certain points. The Berlin Act, to which, however, Zanzibar at this time was not a party, had established the doctrine that no annexation on the coast would be recognised which was not evidenced by effective occupation and the establishment of some kind of jurisdiction. The Sultan, it was maintained, had a ‘few trading posts in the interior, but that was all ; and Germany applied the same treatment to him as England a year or two later did to Portugal in the Zambesi region. That the Sultan had real dominion 232 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA all along the coast from Cape Delgado as far as Lamu, the evidence was ample, as Sir John Kirk showed in a memorandum dated 6th July 1885; further north his power was confined to a few coast towns, which, however, included the only landing-places where goods could be shipped. At Arab stations in the interior, even as far as Lake Tanganyika, his sovereignty was recognised, but beyond a certain distance from the coast there can be little doubt that Central Africa, between the coast and Lake Tanganyika, was in reality a no-man’s-land. Relations The worst we can say of Germany’s action. in the ofGermany , , and Eng- matter is that she stole a march upon us, Wthh, accord- land' ing to accepted standards, can hardly be regarded as immoral, either in business or diplomacy,—in neither of which is chivalry supposedvto hold a place. But even if we could have forestalled Germany in her East African annexations, would it have been wise to do so? Half the region is desert, or but little removed from it, although there is no doubt ample room for plantation settlements. Would it have been wise in England to monopolise a tropical continent which she could never colonise with her own people, and which could there- fore never be a source of real strength to her? The co—operation of a nation such as Germany in the de- velopment and civilisation of the continent cannot but be to our advantage as well as to theirs. There were then, as there are now, many reasons why we should be on friendly terms with our Teutonic kinsmen ; and at' that particular moment the Egyptian question left the British Government with only one hand free to take part in the scramble for Central Africa. It was .per- meg»; GERMAN EAST AFRICA 233 haps then the wisest course to welcome the Germans to East Africa with more promptness than we had done in West Africa, and to instruct the British representative to co-operate unreservedly with his German colleague. On 25th May 1885, Lord Granville assured Prince British , Bismarck that the British Government had no intention £232,133;- of offering any obstruction to German projects, but welcomed'Germany’s co-operation in developing the resources of East Africa, and in endeavouring to suppress slavery. At the same time he informed the German Chancellor that a number of English capitalists intended to undertake an important enterprise in the region between the East Coast and the Nile Lakes, which they proposed to unite by means of a railway ; but the project would only receive the support of Her Majesty’s Government if the latter were assured that it would in no way interfere with German designs. In these somewhat humble terms was the initiation of initigtionof' he ritish the Imperial British East Africa Company announced ggfipfigf’a * to Germany, and it is worthy of note that a railway to the Lake was one of the first projects thought of. _ May we give Lord Granville credit for unusual diplo- ya matic acumen, and surmise that his real motive was to \1 divert Bismarck’s attention from a region far more valuable than that which Dr. Peters had snatched, as it were, from under the paw of the British lion P ‘w x: The Sultan however was not inclined to resicm The Sultan ’ ’ b protests. himself to the situation so readily as the British ;Government. He sent his troops into Usagara to r raise his flag over a region which he considered his w own, and where the Germans had stolen a march upon Witu. 234 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA him, and despatched his commander-in-chief, General Mathews (an English naval lieutenant), to Mount Kilimanjaro to obtain from the chiefs their adhesion to his sovereignty, thus anticipating the Germans in this region. Various agents of the German East Africa Society (to which the Colonisation Society made over its rights) were prowling about the interior making additional treaties. They had long tried to reach Mount Kilimanjaro to promote German interests, in spite of the Sultan’s mission, and notwithstanding the fact that in 1884' Mr. H. H. Johnston obtained a concession of territory there from the chief Mandara. The Sultan continued obstinate, and would not listen to the proposal for a commercial treaty made by the German Government. The good offices of Sir John Kirk were of no avail, and it was only when a formid— able German squadron appeared before his palace on the 7th August 1885, and an ultimatum was presented by the commander, that (on 14th August) the Sultan intimated his recognition of certain of the German claims. Thus the crisis was safely passed. Various difficulties and protests occurred before everything was settled, but the development of German suzerainty in East Africa promised now to be steady and sure. Meantime German annexation was proceeding apace on the coast to the north of Zanzibar—~—the region of which Kersten in 1867 had strongly urged the annexa- tion by Prussia. According to German statements there was a question as to Richard Brenner (another com- panion of Von der Decken) having concluded a treaty on behalf of Prussia with the Sultan of Witu, a small GERMAN EAST AFRICA 235 district north of the mouth of the Tana river. The Sultan Simbu had been compelled some years previously to leave Patta Island and take refuge on the mainland ; there he had established himself among the Gallas and Somalis, and according to Consul J. G. Haggard, who visited him in August 1884, Witu was the refuge for all the “ malcontents, felons, and bankrupts of the surround- ing country,” who lived by slave—raiding and cattle- stealing, and were a terror to the whole region. Mr. Haggard narrowly escaped being made prisoner because he declined to send the Sultan Simbu guns and ammunition. Simbu found the Germans more complaisant, and they in turn formed a high opinion of the old man, whose little kingdom seemed to them a centre of civilisation. At any rate the brothers Denhardt, on 8th April 1885, obtained a concession from the Sultan of his kingdom (500 square miles) for the Witu Company, and on 27th May it was placed under Imperial protection. Again the Sultan of Zanzibar protested, and even sent troops to the island of Lamu, but again he had to consume his wrath. When, in June 1885, Lord Salisbury succeeded to Earl Granville at the Foreign Office, a satisfactory understanding had been arrived at between the two Governments on the position generally in East Africa, and the Conservative Premier was quite as disposed as the Liberal Foreign Minister to adopt a thoroughly conciliatory attitude towards Germany’s colonial schemes in East Africa. The British representative was co-operating with the German Consul—General in getting the Sultan to agree to a commercial treaty Harmony between England and Germany. [/i A delimita- tion com- mission. 236 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA which would regulate the trade between his dominions and the newly-acquired German territories; if this were accomplished, Germany would join the acknow- ledgment, made in 1862 by England and France, of the Sultan’s independence. But first, however, it would be necessary to decide what precisely were the Sultan’s dominions, and it was finally agreed to appoint a Joint Commission, with representatives of England, France, Germany, and Zanzibar, to carry out on the spot the work of delimitation. The Commis- sioners for the purpose were appointed by the first three countries before the end of October. So far as British interests are concerned, the most important part of the work of this International Commission would be the delimitation of the region in the neighbourhood of Mount Kilimanjaro. In September 1884, Mr. H. H. Johnston had obtained concessions of territory in the district of Taveta. This Mr. Johnston made over to the President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and it was on the basis of this apparently that an association of British merchants were projecting a company for obtaining territory between the coast and the Victoria Nyanza, through which they purposed to construct a railway. This appears, as has been pointed out, to have been the initial stage of what has since developed into the Imperial British East Africa Company. A communication on the subject was sent to Berlin by Lord Salisbury in November 1885, and it was pointed out that the concession was several months earlier than the treaties made with General Mathews for GERJIAN EAST AFRICA 237 the Sultan or subsequently with Dr. J'uhlke and his col- leagues in favour of the German Company. However, it was agreed to allow all claims to lie in abeyance until the Commission was on the spot and was in a position to decide between the parties ; it being under- stood that neither side should seek to steal a march upon the other. But the German agents were im— patient, and were pushing their way into the Kiliman— jaro region. This produced a protest from the Earl of Rosebery, who had charge of foreign affairs during a few months in 1886. This protest is noteworthy for a tone of firmness and determination to support British interests, which was somewhat wanting in the correspondence‘of the previous eighteen months. The Commission, however, did not go very speedily to work, though by the middle of 1886 they had col— lected much information which was of service in enabling the German and British Governments to come to an understanding. And meanwhile a com— mercial treaty was arranged (August 1886) between . Zanzibar, Germany, England, France, and other Powers, ;' by which definite tariffs were substituted for the some— ,- what arbitrary levies that previously existed, and an s *agreement come to that as regards at least Great ' Britain and Germany all products of the interior should pay to the Sultan the fixed tariff duty on reaching his : coast. \—L— At last (29th October and [st November 1886) the British and German Governments came to a definite ' agreement as to the territory which would be recog- ' nised as under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzi— thent of territory allotted to the Sultan. 238 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA bar, and to this agreement the Sultan gave his assent' on 4th December. He could not choose but assent, his only caveat being that since the two Powers were taking this part of his kingdom from him and giving it to Germany, “ they would protect our kingdom from being divided among them by other nations.” The Earl of Iddesleigh, who had succeeded Lord Rosebery at the Foreign Office in August, carried out the negotiations with a delicate tact and firmness that kept Prince Bismarck in the best of tempers and yet retained for England a substantial share of East Central Africa. From the centre of Tungi Bay on the south of Cape Delgado to Kipini at the mouth of the Tana river, a strip of the mainland, ten nautical miles in width, was recognised by Great Britain, Germany, and France as the Sultan’s domain ; as were also the islands of Zan- zibar and Pemba, the smaller islands within a radius often miles, and the islands of Lamu and Mafia. To the north of Kipini the towns of Kismayu, Brava, Meurka, and Magdoshu, with a radius of ten nautical miles round each, and Warsheikh (2° 40’ N. lat.) with a radius of five nautical miles, were left to the Sultan. The intervening strips of coast were re- garded as independent, an arrangement which threat- ened to be disastrous to British enterprise. The Sultan gave up all claims to Kilimanjaro. Although Mr. Johnston’s Kilimanjaro treaties had not been of much avail, the aspirations of the embryo British East Africa Company were to some extent satisfied Spheres 0f by the definition of a boundary to the north of which influence. Germany would not interfere with their “sphere of GERflIAN EAST AFRICA 239 influence.” This was a phrase which like “ Hinterland ” came into vogue at the time of the Berlin Conference, and designated an arrangement of great convenience in the unprecedented conditions under which a whole continent was being parcelled out. It was obvious that the enormous areas which were being allotted to the various Powers could not be occupied and developed all at once; but it was reasonable and for the benefit of all concerned that each Power should be left un- trammelled within certain limits agreed upon, and that her communications in the rear should not be cut off. Unfortunately, in some cases, as will be seen, the rdelimitations left a loop—hole for serious misunder- zstandings; nor was it clear that an arrangement I between two Powers was binding on other Powers not [ parties to it. / In the case of East Africa it was agreed that the 3313331” ‘northern limit of German influence and the southern Sphere‘ .limit of British influence should be defined by a line from the mouth of the river Umba or Wanga ;to the east and round the north side of Lake Jipe, :on to midway between the territories of Taveta sand Chagga, round the northern base of Mount 'Kilimanjaro, and thence directly north-west to the 'eastern shore of the Victoria Nyanza, at 1° S. lat. lThus practically the whole of the magnificent Kiliman- s‘jaro region, with its fertile slopes and foot—hills, was made over to Germany, a stretch of generosity on the part of [the chivalrous Lord Iddesleigh whichéwas scarcely called 'for. Still further restrictions were, moreover, placed on British enterprise, restrictions which very shortly The Sul- tan’s position. 240 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA gave rise to much bitterness and threatened to shut out the British Company from the interior altogether. Although Germany undertook not to make any ac- quisitions north of the line just described, yet the British sphere was assigned a northern limit starting from the mouth of the Tana river, following the course of that river or its affluents to the point of inter- section of the Equator and 38° of East Longitude, and thence direct to the point of intersection of 1° of North Latitude with 37° of East Longitude “where the line terminates.” With Witu as a base of operations, this left Germany free to do to the British sphere what she herself protested against England doing in the Cameroons and in South-west Africa. Happily the course of events induced Germany ere long to leave England free to develop northwards. Another important arrangement, the thin end of the wedge, indeed, for further deVelopments on the part of Germany, permitted Zanzibar to lease to the German African Company the customs duties at the ports of Dar-es—Salaam and Pangani, in return for an annual payment to the Sultan by the Company, calculated on a percentage of returns collected, on a sliding scale. The strip of coast thus left to the Sultan measured some 600 miles, though when Germany first ap- peared on the field he claimed about 300 miles more. His “independence” was recognised by Germany in accordance with the declaration of 1862 signed by France and England ; poor Burghash, had he been free to speak his mind, might have said this provision was GERA/AN. EAST AFRICA. 241 adding insult to injury. The whole transaction milst have been humiliating both to him and to Sir John Kirk; until now they had been virtual potentates over half a million square miles of East Africa. It is not to be wondered at that Sir John did not care to’retain longer a post which must have become humiliating. After serving his country’s interests for years with zeal and success, so much so that Zanzibar had in reality become an appendage of England, it was, no doubt, grievous for him to see his life-work appa— rently fall into the lap of a foreign Power. Happily things have not turned out quite so badly as they seemed at first likely to do. It cannot be said that the revenues of the Sultan were diminished under the new arrangements. The German East Africa Company set itself with energy, intelligence, and determination to develop its extensive territories. A committee of five members, appointed for fifteen years, undertook the ' administration. By an agreement between Germany and PortUgal in Boundary between December 1886, the southern boundary of the German German and Portu- ‘ sphere was marked by the course of the river Rovum‘a afieltem‘ to the confluence of the river M’sinje, and thence west ‘to the shore of Lake Nyassa. West of Lake Nyassa ‘ no definite line was at the time laid donn, but Germany recognised the right of Portugal to exercise “ the right of sovereignty and- civilisation in the _ territories which separate the Portuguese possessions of Angola and Mozambique, without prejudice to, the ‘ rights which other Powers may have acquired there up till now.” It was easy for'Germany to do this, as the R 242 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA central zambesi region was far beyond her ambitions. It may be regarded as the first explicit claim on the part of Portugal for a Trans-African Empire, a claim based on what were alleged to be purely historical grounds ; for even the partisans of Portugal could not adducc any proof that she had ever exercised effective juris- diction in the extensive area. A similar conces- sion had been made six months before by France in the Franco-Portuguese agreement as to Senegambia and the Congo, but this is a,subject which must be referred to in detail later on. TheTungi The agreement between Germany and Portugal Bayinci- . . . . dent- as to the Rovuma gave rise to an 1nc1dent Wthh might have had more serious consequences but for the remonstrances of England and Germany. The Rovuma debouches into the Indian Ocean some distance to the north of the Minengani River and Tungi Bay, recognised in the Anglo-German arrange- ment as the southern boundary of the Zanzibar dominions. The Sultan, still sore no doubt at the treatment to which the two great Powers compelled him to submit, at once protested that he would not submit to be deprived by a Power like Portugal of, the northern half of Tungi Bay, which had belonged to Zanzibar for generations, where he had a station and custom-house, and which had just been recognised by the three great Powers aS’hlS. Portugal, equally sore too, no doubt, at the way her claims had been ignored by the great Powers, and humiliated by the refusal of France, Germany, and England to permit her to be represented on equal terms in the Joint Commission of (IE/”IAN EAST AFRICA 243 delimitation, informed the Sultan that if he did not retire from Tungi Bay and give up all claim to it, he might expect the consequences to be dreadful. The Portuguese flag was hauled down at Zanzibar, and nothing less than the bombardment of the town was looked for. However, the Portuguese contented them- selves with sending a squadron to Tungi Bay, seizing one of the Sultan’s vessels, and bombarding for several days the villages of Tungi and Minengani, villages which a dozen sailors might have captured in a few minutes. This somewhat barbarous proceeding it is impossible to justify. The little difficulty could easily have been arranged by Germany and England, but this did not apparently suit the mood of the Portuguese at the time. Portugal had to vent her wrath on some Power, and she did it by bravely shelling a couple of unprotected villages claimed by the much-bullied Sultan of Zanzibar. The result of this insignificant affair, in which not a single Portuguese was wounded, was announced in a series of magniloquent despatches as if it had been Portsmouth and not Tungi Bay which had been the scene of operations. As those who suffered most were British Indian subjects settled on the Bay for trade, intense indignation was aroused by this act on the part of Portugal. For damage done to British subjects by the bombardment the British ' Government asked that some compensation might be paid. This was curtly refused, and from this date I British and Portuguese relations on the east coast have 3 been strained. To the attitude which Portugal assumed on '. this occasion may to a considerable extent be attributed Fresh dimculties between En land an Germany. 244 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the uncompromising stand made by England at a later date on the Zambesi. Portugal insisted on retaining possession of Tungi Bay, but her right to it has never been recognised by England and Germany. In the midst of these negotiations a difficulty arose between Germany and England which showed that the Anglo-German arrangement of 1886 had not settled everything. In the beginning of 1887 Mr. H. M. Stanley set out on his expedition for the “relief” of Emin Pasha, supposed to be beleaguered in Wadelai on the Nile, to the north of the Albert Nyanza. Mr. Stanley selected the Congo route, and it was believed would return by the east coast. The German East Africa Company took alarm, mainly because the chief mover in the relief expedition was Mr. (now Sir) William Mackinnon, and the Committee was mainly composed of men who in conjunction with Mr. Mackinnon had about the same time formed themselves into the British East Africa Company, to develop the sphere retained for British influence to the north of the Kilimanjaro line. The German Company became apprehensive that Mr. Stanley might on his return make treaties that would impinge upon the German “Hinterland,” and possibly cut that Company off from Lake Tanganyika. A representation was made (July 1887) to that effect to Lord Salisbury, then in charge of the foreign interests of England. Lord Salisbury assured Prince Bismarck that he would conclude no annexations in the rear of the German sphere, and that as Germany desired she should be allowed a free hand to the south of the Victoria Nyanza. He still left the question of the GERAIAN EAST AFRICA 245 precise boundary between the English and German spheres on the west of Victoria N yanza unsettled, and as will be seen this gave occasion for difficulties in the future. Again, to the north of W'itu, German adventurers made treaties with all the “Sultans” up to near Cape Guardafui, including the strips of coast between the Sultan of Zanzibar’s stations; however, these concessions were never actually taken up, and in the end, as will be seen, Germany retired altogether from the north of the Tana river. The German East Africa Company, of which Dr. Develop- Peters was still the head and moving spirit, lost no 3:51:33?“ time in endeavouring to reap the fruits of its treaties sp em. and of the enormous concessions which the German Government had obtained on its behalf. And here it may be noted that the German Colonisation Society, which Dr. Peters had founded as a sort of rival to the German Colonial Society, united with the latter, in the end of 1887,into one Association under the latter title. Some months before this, March I 887, the German East Africa Company had been incorporated by Imperial Charter, and was now in a position to combine the administration of its domains with territorial supremacy. During 1885 several expeditions were sent out partly to explore in various directions, and with German thoroughness to collect precise information~—not only on topography, but on geology, on climate, on soil, on vegetation, such as would be of essential service to the intelligent development of the country. Branch or subordinate companies were formed, such as the East Africa Plantation Company, and the German I’lanters’ Germany leases the Sultan’s strip. 246 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Company, for the special objects indicated by their names. On the Pangani and Umba rivers, and in other districts near the coast, plantations were established, and by 1888 there were some thirty stations of the kind. Houses were built, the ground cleared, coffee, tobacco, maize, and a variety of other products were cultivated, and a fair beginning of industry and trade initiated. The tobacco was actually exported to Germany, and met with a favourable reception. There was no lack of labour for wages, and when a bargain was made with the natives, the German planters kept the latter stringently to it. At the same time it was admitted by the Germans themselves that slave labour was largely employed by them. Indeed, many German writers, of whom the late Dr. Fischer was one, maintained that compulsion was necessary and justi— fiable in dealing with Africans, such compulsion, for example, as is exercised in the Dutch East India Colonies. But the English missionaries nevertheless felt themselves at liberty to advise the natives to deal confidently with the Germans. The English mission stations were carried on as before, while the missionary societies of Germany, Catholic and Protestant, zealously joined in the work. By this time, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter, the British East Africa Company had begun operations and had leased from the Sultan the strip of coast over which his authority was recognised between the German territory and the Tana. The German Company decided to follow the example, and succeeded in making the Sultan Khalifa, who in March GERMAN EAST AFRICA 247 1888 had succeeded on the death of his brother Burghash, lease to them for fifty years the whole of the coast territory from the Rovuma to the Umba, thus giving them the command of seven ports and three roadsteads. The German Company were to have the agaadmini- tion sole administration of the district and the collection of 93W" ' d. the customs, which under certain conditions were to be hshe paid over to the Sultan. Dr. Peters had by this time ceased to direct the Company’s affairs at Zanzibar, and under the new regime there was a much closer con- nection between the Company’s officials and theGerman Consulate. A school for the study of the Swahili language was at once established at Berlin, and energetic measures taken for the Germanising of the whole of the coast towns. A staff of some sixty officials was sent out to carry on the new administra— tion. The stations established in the interior by Dr. Peters were to be abandoned or given over to the missionaries; to the Company they were a source of great loss and weakness. A military force was to be trained and distributed on the coast region, and additional customs stations were to be established. Herr Vohsen, the new administrator, informed the British Consul-General, Colonel (now Sir) Euan Smith, who had succeeded Sir John Kirk, that the German Company would follow very closely the example of the British Company, and would not move into the interior unless the latter sought to do so. Stringent measures were to be taken to discourage the slave—trade carried on by the Arabs in Central Africa, and for this purpose, steps would be taken to regulate or stop the importation Results of the German administra- tion. A rebellion organised. 248 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of arms. In short, great things were expected to be the result of the new departure. It must be said that the British Consul-General expressed to the Directors of the German Company his fear that, unless great caution were exercised in effecting the transfer from the Sultan’s to the German administration, the consequences might be serious, as the’ powerful Arab traders and chiefs could not but regard the new regime with suspicion, as they imagined that it might seriously interfere with their peculiar trade. Sir Euan Smith’s fears were only too speedily justified. The German officials took over administra- tion on the 16th of August 1888; and on the ZISt the British Consul-General telegraphed to London that disturbances were reported from Bagamoyo and Pangani; induced in the first instance by indiscreet conduct with reference to the Sultan’s flag. Other indiscretions followed on the part of German officials, evidence of inexperience and want of tact in dealing with the natives. By the end of September the whole coast population was up in arms against not only the Germans but the English; by the end of the year they made no distinction between Germans and Eng- lish; white men were “all robbers alike.” Unfortunately the German officials did not care to take any steps to conciliate the natives; their policy, to judge from their conduct, was to treat the latter as a conquered people, whose feelings it would be absurd to consider. A leader among the discontented natives arose in the person of the half —caste chief Bushiri of Pangani, who showed an intelligence, determination, GERMAN EAST AFRICA 249 and resource that could not but compel respect. Ger- many was glad, in her need, to seek the co—operation of England, and a blockade was established all along the German and the British sections of coast by the united fleets in Zanzibar waters. The hatred to the Germans grew more and more intense, and some of the native tribes took an oath that they would eat a portion of the bodies of any Germans that might be killed; though, as a matter of fact, the Arabs were the in- stigators of the whole movement. Of course the Company was quite unable to cope with the “in- surrection” which it had deliberately incited, and the direct interference of the Imperial Government was necessary. In the beginning of 1889 Captain Her— mann von Wissmann, who had twice crossed Africa, and done eminent service for the Congo Free State, was appointed Imperial Commissioner in East Africa. .On the outbreak of the “insurrection” all the German Wissmann plantations which had been established on the Pangani i‘ggifiéid and elsewhere were abandoned, and everything reduced Sumer- to chaos; the hundreds of British Indians, in whose hands was the principal trade on the coast, had also to quit their houses and take refuge in Zanzibar. In a “White Book,” published in January 1889, the conduct of the German Company was severely censured; and on the 30th of the month the Reichstag passed a vote .of two million marks “ for the suppression of the slave— ,trade and the protection of German interests in East Africa.” The officials of the Company were placed under the command of Wissmann, who moreover had at his disposal about a thousand native troops, trained Insurrec- tion sub- clued. Sultan’s rights bought. 'sv I 250 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and armed with the newest weapons. The Com- missioner had at his service sixty German officers and soldiers, and about two hundred sailors from the German navy. Town after town on the coast was destroyed. Bushiri was relentlessly pursued, and his adherents defeated in fight after fight. It was not, however, until December 1889 that Bushiri himself was run to earth and executed according to martial law. This practically put an end to the “ insurrection” in the northern part of the German sphere, and the Sultan was constrained to proclaim that all slaves who had entered his territories after Ist November were free. It was not, however, till the middle of 1890 that the southern coast was subdued, and the rebel,chiefs of Ukami and other districts in the interior d eated, and German sovereignty established over tie hole sphere fromlCape Delgado to the river VVami. There was, of course, no longer any question of the administration being left entirely in the hands of the Company, which in May 1889 had been incorporated by Imperial Charter as a purely commercial association. (( After the suppression of the insurrection,” the Sultan’s rights over the coast were bought for a sum of four million marks, which, however, under various pretexts, was considerably reduced. The purchase was made in the name of the German East Africa Society, to which the Government by agreement, November 1890, advanced a loan of ten and a half million marks, partly to pay the Sultan, and partly to expend in the improvement and development of the territory. The administration is now entirely in the hands of an GER/MAIN" EAST AFRICA 25! Imperial Civil Commissioner appointed by the German Government, his headquarters being at Dar-es-Salaam. Under him are sub—commissioners who have charge of the various provinces into which the Imperial protect- orate is divided. The total area thus taken over is estimated at 350,000 square miles, though the popula- tion is probably not over two millions. Large grants are annually made by the Imperial Government, not only for administration, but for the construction of railways into the interior and steamers for Victoria N yanza, though these are schemes which are at present only in prospect. In the meantime, with remarkable rapidity, all the leading coast towns have been occupied and fortified. Each has its little garrison of Sudanese or East Africans, under European officers, and every precaution is taken to render their immediate environ- ment as sanitary as possible. The chief stations in the northern district are at Tanga, Pangani, Saadani, Bagamoyo, and Dar—es—Salaam, besides which there are four subsidiary stations. In the southern district there are only three stations,—-Kilwa, Lindi, and Mikin— dani. In the interior there are stations at Mpwapwa in Usagara, on Mount Kilimanjaro, and on the south and west coasts of Victoria N yanza. The garrisons of the various stations do not spend their time in idleness. Road—making, house—building, and other useful work is being continually carried on. Large herds of cattle and other domestic animals are being accumulated, gardens and plantations are cultivated, buoys laid down, lighthouses erected, and these old, old towns on the East African coast will no doubt in time reach a con- The Im~ perial ad- ministra- tion. German military methods. Confidence restored. 252 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA dition of prosperity quite equal if not superior to that which the Portuguese found to exist when, four hundred years ago, they began their work of destruction. The example of the Germans and the people in their service has hitherto had fairly satisfactory results. Their uncompromising military methods may or may not in the long run be those best adapted for dealing with the natives of Central Africa. The utter want of tact exhibited by the officials of the Company was no doubt deplorable. But once the mistake was made it is difficult to see that any other course than that followed by the German Government could have been adopted to cope with the unfortunate consequences ; unless, indeed, the coast had been abandoned indefinitely. It should be remembered that it was the Arabs and slave- dealing half-castes that were the real instigators of the “insurrection,” and if Germany resolved once for all to read these personages a sharp lesson, it is difficult to see how the policy can be blamed, except on the unten- able "round that Europe has no right in Africa at all. Oncr the strife was over, Arabs and Indians gathered round the old towns which had now become the centres of German power, and built solid houses and settled down to trade and to plant With more confidence than ever. In this way the coast population is Steadily increasing, so that Bagamdyo, which was destroyed during the war, has now some 30,000 inhabitants; Dar—es-Salaam 15,000, and other towns in proportion. Even the streets are lit at night, and covered market- places have been erected. Certainly the rapidity with which the Germans have established themselves in the GERAJAN EAST AFRICA 253 country, and the wonderful progress already achieved, have made a deep impression upon the natives——Afri— cans, Arabs, and Indians alike—who contrast what the Germans have done in five years with the little accom- plished by the English during the fifty years they were supreme at Zanzibar, forgetting that the position of the latter in the Sultan’s dominions was very different from that of the former. Germany has not, however, contented herself with squatting on the coast. Expeditions have been sent out in various directions, partly for the purpose of pro— specting, partly to found stations, and partly to estab— lish German supremacy in the interior. Emin Pasha, who, when brought to the coast by his “rescuer” Stanley, entered the service of Germany, was the leader of one of these expeditions. He made his way to the Victoria Nyanza, on the west coast of which he estab- lished a station. But the temptation to cross over and see what was doing on the Albert Nyanza was too strong for him ; he made for the south end of the lake, where five hundred of his former companions were living in comfort; but he had to depart without them, and disappeared towards the west. Another ex— pedition on its way into the interior encountered a horde of raiding Wahehes, whose country lies in the south of the German sphere, and in the fight which ensued the Germans met with serious losses. Incidents like these are to be expected if Germany } continues to pursue her military method of occupation. It is premature to pronounce the method a failure. Hitherto it has been successful in so far as the estab— Expedition to the in- terior. 354 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA lishment of German authority in the coast regions is concerned. The conditions of the interior are of course entirely different, and no doubt the German Govern- ment will take care that its methods of occupation are adapted to these conditions. The great objects should be to induce the scanty population of the interior to settle down peacefully to the development of whatever resources the country possesses ; to secure the safety of trading caravans ; and in accordance with the provisions of the Brussels Congress (1890-91) to suppress slave- raiding, and the traffic in arms and spirits. In the carry- ing out of these objects mistakes may be made, a too rigid application of German military methods may defeat the purpose in view; but if these are adapted to the peculiar conditions of tropical Africa and the lessons of experience laid to heart, there seems no reason why German commerce should not be a great gainer, and German East Africa even pay its own way. Up to the present it has simply been a drain on the resources of the mother country. The Imperial Government, by direct contributions, by advancing loans to the Company, by subvention to German steam companies, by arrange- ments with other Powers, has done everything it could to promote the interests of German East Africa. At Tanga, on the Pangani, and one or two other favourable positions, plantation work has again been resumed with considerable success, while experimental stations are being established for the benefit both of whites and natives. I One good result of the disturbances in German East Africa was a satisfactory arrangement between Germany e.) GERMAN EAST AFRICA 255 and Great Britain as to their respective spheres in that figfinsgge- part of the continent. While by the arrangement of tween G01” manyand 1886 a boundary had been drawn between the coast England' and Victoria Nyanza, the region to the west of the lake was regarded by adventurous Germans as open to all comers in spite of the proviso that Germany would not seek to make acquisitions on the south of the lake. As will be seen when we come to deal with British East Africa, determined attempts had been made by Dr. Peters and his friends to get ' behind the British sphere and secure all the lake regions for Germany. Had matters proceeded smoothly and peacefully in East Africa, there is reason to believe that the German Government might have lent itself to the support of Dr. Peters’s schemes. But the co—0peration of England in the suppression of the “ insurrection ” was so necessary . and was so freely given, that it was felt in Berlin that * Germany’s policy was to come to a friendly under- . standing with her neighbour in East Africa as to the E limits of their respective spheres, and to discourage any further trickeries on the part of Dr. Peters and his friends. England fortunately had an islet, Heligoland, / on the German coast, which could never really be of :much use to her unless she incurred an enormous :, expenditure for fortifications and harbours; this islet , was naturally coveted by Germany, to which it 'be— longed geographically and ethnologically. By yield— v: ing to German sentiment in this matter probably England secured better terms in Africa than she would r otherwise have done. By the agreement of Ist July 1890, the northern boundary of German East 256 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Africa was drawn from the mouth of the Umba to Victoria Nyanza in I° S. lat., sweeping the snowy Kilimanjaro into the German sphere, but leaving Taveta to England. The line was then drawn straight across the lake and westward until it reached the boundary of the Congo Free State, only deflecting southwards so far as to include the lofty Mt. Mfumbiro within the British sphere ; although recent exploration seems to show that it is really within the Congo Free State. Witu at the mouth of the Tana, with all the stretch of coast-line to the north, which it was maintained had been acquired by German subjects, was given to England. This freed the British Company from a constant cause of menace and trouble, and did away with a fruitful source of misunderstanding between the two powers. On the south, England was not quite so fortunate. The German boundary line was drawn along the river Rovuma to Lake Nyassa. On the west side of the lake, however, while the line between the German and the British spheres was drawn so as to include the Stevenson road which runs from Lake Nyassa to Lake Tanganyika within the British sphere, the rich country to the north-west of the former lake on which British missionaries had been at work for years, was placed in the German sphere. But with such enormous areas at the disposal of each Power, a little lake paradise of this description cannot make much ‘ difference either way. The western limit of Germany was of course the" eastern boundary of the Congo Free State. This—followed as it shortly was by the proclamation of a British protectorate over the islands of Zanzibar _. _ t..- GERMAN EAST AFRICA 257 and Pemba, all that was left of the Sultan’s domains—put an end to any risk of serious mis- understanding between Germany and England as to their respective spheres in East Africa. It left the enterprising mercantile companies of the two nations to the development by fair competition of the resources of their respective spheres, in which there is room enough for rivalry. Germany, it must be said, is somewhat handicapped by her neighbours. Several old trade- routes pass through her sphere ; but with the facilities for transit which exist by means of Lakes Tan- ganyika and Nyassa, the Shiré and the Zambesi, much of the trade of the centre of the continent may be diverted into the British sphere. The construc- tion of a railway from the coast to the interior would give Germany an immense advantage, especially with ; a steamer on Victoria Nyanza; but the realisation of . such a benevolent scheme seems to be as far off as ;ever. From the Ist of April 1891, a civil governor has been placed at the head of the administration of iGerman East Africa, and to him the military power . will be subordinate. It is certainly a step in the right ? direction. CHAPTER XVI THE STRUGGLE FOR TIIF. NIGER Activity on the \Vest CoaSt—Native states in Senegal and Upper Niger ' basins—French campaigns Ahmadu and Samory—The Futa Jallon —\Vithin the bend of the Niger—Expeditions to Lake Chad—British activity on the Lower Niger——Pioneers—Obstacles to trade—A Com- pany formed—The French on the Lower Niger—The French bought out—German attempts on the Niger—The Company triumphs—Be- comes the Royal Niger Company—Progress made—The Company’s , powers—Freedom of navigation on the Niger—Utility of chartered companies—The Oil Rivers—The \Vest African colonies Lake Chad and the Central Sudan French expedition to Lake Chad— International arrangements concerning \Vest Africa—Liberia Posi- tion of England and France in West Africa—French and British spheres in the Niger region~On the west of the Middle Niger—In the Chad region—Importance of the Chad States—Their division between France and England—The French Sahara A Trans-Saharan . railway——French railway dreams—Colonisation projects—French , administration in \Vest Africa—Spanish claims—Position of the 1 three Powers. Activityon IT has already been seen that during the seventeentlu the West. Coast. and eighteenth centuries, European, and it may be- said American, activity was mainly confined to the: West Coast, between Cape Blanco and St. Paul de; Loanda; that this activity was centred in the slave-trade;, that on the abolition of the latter the British Westl Coast colonies were neglected and despised, and all advance to the interior discouraged ; while the French, on the other hand, never lost sight of the Niger and: Timbuktu as their goal. British traders had been] THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 259 settled on the Oil Rivers since the old slave—trade days, and British enterprise forty years ago attempted, amid much disaster, to Open up the Lower Niger from the Gulf of Guinea. It was also through British money and British initiative, making use of German skill and perseverance, that the northern and eastern regions of the Niger basin were explored by Dr. Barth in 1850- 53. About the middle of the century, as we have seen, fresh impulse was given to French enterprise from the Senegal coast towards the Upper Niger. Expeditions pushed on towards the interior, subduing fresh tribes, and making treaties of protection with them one after another. Up to 1880, however, French influence in the interior may be said to have been assured at only a‘few isolated posts, extending from St. Louis on the . coast to Bake] and Medina. After the death of the great Moslem missionary conqueror Othman, a sheik of the remarkable peoples known as Fulahs, in 1817, the extensive “empire” which he hfitablished, extending from near Lake Chad on the east to the borders of the Atlantic on the west, was broken up into a number of independent but still powerful states. Sokoto and Gando fell to his two sons, while the countries to the west of the Niger became still further broken up. \Vhen, therefore, France resumed with determined vigour her task of obtaining -: supremacy from the Atlantic to the Niger, she had to overcome one after another the resistance of a series of detached and independent native states, extending from the north of the Senegal to the source of the ' Niger, most of them either completely Moslem, or at Native states in the Senegal and Upper Niger basins. 26o TIIE PARTITION OF AFRICA ‘least with fanatic Moslems as their rulers. The Fulahs were and are the paramount people in the hilly country of the Futa Jallon, on the left bank of the Senegal, and the country of Massina, though as a matter of fact they are found all over the Niger basin. They in their purest state are not negro, but are migrants from the east. The bulk of the natives, however, are Mandingoes (negroes), who under various names, as Bambarras, Mahinkis, Senufs, etc., are spread all over the region, merging to the north into the races which people the Sahara. One of the most formid- able of the native chiefs whom the French had to encounter was Ahmadu, son of El-Haj-Omar, who in the fifties and sixties extended his fana- tical sway over most of the country from Dingueray, on the east of Futa Jallon, to Kaarta, on the north of the Upper Senegal. After his death his “empire” was broken up, and Ahmadu or Samadu reigned over that portion whiCh lay between the middle of ‘ the Upper Niger, with Sego as the centre, and the Upper Senegal, including Kaarta. Still more formid— able was the powerful Samory, who had risen from a humble origin to be lord of all the region on the Upper Niger. The Futa Jallon country still protested against French domination, and coquetted with England. East ' of the Niger were states of more or less importance, , like \Vasulu, Kong, Tieba’s dominions, Massina (on the Middle Niger), Mossi, and others, some of them Mohammedan, some of them Pagan. Most of them possessed armies more or less organised, and more or us less animated by Moslem fanaticism, and a determina- - THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 261 tion to prevent France from securing a permanent ‘ footing on the Niger. As for Timbuktu, it was, as it had been for many years, practically independent, an entrepfiz for trade between the Sudan and the Medi- terranean, but far from holding the important place which is ascribed to it in the early days of Mohammedan domination in the Sudan. In 1880 a great series of military campaigns by French} the French, combined with political and scientific campmgns ‘missions, pursued conquest on a much larger scale than before. Captain Gallieni, for the purpose of laying down an interior railway route, traversed the country between Medina and the Upper Niger. He pushed his way as far as Bammako on the great river. It was only, however, after long negotia- rtions and the taking of Kita, on one of the upper r :branches of the Senegal, by Colonel Desbordes, that lGallieni succeeded in signing at Nango, with King lAhmadu, a treaty (21st March 1881) which, it was '2 maintained, gave to France the protectorate of the left :bank of the Upper Niger. In 1882—83 the post of iBammako was definitely founded and fortified. Not- 2 withstanding the attacks of the powerful Samory, king 1: of all the country around the Niger sources, the French 1 maintained their position, and in the two following aryears forts were constructed at Kundu and Niagasola, {lying half-way north and south between Kita and Bam— rimako. In 1885—86 Colonel Frey renewed hostilities Ahmadu v with Samory, with whom a treaty of peace was signed andsamory min 1886, and at the same time Colonel Frey had to usuppress a fanatical Mussulman insurrection. He was 262 THE PARTITION OI" AFRICA succeeded by Gallieni (now Colonel), who (1887) in- * duced King Ahmadu to sign a treaty which placed the territories of that chief under French protection. It was under Gallieni that the railway from Kayes to Bafoulabé on the Upper Senegal was completed ___a railway intended to join that river with the Upper Niger, but which receives a yearly subsidy to prevent its being buried beneath the sands of the Sudan. This railway the French Government now wish to be taken over and completed by private capitalists under a charter. Under Gallieni also a treaty (1887) was concluded with Samory modifying that of 1886 and making over to French protection the left bank of the Tankisso (a western tributary of the Upper. Niger) from its source, and the left bank of the Upper Niger itself from the junction of the Tankisso down to Bammako (130 miles). Also under the same commander, Lieutenant Caron, on board the gun- boat Niger, navigated the river for some miles below Bammako to Kabara, the port of Timbuktu, but was compelled, owing to the hostility of the population, to return without accomplishing anything. Timbuktu, which better knowledge has reduced from an immense city of 200,000 inhabitants to a comparatively insigni- ficant town of 10,000, still seems to dazzle the French imagination as the centre of the Moslem civilisation and the riches of the Sudan. In 1888 a great step was made by the construction of a fort at Siguiri, at the junction of the Tankisso and the Niger, and connecting it by telegraph with St. Louis, the capital of Senegal on the coast. 13 the THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 263 same year exploring expeditions were sent out in all directions by Gallieni—to the country between Bakel and the Gambia, the region along the Central Faleme (tributary of the Senegal), the northern Futa jallon, and the Casamansa, and the country between the Senegal and the Upper Niger. A mass of information was thus collected of the greatest use in carrying out ’further annexations Colonel Gallieni was specially anxious to obtain a firm footing in the Futa Jallon, agheoruta. country centring round a mountain mass forming the Hinterland to the French province of Rivieres du Sud, and lying to the north-east of Sierra Leone ; a country which, years ago, the British Government was urged to ,take under its protection. It formed for France the connecting link between her posts on the Upper Niger and her establishments on the Atlantic coast; this mountainous region, from the commercial, the military, and the sanitary point of view, being justly regarded as a desirable possession. A treaty was made in 188 I with Dr. Bayol by the . Almamy of Futa Jallon, though the tribe did not take { kindly to French protection, and even made overtures itO England; but the success of Gallieni decided the . Almamy to take the prudent course of submission. In 1 1887 the Almamy, Ibrahim Sory, signed a treaty placing ' all his country under the exclusive protection of France. 7011 the other side of the Upper Niger the work of : treaty-making, as well as of exploration, was carried out in 1888-90 by Captain Binger, who traversed much of the region within the great bend of the Niger, starting Within the , bendofthe :flom Bammako and zigzagging until he reached the Niger. 264 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Guinea Coast. Captain Binger, it has been notified by the, French Government, has made treaties by which the countries of Tieba, Kong, Jimini, Anno, and Bondoko, are placed under French protection. These, with other treaties made about the same time, unite the colony of Grand Bassam on the Guinea Coast with the French possessions on the Upper Niger. In 1891 France declared her annexation of the strip of coast between’Liberia and Grand Bassam. The Hinterland of this touches the country of Samory, so that there is a solid block of French territory all the way from the coast of Senegal to the Gulf of Guinea, shutting out from the interior the colonies of England and Portugal and the state of Liberia. The eastern boundary of Binger’s acquisitions is the Black Volta, which, joining the Red and the White Volta farther east, forms part of the boundary between Ashanti and the Gold Coast colony on the one hand, and German Togoland on the other. Captain Binger is, moreover, said to have entered into relations with Salaga and Mossi, the for- mer on the north of Togoland and the latter about two—thirds of the distance between the Guinea Coast and Timbuktu. Germany will certainly not consent to the establishment of French influence at Salaga, by which she would be shut out from the interior, and it remains to be seen whether England will consent to have her Gold Coast colony treated after a similar fashion. By the Anglo-French agreement of August 1889 France has no right to come south of the 9th degree of north latitude in the rear of the Gold Coast colony. Mossi she may have, and Massina, Yalinga, THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 265 and Aribinda, which leaves her the whole of the Upper Niger and the great bend that sweeps round by Timbuktu. _ The French hold in the Upper Niger was still further tightened by the campaigns of 1890-91, under Colonel Archinard, who captured Sego, on the right bank of the river below Bammako, and N ioro, the capital of Kaarta, 250 miles north—west of Sego, so partially destroying the power of Ahmadu, who, notwithstanding former treaties, was unwilling to resign his independence. He was the great obstruction in the way to Timbuktu and Lake Chad on the one side, and to Futa Jallon on the other. Colonel Archinard, however, sent the trouble— some Samory flying towards the south, though he has not as yet been reconciled to French “ protection.” Other expeditions, partly exploratory, partly mili— £3310 tary and political, are traversing the country between LakeChad- the coast and the Upper Niger, one of them being for the survey of a railway route between the Upper Niger and the coast; as the railway intended to con— nect the Senegal and the Niger is practically useless. Other expeditions are following in the footsteps of Binger; one, under Captain Monteil, having for its object to push on to Say on the Middle Niger, and thence to Lake Chad, has succeeded in accomplishing its object and crossed the desert to Tupoli. Others will be referred to later on. The evident object of them all has been to sweep into the French sphere the whole of the Niger and Chad regions. ' a ’ ' ' Britishac- This French dream of a t,reat empire 1n Africa, “my on the Lower stretching without interruption from the Mediterranean Niger. 266 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to the Congo, might have been realised had it not been for a few British merchants inspired and led by one clear- sighted, determined, public-spirited man, Mr. Goldie Taubman, now Sir George Taubman Goldie, an ex- officer of the Royal Engineers, who had first visited the Niger in 1877. The old relations of England with the Oil Rivers, an intricate network of streams partly forming the Niger delta and partly independent creeks, have already been referred to. It has also been shown that after the discovery of the course of the Lower Niger in 1829, the British Government, as well 'as private individuals (1840-60) endeavoured to develop the navigation and trade of the river, but that these attempts only ended in disaster and failure. Traders mostly belonging to Liverpool and Glasgow still continued their factories on the Oil Rivers, on some of which British missions have been settled for half a century. These traders had no direct connection with the interior, their business being conducted on the coast-line through native middlemen who barred the way inland. After the abolition of the slave—trade it took some time to induce the natives to settle down to legitimate traffic. Gradually the trade in palm oil and latterly palm kernels developed, and as the articles given in exchangewthe vilest of spirits, guns and powder, cotton and other goods—were of the cheapest character, great profits were made. Still the Great River, the finest navigable highway into the interior of Africa, which comes out to the Atlantic at Akassa, in the centre of the Oil Rivers, remained neglected as a commercial route, the native chiefs them- THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 267 selves putting every obstacle in the way of its utilisa- tion. After the British Government ceased to send out or subsidise expeditions, about a quarter of a century ago, several enterprising firms in succession established permanent trading stations on the Niger at their own cost and risk. Macgregor Laird was the pioneer in this new enterprise. As far back as 1852 pioneers he entered the region determined to secure it for British trade, and though his station was destroyed by the natives and death terminated his work, he had paved the way for others. The most successful of these pioneers was Mr. James Alexander Croft, known as the “Father of the Niger,” whose efforts during fifteen years had much to do in opening up the great river to traders. But no solid basis for wide extension or for the protection of British interests could be expected from the isolated and conflicting efforts of £3333? individual traders and firms with very limited capital, in a region where all was chaos, arising from gener—aT tions of intertribal wars and continuous slave-raids. On the Lower Niger the natives are all pagans and barbarians, though the river is the key to the semi— .civilised and populous states of the Central Sudan. Vl'hile the visits of the one or two white agents to these barbarians had some good influence, the constant :' rivalry between the various firms and the intrigues and J counter-intrigues among their coloured agents made all i progress impossible. Even at the three or four points where alone Europeans ventured to establish stations, frequent out- rages occurred on the part of turbulent and indolent A Company formed. 268 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA natives, who overawed their more industrious and. peaceful townsmen; while directly any tribe with commercial instincts acquired a modicum of wealth this became the motive for attack by more warlike neigh- bours, so that the only result of their prudence and industry was the loss of such property as they had acquired. They were fortunate too if they were not carried off as slaves into the bargain. At rare intervals a British gunboat would ascend the main river a short distance during the high Niger and bombard the stick or clay houses on the banks and then hurry back to the sea with half the crew down with fever, when the natives, who had retired to a safe distance from the river, would return, rebuild their houses, and recom— mence their_ previous conduct, knowing that their houses were safe for another twelve months. In 1879, however, all the British interests on the Niger River were amalgamated into the United African Company. There were at that time no other Europeans 0n the river. From that time, under the influence of Sir George Goldie, it was resolved to try to keep the peace among the hundreds of heterogeneous tribes by welding them into a homogeneous State, and to obtain a charter for the administration of the district. On applying to the Government in 1881, the first difficulty raised was that the capital of the Company was too small. To meet this, the capital was increased from £125,000 to £1,000,000 sterling; the Company was thrown open to the public, and the name changed to the National African Company. Even then, 1882, the prospectus of the Company announced as their aim THE STRUGGLE FOR THE ZVIGER 269 the establishing of direct relations with the great and powerful kingdoms of Sokoto and Gando and the states of the Chad basin. The Company at once .took an immense development. New stations were established, steamers and launches were sent out, operations were pushed further and further up both the Niger and its great tributary the Bcnue, and preparations made for the expected charter. Meanwhile, under the inspiration of Gambetta, ,ThetFrench French trade1s began to creep into the Lower Niger, £9?!” and two French companies we1e fo1med, their patent intention being to secule the Lowe1 and Middle Niger and the Benué for France, whose military agents by different tactics were rapidly making their way to absorb the upper river. One of these companies had a capital of £160,000 and the other of £600,000. Station after station was established, until there were something like thirty of these planted on the lower river. All this had proved a complete barrier to the issue of a British Charter, as France would have justly and effectually protested against such a course. If this state of things had continued the entire region would have been lost to England, which had done so much for its exploration and its commercial development. Long before this, the dream of a vast African empire extending from the Medi- terranean to the Congo, had been dazzling the eyes of France, and, as has been seen, expeditions had been already pioneering for a railway route from Algeria to Timbuktu. The situation was certainly critical and trying, but the ever-watchful Sir George Goldie was The French bought out. German attempts on the Niger. ~70 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA a equal to the emergency. The British Company greatly increased their staff, multiplied their stations, and lavished their goods in presents, in order to prevent the native tribes making treaties with the French; moreover, by intense competition they greatly enhanced the cost of the native products which formed the com- modities of trade. In this way, after a costly struggle, the losses of the French companies became so serious that, after the fall of Gambetta, both of them were induced to retire from the Niger, being partly bought out in cash or shares by the British Company, who have still French shareholders on their list with holdings amounting to £60,000. The final deeds of transfer were only signed a few days before the meeting of the Berlin Conference, when the British Plenipotentiary was able to announce that no nation but England had any interests on the Lower Niger. No sooner had this danger been got rid of than another, quite as serious, threatened the Company, though by this time treaties had been made which secured to it the Lower Niger as far as the junction with the Benue’, and the southern bank of the latter river up to Ibi. The events at the Cameroons associ- ated with the name of Dr. Nachtigal will be remem- bered, and how it was only under the incitement of panic that we kept our hold on the Oil Rivers, which were declared a British protectorate in July 1884. But the Central Sudan regions were still unsecured by any treaty or declaration of protection, and Germany was not slow to take advantage of this. The feeling against England at the time was intensely bitter in Germany, 1 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 271 and every possible means was adopted to hamper our operations in Africa. Herr Flegel, as has been seen, had been familiar with the river for years, and had really done much for the exploration of the Middle Niger and the Benué. In April 1885, under the auspices of the German African Society and the German Colonial Society, he left Berlin for the Niger with intentions that were obvious. Happily the National African Company had become aware in time of the German intentions and of the projected scheme. Mr. Joseph Thomson had just returned much shattered in health from his successful expedition into Masai Land, and to him the Company appealed to come to their help and prevent the Sudan provinces of the Niger and Benué from meeting with the fate of the Cameroons. With characteristic unselfishness Mr. Thomson lost not a moment in setting out on his all-important mission, and even before Flegel left Berlin, he, in March 1885, was entering the mouth of the Niger. With a speed that was marvellous, Mr. Thomson made his way up the Niger to Sokoto and Gando, concluded treaties with the Sultans, and secured the allegiance to the Com— pany of their great empires. As Mr. Thomson returned to the coast triumphant, he met Herr Flegel on his way up on a fruitless errand. Flegel died soon after, but his work, so far as exploration was concerned, was carried out in 1885—86 by Dr. Staudinger, who reached Sokoto, but of course found treaty-making impossible; the British Government were consequently enabled to carry through the Anglo—German agreement of 1886. The Company could now show some three hundred The Com- pany triumphs. 272 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Becomes treaties with native chiefs, securing to them the whole 5 theRoyal . . . . . Niger of the r1ver1ne territory up to, and they believed 1n- - Company. cluding, Burrum at the north-east angle of the Niger 1 bend. Immediately on the withdrawal of the French 1 flag the Company had urgently renewed their appeals; for a Royal Charter which would not only leave them l unobstructed in the development of their immense terri- tory, but secure the splendid highway and the region to which it gave access for England; but the issue of " a charter was again delayed until July 1886, chiefly owing to scruples in high quarters, as to the possibility of granting a charter over territories which, owing to . the Berlin Conference, had to be placed under Brz'z‘z's/z profecz‘z'o/z. At last, however, the whole of the navigable part of this great commercial highway, and its almost equally great tributary the Benué, were definitely secured for England, and the National African Company became the Royal Niger Company, with Lord Aberdare as ("rover-nor, and Sir George Taubman Goldie (the real Progress creator of the Company) as Vice—Governor. The Com— made' pany have about forty settlements, that of Ribago on the Benué being only 200 miles from Lake Chad. The capital of the Niger territories is at Asaba. An elaborate system of justice and administration has been established, while there is as little interference as possible with the internal affairs of the native states. There is a military force of about 1000 men, with headquarters at Lokoja, at the junction of the Benué and Niger, an\d of course scattered over the territories a considerable staff of white officials with great numbers of coloured assistants, who are educated natives of the \Vest Coast THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 273 colonies, and to whose hearty co-operation and excellent work the Company have acknowledged that much of their success is due. The development of the country is proceeding apace, though the trade so far is entirely in fibres, gums, ivory, kernels, palm oil, peppers, rubber, and other natural products, the export of which amounts to about £300,000 annually. But, as far as the deadly climate admits, experiments are being made on a con- siderable scale with coffee, cocoa, and other introduced cultures, and means are meanwhile being taken to make the most of the natural forest and other products, without exhausting them. Of course the brief career of the Royal Niger The Com. Company has not been without troubles and difficulties. 33%;. It was absolutely necessary that the Company as administrators of the territory should take measures to prevent their own agents, and others who made use of ‘ the river, from being molested. At the same time it ' was clearly within their rights to look sharply after : their own interests as a commercial company, and to Q ‘— ._.., LA. take full advantage of the treaties by which the countries along the banks of the river had been secured to them. In this they simply followed the example of the other Powers that have secured “ spheres ” in Africa, 2 and commerce is not expected to be either disinterested cor sentimental. It was inevitable, in establishing an ; administration and in laying down rules for the conduct . of trade, that the Company’s officials should be brought into collision with the natives. Possibly some of the ' Company’s officials may have treated the natives more harshly than was necessary, and been too ready to T Freedom of navigation on the Niger. 274 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA undertake “punitive” expeditions. But either the Company or the natives must give way when any question of obeying the laws enacted by the former (with the approval of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State) is to be settled ; and to object to a resort to force on the part of the Company when every other method has failed would be unreasonable. The question whether Europeans have any right to force themselves upon Africa at all is a question of academic interest; but it is too late, from any practical standpoint, to discuss it at the present day. For administrative purposes the Company has im- posed dues and taxes, which are of course levied on the : Company in its trading capacity, so that in this respect“: it is treated on precisely the same footing as outside : traders. It seems to be a prevailing error that the Berlin Act imposed free trade on the Niger region as it did on the basin of the Congo; this is quite erroneous. The waters of the British Niger were freed at the Berlin Con- - ference for transit to regions beyond British influence, , following the principle which, since the Congress of Vienna in I 8 I 5, has been adopted in nearly all the rivers ; in Europe and America which flow through two or more ' States ; but the Company are at liberty to impose what customs regulations they deem necessary as to landing on their own territories. There are numerous ports of entry, and the Company are entitled to insist that : these and these alone should be used by vessels; just as all maritime nations have ports where alone vessels ,, may load or discharge. Both Germany and France have ': endeavoured to break through these regulations, and to THE STRUGGLE FOR THE ZVIGER 275 avoid the dues which have been imposed, and especially the almost prohibitive duties on spirits, but these attempts have invariably proved unsuccessful. The Royal Niger Company is the first English Egiutgrga Company in modern times to which a charter has been companies. granted for territories under British protection. It was, indeed, preceded by some years by the British North Borneo Company, but their territories were not placed under British protection until the grant of charters to the British East Africa and British South Africa Companies some time after the granting of the Niger charter. It has been seen in previous chapters that such instruments were common in past times, from the days of Elizabeth downwards. There can be little question that such a method is well adapted for initiat- ing the development of a tropical country, the in- habitants of which are to a large extent barbarous, the climate of which is not favourable for permanent European settlement, and which is not ripe for the elaborate and expensive machinery of a Crown Colony. It secures the region for the Power which grants the charter at a minimum of outlay, and the rule of the Company may at any time, should the necessity arise, be superseded by a more direct imperial administration. A charter is an admirable compromise, a useful first 2 step to something more advanced. The protection ' which Great Britain affords is limited to securing the r: chartered regions from external aggression on the part of civilised powers, and the maintenance of : internal peace and security lies upon the chartered :companies. While the Government that grants it is The Oil Rivers. 276 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA thus freed from all expenditure, it can impose what- ever conditions it chooses in order to secure satis- factory administration, and can at any time withdraw the charter if these conditions are not adhered to. Of the three great African Companies which have received royal charters, the Royal Niger Company— the first granted—s—is the one which comes least before the public, but up to the present time it has been the most steadily progressive. Without taking the public into its confidence, the Company has quietly advanced from one post to another, and made one treaty after another, until its sphere embraces an area of half a million square miles; it has taken precautions to forestall any attempt on the part of other Powers to ’ come between itself and that portion of the Central Sudan which it believes with some justice ought to be within its sphere. Other Powers with their eyes on Lake Chad have been sending out expeditions from all sides, of which all Europe has heard; the Niger Company meanwhile has been saying nothing, but in time it may be found to have done much. The time will no doubt come, sooner or later, when these Niger territories will be ripe for direct imperial administra— tion; but this is a step Government is not likely to take so long as the Company does not abuse its powers. At first sight it seems anomalous and to be regretted that the region known as the Oil Rivers, extending from the boundary of the colony of Lagos to the Forcados River, and from the Brass River to the Rio Del Rey, which may be in part regarded as the delta of the Niger, should be quite detached from the juris- “yr jwv THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 27.7 diction to which the river itself is subjected, and be under a different regime. But there are reasons for it. As has been seen, British traders have been settled here for many years, long before the great river was itself known in its lower course. It would have been unjust to have compelled these traders to amalgamate with the Company, and as they preferred to remain separate the Oil Rivers have been made a separate protectorate. As we have seen, they narrowly escaped annexation by Germany; for there can be little doubt that had Mr. Consul Hewett not forestalled Dr. Nachtigal, the latter would have had no hesitation in dealing with them as he did with the Cameroons, and had he done so he would have secured the greater part of the seaboard between that colony and Lagos. After the Oil Rivers were declared a British protectorate in 1884, they were subject to a consular jurisdiction until 1891, when an Imperial Administrator and Consul-General was appointed to administer the protectorate, with a staff of vice-consuls, one to. be stationed on each river,— Benin, Brass, New Calabar, Quaebo, Opobo, and Old Calabar. The area of the protectorate has been con- . siderably restricted. Taxes have of necessity been imposed; the rough system of justice administered by Courts of Equity, composed of the merchants them— . selves under consular supervision, has been superseded by more regular methods, and the Oil Rivers have virtually been converted into a Crown Colony. At first there was some friction between the administrator (Major Sir Claude M. MacDonald) and the traders, but there can be little doubt that in the end the new The West African Colonies. Lake Chad and the Central Sudan. 278 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA regime will be for the benefit of all concerned—whites and natives. In 1890 the majority of the merchants trading on the Oil Rivers amalgamated into the African Associa- tion Limited of Liverpool, with a subscribed capital of half a million ; but there are still one or two independ— ent firms which possess a considerable share of the trade. The total exports amount to over a million sterling annually. The Oil Rivers march, on their north side, with the colony of Lagos, the most prosperous and promising of all the British colonies in West Africa, mainly be- cause it has a reasonable Hinterland behind it. The rich and thickly-populated Yoruba country has been recently annexed as a protectorate, a country capable of great agricultural development, with large cities popu- lated by an eager trading population. With regard to the other British West African colonies, the enterprise of the French, combined with the British policy of abstention already referred to, has practically restricted the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone to strips of the seaboard, while the Gambia colony is confined to the banks‘ of the river, and its trade is mostly in the hands of Frenchmen. Before briefly referring to the international treaties by which the Powers concerned have attempted to delimit the spheres within which their influence is acknowledged, let us realise the fact that the goal of all the three great Powers concerned lies in the region around Lake Chad. Timbuktu, it has already been pointed out, has always dazzled the dreamers of France as the central point of the future great “African Em- THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 279 pire,” and the key to the Central Sudan, which with some justice has been regarded as one of the richest regions of Central Africa. Although Timbuktu has been reduced to a comparatively commonplace town, still the Central Sudan—Sokoto, Bornu, Bagirmi, Kanem, Wadai, Darfur, to name the principal states— is a region which any commercial people might well desire to monopolise. While there is a large sub- stratum of pagan population, negroes and mixed breeds, the ruling people are Mohammedan, comparatively - civilised, using enormous quantities of textile and >other commodities which Europe can supply. The [ ruling race, the Fellatah or Fulah, are of a superior r type, totally distinct from the true negro, and coming i from the east. Here we have the old semi—barbarous L Mohammedan pageantry in its ancient glory, combined {with intense hatred of the infidel European. The [ French have had difficulties with such semi—barbarous gpotentates as Samory and Ahmadu, though these ‘ also are Mohammedans. King M’tesa of Uganda was 1 not to be dealt with so easily as a wretched Congo : chief, or even as Lobengula ; but these Central Sudan ., potentates may give more trouble to the Power or‘ EPowers that undertake to reduce them to subjection isthan all the rest of Africa combined, not even excepting / Morocco. But notwithstanding this, or in ignorance of :2 it, Great Britain, France, and Germany are trying to w: outrace each other in reaching the Chad regions, our izknowledge of which is mainly due to Barth and Nach- -: tigal, especially the latter, who escaped, as it were, by .i‘the skin of his teeth. France, as we have seen, has French ex- pedition to Lake Chad. 280 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA been sending expedition after expedition from the Senegal Coast and the Guinea Coast, with Lake Chad —-—little better than a huge marsh as their goal. Most of these expeditions are undertaken at Government expense, though Captain Binger’s was a private under- taking. Perhaps the most determined attempt which has been made was the expedition which in 1890 started from the Mobangi tributary of the Congo under M. Paul Crampel. It ascended the Mobangi and struck northwards to the Bagirmi country, the southern limit of which is only about three hundred miles from the Mobangi. Disaster overtook the expedition on the threshold of Bagirmi, the most southerly of the Lake Chad countries, and, as are the other Sudan states,’ ruled by fanatical Mohammedans. M. Crampel and all but one of his white companions were massacred. Another expedition under a young naval officer, Lieutenant Mizon, actually entered the river itself in I890 for the purpose of getting behind the Niger Company’s territories in order to secure the Hinterland for France. Notwithstanding the avowed object of the expedition, the Company did all they could possibly be expected to do to help Lieutenant Mizon, even going so far as to lend him _money and to tow boats up the Niger and Benue. Foiled in his attempt to cut the Company off from the Lake Chad region, Mizon entered into relations with the King of Adamawa, from whose country he marched south behind the German Cameroons to the French Congo. In the summer of 1892 he again set out for the Niger with the avowed object of furthering French commercial interests in THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 281 Adamawa, and of extending French influence as far in the direction of Lake Chad as possible. The expedition under Captain Monteil, already referred to, advanced across the great bend of the Niger, through Sokoto and Bornu to Lake Chad. Monteil states that he was warmly welcomed in Bornu and made “treaties” with the chiefs; but these “treaties” can have no political significance, as Bornu is distinctly recognised by France as within the British sphere. The leading ex— peditions from the German side (the Cameroons) have already been referred to. Both French and German expeditions have not only the sympathy but the active support of their Governments, who supply con- siderable sums annually from their treasuries for the development of their African possessions; while the Niger Company, as a purely private undertaking, does not cost the British Government a penny. Yet this remarkable fact remains, that the private enterprise has hitherto yielded a fair profit to those engaged in it, while both the French and German spheres have involved an expenditure far in excess of any revenue which has been derived from them. Here, as in other portions of the British Empire, the flag has followed the trade ; the reverse policy has been that of France and of Germany in Africa. Indeed there is a strong Colonial party in France who are tired of all these expeditions, military and exploratory, who maintain that French annexation has gone far enough, and that the time has come to develop what has already been acquired, and which, so far, has only been a source of outlay without return. Interna- tional arrange- ments con- cerning West Africa. 282 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA As was to be expected, the various stages of advance in the direction of the Niger and Lake Chad have been marked by international arrangements, not always so clear and well defined as to prevent ambiguity and obviate disputes between those who were parties to them. The arrangements between Great Britain and Germany on the territories south of the Niger have already been referred to. Between France and England there have been several arrange- ments regulating the position of their colonies on the coast, and their respective spheres in the interior. On the Gambia, by the agreement of 10th August 1889, the British sphere is virtually confined to about six miles on each side of the river as far as Yarbutendi. The exports from the Gambia are not on an average more than £100,000 a year, and the trade is almost entirely in French hands. Until we reach Sierra Leone, French territory is uninterrupted except for a block of 11,500 square miles, to the south of the Gambia, which is all that remains of Portuguese Guinea. The boundaries of the block are regulated by Franco-Portuguese agreements of 12th May 1884 and 3ISt August 1887. It includes about one hundred miles of coast between Cape Roxo and the mouth of the Cazet river. Two hundred miles of’ French coast (the colony of Rivi‘eres du Sud) brings us to Sierra Leone, which has a coast-line of 250 miles, and the boundaries of which are regulated by the Anglo—French agreement of 1889. In its northern section the colony should thus extend inland about 200 miles, tapering off towards THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 283 t the south ; but it remains to be seen what will be the aeffect of the encroachments which France has been imaking in the east, and what will be the precise I limits in the interior, laid down by the Joint Commis- asion now at work. It is to be feared that, whatever I may be their limits, France is now in actual occupa— Ition of the whole region from which the colony could ; derive its trade. Much the same might be said of Liberia, though Liberia eso far as the wants of its population go,——even with 13111 the encroachments of France,—the country itself jpossesses resources enough if only they were properly ideveloped. But what with the presence of a British :colony on the north, and the French in the Hinterland Land on the south coast, Liberia is being gradually *rcducedboth in length and breadth, and, as a separate ;state, may eventually disappear altogether. So far 1as the prosperity of the country and the welfare (of the population are concerned, this might not be a :calamity; the experiment of an independent, civilised '7 African State can hardly be said to have been a 'success. It is a fair example of how far the native of Central Africa, even when comparatively civilised, 15 if left to himself, capable of developing the resources :‘Of his continent. By the Anglo— French agreement already referred Pogtlma of 1to, the British Gold Coast colony is permitted to wdFrince fstretch inland to 9° N. lat.; and if the treaties Africa which the French are reported to have made with lthe natives in the interior are admitted to be .valid, the Gold Coast will be in much the same 284 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA position as Sierra Leone, while on the other side, as was shown in a previous chapter, the Germans have been attempting to creep round from Togoland in spite of the neutral zone that was established by the Anglo—German agreement of 1888. In their attempts to press into the interior the Germans are more likely to come into contact with French than with British enterprise. The small wedge of French territory between Togoland and Lagos has the fierce Dahomans behind it ; with these France had a severe struggle in 1892, resulting in the practical subjugation of one of the most troublesome native states in Africa. But Dahomey is completely insulated by the treaties of the Royal Niger Company. Thus it is evident that until ' we approach the sphere of the Royal Niger Company and the colony of Lagos, France practically claims to be dominant in the interior. From the points of view of lactate polz'z‘z'que our statesmen may or may not be justified in merely “watching” (as their expression is) these French advances. But, undoubtedly, British trade in the West African colonies has been severely hampered by these wholesale annexations. We have deliberately permitted the advance of France into interior regions which many times during past years we could have had for the taking ; but at first, because our statesmen shirked incurring further responsibility, and latterly, to all appearance, for no other reason than to please France, we have held our hands. It may be that those whose duty it is to safeguard the interests of the Empire believe that they have had compensation for this reticence elsewhere. It is usual to reproach THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 285 our West African colonists with never having done much to develop the trade of the interior; they have simply squatted on the coast and taken What was brought them; but the difficulty has been that any more enterprising policy has been discouraged by the Home Government. The Royal Niger Company cannot be charged with any such [disses faz're policy ; and in the interests of our Niger dominions, we ought to fix the meridian of Greenwich as the eastern limit of French encroachments south of the latitude of Say and north of 9° N. lat. So far as British interests in this region of Central 3:331 and Africa are concerned, the Anglo-French agreement of gfigefigggg 5th August 1890 is of the utmost importance. Let regmn' us briefly consider its purport. The clause which relates to the Niger region is as follows :—“ The Government of Her Britannic Majesty recognises the sphere of influence [of France to the south of the Mediterranean possessions, up to a line from Say on the Niger to Barrua on Lake Chad, drawn in such a manner as to comprise in the sphere of action of the Niger Company all that fairly belongs to the Kingdom of Sokoto; the line to be determined by the Commis— sion to be appointed.” Commissioners from the two Powers were to meet Onthewest in Paris to determine the boundaries of the respective £15121} spheres, including the region to the west and the south of. the Middle Niger, the region in which the agents of France have been so busy making “treaties” without waiting for the decision of a Commission which has never met. The line between Say and Barrua is traced In the Chad region. 286 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA very differently by French and English cartographers. ; The former make it almost straight, with a tendency 4 to bend southwards, the latter, justly recognising that t the country of Air or Asben is subject to Sokoto, make ' it take a sharp bend northwards, to about 18° N.. lat. before it sweeps down to Say. The kingdom{ of Gandu is admittedly subject to Sokoto, and with it, moreover, the Royal Niger Company have made : independent treaties. The French cartographers make : the western boundary line drop directly southwards , from Say to the Guinea Coast, completely ignoring Gurma, which is a province of the Sokoto-Gandu empire, and Borgu, with which kingdom the Niger Company has treaties. It would only be carrying out‘ the arrangement to draw the line westward from Say to, at least, the Greenwich meridian, and thence round the west of Borgu to the western boundary of the Gold Coast. Again, it is on the British side regarded as only just and fair, and in accordance with the spirit of the arrangement, that France should abstain from making any annexations to the immediate south of Lake Chad, or to the east of the Lake south of the continuation of the Say—Barrua line. But as we have seen, this is not the French interpretation, and precipitate efforts are being made to get behind the Niger Company’s sphere, and if possible create a French sphere on the south and east of Lake Chad. If it is held that a literal interpretation of the arrangement admits of such enterprise, it must be equally admitted that the Niger Company has the right to make treaties to the north- THE STRUGGLE FOR THE ZVIGER 287 west of Say ; that is, in territory which France considers the agreement to have given her. In short, France cannot appeal in the one case to the letter of the agree- ment and ignore its spirit, and in the other case to its spirit and ignore its literal interpretation. Bornu, which lies between Sokoto and Lake Chad, is, though somewhat decayed, still a powerful Mohammedan state, with five million people, the trade of which is worth cultivating. It is undoubtedly within the British sphere, and it is satisfactory to know that the Royal Niger Company are already in relations with its chief. Bagirmi which lies south—east from Lake Chad, and on the south border of which the Crampel expedition came to grief, is not so advanced in civilisation as the great kingdom of Wadai, to which it is subject. Wadai, the most powerful Mohammedan state in the Central Sudan, occupies the space between Lake Chad and Darfur, 172,000 square miles in area, with a population of a million and a half. The negro Mabas, who are the ruling people, are fanatical Moham- ‘ medans, and Wadai will prove one of the most difficult of all the African states to deal with. Kanem, which lies round the north and east shores of the Lake, is also tributary to Wadai. To the east of Wadai all except the western section of Darfur is, by the last Anglo- German agreement, within the sphere of influence of Great Britain. It is these Central Sudan states, the suzerainty of which Import- is coveted by France and Germany; the lake around which gggéggd they are grouped is the goal to which so many French expeditions are concentrating along half-a-dozen lines. Their division between France and England. 288 THE PARTITION OF, AFRICA At present, undoubtedly, the Royal Niger Company has a position of advantage over all the others, being, so to speak, within measurable distance of the Lake. But it is working on its own resources and initiative, without any active support from the British Government; while the Governments of France and Germany are taking an active part in the race, and are lending direct encourage- ment to private enterprise. The Royal Niger Company cannot be accused of any lack of enterprise. Those who direct its affairs know their own interests, and may be trusted to secure a footing in the Lake Chad States, if they consider it to be wise policy to do so. The British Government, like Providence, helps those who help themselves, and if the Company succeeds in over- coming the Mohammedan fanaticism of the Chad States so far as to induce them by peaceful means to enter into friendly relations, it is to be hoped it will obtain prompt support from the Imperial Government. In this way the British sphere would extend across the heart of the Sudan from the Nile to the Niger, and include one of the most desirable sections of the continent.“ The Lake Chad region is one of the great centres of themtraffic in slaves, thousands of whom, captured in the pagan countries to the south, are sent across the Sahara every year; and it will probably be found more difficult to suppress this trade here than in any other part of Africa. But this is a problem that will not in all probability have to be faced for many years to come. By a fair interpretation of the Anglo—French agree— ment Kanem might be allowed to go to France, who, if she wishes it, is at liberty to extend hen sphere so as THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 289 to include the fine mountainous country of Tibesti to the north ; for Tripoli will probably have to be content with Fezzan as its Hinterland. Indeed the most rational solution of the problem as between England and France would be to continue the Say-Barrua line eastward from Lake Chad; though here again we are met with the difficulty that thus Wadai would be cut in two. But a similar partition of native states has already been made in delimiting the Anglo—German sphere to the west of Victoria Nyanza. If France were carrying her ambition too far, Germany might intervene; she might object to France coming behind ‘ her sphere in Adamawa. Events have not, however, ; yet reached the stage when the difficulty can be solved ' by international arrangement. The race here is to the : swift, and the battle, if not to the strong, at least to the -; alert and the cool. Here we have almost the only I unannexed part of Africa that is worth scrambling for. As a sequel to the agreement of 1890, France has The French lhad no hesitation in including on her maps of Africa sauna. cthe bulk of the Sahara desert as within her sphere. i From the south-west corner of Algeria her cartographers draw a straight line south—west to Cape Blanco, thereby ignoring the Spanish claims over Adrar. Even if the Eline were deflected so as not to interfere with these :claims (which are at present the subject of negotiation :between the two Powers), we should have between that lline and the eastern boundary which on French maps ' extends from Tunis in a zigzag direction southwards so as to include the whole of Kanem—a total area of something like 900,000 square miles. It should also U A Trans- Saharan railway. 290 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA be noted that in drawing the western line the compara- tively fine region of Tuat is included, a region which is claimed by Morocco. But there is little doubt that the claims of Morocco will be ignored and Tuat in— cluded in Southern Algeria. What is France to do with this enormous area of desert? For though recent explorations have cor- rected prevailing notions of the nature of the Sahara, there is no doubt that, with the exception of an oasis here and there, the 900,000 square miles claimed by France is mostly sand, stone, and scrub. It is true that underneath the Sahara, as under all other deserts, there is a vast store of water. On the south of Algeria this water has been tapped, oases have been created, and hundreds of thousands of date-palms planted. This, however, simply shows that when the earth is so full of people that all the other lands have been utilised for the purposes of humanity, we shall still have the Sahara to fall back upon as a last resource. Meanwhile the Sahara is regarded by France mainly as a connecting link between her provinces on the Mediterranean and the interior region claimed by her in the basins of the Senegal, the Niger, and Lake Chad. Reference has already been made to the unfortunate expedition under Colonel Flatters, with the view of surveying for a railway route. That disaster suppressed all thoughts of a railway for some years. But since the Anglo—French agreement the scheme of a Trans-Saharan Railway has been taken up again with renewed vigour. There have been various preliminary surveys to the south THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 291 of Algeria, and three main schemes have been ad- vanced, starting from the three provinces of Algeria; one having St. Louis as its southern terminus, another Timbuktu, and a third Lake Chad. The total length in any case would be about 2000 miles, and the cost ten to twenty millions sterling, including the defences at each station against the attacks of the Tuaregs. The difficulties of a railway across a waterless desert are obvious, but, as the Central Asian Railway proves, not at all insuperable. At present occasional caravans of camels are quite adequate for the commerce of the whole of the Central Sudan, and it is difficult to see how a railway could pay until after many years. Each caravan carries goods to the value of about £10,000 (not including slaves), and probably 25 300,000 would represent the total annual traffic between the Central Sudan and the Mediterranean countries west of Egypt. A railway might in time succeed in increasing :the demand for European goods, encouraging the 1 development of the resources of the Sudan, and sup- .4, P. pressing slavery. And if France is chivalrous and con- fiding enough to construct a railway with such prospects ‘ in view, it will not be for the British Company on the 7, Niger to complain, since it could do them nothing but ; good. At any rate, at least part of the dream of France 4 has been realised; if she cannot march over French / territory from the Mediterranean to the Congo, she can .5 at least get as far as the Guinea Coast, Without ever 3 getting outside her own sphere. But French dreams are not confined to the construc— French " tion of railways for the purpose of drawing the commerce dreams- Colonisa- tion pro- jects. French ad— ministra- tion in West Africa. 292 ' THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of the Sudan down to the French ports on the Medi- terranean. Africa is the great central continent of the globe, and by an extension of the projected Sudan lines to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, say to Mozambique on the east, and to St. Louis on the west, what more easy than to draw the bulk of the world’s traffic into the lap of France, and so for ever destroy the commercial supremacy of England? On the one side the ocean lines from India, Australia, and the east would converge towards Mozambique, while all the traffic of South America would inevitably find an entreféz‘ at St. Louis. This is a fair sample of the brilliant visions with which the eyes of the French public are dazzled; though it must be said that Frenchmen familiar with the real conditions simply laugh at them. Another scheme, equally chimerical, so far as our present knowledge goes, is that of establishing colonies of thousands of French peasants and small farmers in the great bend of the Niger, in Mossi, and other “ king- doms,” as also in other portions of the Sudan within the sphere of France. When one remembers the French aversion to emigration, the infinitesimal addition made to the population by annual increase, and the nature of the climate which prevails over the whole of the Niger region, it is difficult to believe that any man of sanity and ordinary knowledge could broach such a scheme. With regard to the administration of the French territories in West Africa, it may be regarded as, with few exceptions, purely military. In the “ colonies” of THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 293 Senegal and Rivieres du Sud there are a few places which are classed as “pays possédés,” consisting of a few communes and “territoires”—the latter simply posts with a small area around. These have a civil government, and a certain amount of autonomy. The total area thus covered is comparatively insignifi— cant. In the “pays annexes ” the chiefs are appointed by the Colonial Governor, and certain dues are levied, but native laws and customs prevail. Such countries are Walo, part of Cayor, Toro, Demai, and Damga. Outside this are the “pays protége’s,” including such regions as the Futa Jallon, Jolif, part of Cayor, the basin of the Casamansa, and most of the Rivieres du Sud. In these territories the native rule prevails, the chiefs being appointed by the Governor of Senegal. Outside of this is the French Sudan proper, covering about 45,000 square miles, and regarded as a “pays annexe.” This includes the country on the Upper Senegal extending towards the Niger; it is under a “ Commandant Supérieur.” It is divided into fourteen circles, each in charge of an officer, though the natives preserve to a large extent their own laws and customs. Outside of this is the undefined area of the French protectorate, where French rule is merely nominal. Thus, except on the coast, and at one or two stations on the river, France is represented by a number of military officials and a considerable military force. Her occupation——where it exists—«of the immense territory claimed by her is so far purely military, involving an annual expenditure on the part of the mother country of about half a million sterling. At Spanish claims. 294 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the same time, it should be said that French influence is felt beneficially at interior posts. At several places on the Upper Senegal and its feeders—Kayes, Medina, Bakel, and other places, and even on the Niger, as at Bammako, and in the country between the Niger and Senegal—forts have been built, European houses have been erected, the natives have gathered round in in~ creasing numbers, and “villages of liberty” for freed slaves and captives have been established. As these spread, French influence will become more and more dominant, and it is to be hoped peace will be estab- lished among the native chiefs, and the rich resources of at least portions of the interior region be developed to the profit of all. / With regard to the Spanish claims already casually referred to, it may be said that they cover a district along the coast from Cape Bojador to Cape Blanco, or about 500 miles. The interior limits are now the subject of negotiations between France and Spain. But according to Spanish authorities treaties have been made with the Sultans of Adrar and neigh- bouring territories, by which these are placed under Spanish protection, so that the southern limit ex- tends inland some 600 miles towards Timbuktu, and the northern limit 420 miles from the coast towards Tenduf. The Spanish Government formally notified her protectorate t0 the British Government, but the probability is that Spain will have to modify her in- terior limits under the pressure of France. The total area within the extreme limits is about 250,000 square miles,—-mostly sand. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER 29; }) Such, then, is the present position of the struggle $213333: between the three great Powers for supremacy in the WW“- region watered by the Niger and the countries grouped around Lake Chad. So far England must be held to have fared best. She possesses the whole of the navigable portion of the lower river and its great tributary the Benue. Some of the richest countries are already within the Niger Company’s sphere, and it has the best chance of securing a footing in the others. Germany, it seems probable, will have to be content to remain practically within her present limits. Hitherto France has done little but add to her already extensive territories in Senegambia, and that is still her chief‘ occupation. Whether when she has reached the limits of her enterprise in this direction she will ever succeed ‘in developing a great commerce in Senegal and the Sudan it is impossible to say; at present, after being at work for three centuries, she has not succeeded in getting more than a million sterling worth of exports annually out of her enormous sphere in West Africa. German South-west 'ca. CHAPTER XVII GERMAN PROGRESS IN \VEST AFRICA German South-west Africa—Delimitation between the German and British spheres in South-west Africa—The resources of South-west Africa—The Cameroons—Delimitations—Administration—Explora- tion and development of the country—Togoland—Its development —Delimitation—The German sphere in Africa. FOR various reasons German progress in East Africa has been dealt with at greater length than will be necessary in the case of the other spheres of German influence in Africa. East Africa is the most extensive and commercially the most influential of all the German annexations; its short history has been a busy and stirring one ; and the methods adopted in East Africa, and referred to in some detail in a preceding chapter, may be taken as typical of German colonial enterprise. It will, therefore, be unnecessary to deal at such length with the course of events in German West Africa since the meeting of the Berlin Congress. At the date of the Berlin Congress) Germany had planted her flag on the Gold Coast (Togoland), in the Cameroons, and on the coast lying between the Orange River and the River Cunene. The last-named district is known as German South-west Africa, and with that we shall deal briefly before going farther north. It has already been seen GERJIAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA 297 that both the Home Government and the Cape had to give way at almost every point in face of the unyielding persistence of Prince Bismarck, who would not consent to leave any portion of this coast except Walfish Bay under the British flag. By the beginning of 1885 the inevitable had been recognised both at Downing Street and at Cape Town, and a Joint Commission was ap- pointed to settle details as to frontiers and individual rights. The Commission completed its work in Sep- tember I885. By the British memorandum of 24th December 1884 it had virtually been conceded that no objection would be raised to Germany extending her sphere in South-west Africa as far east as 200 east longitude up to the 22nd degree of south latitude. It is true that attempts were made to influence the Damara chiefs against the German protectorate, and to induce them to offer allegiance to England. Private individuals and companies who had obtained concessions from the native chiefs before Germany entered the field, endea— voured to make as much of them as possible. But such attempts met with little encouragement from the Home Government. Certain of the islands off the coast were recognised by Germany as under British suzerainty, though the claims of British subjects to mining rights on the mainland were cut down to somewhat narrow limits. An attempt was even made to establish a republic under the name of Upingtonia in Ovampoland, but without success. The German agents continued to acquire rights over the territories of various chiefs in the interior. By agreement with Portugal of 20th December 1886 the river Cunene was recognised as the boundary Delimita- tion be- tween the German and. British spheres in South-west Africa 298 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA between Portuguese West Africa and German South- west Africa. The dividing line runs directly east to the falls south of Humbe, then on to the Kubango River, along that river to Andara, and then eastwards to the Katima Falls on the Zambesi. In this arrange- ment with Portugal, as in the Franco-Portuguese arrangement of May 1886, it was recognised that Portugal was at liberty to extend her dominion right across the continent from her West to her East African possessions. Even before this Her Majesty’s Minister at Lisbon had drawn attention to the fixed idea that had taken possession of the Portuguese Government that “anything likely to interfere with a free expansion eastwards of Portuguese territory into the heart of the South Africa continent traverses a fixed purpose of Portuguese colonial policy.” It was an easy concession for France and Germany to make; as it did not in any way interfere with their respective spheres of influence, but this claim was one that was never recognised by Great Britain. It was only in the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890 that the final delimitation between German South-west Africa and British South Africa was arranged, events meantime having taken place which will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter, and which quite ignored the “fixed purpose of Portuguese colonial policy ” above alluded to. By this agreement the Orange River is recognised as the southern limit of German territory as far as 20° E. long. The 20th degree 3 is followed northwards, as the eastern boundary, as far as 22° S. lat., along which the line runs to 21° E. long. GERILIAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA 299 That degree is followed northwards until 18° S. lat. is reached, and along this the boundary runs eastwards as far as the river Chobe, which river is followed until it discharges itself into the Zambesi, 100 miles below the Katima Rapids, which mark the boundary between German and Portuguese territory. This gives to German South—west Africa a total area of some 340,000 square miles, which barely sustain a scanty population of 200,000 natives. The region around Lake Ngami, on which certain German traders professed to have claims, is thus entirely excluded from the German sphere. On the other hand, the precise limits of British territory around W alfish Bay were left to be 2 determined by a Joint Commission, which has so far ' taken no steps to solve the problem. In fact, though none of the serious military Operations which have so ' materially retarded progress in East Africa have been ‘ necessary in South—west Africa, the first of Germany’s colonial enterprises has been a constant source of : trouble. It was only in October 1885 that the great ' Damara chief, Kamaherero, was induced to accept V German protection, and since then he has on more 2 than one occasion endeavoured to cancel his consent. Other small chiefs could only be induced to come into the fold after troublesome negotiations. Petty wars 5 between the various tribes of Damaras and Namaquas : are almost constantly going on, and are embittered v by religious fanaticism. The claims of British con— ‘cessz'omzaz'res have never been satisfactorily settled, and in 1892 were declared invalid by the German Govern- ment. All this, however, and much more would have The re- sources of South-west Africa. 300 THE PARTITION Ofi AFRICA been quite endurable had the country itself, in the seven . years during which German enterprise has been at work, given much promise of fulfilling the glowing ex- pectations which were formed when the first announce- ment of its annexation was made. Herr L'uderitz, of course, soon found that without assistance he himself could never do much to develop the resources of so vast a region. In the spring of 1885, therefore, he made over his rights, for the sum of 300,000 marks, to a German Colonial Society for South-west Africa, which was incorporated by the Imperial Government, with a capital of 1,200,000 marks, which could be increased. At the same time an Imperial Commission was appointed to administer the territory on behalf of the German Government. Courts were established, and a military force provided. Here, as in East Africa and elsewhere, the Germans set themselves with zeal and intelligence to the ex- ploration of their territory, with a view to ascertain what were its real resources. Expeditions were sent out in various directions. They were accompanied by a thoroughly qualified scientific staff, and the result is that we have now a very complete idea of the character and resources of Germany’s first colony. These are not greatly encouraging. The country is incapable of sustaining a much greater population than exists at present. Experimental farms have been established, but the results have not been favourable. The rainfall and the surface water supply are nearly as scanty as in the Sahara. Cattle and sheep can without doubt be reared, but to a limited extent compared with r-v—v .u GERJIAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA 301 the great area. German farmers might possibly find a home in the higher regions of the interior, but only in the scantiest numbers; as a field for European emigration i Damaraland and Namaqualand are scarcely worth v nu v v V w a >.. ‘ V considering, so far as our present knowledge goes. But it was the much-vaunted mining resources of the country from which rich returns were expected. It was hoped that copper would be found as abundantly in the German protectorate as it has been in the north- west of Cape Colony. But the reports of German experts do not leave much room for hope. Copper no doubt has been found in the interior, and could it be cheaply worked on the spot, and cheaply conveyed to a convenient harbour on the coast, it might pay in a small way. To quote the words of Dr. Schinz, who has himself made a very thorough exploration of this 2 country, and published his detailed results in a volume a of considerable size :——“ It is well known how little was realised of Liideritz’s extravagant hopes. The chief :; cause of the failure of the undertaking was, no doubt, the inhospitality of the country, and the sand along the coast made the connection with the better land in ? the interior so difficult that the mineral deposits could only be worked under exceptionally favourable circum- « stances. But, inasmuch as the prospecting work of the miners disclosed no deposits or veins worthy of mention, the life—thread of the whole undertaking was 1 cut in twain. The trade with the natives also amounted aw to nothing from the beginning, for the natives possessed ' nothing to give in exchange for the goods offered.” When it is remembered that Dr. Schinz was sent out 302 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA by the German South-west Africa Company, his report is all the more striking, and especially the following frank admission 1—— “It is not to be denied that the Damaras are averse to the German protection. This aversion is constantly increasing, and the cause is undoubtedly due in part to the fact that the Germans have so far shown an inability to satisfactorily protect the Damaras against the robbing hordes of Hendrik W'ittboi.” It is not surprising, then, that at various times there have been rumours that Germany would be glad to get rid of her 340,000 square miles of desert. As an appendage of a settled and progressive and compara~ tively populous country like Cape Colony, this region, barren as it is, might be turned to some account, as a source of food supply; for it is not denied that the natives do rear cattle in considerable numbers. But as an independent colony with an expensive administra- tion, little suited for white settlement, with a scanty native population constantly engaged in inter-tribal wars, it must always be an expensive luxury. Negotia- tions have on more than one occasion been on foot for making the country over to a British syndicate, and that with the approval of the German Government; but these at first met with violent protests from the extreme colonial party in Germany. A compromise has been attempted in the formation of an Anglo— ‘ German Company, supported to a great extent by British capital. Under the auspices of this Company a well—equipped expedition left England in the autumn of 1892 for the purpose of prospecting and initiating ($51811li 1V PROGRESS 11V WEST AFRICA 303 steps for the development of what resources the country possesses. With a country whose agricultural capa— bilities are of the narrowest kind, whose mining resources are doubtful, with only one harbour of any value and that in British hands, what can be done? Under the old regime, with a few missionary traders, who were quite sufficient to supply all native wants, and a limited export of cattle, everybody was satisfied, and the country was slowly emerging from barbarisrn. But with an administration which demands a large yearly grant from the German Parliament, and a Company that with its subordinate companies has already sunk a comparatively enormous capital, how , can the desert ever be expected to yield any return? Since the Cape railway has been extended to Kim- berley even the export of cattle and sheep has almost » ceased. Still it is in this direction, if in any, that the country has a future, and if careful experiments were : made with sheep—rearing, the export of wool might in time render this a profitable industry. And it should ' be remembered that the colony abuts for one hundred miles on the Zambesi, and might possibly, if suitable measures were taken, be made a route for part at least of the Central African interior. To turn to the much mdrc hopeful region of the Cameroons. It was found that, by the time the Berlin Congress met, Germany was fairly in possession here, \./ g and, following her usual method, had already read the natives “ a sharp lesson.” This policy had to be carried _ out on several occasions, so that it was not till the first ' half of 1886 that all the coast chiefs, and those middle 2;,“ The Cameroons. Delimita- tlons. 304 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA men just behind the coast who had been in the habit of tapping the interior trade, were fairly subdued and reconciled to the German suzerainty. On either side Germany had England and France as her neighbours, the former, it will be remembered, having been just in time to secure the Oil Rivers. An arrange- ment as to the northern limit of the German Cameroons territory was come to with England in May 1885. This arrangement was modified in August 1886, and finally settled by the famous Anglo-German agreement of July 1890. The boundary was at first drawn along the Rio del Rey, which subsequent exploration proved to be only a creek. From this creek the line ran in a generally north-east direction to Yola, a town on the Upper Benue, provision being made that each power will be allowed free passage to Lake Chad through any territories acquired by the other on the north of the Benue and east of Yola. This practically leaves the whole of the country of Adamawa within the German sphere, although the precise delimitation between the British and German spheres has yet to be arranged. With France, Germany had no difficulty in making an arrangement as to the southern boundary of her newly- acquired territory. On December 24, I 885, an arrange- ment was agreed to by 'which the limit between the German Cameroons and the French Gaboon should run eastwards from the mouth of the Rio Campo to 15° east longitude. Although the two Powers undertook not to make acquisitions beyond the line thus fixed as far as I 5° E., no stipulations were made as to acquisitions on the east of this; just as Germany did not undertake not GERMAN PROGRESS IN I/VEST AFRICA 305 to press to the north of the Benué east of Yola. As a matter of fact, the arrangement between France and the Congo Free State implied that theformer might come behind the German sphere as far north at least as 4° N. latitude, which indeed she has done, and has had no hesitation in endeavouring to continue her Congo terri- tory north to the shores of Lake Chad. Here, however, she has not only Germany as a competitor, but, as has been seen, the ever alert and active British Niger Company. The arrangements referred to made Germany feel at ease with respect to her northern and southern boundaries, and left her at liberty to take stock of her acquisition, establish her supremacy in the interior, and proceed to develop its resources. As in other African arrangements, so in that relating to the Cameroons, there were assured to the subjects of the Signatory Powers freedom of trade and navigation, the exclusion of differential tariffs, and other privileges .which in practice are found to have little value. I V EFinally, to leave Germany a perfectly free hand, the :British Government ignored certain treaties made in the name of England by a zealous Pole, M. Rogozinski ; and the station at Victoria, in Ambas Bay, which had been occupied by English missionaries for forty years, [was made over to Germany for a payment of £4000 to the Missionary Society. Early in 1885 Bismarck, in spite of the continued opposition of the anti—colonial, party, easily succeeded in carrying the votes necessary for establishing the Cameroons as a Crown Colony. A Governor, with a :onsiderable staff of officials, was appointed, and all the X Adminis- tration. 306 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA machinery of government after German methods estab- lished. A series of ordinances was promulgated, imposing dues and taxes of various kinds, and espe- cially levying very heavy duties on the import of spirits. Notwithstanding the express request of Prince Bismarck, the traders in the Cameroons shrank from forming them- selves into a corporation for regulating local affairs, so that the Governor had to take cognisance of local as well as of more general matters of government. The total area included in the Cameroons is about I 30,000 square miles, taking I 5° E. as the outside limit, with a population estimated roughly at 2% millions, a marked contrast to the conditions which prevail farther south. Indeed here we are in one of the most thickly popu- lated regions of Africa, especially along the coast and the creeks, and at many points in the interior. The natives belong mainly to the Bantu stock, of the same type as the Zulus. They are keen traders, but the Germans found all their efforts to open up the interior barred by those tribes which inhabit the dis- tricts in the immediate interior, and act as middlemen between the people of the interior and the traders on the coast. Here, as in their other African possessions, the Germans lost no time in sending out expeditions to open up the interior, under such tried leaders as Kund and Tappenbeck, Zintgraff and Morgen. These ex— peditions, as is usual with such German enterprises, were partly military and partly exploratory. In attempting to break through the cordon of middlemen, serious dis- asters happened to the first expedition under Lieutenant Kund. However, Germany meant to succeed, and in a GER/WAN PROGRESS IN I/VEST AFRICA .307 marvellously short time established stations at various points in the interior; as at Ye—unde, to the south of the Sanaga River, which had been explored ; at Baromhi, on Elephant Lake, to the north of Cameroons Moun— tains; and at Bali, on the plateau far in the interior, towards the Benué, in a region of rich grass land, with abundance of trees. A fair knowledge has been obtained of the interior, of which we were previously almost abso— lutely ignorant. Germany, like France, has her eye on Lake Chad, and large sums have been voted by the Reichstag for the purpose of extending German influence to that lake. An expedition under Dr. Zintgraff and Lieutenant Morgen, accompanied by a military force and repre- 2sentativ'es of the trading firms interested in the >Cameroons, endeavoured in 1890 to reach Bagirmi :‘from the station of Bali as a starting—point. But the expedition met with a severe check from the natives; .many of its members were killed, and Lieutenant ZMorgen had to make the best of his way down the lBenué. Germany has, however, succeeded in firmly e securing her influence, not only on the coast but at many important points in the interior, for notwithstanding fthe fighting that has taken place there have been no “‘ atrocities ” on the German side. It has been a “ fair fIstand—up fight ” between Germans and natives in which, although there have been defeats and losses, the L Europeans have on the whole prevailed. What can be 'i'made of that interior remains to be seen ; the Germans have here the same problem to solve that must be ‘solved by other European Powers who have undertaken Explora- tion and develop- ment of the country. 308 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the development of tropical Africa. But it may be 3 worth noticing that besides the Cameroons Mountains 2. there are several heights that rise above the plateau in '1 the interior to from 8000 to 10,000 feet above sea- < level, which may in future prove useful as sanatoria. : Meantime on the coast the busy trade established by r r—w—u British subjects continues to be carried on and increased by their German successors. The German “ Plantagen- - Gesellschaft ” has established plantations of cocoa-'— palms, cacao, tobacco, sugar, cotton, and other cultures“ some of which at least have given successful results. The palm-oil and palm-kernel trade is so far the most 1 lucrative, though even yet British vessels do as muchr trade in this as is done by German vessels. Instead off the river hulks in which the old traders used to live, good houses of stone are now to be seen on the banks - of the Cameroons River, in which officials and merchants are able to lead fairly comfortable lives. Macadamised ' roads surround all the coast settlements, while experi—- mental stations and botanical gardens give an air of ' civilisation to the country. Still the total number of whites does not much exceed one hundred, of whom' about one-fourth are English. Besides several smaller; plantations, there are five on a much larger scale, the cacao, tobacco, vanilla, and coffee of which fetch excellent prices in the European markets. On one: of these plantations there are 100,000 cacao trees. Altogether, the Cameroons is one of the most pros- perous and promising of German colonies, thanks partly: to the energy and administrative skill of its governor for five years, Baron von Soden. Its revenue in 1890 GER/VAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA 309 i. was 290,000 marks, which of course had to be supple- ' mented by a grant from the mother country of twice :that amount, besides special subsidies for expeditions. 1 Unless, however, some serious check occurs to the :progress of the colony, it ought in a few years to be [able topay for its own administration, and leave a ' margin for the execution of public works. Unlike France a and England, Germany does not over—burden her colonies with officials, nor are these paid on anything like the same :scale as those who swarm in our own Crown colonies. Of all the German» colonies in Africa the little block Togoland. of some 16,000 square miles (in its greatest extent) on the Gold Coast, known as Togoland, has so far been decidedly the most prosperous. It will be remembered that it was the first spot on which Dr. N achtigal raised the German flag. Already considerable trade was established on the coast. It forms one of the highways to and from the thickly—populated portion of the Sudan. It is of limited extent, with a population roughly esti- mated at 500,000. No expenditure for formidable expeditions into the interior has been necessary, while its administration is simple and inexpensive. It is placed under an Imperial Commissioner, with a Secretary and Inspector of Customs, and unlike the other colonies it has a local council consisting of representatives of :the merchants. An armed police force of thirty negroes is sufficient to maintain order. The country is capable of growing almost any tropical products, while the .forests abound in oil palms, caoutchouc and other woods ; though so far the commerce is almost entirely a barter trade for palm oil and ivory. Still, nearly 310 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA one hundred vessels, of about 100,000 tons, call at the : ports of the colony in the course of the year. figgfiveiop Togoland has about thirty-five miles of coast, and is a wedged in between French territory on the east and the : British Gold Coast on the west. The approximate : limits east and west were arranged soon after the . annexation. But here, as in the Cameroons, the . Germans did not content themselves with squatting on the coast and waiting for any trade that might come to , them. Beginning in 1885, a series of expeditions : penetrated the interior, under such leaders as Dr. Krause, Von Francois, Kling, and Dr. Wolff, some of‘ them reaching as far as Mossi, well within the great bend of the Niger. Some 130 miles in the interior a station, under the appropriate name of Bismarcksburg, has been founded, and this is the point of departure of most of the expeditions to the interior. Only five days from the coast another station, Misa—Hoehe, has been founded in what is supposed to be a particularly healthy situation. The river Volta, which forms the western boundary of the colony, has been proved to be navigable by steam for some 200 miles, a fact of great importance for the commercial development of the country. The total commerce of the colony is valued at £250,000, of which about £150,000 stand for exports. But the duties levied almost pay the expenses of administration. The German Togoland Company, founded in 1888 with a view both to commercial operations and to the estab- lishment of plantations, has already been successful in both. directions; experimental stations are at work in several localities. GERZWAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA 311 It was only by the Anglo—German Agreement of 333mm. July 1890 that the boundary between the British Gold Coast and German Togoland was definitely settled, although the coast delimitation was arranged by Joint Commissions in July 1886 at 1° 10’ E. longitude. The boundary runs north a short distance to 6° 10’ N. latitude, then westwards to the river Aka, which it follows up to 6° 20’ N. latitude; still westwards again to the Showe River till it comes opposite the junction of the Denie with the Volta. The boundary again runs west to the Volta, and follows that river up to about 8° 10’ N. latitude, where it reaches a neutral zone agreed upon in 1888. This leaves the populous market town of Salaga, a great emporium for trade with the interior, outside the German sphere. But, as on the French side, the boundary will ultimately be drawn to 9° N. latitude, it remains for future negotia- tions to decide whether Salaga will be included in the British or the German spheres. As the Volta itself is in its lower course within British territory, it is doubtful how far its navigability may be of advantage to German trade. As will have been seen in a former chapter, it will scarcely be possible for either the Gold Coast or Germany to push their spheres beyond 9° N. latitude, as the French on the one side, and the Royal Niger Company on the other, have by their treaties with the native chiefs prac- tically barred the way to the interior. Still commercial competition may do much, and the trade from the interior is likely to take the path of least resistance. But should Germany be confined within her present ‘ somewhat narrow limits in Togoland, the country is 312 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA populous enough and its resources abundant enough to yield a good return to modest commercial enterprise. TheGer- Even in these days of steam and telegraph seven man sphere a. mum. years is too short a period on which to base any pro- phecies as to the future of Germany’s African empire, covering as it does some 900,000 square miles, with a comparatively scanty population of savages, and with a climate which, so far as experience goes, renders it on the whole quite unsuited to European settlement. Germany has scarcely got beyond the Sturm and Dmrzg period of her colonial policy in Africa, and she has had all her experience to gain. What course would be most likely in the future to yield the best results, will be discussed in a future chapter. It is to be hoped that no further harsh military methods will be necessary either in East or West Africa, but that the trader and the planter may now be able to pursue their callings in peace. So far the results of the wholesale annexations in Africa have produced no appreciable difference on the commerce of Germany ; in another seven years we ought to be able to tell a different tale. When we remember the many years which it took before European contact with India, America, and Australia produced any substantial results, there is no need to despair of German enterprise in Africa, even though it has to deal with the most repellent of all the continents. CHAPTER XVIII BRITISH EAST AFRICA Former position of England at Zanzibar—Initiation of the British East Africa Company—Extent of the Sultan’s territories—\Vitu—Hesita- tions of British Government—The Sultan’s territories defined— Delimitation of British and German spheres—The British East Africa Association—Imperial British East Africa Company’s Charter —The Company’s difficult task—The Company’s work—Initial troubles—Pioneer expeditions—Dr. Peters attempts to outflank the Company—Anglo-German agreement of 1890 —Emin Pasha—The Company’s stations——Communications—A railway—British occupa- tion of Uganda Captain LugarCount Bismarck had with Sir E. Malet in June 1885, the son of the Chancellor stated that “certain ‘German explorers had been for some time in the ‘ interior, though it was not known actually where, and that they might have concluded treaties with local ~ chiefs which might possibly be within the limits of the English scheme. Even if» this were the case, he thought 7 that an understanding rounding off the different terri- 'tories could always be come to between the two iGovernments in a friendly manner, as had recently i been done on the West Coast." It is evident from this that no active step had been taken on the part of England to secu‘re actual possession of any territory in East Africa in the middle of 1885, although Prince Bismarck admitted in, a general way that England had claims as well as Germany, and in an interview which the German Ambassador had with the Marquis of 320 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Salisbury on 30th june 1885, the former proposed I that “an impartial commission” should be appointed I to delimit “the true territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar 7 from the country which was occupied by the subjects ; of the German Emperor.” This quickly developed l into a commission for the delimitation of the British and German spheres. During all these negotiations, which resulted so largely in favour of Germany, Sir John Kirk was doing his best at Zanzibar to secure the interests of the Sultan and of England; but he met with little or no encouragement from London. Happily, through the persistent efforts of himself and others, the result was by no means so disastrous as it might have been. It could hardly be regarded as any consolation by Sir John that Germany ostentatiously joined England and France in the engagement into which they entered in 1862 to respect the independence of the Sultan, an independence which Germany was doing its best to undermine, and which finally vanished under British “protection.” The Sultan’s despairing attempt (whether conceived by himself or not) to secure the Kilimanjaro region, the gem of all this part of Africa, in the middle of 1885, was too late; in the end the district was swept within the German sphere. A few days after the Sultan’s representative had been at Kilimanjaro, Dr. J'uhlke, a representative of German interests, followed, and obtained from the unstable chief Mandara an assurance that he had never made any concessions either to the Sultan or to the English, and that his only desire was to place himself and his country y-I?‘ \ ss- BA’ITISH EAST AFRICA 321 runder the protection of Germany. An international 3commission, British, German, and French, was appointed rin the end of 1885, in order to carry out the delimita— uition of the Sultan’s territories. Until the Commission had concluded its inquiries, the British Government .gagreed to allow the scheme to which the attention 30f British capitalists had been turned, and which, :it was understood, was based on the concession ob— ;tained by Mr. Johnston, to remain in abeyance, though 'ithese capitalists, when the Delimitation Commission had «been appointed, felt desirous of taking some steps to start itheir enterprise. While the embryo English Company :was thus restrained. from pushing its supposed claims, rand actively entering upon operations, the agents of ithe German Company were given a free hand by their £Government on the 0rround apparently that they were «private adventurers, and that any acquisitions they 'might obtain would be subject to the decision arrived ‘at by the Commissioners. This position of affairs did not commend itself to the Earl of Rosebcry, who succeeded Lord Salisbury at the Foreign Office in "February 1886, and under whom negotiations were scarried ,on for a few months in that year. He plainly informed the German Government that if the German >adventurers were not restrained from their advances on LKilimanjaro he could not restrain the British Company from sending agents to secure its rights. The labours of ' the Joint Commissioners proceeded Eggsgim wery slowly, and were ended by Germany declaring girggfde‘ that their decision was valid only when unanimous. The German Commissioner, therefore, had it in his power Y 322 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to dictate to his colleagues. The labours of the Com- missioners thus ended without definite result. In October 1886 Prince Bismarck sent a commissioner to London to arrange matters with the Foreign Office there. Before the end of the month an arrange- ment was concluded, and in October and November 1886 the British and German Governments came to a mutual agreement recognising the sovereignty of the Sultan over a strip of coast ten miles wide, extending from Tungi Bay to Kipini, and the stations of Kismayu, Brava, Merka, and Magadoshu on the north, with radii landwards of ten miles, and Warsheikh with a radius of five miles; also over the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and the small islands within a radius of twelve miles, as well as over the islands of Lamu and Patta. ’This was accepted by France and by the Sultan. Delimita- tion of British and German spheres. In the same document both powers agreed to establish a delimitation of their respective spheres of influence on this portion of the East African continent, analogous to that by which they fixed the boundaries of their territories in the Gulf of Guinea. The whole territory to which the delimitation was to apply extended from the Rovuma River on the south, to the Tana River on the north. The northern boundary followed the Tana River to the point of intersection of the equator and the 38th degree of east longitude ; thence it struck direct to the point of intersection of the first degree of north latitude with the 37th degree of east longitude. These limitations, as has been seen in a previous chapter, led to complica- tions, and were for a time a source of trouble to the British Company. It left not only the country north BRITISH EAST AFRICA 323 :of the Tana free to the enterprise of adventurous :Germans, but also the country to the north-west of :the British sphere, including Uganda, so that England 'might have been entirely shut out from the interior. [It is difficult now to understand why the boundary - should have been so loosely drawn, why those who had icharge of British interests should have consented to an arrangement which threatened to confine British enter- ‘prise to the coast. Indeed at one time the British {Foreign Office seems to have decided to be content .with an interior limit represented by a line drawn :from the upper Tana directly south to Kilimanjaro, :and so cutting off the British trade from all access .to the Lake. Happily the course of events rescued TEngland from the results of the short-sightedness of her diplomatists. The territory lying between the boundaries referred to was divided between Germany and England, much to : the advantage of the former so far as area goes. The ? line started from the river Wanga or Umba, and after lbisecting the country of the important \Vadego tribe, :ran in a generally north—west direction to the eastern -side of Lake Victoria at a point touched by the first degree of south latitude. Practically, as has been seen, Pthe whole of the mass of Kilimanjaro was given to iGermany, though there is reason to believe that her ‘ representatives would have been content to allow a part : of it to remain within the British sphere. It is a pity ? that so much of the mountain as would have served for a sanatorium was not secured for Great Britain. The ‘ leading spirit among the British capitalists referred to in Tl 9. D 5. 324 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the despatches was Mr. (now Sir) William Mackinnon ; he in conjunction with the late Mr. Hutton of Man- chester, and one or two others, had subscribed the funds for a prospecting eXpedition to Kilimanjaro, on the faith of the concession obtained by Mr. Johnston ; but as the mountain was cut out of the British sphere, the expedition led to no results so far as British interests were concerned. Ignorance of the geography of the extensive region dealt with no doubt led to complications and difficulties ; it prevented the laying down of the boundaries with a precision that would avoid misunderstandings. Even at the point on the coast from which the line dividing the two spheres started, the reference to the “river Umba or Wanga” left the door open for a misunder- standing of which the Germans were not slow to take advantage. There is no Wanga River; the only water known by that name is a creek, there being a village Wanga two miles north of the Umba. By a quibble the German traders attempted to drive the boundary north to Wanga, which they wished to include in their sphere. Clear as was its title, the British Company had virtually to submit to arbitration. Yet the German officer who was sent to examine the creek came back with the conviction that his country- men had not the shadow of a claim to a foot of land north of the Umba. This is a sample of the many petty vexations to which the ‘British Company had to submit before its sphere was finally settled between the two Governments. But this is anticipating events. The first Anglo—German agreement, as has been BRITISH EAST AFRICA 32 5 aseen, was concluded at the end of 1886. Under $353331; i the presidency of Sir William Mackinnon, the British amen. ;:capita1ists referred to above, and others, formed them- )aselves into the British East Africa Association, and uset themselves to acquire rights over the territory rwhich had been rescued from Germany as the British ‘esphere. Sir William Mackinnon, it has already been :seen, had for long been a favourite with Sayyid Burg— r‘hash, Sultan of Zanzibar, and he had no difficulty in :obtaining from the Sultan, under date May 24, I887, ra concession of the ten—mile strip of coast from the LUmba on the south to Kipini at the mouth of the lTana River on the north. This concession was to be 7 for a term of fifty years. The Company was to have :the entire administration of the territory in the Sultan’s ‘name. In consideration for this concession the Sultan .was to receive the whole amount of the customs dues ,which he received at the date of the concession, in :addition to 50 per cent of the additional net revenue thich might accrue to the Company for the customs duties of the ports included in the concession. About , the same date agreements were made with a consider- able number of native chiefs in and around the main ;concession, (vhich served to complete and extend the , grant made by the Sultan. With these concessions in their ' hands the Association of British capitalists had no hesita— tion in approaching Her Majesty’s Government praying . that they might be incorporated by Royal Charter as the l Imperial British East Africa Company. There was no difficultyin obtaining such a charter (September 3, 1888), into the details of which it is unnecessary to enter. It W 326 THE PARTITION OI" AFRICA practically authorised the Company to administer the 9 territory which had been leased to it by the Sultan, and 1: any other territories which might be acquired in the future. .' Impsrial N 0 important step was to be taken without the consent 3 British gfiflpfigfs“ of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State ; everything possible : Charter' was to be done to develop the territory and suppress 2 the slave-trade. Administrators were to be appointed, , provision made for the administration of justice, and for ’ the conduct of the affairs of this new section of the : empire on the system of a Crown Colony, so far as that : was possible under the conditions. The position thus 2 created for the British East Africa Company, like the position of other chartered companies, was a peculiar one. The extensive area embraced in the limits indicated above, some 200,000 square miles, was virtually declared a part of the British Empire under the designation of “ sphere of influence.” Government spent nothing upon it, appointed no officers to administer it, undertook no direct control of its affairs. The Company, by its charter, represented the British Government, and carried on all the functions delegated by Government to a Colonial administration. Out of its own resources the Company had to carry on its trade,.develop the com- mercial resources of the country, and endeavour to reap dividends for its shareholders. At the same time it was bound to establish an administration in its various branches, pay a governor and many officials, maintain a small army, and endeavour to push its way farther and farther into the interior. This it had to do also under the restrictions of the Berlin Act, and barred the privilege by the treaty obligations with the Sultanate . m5", BRITISH EAST AFRICA 327 :‘from levying taxes. This privilege was promised, but :the promise has never been fulfilled. Obviously for a Company to open up and administer :an extensive territory in a continent like Africa, having ilittle or no analogies with India, a very considerable :capital would be required, or the country must be of 2 such a character as would yield a fair return on outlay l more or less immediate. In the Niger region there is - plenty of trade to be done in native products likely to yield a fair return, and the Niger Company is author- ised to levy considerable dues. In the sphere allotted to the British South Africa Company there is reported to be abundance of gold; those interested in its de- velopment have large capital at their command; ex- pensive exploring expeditions and the maintenance of many stations are not demanded; and much work is done by private prospectors. In British East Africa the whole work of development devolved on the Com- pany; and by its charter it was even prohibited from exercising any monopoly of trade. It is prob- able that had the founders of the Company, with Sir William Mackinnon at their head,1 not been to some extent carried away by a patriotic spirit, they would never have cast their money into a concern out of which they could hardly 1 The founders and first directors of the Company, whose names were appended to the petition for the Charter, were Sir \Villiam Mackinnon, Bart.; the Right Hon. Lord Brassey ; Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart. ; General Sir Donald M. Stewart, Bart.; Sir John Kirk; General Sir Arnold B. Kemball; General Sir Lewis Pelly; Colonel Sir Francis de “'inton; \V. Burdett-Coutts, Esq; Alexander]. Bruce, Esq.; James M. Hall, Esq.; Robert R. Harding, Esq.; James F. Hutton, Esq.; George S. Mackenzie, Esq. ; Robert Ryrie, Esq. The Gom- pany’s difli- cult task. 328 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA expect to receive any return during their lown life— time. The founders subscribed £240,000 among them; ' but although the nominal capital was two millions ' sterling, the actual capital at the command of the Com— - pany has never much exceeded half a million sterling, and of this not more than £300,000 has been called up during the five years of the Company’s existence. After it obtained its charter the Company lost no time in setting to work to take possession of its field, to establish an administration, to send out pioneer ex- peditions, to lay down routes to the interior, and to choose positions for stations. The tract lying between the coast—line allotted to the Company and the great Lake, which was its vague boundary in the interior, was known only in a very general way. The coast had been to some extent surveyed, though of the actual value of the harbours we had no very precise informa— tion. The Tana River was known in a general way up to a certain distance, but its course was very in- accurately laid down. Travellers like Thomson and Fischer had traversed the country from the coast to Kilimanjaro, and northwards to Mount Kenia. Much information as to the country and people had been obtained through the Arabs who traded with caravans. The knowledge we did possess of the interior did not promise much to commercial enterprise; and it was feared that the Masai tribes, with their warlike reputa- tion, would be a great obstacle to the Company’s opera— tions. But the Company went to work with promptness and business-like intelligence. The leading spirit in wwr-wr—qg, v Jr BRITISH EAST AFRICA 329 initiating operations on the spot was Mr. George S. Mackenzie, who had already had great experience in Persia with populations not far removed from the type to be met with in East Africa; he was appointed by the Company the first administrator, with the approval of Her Majesty’s Government. When Mr. Mackenzie arrived in Zanzibar in October I888 he found that f Burghash had died, and that his brother Khalifa occu- F—v w—w — v a v pied the throne of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Khalifa ' not only ratified the original concession, but by another document granted further important facilities to the Company for the carrying out of the privileges which had been accorded by his predecessor. The Sultan even lent the services of his commander-in—chief, General Mathews (a retired lieutenant in the British Navy), to enable Mr. Mackenzie to inaugurate the Company at Mombasa, the ancient Arabo-Portuguese port, which was ‘ to be the Company’s headquarters. At this time it will be ‘ remembered the German section of East Africa broke out into open rebellion. Naturally the natives in the British : sphere were excited, and it required great tact and care : in order to avoid a collision. Unfortunately also the 2 excessive anti—slavery zeal_of the missionaries had com— * plicated matters, and greatly irritated the Arab popula- ‘ tion, whose friendliness it was desirable to secure. Mr. Mackenzie had a trying task to face; many domestic slaves had fled from their masters and taken refuge ’ with the missionaries, who refused to deliver them up. The question of domestic slavery in Africa is a difficult . one, which cannot be discussed in this place. It must not, however, be confounded with slave-raiding and Initial troubles. 330 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA slave-export. It is a universal institution in Africa, and to attempt suddenly to suppress it would lead to anarchy and disorganisation over the whole continent. It is an institution which will only melt away as com- merce, enlightenment, and civilisation advance, and for the missionaries to blindly interfere in the matter is to defeat the great object which they have in view. Happily Mr. Mackenzie was able to deal with the particular case in a way which satisfied all parties except those who are fanatically opposed to all com- promise. He was able to liberate some 1400 slaves, and to make such arrangements as would enable any slaves within the British sphere to purchase their own freedom within a few months. This course satisfied Arabs, natives, and missionaries alike, and at once established the reputation of the Company for fair dealing. gigarigglsax Fortunately, also, the troubles in the German sphere did not spread to that of England, although as has been seen the latter co—operated with Germany in the blockade of the coast. Mr. Mackenzie set about improving Mombasa, town and harbour. One of Her Majesty’s ships surveyed the latter. \Vorks were begun which greatly facilitated navigation; a light , railway was constructed on the island, and suitable buildings were begun on the mainland. Mr. Mackenzie visited all the chief ports and made arrangements to facilitate the Company’s operations. Caravans were at once sent into the interior, in various directions, to open up relations with the natives, to obtain a better knowledge of the country, and to ascertain the best BRITISH EAST AFRICA 331 routes to the interior. One of these in a very short time established stations as far as Machako’s, an important centre 250 miles from the coast. Another proceeded north to the Tana River to open up relations with the chiefs in that part of the territory, and push on towards Mount Kenia. These two caravans, under Mr. F. J. Jackson and Mr. Piggott, did excellent work in exploration and in establishing the Company’s influ- ence along the Tana and eventually as far as Uganda. Within six months after Mr. Mackenzie’s arrival the Company’s officials were fairly established in the terri- tory, and the active work of opening up the country was well begun. It was not, however, only in the German sphere to the south of the Company’s territories that the Company was threatened with difficulties in carrying on its work. The position of Germany in Witu at the mouth of the Tana was shown in a previous chapter ; and it was also pointed out that this patch of German territory was utilised by Dr. Peters as a starting-point from which to hamper the Company on the north by attempting to obtain concessions which would shut it out entirely from the interior. Shortly after the Company’s expe- ditions were sent out towards the Tana River and the north-west, Dr. Peters succeeded in evading the British vessels which were blockading the coast, and notwith- standing the disapproval of the German authorities, he landed in Witu and organised an expedition up the river Tana. His ostensible purpose was to reach and relieve Emin Pasha, who was believed to be hemmed in by the Mahdiists at VVadelai on the Upper Nile; Mr. Stanley Dr. Peters attempts to outflank the Com- pany. 332 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA had set out (w)? the Congo) for his rescue in January I 887. Dr. Peters and the Company’s expedition played at hide-and-seek with each other for some time, but never met. The German adventurer planted the flag of his country along the river, and after numerous fights with the Masai and other natives, he succeeded in reaching Uganda,whereMtesa’s weak sonMwanga reigned. There, ' Catholic and Protestant missionaries had been struggling for ascendency; the Mohammedan party was strong, and many of the chiefs and people adhered to their old heathenism. Mwanga was nominally an adherent of the Roman Catholic faith, though in reality he only cared for the party most likely to keep him in power. The Catholics, more zealous, and perhaps more ener— getic, than the Protestants, had gained many followers and much influence in the country, and would natur— ally be inclined to favour a German as opposed to an English ascendency. Dr. Peters at least, when he arrived in Uganda in the early part of 1890, found no difficulty in securing a friendly reception from Mwanga ;1 he succeeded in inducing the King to make such admissions and concessions as might without difficulty have been construed into a treaty of protection. It may therefore be imagined that his chagrin was 1 Owing to the representations made by the French Government when the Eniin relief expedition was organised, setting out the danger that might befall their mission if Stanley sought to enter Uganda, it being stated that his expedition might be viewed as a punitive one to avenge the murder of Bishop Hannington, Mr. Jackson’s expedition when it started from the coast was specially instructed no! to enter Uganda, and only did so on the invitation of the King and the missionaries, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, to help them to stem the Mohammedan party. BRITISH EAST AFRICA 333 3; great when, in the summer of 1890, having sailed from J Uganda to the south shore of the Lake, he encountered ‘l Emin Pasha, and found not only that the Pasha '1 was “relieved,” but that the British and German )Governments had come to an understanding as to 1 their respective spheres in East Africa, which rendered a; all his efforts to extend German influence of no ’3 avail. By the famous Anglo- German agreement of July AngloHGer 1 1890, Germany 1etired completely from the north of $331355“ 1 the line extending from the Umba to the east shore 1 of the Lake, leaving Witu and all the coast north to l the river Jub (over which she had declared a protect- ) orate) to the operations of the British Company. The 1 line of delimitation was then carried across Victoria Nyanza, and from its west shore to the boundary of the Congo Free State, deflecting southward so as to include Mount Mfumbiro ; the precise position of which remains doubtful. The sphere of Great Britain was recognised in this agreement as extending along the ‘ Jub River and far away to the sources of the western tributaries of the Nile. The precise delimitation on this side will be referred to when we come to speak of the sphere of Italy. Meantime it may here be stated that this Anglo—German agreement recognised the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba as under British protection, such protection being accepted by the Sultan. These islands were outside of the Company’s concession and charter, which virtually included a large section of Victoria Nyanza, the whole of Uganda and Unyoro, and part of Karagwe, Lake Albert and part of Albert Emin Pasha. 334 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Edward, and the countries on their shores, as well as the Egyptian Equatorial Province, and part of Darfur and Kordofan. Of course this enormous sphere must be regarded as to some extent a fancy one. It includes a considerable section of the old Egyptian Sudan, and although that has been abandoned by Egypt, the Khedive might be inclined to put in a claim if the British East Africa Company succeeded in effectively occupying it and restoring its com— mercial and industrial prosperity. At the same time, it should never be lost sight of that, according to the spirit, if not the letter, of the Berlin Act, if there is no effective occupation there can be no claim to possession. Mr. Stanley left England, as has been said, in order to carry relief to Emin Pasha at Wadelai, in the begin- ning of 1887. It is beyond the purpose of this work to deal with Mr. Stanley’s expedition. So far as the partition of Africa is concerned, he may be said to have to some extent shown the way to the officials of the Congo Free State, who, since Mr. Stanley’s march through the forest of the Aruwimi, have pushed their operations considerably to the north—eastward, to within hail of the upper Nile. Mr. Stanley, as is known, succeeded in bringing to the East Coast Emin Pasha and a contingent of his people. Others of his followers remained on Lake Albert. Emin himself entered the German service, but his erratic conduct proved more of an embarrassment than a help. He endeavoured in I 89 I —92 to reach his old province, but failed. On Mr. Stanley’s route from Lake Albert to the East Coast he made BRITISH EAST AFRICA 335 1‘ treaties with the chiefs to the west of the Victoria T Nyanza, through whose territories he passed, and these r treaties he made over to the British Company. Mr. 1 Stanley, it is well known, made several 01.“ch to Emin, ) one being to settle him and his followers in the British 1 sphere on the north—west of Victoria Nyanza. But - when Emin got into the hands of the Germans, T he became completely their man, for the time at least. Shortly after Dr. Peters left Uganda it was entered on behalf of the Company by two of its officials, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Gedge. These very efficient pioneers had made their way from Mombasa north-west by Machako’s, through the Masai country and northwards by the magnificent extinct volcano, Mount Elgon, and entered Uganda through Usogo. With most of the chiefs on their route they had little difficulty in coming to terms, and inducing them to accept the Company’s flag. Their reports were of great service in showing the advantages and the difficulties of the country through which they passed. They confirmed the statements of previous explorers that, while there were great stretches along the magnificent plateau country of Lykipia and in Usogo suitable for industrial development and for the settlement of Indian and Persian colonists, the region nearer the coast suffered greatly from want of water. Much of the country was well adapted for cattle and agriculture : some of the natural products might be turned to account, and of course a certain amount of ivory was obtainable. Stations were established at intervals, partly as trading centres and partly as stages for the caravans which The Com- pany’s stations. Communi- cations. A railway. 336 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA were to be sent for traffic and exploration into the interior. The great problem forced upon the Company was that of communications. It was evident that so long as the only means of transport was the African native, commerce could not advance beyond the lowest stage. Camels, donkeys, and mules were experimented with, but all of them demand practicable roads and an adequate supply of water and food. Still mules and donkeys were employed to a considerable extent, though road—making proceeded somewhat slowly. But everything seemed to point to the desirability of con- structing a light railway from the coast to the Lake, a distance of some 500 miles. For more than half-way the ground was so level as to render the construction extremely easy. Beyond that, however, was the enor— mous Mau escarpment, making a descent and correspond- ing ascent of some 3000 or 4000 feet, which, however, is reported to present no difficulty to the engineer. As a matter of fact, though the first mention of the Company in the official correspondence between England and Germany was in connection with a railway, the Com- pany declared its resources unequal to more than a few miles of tramway beyond Mombasa. The Act of the Brussels Congress of 1891 afforded the Company a lever wherewith to move the Government in the matter. That Act imposed upon the Governments which signed it the obligation of taking effective means, among other things, of suppressing slave—raiding and slave—export. \Vith respect to British East Africa, it was represented that the most effective means was the construction of BRITISH EAST AFRICA 337 pa railway from the coast to the Lake, thus rendering 'human carriage unprofitable and unnecessary. The "result was that Lord Salisbury’s Government made a grant of £20,000 in 1891 for a railway survey, the .‘Company to pay any expenses incurred in excess of that sum. This grant, it was understood, was only preliminary to a still larger vote for the construction of the railway itself. Under an experienced Indian engineer officer, Captain Macdonald, the survey expe- dition did excellent work. It traced a practicable route .at moderate cost as far as the Lake, and added greatly to our knowledge of the country in its vicinity. It was understood that the grant for the survey was to be followed by a grant for the railway. As might have been expected, the construction of a railway at Imperial expense was strongly objected to in several quarters, on the ground mainly that it was the Com— pany’s business, and entirely for its benefit. But political events at home led, as will be seen, to a certain change of policy in East Africa. But let us return to Uganda. When Messrs. Jackson and Gedge entered the British oc- country they found it in a state bordering on anarchy (allegarlté? or under the weak and cruel Mwanga. Catholics, Pro- testants, and Mohammedans were plotting and counter- ;plotting; Mwanga was found to be almost entirely in the power of the “French party,” as the Catholic missionaries called themselves. Eventually Mr. Jackson returned to the coast in 1890 with envoys from the chiefs of Uganda and Usogo, who came to see for themselves whether the English were supreme at Z as“ 338 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the coast. Meantime Mr. Gedge was reduced t0): despair by the conduct of Mwanga and his party; he )1 retired to the south shore of the Lake and counselled 3 the abandonment of Uganda at least for a times But the strong man whom the situation required was». already on his way to deal with Mwanga. Captain': £32211: F. D. Lugard, who had previously shown his capacity'( for dealing with refractory Arabs and native chiefs inn Nyassaland, had entered the service of the Company} early in 1890. He had shown his capacity for organisa-~. tion, andAhis high quality as a pioneer explorer, in the) expedition which he conducted from Mombasa to: Machako’s shortly after his arrival in East Africa. He) was, with the small force at his command, ordered to: proceed to Uganda. Soldiers, porters, and camp-~ followers, all told, Captain Lugard had only 300:: men at his command. With these he made forced: marches from Kikuyu, and before the end of? December 1890 he entered‘ Mengo, the capital of Uganda, much to the surprise of Mwanga and all his chiefs. Within a few“days after his arrival,. with Cromwellian decision and determination he in-‘ fiifi‘émg duced Mwanga to sign a treaty acknowledging the: 0nganda~ supremacy of the Company, but only for two years.- Mwanga declared that if a greater white man thanx Captain Lugard arrived, he 31$de transfer his allegiance; evidently his mind had been unsettled by Dr. Peters. Captain Lugard and his two or three white companions. had a trying part to play. They established their camp. in a commanding position, and proceeded quietly and? unostentatiously to fortify it; they had the advantage BRITISH EAST AFRICA 339 lcof a Maxim gun. They lived at first in constant {apprehension of attack; but in time Mwanga was :iforced to admit that the British officer was his best ifriend. Captain Lugard gave it to be clearly under- 1‘ stood that he would favour neither one party nor the 'cother, but that he would maintain the authority of the FBritish Company against all parties. His perfect fair- mess was in time recognised; and the results of his rmeasures to abolish anarchy and establish trade and (peace were so evident that Catholics and Protestants vwere compelled to admit it. This state of feeling was no ldoubt in part induced by the fact that the Mohammedans Jwere hovering on the outskirts of the country, ready to Irush in and take advantage of the disscnsions among {the Christians. By the spring of 1891 the English position was so Lugardex- . _ tends Brit- ’stronO‘ that Ca tam Lucard felt at 11bert to leave lsh occupa- ‘o P 6 Y tion west- _Uganda in charge of one of his subordinate officers,wards- .and undertake a pioneer journey to the westward. But {the position of the Mohammedans on the outskirts (of the country was so menacing that he felt it desirable ifirst of all to deal with them. He did not consider it advisable to take any direct part in the conflict himself, (but under his guidance both Christian parties united, .and their forces were so well organised that- the {Mohammedans were completely routed. This naturally greatly increased Captain Lugard’s influence, and he .was able without returning to Mengo to set out on an expedition to the west shores of the Victoria Nyanza and westward to Lake Albert Edward and Mount Ruwenzori. Captain Lugard had no difficulty anywhere in winning 340 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the confidence of the chiefs and natives, and in inducing); them to accept the authority of the Company. He was; able to form a comparatively high opinion of the] country and of its suitability for industrial development: under a stable administration. At Lake Albert Edward» Captain Lugard discovered some valuable salt mines, and‘; erected a fort to guard them. On the slopes of Mountt Ruwenzori he built another fort, and proceeded north-r ward to Lake Albert. Here at Kavalli’s he found Selim‘t Bey and some thousands of Emin Pasha’s followers who- had been left behind by Mr. Stanley when the latter: proceeded to the coast with Emin. These people were" evidently living in comfort and peace. Captain Lugard. had little difficulty in inducing Emin’s old followerS‘ to go with him ; and many of them took service: in Uganda under the Company. He succeeded im defeating the notorious Kaba Rega, King of Unyoro,: and erected a number of forts to secure the footing he» had gained in this interesting region. Lugard found thati Emin, accompanied by Dr. Stuhhmann, had preceded) him at Ruwenzori and on Lake Albert; but the Pasha: could not induce his former followers to throw in their lotr with him and the Germans. When in the end of 1891' Captain Lugard returned to Uganda, he had firmly: laid the foundation of British supremacy; in all the region: between Lake Victoria on the one side and Lakes: Albert and Albert Edward on the other. He had rid) the region from the cruelty and oppression of Kabai; Rega’s domination, and established confidence among; the natives, and loyalty to the name of England”: Nothing was wanted but that the garrisons in the forts: BRITISH EAST AFRICA 341 rshould be strengthened, and Captain Lugard’s policy continued, in order to render this region a centre of 'isivilisation for all Central Africa. When Captain Lugard returned to Uganda he found ggfiggiin “the condition of things not so favourable as when he ;had left. There had been incessant intrigues on the :part of the Catholic or French party; the Protestants :had not been so discreet as they might have been ; while tithe weak and inconstant Mwanga had been induced to itry to free himself from his allegiance to the Company. (A trifling incident in the Bazaar shortly after Captain .Lugard’s return to Uganda seems to have led to what was E'virtually an attack of the Catholic upon the Protestant «party. Captain Lugard felt bound in the interests of the :Company and of England to espouse the cause of the slatter. Many reports reached England in the early half of 1892 as to the “cruelties ” exercised by Captain _Lugard and his party against the Catholics; but an examination of all the facts proved that he acted with tperfect justice and impartiality, his sole aim being to imaintain the supremacy of the Company as representing :Great Britain. King Mwanga and many of the more (prominent Catholics fled; others were succoured by .,Captain Lugard himself. Before Lugard returned to *England in the autumn of 1892, he had once more wrestored peace; the Catholics were settled in Buddu, ron the north-west of Lake Victoria, the Protestants [in Uganda, and the Mohammedans in a province «of their own. King Mwanga was restored, and under “Captain Williams, Lugard’s colleague, all promised well. The Com- pany decide to abandon Uganda. 342 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Meanwhile the directors of the Company in England» had become somewhat appalled at the vast responsi-~E bility thus forced upon them. Their comparatively; insignificant capital of half a million could not main-1 tain the administration of some million of square miles; . and in the absence of powers to raise taxes they didiuf not consider themselves justified in spending the ' money of the shareholders on enterprises so fart: distant from their base of operations. In 1891 the Company gave it to be understood that it would) be compelled to withdraw from Uganda. At this: the missionary public took alarm, and subscribed as: very considerable sum of money to enable the Com-- pany to maintain Captain Lugard at his post for a; time. But the Company only undertook to hold on: thereltill the end of 1892. When the news 0f the revolution in Uganda reached England there was am outcry against the Company for threatening to abandom the country under such conditions, leaving the Pro-r testants at the mercy of the Catholics. Moreover,: it was said it was in the hope that the Company would.» remain in Uganda and extend its operations that Lordi> Salisbury had induced the House of Commons to incurl: the expense of a survey for a railway. With this, how--' ever, the Company maintained that it had nothing to do ; the railway was the affair of the Government, whosen: duty it was to construct it, in order, by so doing, to carry; out the obligations undertaken by Great Britain as an signatory of the Act of the Brussels Conference. As a1; matter of fact the Company by this time (summer of.« 1892) had spent all but £200,000 of its capital. It BRITISH EAST AFRICA 343 “(became evident that with this not much could be done xto meet the expenses which would be absolutely neces~ I;sary to continue the occupation of Uganda and main~ stain the position secured by Captain Lugard to the '1 westward. Besides, the Company was primarily a 3:131; £32m .(trading company. The power to raise taxes, though m9“- (promised by the Imperial Government, was still with— rheld; and although the revenue from customs was steadily r increasing, it did not amount to much. The crisis in the : Company’s affairs, and in the occupation of the immense zsphere allotted to England by the Anglo-German and 'Anglo-Italian agreements, was reached in the summer ’of 1892, when Lord Salisbury’s Government was suc— ceeded by that of Mr. Gladstone, with Lord Rosebery as Foreign Minister, under whose cognisance would come the affairs of a sphere which as yet only formed the raw materials for colonies. It was felt that under Lord Rosebery Imperial interests would not suffer. The affairs of British East Africa demanded the prompt attention of the new Government. A Cabinet Council was held in the end of September, and on the 30th a letter from the Foreign Office was sent to the Company accepting “ the principle of evacuation,” but offering assistance to the Company to prolong the occupation to the end of March 1893. The attempt to make the abandonment of Uganda a party-question failed ; for it was seen that “ abandon- ment ” of all that had been gained in East Africa, and not temporary retirement, was what certain extreme partisans had in View. There were so many and varied interests at stake that public opinion ranged itself 344 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA very emphatically against abandonment. Captain Lugard, who returned to England at the critical moment, addressed crowded audiences all over the country, and so intensified public opinion on behalf of retention, that the Government became convinced that even temporary evacuation would not be tolerated. Happily their communication to the Company was so ingeniously worded that it afforded them a loophole for escape; “abandonment,” we are assured, was never in their thoughts. The simple and obvious course would have been to send Captain Lugard back as soon as possible to continue his beneficent work either directly under the Imperial Government or through the agency of the Company. This, however, it was felt, would be too sudden a wile—face for certain influential members of the Cabinet; so that, in deference to them, a middle course was adopted. It was resolved to send a com- mission to Uganda to inquire into the position and to furnish information to the Government to enable them to decide as to the course to be ultimately adopted. The most reasonable section of the Cabinet wanted to act through the Company who had all its machinery on the spot ; but the ruling spirit in the Cabinet would not even listen to such a proposal. Sir Gerald Portal, Her Majesty’s representative at Zanzibar, was appointed as Commissioner. With him were associated about half a dozen British officers and other Englishmen ex— perienced in East African affairs. The expedition, accompanied by 200 of the Sultan of Zanzibar's soldiers and an army of putees, left the coast early in January 1893. The few Englishmen in Uganda who i r_ ( BRITISH EAST AFRICA 345 are holding the position on behalf of the Company and of their country have been notified by the speediest possible means of what has taken place, so that it is hoped that when Sir Gerald Portal and his expedition arrive all will be undisturbed. It is felt that one result, at least, of Sir Gerald’s report will be, that Captain Lugard will be sent back as Imperial Com— missioner to strengthen the position he has gained and to extend more or less effective occupation to the limits of the British sphere. There is probably foundation for the common belief that the triumph of ' Imperialism in Mr. Gladstone’s Cabinet has been mainly due to the firm position taken by Lord Rosebery, who, it was felt, could not consistently with his past career sub— mit to any threatened “ dismemberment of the Empire.” Notwithstanding its troubles in connection with Uganda, the Company was not idle elsewhere. Mr. Ernest Berkeley, who had had considerable experience in the East African Consular service, assumed the office of administrator in 1891, and under him the enterprises of the Company were conducted ener- getically and economically. The Tana was carefully explored, and found to be an uncertain waterway; the troublesome Sultan of Witu was induced to settle down quietly ; friendly relations were entered into with the chiefs and tribes along the coast as far as the river ' Jub, the boundary between the British and Italian ~ spheres, and the capabilities of the river as a trade- route were investigated, with the result that it was found to be navigable for 400 miles of its course. Specialists were employed to examine and report Work ac- com linked by t 6 Com- pany. 346 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA upon the planting and agricultural capacities of the coast regions, with results very favourable to the prosecution of industrial enterprise. By an agreement with the Sultan in I891 the lease of fifty years ‘of the strip of coast claimed by him was converted into a grant in perpetuity in consideration of an annual payment of 80,000 dollars. The whole length of the coast-line thus acquired measured 400 miles. The customs dues rose steadily from 36,000 dollars in 1889 to 80,000 dollars in I89I. Under Dr. Stewart of Lovedale an industrial institution for training natives was established near Machako’s. A greater sense of security began to prevail in the interior, several of the most troublesome tribes, including the Masai, sending large numbers of the people down to the coast to make friends with the Company. Small experiments had been made with Indian immigrants; these were successful, but there were difficulties in the way of obtaining such immigrants in numbers sufficient to colonise the Sabaki, the Tana, and the Jub rivers on a large scale. Notwithstanding mistakes and misfortunes, the Company during the four years of its existence must be admitted to have done much for the effective occupation and development of the regions between the Victoria Nyanza and the coast. British pro- Although it did not directly affect the operation of tectqratein _ _ Zanmbar the Company, the declaratlon 1n the summer of 1890 andPemba. of a British protectorate over the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba tended to give it a greater feeling of security and permanence. A regular administration under British auspices was formed (by agreement, October 1891) in the Sultan’s restricted dominions, which {.73 BRITISH EAST AFRICA A 347 must, therefore, be regarded as distinctly within the British sphere. It is deserving of note that Sir Gerald Portal (who succeeded Sir Euan Smith as British representative at Zanzibar) was by an order in council appointed Her Majesty’s Commissioner, authorised to exercise a general supervision over the territories im— mediately under the Company and the whole of the territories beyond. This was in reality an acknowledg- ment of Imperial responsibility for the administration of the entire British sphere in East Africa. CHAPTER XIX THE ITALIAN SPHERE AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN Italy occupies Assab Bay—Massowa—Hostilities with Abyssinia—Treaty with Abyssinia—Colony of Eritrea—Annexations on the Somali coast —-Italian relations with the British East African Company—Italy’s position in Africa—The Egyptian Sudan. Ifiiiyflflij IT will only be necessary to deal briefly with the advance ay- of Italy in Africa since the Berlin Congress, while the position in the abandoned Egyptian Sudan has remained practically unchanged so far as European influences are concerned. As was the case with Germany, Italy, very soon after it became a united kingdom, sought to obtain possessions abroad. 50 long ago as 1875 Italian vessels were hovering around Socotra, and compelled England to step in and place her Imperial stamp upon the island. Tripoli was for a time a sore temptation also to the young kingdom on the other side of the Mediterranean, but fear of complications with France and Turkey in— duced her to keep her hands off. We have seen that, although in 1870 a spot in Assab Bay, just inside the Red Sea, was purchased as a coaling station, it was not till 1880 that the Italian Government even nominally took it over. From this as a starting-point the Italian possessions in the Red Sea spread northwards. South- wards they could go no farther than Raheita, as the French ITALIAN SPIIERE AND EGYPTIAN SUDAN 349 station of Obock barred the way. It was not until July 1882 that the Italian Government took active possession of the territory and bay of Assab. Italian explorers and Italian missionaries had been active in this part of Africa for years. Until 188 5 Italy’s footing in the Red Sea hardly extended beyond Assab; but .in that year, taking advantage of Egypt’s difficulties with the Mahdiists, she took possession of Beilul and of the im- portant port of Massowa, the Egyptian garrison of the Massowa. latter being compelled to quit. These steps were taken with the connivance if not the approval of England. Had Italy not taken and held Massowa, it might have fallen into the hands of the Mahdiists. Italian domination rapidly extended all along the coast, so that by 1888 it reached from Cape Kasar, south of Suakim, on the north, to the French colony of Obock in the south, some 6 50 miles. These advances on the part of Italy were not Hostumes regarded, as may be believed, with anything like com— Xinyssmia. placency by King John of Abyssinia. The hostile action of the latter led to what was really a war between the Italian garrison and the Abyssinian army ; at Dogali, in January I 887, an Italian force was almost annihilated. But this did not prevent Italy from adhering to what she had gained, and attempting to push her influence into the interior. After the death of King John, the interior posts of Keren and Asmara were occupied, as well as other places not far from the coast, but giving command of the routes to the lofty tableland of the interior. King John was succeeded by Menelek, King of Shoa, who showed some inclination to establish friendly relations with the Italians. By an Treaty with Abyssinia. Colony of Eritrea. Annexation on the Somali Coast 350 THE PARTITIOA OF AFRICA agreement of May 1889, confirmed and renewed in [October of the same year, a treaty of “ mutual protec- tion ” was entered into between Menelek and Umberto 1., King of Italy. This was naturally regarded as in effect placing Abyssinia under the protection of Italy, though on more than one occasion since, Menelek has repudiated any such interpretation, the protection he maintains being as much on his side as on that of Italy. As a matter of fact the Italian protectorate of Abys- sinia is of the most nominal and shadowy character, and may possibly vanish even in name if the French influence continues to extend from the south as it has been recently doing. It is only at a few points on the coast, and those referred to in the near interior, that the influence of Italy is actually felt. By various decrees in 1890 and 1891 the Italian possessions on the Red Sea have been constituted into the colony of Eritrea, with an autonomous administration and the management of its own finances. The area of the territory strictly included in Eritrea is probably not more than 52,000 square miles, while that of the so-called protectorate of Abyssinia is about I 95,000 square miles, including Shoa, Kaffa, Harrar, and other places claimed by King Menelek. But Italy was not content with securing a position, on the Red Sea. Since she could not obtain Socotra, she turned her attention to the barren coast opposite on the African mainland, inhabited by the fiercely inde- pendent nomads, the Somalis and Gallas. In February I 889 the Sultan of Obbia or Oppia, on the Somali coast, between 5° 33’ north latitude and 2° 30’ north latitude, placed his Sultanate under the protection of Italy. In I ITALIAN SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN SUDAN 351 April of the same year the Italian sphere was extended to the country between 5° 33’ north latitude and 8° 3’ north latitude by treaty with the Sultan of the Mijertine Somalis, who at the same time bound himself to make no treaty with any other Power regarding the rest of his territory. On the other side, in November 1889, the Somali coast from the Sultanate of Obbia to the mouth of the Jub River (00 15' S. lat.) was declared to be within the sphere of Italy. Here was a stretch of some 800 miles of coast, with vague extension inwards, added with wonderful rapidity to Italy’s “foreign possessions.” It apparently did not concern her that the coast was little better than a sandy waste ; she had a vague idea that somehow it might be a convenient back door to Abyssinia and Shoa, all the more if the Jub River were found to be a practicable waterway. At the mouth of the river the Italian sphere and the British sphere overlapped. As the Sultan of - Zanzibar had ceded to the British Company his territory as far north as VVarsheikh, beyond the mouth of the Jub, Italy obviously claimed what already belonged to another Power. However, the two Powers found no difficulty in coming to an understanding. The . xBritish Company very readily conceded all its claims on the coast to the north of the Jub, on the understanding that Italy would not be too exacting as to the delimita— tion between the spheres of the two Powers in the interior. When however, it came to actual negotiations, Italy showed but little disposition to minimise her claims. The boundary between the spheres of the two Powers was settled by agreement (March 1891). The line Italian relations with the British g East African Company. Italy’s osition in Enrica. 352 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ascends the channel of the Jub River from its mouth to 6° north latitude, instead of to 8° as was understood would be the case in the preliminary negotiations with the Company. It then follows the 6th parallel as far as 3 5° east longitude, that meridian forming the bound- ary between the British and Italian spheres up to the Blue Nile. In Somaliland and Gallaland this gives to Italy an area of 3 5 5,000 square miles,on which it is esti- mated there is a scanty population of one and a half million. The whole area claimed by Italyin Africa is over 600,000 square miles. To the west her Abyssinian protectorate is bounded by the former Egyptian Sudan, the limits here being somewhat indefinite. Just beyond the northern fron- tier is Kassala, which, as a bulwark against the Mahdiists, Italy proposed in I 890 to occupy ; but although at first inclined to assent, in the end England, as representing the Egyptian Government, placed her veto on the project. Italy then, like other great powers of Europe, has acquired a fair slice of the continent in the scramble for Africa. A small and prudent minority in the Italian Parliament attempted in vain to oppose the craving for an “African Empire” which had seized regenerated Italy. After the disaster at Dogali a motion for the evacuation of Massowa was lost by 302 votes to 40 (May 1888). The Prime Minister, Signor Crispi, told the House that “Colonial extension is for modern nations a vital question. The advantages which it brings cannot be translated into figures.” So far as Italy is concerned, it is difficult to see what advantage of any kind the claim to suzerainty over the desert region of Somaliland and Gallaland can bring, and ITALIAN SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN SUDAN 353 over the long stretch of Red Sea coast, backed by a more or less sandy strip separating the coast from the Abyssinian highlands. The territory, with its numerous officials and its African corps of over 6000 officers and men, is a drain on the resources of a ' country whose financial difficulties are increasing every .year. Massowa is no doubt an important port, and its trade, as the leading gate from the sea to Abyssinia, . is capable of considerable development. The monopoly :of the trade of Massowa may be worth having. But :‘most of the other territory claimed by Italy is little :better than an unnecessary and expensive appendage. Italy, unless her resources and her power increase im- Imensely, can never expect to have any real hold over the rmost inaccessible and most mountainous country of ’Africa,with a population fiercelyindependent. Certainly, awith its great variety of climate and its industrial capa— bilities, Abyssinia might form a very suitable field for >colonisation by Southern Europeans. But it is doubtful 'if there is room in the country for both Italians and lAbyssinians. The ultimate fate of Abyssinia, so different in many respects from any other native state [in Africa, is one of the problems of the continent. So far as can be judged at present, the wisest course for Italy (:0 pursue is to cherish friendly relations with king and 1;)eople, and so secure an increased share in the commerce of the country. As for the country in the Somali interior, «ts commercial value can never be great. Both north and south, Italy has England to compete with. The «101d of the British East Africa Company on the Jub River is strong, and its resources are much greater than 2 A 354 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA any Italian company is likely to command. On the northern coast of Somaliland England is supreme from Tajura Bay to near Cape Guardafui. Her influence extends over some 50,000 square miles, while her port at Berbera draws to it most of the commerce of the interior. However, Italy’s sphere is allotted to her; and if she only acts on her own maxim—“ He who goes gently goes safely, and he who goes safely goes far ”— and is not inveigled into any expensive military opera- tions, she may in time reap some advantage from her 600,000 square miles of Africa. Meantime it is to her credit that Italian explorers are doing much for a know- ledge of her sphere, especially in the Somaliland interior, which they assure us is better pastured and better watered than has been generally believed in the past. ghe t, The position of the former Egyptian Sudan, so far g'y‘p 1a.n _ . . . Sudan as outsrde influences are concerned, 15 not essentlally different from what it was when abandoned on the death of Gordon in January 1885. From Fashoda to near VVady Halfa, and from Darfur to almost within hail of the Red Sea, it is still in the hands of the successors of the Mahdi. The old Mahdi is dead, but another reigns in his stead; though the magic of the name has departed. From the news which at various times has come out from Khartum it is evident that the Khalifa, or so-called Mahdi, rules more by terror than by any other means. In several places on the Upper Nile the native tribes—the Shilluks, Dinkas, and others—have risen against the Mahdi’s followers and expelled them. A detachment of Mahdiists seems to be stationed at Regaf, cut off from the main body ITALIAN SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN SUDAN 355 iin the north; and a section of Emin’s followers hold Wadelai, but have no connection with the Mahdiists. The real rulers of the Egyptian Sudan are the so-called Arabs known as Baggaras, notorious slave-raiders, who hardly make any pretence of being guided by the religious fanaticism of the Mahdiists. They hold Khar- tum and have stations all over the Sudan, from which ' they terrorise the few natives that remain, whose tribal systems are almost entirely broken up, and who would welcome the intervention of any Power that would free them from their oppressors. VVadai and Bornu, with their dependencies, are still outside any European sphere; they are the most fanatical Moslem states in Africa. A large contingent of Zebehr Pasha’s old forces, after the defeat of Suleiman by Gessi Pasha, wandered westwards and conquered for themselves a considerable portion of Bagirmi, where they are settled, and may cause trouble to any European Power advancing from the west. A large portion of Darfur and of the Equatorial pro— vinces is nominally within the British sphere; but, actually, the whole region is at present unappropriated. It cannot remain long thus. It is generally admitted that a determined attack from the east, or the north, or the south, by a properly organised force, would annihilate the so—called Mahdiist power; but the time has not yet arrived for such a demonstration. With the keen competition which exists between England, Germany, and France for suzerainty over the country to the south and east of Lake Chad, this highly valuable region of Central Africa, from a commercial standpoint, cannot remain long unattached. CHAPTER XX ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA British advance in South Africa—The Transvaal and Bechuanaland— Various annexations—Mashonaland and Matabeleland—The Boers and ‘Mashonaland—Portugal and Matabeleland—British supremacy secured Lobengula and his warriors—Claims of Portugal—The rival companies—Cecil Rhodes: his Company—'A charter obtained ——The various companies—Portuguese companies—The Government and the Chartered Company—Value of Matabeleland——The Company takes possession—Progress made—~Collision with the Portuguese— Anglo-Portuguese arrangement—British enterprise in the Lake Nyassa region-«Claims of Portugal—A trans-African Empire—- Troubles with the Arabs— Portuguese attempts to take possession— H. H. Johnston frustrates them—Extended British enterprise—A British Commissioner appointed to Northern Zambesia Progress in Northern Zambesia. British . THE extension of the British sphere in South Africa gigam and in the region watered by the Zambesi and its affluents has, since 1885, been rapid and immense. Up to 1884, British South Africa, with the exception of the colony of Griqualand West, did not extend beyond the Orange River. The impulse given to further extension has been seen in connection with German annexations in South—west Africa. But the attention both of the Imperial Government and of the Cape Government was directed to the region vaguely known The Trans- as Bechuanaland even before this period. During the vaal and fifflmna' four years of British occupation of the Transvaal (I877- ZAJIIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 357 1881) comparative peace was maintained on its borders. But no sooner had the Transvaal reassumed its inde— pendence than the Republic promoted disputes among the tribes on its western borders. The result was intertribal wars and a struggle for supremacy among the rival chiefs. This afforded an opportunity for Boer intervention, with the result that enormous areas of the neighbouring Bechuanaland were acquired, and two Boer States founded, Stellaland and Goshenland. This condition of things compelled the British Govern- ment to consider what steps should be taken to pro- tect the interests of the Empire and of Cape Colony in this part of South Africa. The Convention of February 1884 fixed the western limits of the Trans- vaal, and as a consequence it was decided to proclaim a British protectorate in Bechuanaland. Mr. John Mackenzie, who had worked as a missionary for many years in this part of Africa, was in 1884 appointed Deputy-Commissioner to Bechuanaland, and in this capacity concluded treaties with several of the chiefs. But this did not prevent the Transvaal Boers from intervening and endeavouring to secure a large slice of the Bechuanaland territory. Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who had succeeded Mr. Mackenzie as Deputy—Commissioner, refused to recognise the claims set up by the Boers ; and in order to put an end to all disputes and to secure the whole territory for Great Britain, Sir Charles Warren was commissioned, at the end of 1884, to proceed to Bechuanaland with a strong force. Sir Charles Warren accomplished his mission with complete success. The boundaries of the Transvaal were restricted to those 358 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA laid down in the Convention of February 1884; and l the British sphere was extended northwards to 22° ‘ south latitude. All this was accomplished by August : 188 5, and in the following month the southern portion of the territory (south of the Molopo River) was erected into a Crown Colony under the name of British Bechuana- - land. The Colony, including later extensions, covers . 70,000 square miles, the region to the north as far as 22° 8., covering 100,000 square miles, being constituted the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, with British residents and a strong police force to patrol the country. In the northern part of this area the remarkable chief Khama is supreme, and it was only after long confer- ences with Sir Charles Warren that this chief at last agreed to accept Her Majesty’s protection. We may complete the tale of annexation in this quarter by stating that by an Order in Council of 4th July 1890, the whole of the territory north of British Bechuanaland, west of the Transvaal and of Matabeleland, east of the German Protectorate of South-west Africa, and south of the Zambesi, was placed under the jurisdiction of the Governor of British Bechuanaland; though the British South Africa Company claim the section north of the Crown Colony, by reason of its being included within the sphere defined by their Charter, and efforts have been recently made on behalf of the Company to hand it over to their administration. The total area thus embraced probably covers about 350,000 square miles. The precise western boundaries of this extensive region were fixed, as has been seen in a previous chapter, by the Anglo—German agreement of September I890. ZAJIIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 359 Here the only rights to be considered were those of the natives; there was little difficulty in coming to an understanding as to the claims of Germany. It was a question of annexation either by Great Britain or by the Transvaal, and in this case the stronger Power could have no scruples in using its strength, the result being not only advantageous to itself, but at the same time of advantage to the natives, who would, it can hardly be doubted, receive better treatment at the hands of the British than at the hands of the Boers. The wide region between the Orange River and the $331: Zambesi is one in which English missionary effort (we “0118- need only mention the names of Moffat and Livingstone) had been long active and fairly successful, and with which English traders had had dealings for many years. Whatever views may be held as to mission work in the abstract, there can be no doubt of the practical benefits secured by the conversion of such chiefs as Sechele and Khama from the ways of their forefathers, and, in the case of Khama at least, the change has been a vast improvement. At present, however, we are only concerned to show that British influence was already paramount here, and that it was therefore natural for the British Government to step in and prevent a Boer annexation. But the truth is, as will have been seen from {previous chapters, that by 1885, all considerations for what are called “ native rights” had disappeared before the blind scramble. It was in the nature of things that Great Britain should try to make up for the loss of Damaraland by grasping all that she could lay hands upon to the north of Cape Colony. 360 ' THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Even before 1890 she had distinctly given it to be understood, as will be seen, that she regarded the Zambesi as the natural northern boundary of her South ’ African possessions. Unfortunately this principle was adopted much too late to be of avail in securing a perfectly united British South Africa. It was only in 1868 that the conception seems to have taken shape; and by that time two independent Boer republics had been established, and the idea was so slow in taking root, that so late as 1884 Germany was allowed to step in and cut- off from the possibility of annexation an enormous block on the west. Basutoland, it is true, was annexed in 1868 and Griqualand West in 1871; but from that time till 1885, with the exception of the fruitless attempt to annex the Transvaal, little advance was made. We have seen the important step taken in 1884 and 1885 on the west of the Transvaal. On the east of that republic the Boers were as eager to make annexations as they were in the west. It was natural that the Transvaal should endeavour to obtain an independent outlet to the sea, from which she was barred by Swaziland, Tongaland, and Zululand,—on all of which countries she has had her eye for years. In 1884 a party of Boers took possession of the western part of Zululand, and established an independent state, the New Republic; and when Zululand was in 1887 declared British territory, this section was handed over to the Transvaal. Swaziland also, which forms an indentation on the east of the Transvaal, had long been coveted by the Boers; in the meantime, by the Con- vention of 1890, it is in a transition state, and seems ZAJIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 361 ' likely in the end to go the way of the New Republic. The Tongaland strip between Swaziland and the sea is virtually British, though there seems to have been an understanding that the Transvaal would be accorded a small section of Swaziland and Tongaland, including a ten—mile radius around Kosi Bay. But these were comparatively small matters, though Mashong. all tending to complete the partition of the continent Matabele and affect more or less favourably the development of British enterprise. Though Germany had given the British Government a general assurance that she would not seek any further annexations south of Delagoa Bay, it was none the less difficult for enterprising Germans in search of fresh fields to resist temptation so long as any portion of the great area south of the Zambesi was unannexed. Reference was made in a previous chapter to the glowing account of a German trader of the region now generally known as 7 ambesia extending from the Transvaal to the Cent1al African Lakes; Sir Bartle Fre1e regarded Herr VVebers communication as so im— portant that he sent home a translation to the Foreign Office. Moreover, the Boers, ever on the look—out for new lands into which to fret», had long ago fixed their eyes on the country north of the Limpopo, known generally as Matabeleland, ruled over by Lobengula, the son of the chief of the Matabeles, with whom, when they were in their old home, the British Government made a treaty of friendship in 1836. The reports of Mauch, Baines, and others, of the rich gold mines con- tained in this territory, were well known, and, as has already been seen, in 1870 Sir John Swinburne formed The Boers and Mashona- land. ‘3 i 362 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA a company for working the Tati region in the south- « west of Matabeleland. Other travellers and sportsmen, Mohr, Oates, Selous, gave the most favourable accounts not only of the gold of the country, but of the suitability - of a large portion of the high plateau known as Mashona- land for European settlement and agricultural operations. When Sir Charles Warren was in Bechuanaland in I 88 5, several of his officers made journeys to Matabeleland, and their reports all tended to show the desirability of ‘ taking possession of that country; indeed Sir Charles was assured that Lobengula would welcome a British alliance as a protection against the Boers, of whose designs he was afraid. At that very time an expedition was being planned in the Transvaal for the purpose of taking possession of Mashonaland. One correspondent, writing to Sir Charles Warren under date Shoshong, May I 885, described the situation as follows :— “The Boers are determined to get a footing in Mashonaland (their condition being so wretched, and Mashonaland being the finest agricultural land in South Africa), by thus taking the Matabele on the flank and gradually acquiring their territory by conquest, from thence overspreading all the independent tribes to the west and south of here. I also had good proof that the Germans and Portuguese are working quietly but slowly to acquire as much of these lands and the Transvaal under their protectorate as occasion will allow of; and believe that they as well as the Boers and other nations are only waiting to hear what action the British Govern- ment will take to settle on their own. The natives all showed the greatest desire to be under British protec— ZAAIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 363 ' tion, chiefs as well as their subjects, and their hatred and fear of the Boers.” In 1882 an attempt was made on behalf of the Transvaal to make Lobengula sign a treaty, but the chief was too wily, although in 1888 President Kruger tried to make out that such a treaty had been concluded. But the old friendship with Eng— land was not forgotten, even after Lobengula succeeded his father in 1868. Still, as the most powerful chief north of the Limpopo, he was extremely jealous of interference, although he had recently suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Bechuanas. As a result of Sir Charles Warren’s mission to gfirtugal Bechuanaland, and of the reports furnished by the £33119“- agents he sent into Matabeleland, the attention of ad— venturers and prospectors was more and more drawn towards the latter country. The Portuguese, we have seen, had been electrified into activity by the events of the past two years. That the attention of the British Government was directed to Matabeleland even in 1887 is evident from a protest in August of that year, on the part of Lord Salisbury, against an official Portuguese map claiming a section of that country as within the Portuguese sphere. Lord Salisbury then clearly stated that no pretensions of Portugal to Matabeleland could be recognised, and that the Zambesi should be regarded as the natural northern limit of British South Africa. The British Prime Minister reminded the Portuguese Government that according to the Berlin Act no claim to territory in Central Africa could be recognised that was not supported by effective occupation. The Portuguese Government maintained (it must be ad- 364 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA mitted with justice) that this applied only to the coast, but Lord Salisbury stood firmly 'to his position. Portugal appealed to her past glory and her long historical connection with Central Africa. She sent hurried expeditions up the valleys of some of the southern tributaries of the Zambesi, and then adduced the ruins of old forts and the existence of orange trees as evidence of her former occupation of the country. But the fact remains that there did not then exist, and there was no evidence that there ever had existed, effect- ive occupation of the country included in the domain of Lobengula, away from the banks of the Zambesi. Giving the fullest weight to all that the Portuguese themselves have been able to adduce in favour of their claims to a trans-African dominion and to the possession of Mashonaland, it is impossible to admit that their occupation had ever been effective away from their ports on the coast and one or two stations on the river. Their country, moreover, was on the verge of bank- ruptcy, and they had not the resources wherewith to develop the enormous area claimed by them. To have allowed Portugal to acquire what she claimed in Africa was to shut out the centre of the continent, including some of the most promising regions of Tropical Africa, from all civilised enterprise. British Germans, Boers, Portuguese, were all ready to lay Eggiiieiifcy their hands on the country claimed by Lobengula. England stepped in and took it out of their hands ; and at the worst she can only be accused of obeying the law of the universe, “ Might is right.” By the end of 1887 the attempts of the Transvaal Boers to obtain a hold ZAZIIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 365 ‘ over Matabeleland had reached a crisis. It became evident that no time was to be lost if England was to secure the Zambesi as the northern limit of extension of her South African possessions. Lobengula himself was harassed and anxious as to the designs of the Boers on the one hand, and the doings of the Portuguese on the north of his territory on the other. In the Rev. J. Smith Moffat, Assistant Commissioner in Bechuanaland, England had a trusty agent who had formerly been a missionary for many years in Matabeleland, and had great influence with Lobengula. Under the circum— stances, it does not seem to have been difficult for Mr. Moffat to persuade the King to put an end to his troubles by placing himself under the protection of Great Britain. On zlst March 1888, Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of Cape Colony, and Her Majesty’s High Com- missioner for South Africa, was able to inform the Home Government thaton the previous 11th February Loben— gula had appended his mark to a brief document which secured to England supremacy in Matabeleland over all her rivals. This brief document may well be quoted here: “ The Chief Lobengula, ruler of the tribe known as the Amandebele, together with the Mashona and Maka— laka, tributaries of the same, hereby agrees to the following articles and conditions : “ That peace and amity shall continue for ever between Her Britannic Majesty, her subjects, and 'the Amandebele people ; and the contracting Chief Loben— gula engages to use his utmost endeavours to prevent any rupture of the same, to cause the strict observance 366 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of the treaty, and so to carry out the spirit of the treaty of friendship which was entered into between his late father, the Chief Umsiligazi, with the then Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, in the year of our Lord 1836. “ It is hereby further agreed by Lobengula, Chief in and over the Amandebele country, with its dependen- cies aforesaid, on behalf of himself and people, that he will refrain from entering into any correspondence or treaty with any foreign State or Power, to sell, alienate, or cede, or permit or countenance any sale, alienation, or cession, of the whole or any part of the said Amande- bele country under his chieftainship, or upon any other subject, without the previous knowledge and sanction of Her Majesty’s High Commissioner in South Africa. “In faith of which, I, Lobengula, on my part, have herewith set my hand at Gubuluwayo, Amandebele- land, the I Ith day of February, and of Her Majesty’s reign the fifty—first.” To this important document was appended “ Lo Bengula X His Mark,” with the names of two witnesses, and the signature of Mr. J. S. Moffat, as Assistant Commissioner. . Many similar so-called “ treaties” have been signed by African chiefs in favour of various Powers. It is doubtful whether, as a rule, these chiefs have any idea whatever of the significance of what they are doing. Lobengula, however, like Sechele and Khama in Bechu- analand, was, though a somewhat savage heathen, a man of shrewdness and intelligence, quite alive to his own interests. Still it is perhaps doubtful if he realised the full ZAAIBESIA AA’Z) SOUTH AFRICA 367 :} purport of the treaty, the object of which was, of course, i to sweep Matabeleland and its dependencies within the l limits of the British Empire. However, for the moment, i it relieved him from any apprehensions of interference l from Boers or Portuguese, and secured to British South . Africa uninterrupted access to the Central Zambesi, and ‘ the opportunity of developing by British enterprise a ' region reported to be rich in gold and in agricultural possibilities. The publication of the treaty was, as might be ex- pected, followed by reclamations both on the part of the Transvaal and of Portugal. Before the British hold was firmly established over the country attempts were made by large parties of Boers to trek into Matabeleland, not, it is to be feared, without the countenance of the Government of the Republic. Though these attempts caused anxiety at the time, fortunately they never resulted in action. Individual Boers as well, it must be said, as individual Englishmen at the kraal of Loben— gula, attempted to poison the mind of the latter against the British. But the King remained throughout faithful to his engagements. Indeed, it was not Lobengula Lobengma himself who gave any cause for anxiety during the svggrlilgs. initial stage of the English occupation. He is, no doubt, a powerful chief, but even he is obliged to defer to the wishes of his z'zza’zmas and his army. His z'mpz's, or regiments, composed of thousands of young men, eager to wash their spears in blood, were difficult to restrain; they were hungering to “eat up” all the white men in the country. Had it not been for the greatest tact and forbearance on the part of the British Claims of Portugal. 368 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA representatives who visited the country in the early' days of the treaty, terrible disasters would have hap- pened. Lobengula himself kept a firm hand over his warriors, but even he was at times apprehensive that they might burst bEyond all control. Happily this trying initial period passed without disaster. As a matter of fact, the treaty was thoroughly discussed in presence of the three chief z'ndmzas, and was signed by Lobengula in their presence. Portugal was not so easy to deal with as the South African Republic. Immediately on the publication of the treaty she advanced her old claims. Even Portugal, however, was not bold enough to advance any claim over the territory occupied by the Matabeles. What- ever claim she may have had to the country was com- pletely annulled when Lobengula’s father took possession of it by force of arms. But she maintained that Lobengula’s claim to include the country on the east, occupied by the conquered Mashonas, Makalakas, and other tribes, was invalid; that these territories, as evidenced by ruins and orange trees, had of old been occupied by Portugal, and that in fact they were in— cluded in her province of Sofala. From the first, how- ever, Lord Salisbury took up a firm position, and while admitting his readiness to adjust boundaries at a suit- able time, maintained absolutely that Mashonaland was subject to Lobengula, and therefore within the British sphere of influence. It remained of course to be decided what territory could fairly be included within Mashona— land and the other districts claimed by Lobengula ; but the vague claims put forward by the Portuguese could 214411355114 AND SOUTH AFRICA 369 :only be met with a firm assertion of the rights acquired rby Great Britain under the treaty with Lobengula. The important point was how far east did the boundary of ;the territory claimed by Lobengula extend, and how far .west had effective occupation by Po’rtugal been carried? 'What complicated the problem was ignorance of the :geography of Eastern Mashonaland shown not only by Great Britain, but by Portugal, who, according to her own statements, had been in the occupation of the country for four centuries. Even the course of the :river Sabi, which might play an important part in any delimitation, was quite unknown. Lobengula himself, inspired very possibly by the well—informed Englishmen who were flocking about his “Court,” had no doubt as to the extent of his own possessions. In a letter from him, dated 24th November 1888, he claimed the whole country eastwards, to beyond the Sabi River, on the north to the south bank of the Zambesi from Tete upwards, and even a large tract on the north side of the river. The letter containing these claims on the part of the King was brought to England by two of his z'na’zmas, who were sent by him in the beginning of [889, in order to see with their own eyes “ The Great White Queen,” who, he had been informed, no longer existed.l 1 As a matter of fact there is little doubt that Lobengula claimed far more territory on the Coast than he had any right to do, on any ground whatever. The Portuguese claims, on the other hand, were based on various grounds, quite contradictory in themselves. Had the Portuguese succeeded in making treaties with the independent Chiefs on the east of Lobengulas territory, the British South Africa Company would have found itself in an awkward position in spite of Mr. Rhodes’s attempt to force the situation. Fortunately, at the 2B The rival companies. 370 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA No sooner was the treaty signed than Lobengula was : besieged for concessions of land, the main object of which 1 was to obtain the gold with which the country was said J to abound, especially in the east, in Mashonaland. The 1 King was perplexed; hence the embassy to England. But by this time, the first half of the year I889,I important preliminary steps had been taken towards the 1 actual occupation of the country by British enterprise. Reference has just been made to the important part : played by Mr. Maund in influencing Lobengula to: place his trust in England and her Queen. No sooner “ was the treaty made known in this country than he: was engaged as the agent of a syndicate of capitalists , to proceed to Matabeleland and endeavour to obtain from Lobengula a concession of mining rights. It does . not affect the validity or the Imperial importance of the treaty that some of those who were behind it had had their eyes all along upon the desirability of pro- curing mining concessions in Mashonaland under the aegis of British protection. As a matter of fact, it. would seem that the first person to actually step for— ward and make proposals to the British Government on the subject was Mr. George Cawston, member of a financial firm in the City. On 4th May 1888 ‘Mr._ Cawston wrote to the Colonial Office, “ It is the intention of myself in conjunction with others to send a repre- sentative to Matabeleland to negotiate with Lobengula for a treaty for trading, mining, and general purposes.” urgent instigation of Mr. Selous, no time was lost in taking peaceful possession, and in securing the position by making treaties with the independent chiefs, which was effected through the personal influence of Mr. Selous. ' \ ZAIIIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 371 He asked if they could reckon upon the support of the British Government in their enterprise. Lord Knuts- ford replied that the British Government could not mix itself up with mining concessions, and the same intima— tion was sent to Lobengula, with the caution that he must look after himself in these matters. At the same time, Lord Knutsford stated, any concession obtained. in order to be regarded as valid must have the sanction of Her Majesty’s Commissioner for South Africa. Further correspondence took place between Mr. Cawston and his friends and Lord Knutsford, with the result that, under the name of “The Exploring Company,” a syndicate was formed for the purpose of acquiring and working the mining wealth of Mashona— land. But though Mr. Cawston seems to have been the first to approach the Government with a definite scheme, and although he lost no time in sending out Mr. Maund after he had satisfied the Colonial Office as _to his company, another small company or syndicate, 'being on the spot, had the advantage of him. The moving spirit of this syndicate was Mr. Cecil J. Rhodes, whose name has been so prominent during the last few years in connection with Imperial schemes in Zambesia. Mr. Rhodes, born forty years ago, is the son of an Cicitli 0 08. English clergyman. On leaving school at the age of sixteen he was compelled to go to South Africa on account of his health, and there took to farming with his brother. He was in the early rush to Kimberley, and is believed to have amassed very considerable wealth in connection with diamond-mining. Although His Com- pany. 372 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA unable to attend the University before leaving for Africa, he had determination enough to come home and take his degree at Oxford after a residence of some years in South Africa had restored his health. He was, after his return, connected with the organisation of Bechuanaland as sub-commissioner, and did much to secure that territory without reduction or diminution for England. For several years he has been a Member of the Cape Parliament, and in 1890 became Premier of the Colony. Mr. Rhodes is probably, as are most men, willing enough to make a fortune, and it is generally believed that he has succeeded. But his actions and utterances in recent years show that he is actuated not simply by the desire to accumulate a fortune; indeed, the impression made upon those who know him best is that he is indifferent to money for its own sake. Whatever may have been his original motives for seek- ing to secure a leading share in the partition of Mata- beleland, his aim seems rapidly to have developed into the ambition of forming a great South African Confedera- tion, extending far into the heart of Africa, and joining hands with the British sphere on the Upper Nile. His conduct not only ‘with regard to Matabeleland, but also in connection with his attempt to federate all the South African states, to acquire Damaraland from Germany, and to spread British suzerainty over the wide region on the north of the Zambesi, can only be adequately explained on the supposition that he is actuated by some such motive. At all events, after the treaty had been ratified, Mr. Rhodes, himself" keeping in the back— ground, lost no time in acquiring rights over Loben— ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 373 ; gula’s territory. By the time Mr. Maund reached ' Matabeleland (early in October 1888) he found that ' the King had, only a few days previously, granted ; a full concession of all mining rights to Mr. C. D. Rudd, Mr. Rochfort Maguire, and Mr. F. R. Thompson. The concession was obtained on behalf of the Gold Fields of South Africa Company and a syndicate, of which Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Rudd, and Mr. Alfred Beit were the principal representatives. At first it seemed as if there would be some difficulty in reconciling the claims of this Company with the rights which Mr. Maund maintained had been promised to him personally by Lobengula, and which had been taken over by the Exploring Company. But Mr. Rhodes, who.came to England in the summer of 1889, had little difficulty in coming to an understanding with the Exploring Company, with the result that the two interests were amalgamated. The Tati field still remained in the hands of Sir john Swinburne and his Company, though little apparently had been done to develop it. There were still earlier concessions obtained from Lobengula by Baines, which had passed into other hands ; these also were taken over by Mr. Rhodes. To attempt to enter into and explain all the 30:51:33 intricacies of the complication of companies and sub- companies, and their mutual relations, which have interests of more or less importance in Matabeleland, would be an unprofitable task. It is beyond the scope of this work to enter into such details. There were various changes and modifications; the principal com- panies uniting as the Central Search Association, and 374 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA that again developing into the United Concessions Company. However, these interests were to a certain extent concentrated in the Company which early in 1889 took steps to obtain a charter for the develop- ment and administration of the country. In April of that year the two leading companies approached Lord Knutsford with a View to obtain a charter for the territories claimed by them. After protracted negotia- tions, in which Mr. Rhodes was the most prominent representative of the interested companies, the charter sought for was granted by Her Majesty on 15th October 1889, the names of those to whom it was granted being the Duke of Abercorn, the Duke of Fife, Lord Gifford, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Beit, Mr. Albert Gray, and Mr. Cawston. The principal field of the operations of the British South Africa Company was defined in the charter to 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.” The Com- pany was also empowered to acquire any further con- cessions, if approved of by“ Our Secretary of State.” All the usual provisions of such charters were included in the present one, and the Company was virtually authorised not only to develop but to administer the countries for which they had obtained concessions, subject always to the approval of “Our Secretary of State.” In short, the Company was empowered to act as the representative of the Imperial Government, with- out, however, obtaining any assistance from the Govern- ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 375 r ment to bear the expense of the administration. On t the contrary, the Company made a handsome contribu- r tion towards the completion of the telegraph line into r the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and also undertook to .complete the railway from Kimberley to Mafeking. The latter task, as far as Vryburg, was taken over by the Cape Government. I The capital of the Company was a million sterling. It is not easy to define the relations of the Chartered Company to the various other companies which had mining interests in the country. In itself it was not a consolidation of the interests of those companies. Its functions were to administer the country and to work the concessions on behalf of the Concessionaires, in return for which it was to retain fifty per cent of the profits. The Concessionaires guaranteed £700,000 of the Chartered Company’s capital. The position was a curious and anomalous one, leading to misunder— standing, so that it is not surprising that very soon an attempt was made really to combine the whole interests in the country in the Chartered Company; with what result remains to be seen. Here it may be again pointed out that the Bechuanaland section of the region included in the charter was, for ad- ministrative purposes, in 1890 placed under the G0vernor of British Bechuanaland, so that on the south of the Zambesi the operations of the Com— pany were confined to Matabeleland and the other countries claimed by Lobengula. Still the Company does not resign its rights to the territory to the north of Bechuanaland. The various companies Portuguese companies. 376 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA All this activity on the part of England naturally embittered Portugal more and more. In the latter part of the year 1889 Colonel Paiva d’Andrade, an able officer who had been connected with the Sofala district for several years, and had done much good exploring work therein, and Lieutenant Cordon were making their way up the valleys of the Mazoe and other tributaries of the Zambesi, distributing Portuguese flags among the natives, and endeavouring, alas, too late, to establish a semblance of “effective occupation.” The Portuguese Government moreover created a new district of Zumbo, on the south of the Zambesi, which embraced some 30,000 square miles of the territory claimed by Lo- bengula as within his dominions. It is only fair to Colonel Paiva d’Andrade to state that his efforts to extend Portuguese influence and develop the resources of the country claimed by Portugal on the south of the Zambesi date back quite ten years before Lobengula signed his treaty. It may enable us to understand the position of Portugal in the country to the east of Mashonaland, if it be remembered that so long ago as 1878 Colonel d’Andrade obtained what was known as the Paiva d’Andrade concession, the object of which was to exploit the resources and especially the gold of the region known as Manica. Next year this was trans— ferred to the Société Générale de Zambesia of Paris which sent out a large commission of experts under Andrade to report on the country. The Paris Com— pany did not consider the reports of these experts sufficiently encouraging, and they declined to go further in the matter. Andrade then endeavoured to obtain ZAJIIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 377 » capital in London, and succeeded in forming the Com— panhia Africana and the Ophir Company. Spasmodic attempts were made under these companies to work the old mines of Manica. In 1888 the rights of these companies were made over under certain conditions to the Mozambique Com— pany, which was authorised to undertake a great variety of enterprises, and which to some extent resembled in its objects the British Chartered Company, although it does not seem to have been accorded any powers of adminis— tration. A good deal of English capital was embarked in this company, and its agents were set to find and work the gold reported to abound in the Manica interior, on the eastern slopes of what may be generally regarded as the Mashonaland plateau. The most potent chief in this region had been Umzila, who, however, persistently refused to have anything to do with the Portuguese or any other whites. He had been succeeded by his son Gungunhana, with whom the Portuguese maintained they had made a treaty of protection, though as a matter of fact the vacillating chief showed himself ready to make treaties with any one prepared to supply him with unlimited alcohol. Unfortunately for Portugal, the energetic Colonel d’Andrade was not supported as he deserved to be in his attempts to extend Portuguese influence and develop Portugal’s East African posses— sions. All Portugal did was to grant enormous areas, under the title of “ Prazos de Coroa,” or Crown Farms, to persons, mainly half—castes,—most of whom were independent of the Government, and differed little from slave—holding, slave—trading native chiefs. In the The Govern- ment and the Chartered Company. 378 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Manica territory the most powerful of these half-castes was Manuel Antonio de Souza, known as Gouveia, from his place of residence. He could command from 7000 to 8000 native irregulars; with the assistance of these Portugal had been carrying on military operations along the Zambesi, and in the Manica district. In 1888 and I889 considerable activity was displayed in bringing out steamers and ammunition, some of which were landed at the mouth of the Pungwe River, a river affording a fair waterway for some distance into the Manica interior towards the Mashonaland plateau. In the end of 1889 Colonel d’Andrade returned to Lisbon, but was back again at his post next year watching eagerly theiopera— tions of the newly-formed British Chartered Company. Thus it will be seen that when the British South Africa Company was prepared to enter into active occu- pation of the territories which they were authorised to exploit, they had on the one hand the z'mpz's of L0- bengula eager to wash their spears in white blood; on the south the Boers of the Transvaal, embittered at being prevented from trekking to the north of the Limpopo, and on the east and the north-east the Portuguese trying to raise a wall of claims and historical preten— sions against the tide of English energy. All the time the Lisbon Foreign Office was besieging Downing Street with an incessant discharge of correspondence and reclamations, which it need hardly be said made but little impression. The relation of the British Government to the Chartered Company and its sphere is very clearly stated in a communication from Lord Knutsford to the ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 379 iHigh Commissioner shortly after the Charter was ggranted. “ The Queen can, of course, at any time tannex or declare a protectorate over any part of the : territory within which the Company operates, and in the E absence of any paramount necessity for such annexation :or protectorate, or of the failure or misconduct of the E Company, security of tenure is granted to the Company lfor the limited period of twenty—five years, which is 2 deemed by Her Majesty’s Government the shortest ]period within which the Company can be expected to :develop and perfect the public part of its enterprise; 1 whilst there is reserved to the Government of the day, 3 at the end of that time, and at every succeeding period > of ten years, the right of considering, in the interests of r the Empire generally, and of South Africa in particular, [how far the administrative and public power of the > Company should be continued.” At the same time Lord Knutsford wrote to L0- {421359 3; Tbengula in the Queen’s name, explaining clearly the lam f significance of the Charter, and strongly urging him to . deal only with the Company and refrain from making ggrants of land to private adventurers. The total area i of Matabeleland and its dependencies, which forms the immediate sphere of the Company, is about 100,000 square miles, with a scanty population estimated at 200,000. It is in the main a high table—land, rising in the Mashona country to 5000 and 6000 feet,on the whole well watered, and with a considerable area said by those familiar with it to be admirably adapted to agriculture and even to European colonisation. Over much of it cattle-raising may be carried on to a practi— The Com- pany takes possession. 380 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA cally unlimited extent. As in all parts of tropical Africa, the low-lying lands are unhealthy; but on the higher plateaux, even during the rainy season, with reasonable care Europeans may preserve their health. The general impression produced by the reports of those who have visited and lived in the country, is that in Matabcleland and its dependencies we have a region exceptionally favourable, considering its latitude, to development by European enterprise. As to its gold resources, the most glowing accounts were given and the most extravagant hopes entertained. Inspired by such conceptions as to this Land of Promise, the first pioneer expedition set out early in the summer of 1890 to take possession. With respect to its base of operations, the British South Africa Company, it may be remarked, is much more favourably situated than either of its sister companies in East Africa and in West Africa (the Niger). British East Africa and British West Africa are both tropical without mitigation. They have only the coast as a base—line; with savages and an unsub- dued roadless country to deal with from the beginning. The South Africa Company, on the other hand, had a long—settled, temperate colony to start from, with half a million of white population, railways, telegraphs, and other resources of civilisation to form a base of opera— tions, and fall back upon if needful. There was no difficulty then in collecting a special police force of 500 men and a band of 200 pioneers. After the rainy season the body of 700 adventurous Britons marched northwards to take possession of the latest addition to ZAJlIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 381 t the Empire. Lieutenant-Colonel E. S. Pennefather was i in command of the police, while Sir John Willoughby ‘; and other officers formed part of the staff. The pioneers I were men provided by contract by Mr. F. Johnson. Mr. ‘ Frederick Courteney Selous, the great hunter, who knew ' the country better than any other white man, took ‘ the lead in making a road from the Macloutsie River ‘ (tributary of the Limpopo) which formed the real starting—point, north-east and north over the gradually rising plateau to Mount Hampden on the Mazoe River, 400 miles nearer the Zambesi, which it was resolved to make the objective of the expedition. Lobengula gave his consent to the expedition, the only stipulation being that a route should be chosen well to the east of Matabeleland proper, so as to avoid all risk of collision with the thousands of young warriors scattered in kraals all over the King’s dominions. It was quite expected that an attempt would be made by these rest- less young warriors to attack the British force as it made its way northwards ; but as a matter of fact no difficulties whatever were experienced in this respect. A start was made from the Macloutsie River on 25th June 1890, and by 12th September Mount Hampden was reached. A road, necessarily rough, was made [raré'passu with the march northwards ; forts were built at certain intervals, small garrisons placed in them, and every precaution taken to render the occupation effective. The headquarters were formed close to Mount Hampden, where Fort Salisbury was built, and there in a remarkably short time a town grew up, with its public buildings, hotels, its lawyers and land-agents, 382 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA its stores and clubs, its newspapers, and, on an elementary scale, all the other institutions which are characteristic of the social and public life of any body of Englishmen. Of course, as is the case with all other enterprises, the pioneer expedition to occupy Mashonaland was not unattended by blunders and mistakes; but when every deduction is made, the story of the expedition deserves to be remembered as a memorable event in connection with the expansion of the British Empire, and as affording a marked contrast in its conduct and results to the efforts of the Portuguese for four centuries. When the goal was reached, the pioneer force was dis- banded, as had previously been arranged. To each' man were allotted a considerable area of ground and rights over a certain portion of the gold reefs which he might be so fortunate as to discover. These disbanded pioneers immediately began prospecting in all direc- tions in search of gold, and taking stock of the capacity of the country for settlement and agricultural development. But there was not much time before the rainy season came upon them; and the rainy season of 1890-91 is one to be remembered in the history of British Zambesia. At any time this season is trying enough, and demands on the part of the white man all possible precaution34to preserve his health and avoid disaster; but this was an exceptional year, and, alas! as usual, “some one had blundered.” The rainy season of 1890—91 in Mashonaland was one of exceptional severity. The pioneer force had been wretchedly provided both with food and with medicines, the supplies which were to have followed the force were, ZAfl/[BESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 383 t through some misunderstanding, stopped. The result was widespread suffering and many deaths. Still, with indomitable pluck the majority of the men made the best of their situation. But the news of their suffer- ings, combined with the damaging reports sent home by Lord Randolph Churchill, who made an expedition to the country after the rainy season; the conduct of the Portuguese; and other circumstances, all tended to give the new territory a bad name which it did not 113:3?“ deserve. But all these things did not damp the ardour either of the pioneers or of the Company. The rail— way was carried from Kimberley to Vryburg, 150 miles, and early in 1892 the telegraph was continued to Fort Salisbury, which was then brought into direct communication with London. Salisbury increased in size, new towns were begun elsewhere, a regular postal service was established, and Lobengula was at last induced to give the Company rights over the land as well as the mines. The result has been that Cape and Transvaal farmers have taken up large areas of ground for agricultural and cattle farms. A moderate revenue has been raised by the Company from mining and trading licenses, stand—holdings, postal and telegraph services; but practically it has been hitherto all outlay, and not much, it is admitted, can be done for the real development of the country until rapid and cheap communications are established with the outside world. While the railway which is being extended from the Cape will be serviceable to tap Bechuanaland and Western Matabeleland, it is admitted that the outlet for the Mashonaland plateau 384 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA must be by the east coast; a railway of less than 200 miles would connect the edge of the plateau with the coast, near the mouth of the Pungwe River, which flows through Portuguese territory. Common As might have been expected, the action of the withthe . . . Portu- ploneer force was watched With Jealous and resentful guess. eyes by Portugal. An agreement was concluded be- tween England and Portugal in August 1890, by which the eastern limits of the South Africa Company’s claims were fixed, and the course of the unknown Sabi River, from north to south, was taken as a boundary. But this did not satisfy either Portugal or the Company, and the treaty was never ratified. It was, however, taken as the basis of a 7120627255 w'vmdz', pending further ne- gotiations. In the meantime Colonel Paiva d’Andrade, Gouveia, and one or two other Portuguese officers, had returned to Manica, and made their way up to the edge of the plateau. They were heard of by the pioneers as being established at the village of Massi Kesse, in the territory of the Chief Mutassa, just where the plateau begins to slope down to the plains. The village, and much of the country to the west, were claimed as being within the Portuguese province of Manica, and there— fore part of the territory conceded to the Mozambique Company and its subordinate companies. In the neighbourhood the agents of these companies had been at work mining. Mr. Archibald R. Colquhoun, who had done good service in India and the East, had been appointed administrator of the British Company’s territory. He was succeeded by an intimate friend of Mr. Rhodes, ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 385 Dr. Jameson, who had given up a lucrative practice at Kimberley to accompany the pioneers. Mr. Selous, the mighty hunter, was also on the administrative staff, as well as Major Forbes, the Hon. Eustace Fiennes, and other men, not to be easily frightened at any demonstrations made by Portuguese representatives. The abortive treaty referred to above was not actually accepted as the basis of a modus vz'vemz’z' till November 1890. In the previous September, Mr. Colquhoun, with a few companions, went down to Mutassa’s Kraal, in the Manica country, and without difficulty induced him to conclude a treaty making over his country to British protection; his chiefship is a small triangle on the edge of the plateau, between 18° and 19° 3., and 32° and 33° E. long. Meantime Colonel Paiva d’Andrade, Gouveia, Baron de Rezende (representing the Mozambique Company), and one or two others, with an armed force of Gouveia’s men, were on their way to Mutassa’s. They were heard of as being at the Village of Massi Kesse, a small station of the Mozambique Company, a few miles east of Mutassa’s Kraal. Mr. Colquhoun resolved to take decisive mea- sures. A small force was sent over under Major Forbes, who on arriving at Mutassa’s found the village occupied by the Portuguese. Notwithstanding his greatly inferior force he made his way into the village and arrested Andrade, Gouveia, and Baron dc Rezende. The two former were taken prisoners to Fort Salisbury, and the latter allowed to return to Massi Kesse, which was pro- visionally occupied by a small force of the Company’s police. Andrade and Gouveia were sent to the Cape. 2 C Anglo- Portuguese arrange- ment. 386 V THE PARTITION OF AFRICA This incident caused great excitement at the time, and gave rise to very bitter feelings in Portugal against England. A band of student volunteers was raised in Lisbon, and amid patriotic demonstrations was hurriedly sent out to the mouth of the Pungwe, with the apparent intention of marching up to Manica and driving out the British. Needless to say, few of them left the coast. Obviously these relations between the two countries could not long continue, and happily they were brought to an end by the ratification of a new agreement, signed on the I 1th June 1891, under which Portugal can hardly be said to have fared so well as she would have done under the one repudiated by the Cortes in the previous year. The boundary between the British Company’s territories was drawn farther east than in the previous treaty. The line starting from the Zambesi near Zumbo runs in a general south—east direction to a point where the Mazoe River is cut by the 33rd degree of east longitude. The boundary then runs in a generally south direction to the junction of the Lunde and the Sabi, where it strikes south-west to the north-east corner of the South African Republic, on the Limpopo. In tracing the I frontier along the slope of the plateau, the Portuguese sphere was not allowed to come farther west than 32° 30’ E. of Greenwich, nor the British sphere east of 33° E. A slight deflection westwards was made so as to include Massi Kessi in the Portuguese sphere; Mutassa’s town is left in the British sphere. Although Gungunhana, King of Gazaland, sent two envoys to England in the summer of 1891, to offer his allegiance 1‘ y ZAAIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 387‘ to Her Majesty, Lord Salisbury was firm, and declined to take him under British protection, except as to that portion which is, according to the Anglo-Portuguese Agreement, within the British sphere. There is no doubt that by the new treaty 'the Company added considerably to its gold—producing territory. Further, according to the terms of the arrangement, the navigation of the Zambesi and the Shire’ was declared free to all nations. A maximum duty of 3 per cent was all that Portugal agreed to charge, for a period of twenty—five years, for goods in transit from the east coast to the Company’s territories. Other mutual privileges were granted, and Portugal agreed to undertake the construction of a railway from the mouth of the Pungwe to the plateau, and that under conditions which would prevent her delaying the undertaking for aniindefinite period. There were, how- ever, delays and difficulties in carrying out the scheme, the accomplishment of which was absolutely necessary for the development of Mashonaland, so that it was not till 1892 that the railway was actually begun, some thirty-five miles being finished by the end of the year. However, the main difficulties had been overcome, and by the summer of 1892 the Com— pany was in undoubted possession of its territory, though to a large extent paralysed from want of a rapid and cheap means of communication with the outer world. Whether when a large white population has taken possession of Mashonaland they will be content to be governed by a chartered Company, without any voice in the management of their affairs, 388 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA or whether they will insist on direct Imperial adminis- tration, remains to be seen. While these incidents on the south of the Zambesi were keeping all Europe in a state of excitement, equally stirring events were taking place on the north of the river, where also a great area was being included in the British sphere. British England’s connection with the Lake Nyassa region, enter rises . . . . ontthake It has been seen, dates from the time of Livmgstone’s it??? great Zambesi Expedition. As the result of Living- stone’s work, missions, Scotch and English, were established near the Shiré, which joins the lake with the Zambesi, and on the shores of the lake itself. In 1878 a trading company consisting of Scotch mer- chants was formed under the name of “The Livingstone Central Africa Company,” for opening up to navigation and trade the rivers and lakes of Central Africa to which the Zambesi is the approach. This is the Company generally known as the “African Lakes Company”; its capital was at first £20,000, after- wards increased to £100,000. Its aims were some- what ambitious. The acquisition of land, the formation of plantations, the introduction of various cultures, the establishment of trade, the transport of goods, were among the means by which the subscribers were to carry out their objects. It was understood, moreover, that the Company would act as a sort of secular adjunct to the missions established in the region. It can hardly be said that the operations of the Company were con- ducted with any great amount of energy and enter- ZAJIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 389 prise. Stations were established on the Shire and on the west shores of the lake; and a high-road, the Stevenson Road, was made between Lake Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika. Planting on a small scale was carried on, and some little trade was done. The boats belonging to the Company were of service in carrying the missionaries and their stores to the stations in Nyassaland; but for the development of the country much more was effected by private enterprise, by the efforts of such men as the brothers Buchanan, than by the operations of the Company. The Blantyre High- lands to the east of the Upper Shire and the north of the river Ruo were found admirably adapted to the culture of coffee, and by 1887 promising plantations had been established. By that year, through the united efforts of the missionaries, the Company, private traders, and H.M. Consul at Mozambique, Mr. O’Neill, British interests in the region around Lake Nyassa had become very considerable. Comparatively feeble as the efforts of the African Lakes Company had been, they certainly did more for the legitimate development of the resources of the country than did the efforts of Portugal during the long centuries she had been on the Lower Zambesi. Until Germany entered the field Claims of Portugal. Portugal does not seem to have disturbed herself greatlyas to the British occupation of the country on the Shire’ and Lake Nyassa. Her consent to the abortive treaty with England of 1884, guaranteeing among other things the free navigation of the Lower Zambesi, was a tacit admission that Great Britain had a right to territories to which the river gave access. A trans- African Empire 390 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA When the proposed arrangement was abandoned, when the scramble became general, when Germany, France, England, and the King of the Belgians were sweeping one region after another into their grasp, Portugal became alive to her critical position on the Con- tinent. In return for what she regarded as certain concessions to Germany and France, each of these powers in 1886 professed to recognise the right of the King of Portugal to those territories which lie between the Portuguese possessions of Angola and Mozambique, without prejudice, however, to the claims of other Powers who may already have exercised their f/sovereiorn and civilisinrr influence” in the recrion in / b b b question. Enough has been said already of the sup- posed rights of Portugal to a trans-African Empire. At the date at which we have arrived she could produce no evidence of serious occupation, nothing to be com- pared even to the comparatively slender establishments of British missionaries and traders in the Nyassa region. Portugal, it is probable, never seriously believed that her claims would be for a moment entertained by Great Britain; she no doubt imagined if she made these claims extensive enough, that it might be possible to save something out of the scramble. The Marquis of Salisbury, writing to the British Minister at Lisbon, in August 1887, with reference to the claims laid down in certain recently published Portuguese maps, said, “it has now been admitted on principle by all the parties to the Act of Berlin that a claim of sovereignty in Africa can only be maintained by real occupation of the territory claimed. . . . You will ‘make a formal ZAAIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 391 protest against any claims not founded on occupation, and you will say ‘that Her Majesty’s Government cannot recognise Portuguese sovereignty in territories not occupied by her in sufficient strength to enable her to maintain order, protect foreigners, and control the natives. You will state that this protest specially applies to the districts of Lake Nyassa occupied by British traders and missionaries, and to Matabeleland.” It has just been shown what was the result of this flat in Matabeleland. Whether Lord Salisbury when he wrote these lines had in view the wholesale annexa- tion of the region between Angola and Mozambique, or only the region immediately occupied by British traders and missionaries in Nyassaland, we cannot say. Probably, as in most of the recent movements of the Powers in Africa, he had no very definite area in view at first; his conception doubtless expanded rapidly as events succeeded each other. As in Southern Zambesia, so on the north of the ‘ river, Portugal made haste to endeavour to obviate the results of her long neglect by rushing in and planting her flag on the threatened territory. In this connection a passage from a despatch by Lord Salisbury to the British Minister at Lisbon, dated 25th June 1888, is worth quoting. “It is, as Senhor Barros Gomes admits, a disputed point whether, nearly 300 years since, a Portuguese traveller did, or did not, see the waters of Lake Nyassa; the decision of this controversy has no practical value at the present day as regards the political situation. It is, on the other hand, an undisputed point that the recent discoveries Troubles with the Arabs. 392 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of the English traveller Livingstone were followed by organised attempts on the part of English religious and commercial bodies to open up and civilise the districts surrounding and adjoining the lake. Many British settlements have been established, the access to which by the sea is by the rivers Zambesi 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 portions of the lake nor of the Shiré; she has neither authority nor influence beyond the confluence of the Shiré and Zambesi, where her interior custom-house, now with- drawn, was placed by the terms of the Mozambique tariff of 1877.” During 1887 Portugal endeavoured in vain to advance her claims by voluminous correspondence, intended to prove her historical rights. An attempt in I888 to close the Zambesi to navigation by British vessels had to be abandoned in face of the persistent demands of Lord Salisbury. In other ways she, through her Mozambique authorities, did her utmost to hamper the communications of the African Lakes Company; but before Lord Salisbury’s firm stand all these attempts had to give way. During 1888 the British position in the Lake Nyassa region was complicated by the hostility of the Arab slave—dealers against the missionaries and the trading companies. The Arabs were naturally alarmed at the progressmade by British influence in the region, a progress which in the end might, they feared, extin- guish their occupation. Hostilities were carried on for ZAxlIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 393 '2 some months in the district west of Lake Nyassa, and ti it was in connection with these that the name of :Captain F. D. Lugard first came prominently before :the British public. He rendered valuable service i against the Arabs and their native allies, and probably ,was the means of preventing a wholesale massacre of :the British in the country. The Portuguese officials at TMozambique did their utmost to hamper the British : by preventing the importation of much-needed ammu- ‘ nition and weapons. It was not till the advent of Mr. EH. H. Johnston, as Her Majesty’s representative in (Nyassaland, that an understanding was come to :between the Arabs and the Lakes Company. While eslave—trading was by no means extinguished, it was to [a considerable extent suppressed, though much yet ‘ remains to be done ere it is abolished entirely. Unfor- tunately the evidence is only too convincing that men :calling themselves Portuguese subjects do quite as much : to continue the traffic north of the Zambesi as the Arabs. While these troubles were harassing the British Portuguese , . attempts occupants of Nyassaland 111 1888, Portugal was making to take possession. ; a final determined effort to obtain possession of a region which she had so long neglected. 50 late as October ' 1888 the British Minister at Lisbon was able to assure 'Senhor Barros Gomes that England had no intention of establishing exclusive jurisdiction over the Lake N yassa region; she simply desired unhampered freedom for her missionaries and traders. This neutral attitude did 'not long continue. Towards the end of 1888 our watchful consul at Mozambique, Mr. H. O’Neill, re- ported that a formidable expedition was on its way “‘7 394‘ THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to the Shire River and the west shore of Lake Nyassa, under Antonio Cardoso. Though this expedi- tion reached the south shore of the lake, its reception by the natives was so unfavourable that in the spring of 1889 it was resolved at Lisbon to send a relief expedition to its aid, under the command of the famous Serpa Pinto. About the same time a royal decree established and endowed a Roman Catholic Mission on the south shore of Lake Nyassa. The intention of this was obvious. Efforts were, moreover, made by the Portuguese authorities at Mozambique to induce various chiefs in the neighbourhood of the lake to declare themselves vassals of Portugal, but without success. The expedition under Serpa Pinto, however, caused more anxiety than any other effort on the part of Portugal to outdo Great Britain; and by the middle of 1889 it became apparent that no half- measures would suffice, and that if Great Britain were to secure her interests in Northern Zambesia, she must do so by placing the region under her flag, and so including it within the sphere of British influence. By this time Mr. H. H. Johnston, who had done excellent service in West Africa, had reached his post as British Consul at Mozambique, charged as such with the care of British interests in the interior. Mr. John- ston was not the man to allow himself to be outwitted. Whatever may have been his secret instructions, he‘ took with him a supply of British flags, and lost no time in making his way to the Shire’ River which, it soon became obvious, was the ultimate destination of the force under Major Serpa Pinto. By the latter part ZAZPIBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 395 z) of 1889 this force had been increased to some five £13816” 1 thousand. Serpa Pinto professed that the expedition $23M” 1 was a peaceful one, his object being merely to pass .1 through the country of the Makololo for the purpose of > exploring in the region of Lake Nyassa. These Makololo were the remnants of those who had accom- { panied Livingstone in his first great expedition across . Africa, and had settled in the country to the west 2 of the Shiré. Here they soon became dominant, and I though only a handful, made themselves masters of the ' whole country. The action of the Portuguese force l belied the professions of its commander. The Makololo ' were attacked, and many of them killed. They had ; always remained attached to the English, and Acting- Consul John Buchanan, who resided at Blantyre, lost no time in formally declaring the Makololo country under ' the British flag, at least to the north of the junction of the Ruo and the Shire’. This action was confirmed by ~ Consul Johnston when he arrived on the scene, and subsequent treaties with native chiefs, both in the Shire’ district, on the west of Lake Nyassa, and as far as Lake Tanganyika, to which Mr. Johnston proceeded, barred the way against further Portuguese aggression. Mr. Johnston’s activity in securing British interests in this important region was admirable. For important it is; not only in the Blantyre Highlands, but in the lofty plateau lying between Lakes Nyassa and Tan- ganyika, the country is capable of considerable industrial development, and is comparatively favourable to the residence of Europeans, for a time at least. During these operations, conjoined as they were 396 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA with the operations already described on the south of the Zambesi, the excitement in Portugal against Eng- land was intense. The Portuguese Government con- tinued to insist on what they considered their ancient rights, but to such unsubstantial claims Lord Salis- bury would not listen. Lord Salisbury’s ideas and aims had developed enormously during 1888, as will be seen from the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 20th August 1890, which included within the British sphere nearly the whole region lying to the north of the Zambesi as far west as Lake Bangweolo, and as far north as the line joining the north shore of Lake Nyassa and the south shore of Lake Tanganyika. But as has already been seen this agreement was never ratified ; by the arrangement of 14th November following, it was taken as the basis of a modus w'wndz'. £1333?“ Meanwhile the Portuguese officials on the Shire’ enterprise. continued to annoy Brxtlsh traders and explorers, and the. Portuguese authorities in Mozambique did what they could to hamper British commerce. Commissioned by Mr. Cecil Rhodes, Mr. Joseph Thomson, the eminent African explorer, accompanied by Mr. Grant, son of the late Colonel Grant, ascended the Shiré for the purpose of proceeding westwards to Lake Bangweolo. While proceeding along the Shiré he was actually fired upon at the instigation of the Portuguese, happily without injurious results. The real object of the expedition, it may be stated here, as of another sent out at the same time under Mr. Sharpe, was to secure the country of Katanga (Msidi’s Kingdom) lying on the west of Lake Moero, for the ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 397 British South Africa Company. Mr. Rhodes showed scarcely his usual shrewdness and tact in this enter- prise. The district coveted undoubtedly lay within ‘ the cartographical limits of the Congo Free State, and not unnaturally the King of the Belgians resented this attempt to snatch from his grasp a country reputed to be rich in gold and copper. The King might easily have been induced to enter into an arrangement with Mr. Rhodes had the latter shown more diplomacy; as it was, a Katanga (Belgian) Company was immediately formed, and the country was speedily taken posseSsion of in the name of the Free State. Thus, so far as the ac- quisition of the Katanga territory went, the expeditions under Mr. Thomson and Mr. Sharpe went for nothing. Mr. Rhodes not only coveted Katanga, but had 3031;??? . . - ' sioner the ambition of sweeplng under the sway of 1115 appointed Chartered Company the region worked by the Lakes 323%? Company and all the territory north of the Zambesi. The Lakes Company, it has been seen, was never .characterised by stupendous enterprise ; their operations had always been, probably from lack of funds, on a 'petty scale. Mr. Rhodes offered therefore to in- corporate the Company with the South-African Company, and to allow them a handsome annual subsidy. Mr. H. H. Johnston, who had come home after securing British interests in Northern Zambesia, returned to his post in the spring of 1891, as Her Majesty’s Commissioner and Consul-General for Nyassa- land, and Administrator of Northern Zambesia. To enable Mr. Johnston to carry on his work of administra- tion and development, the British South Africa Company ' 3 398 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA contributed £10,000 a year. Mr. Johnston had with him a small staff, including an engineer officer and a , practical botanist. He established his headquarters at Zombo, to the north of Blantyre, and on his arrival set himself at once to the establishment of an adminis- tration, to the furtherance of legitimate trade, and to the encouragement of the industrial development of the extensive region placed under his care. Mr. Johnston’s work was facilitated by the ratification of the Anglo-Portuguese Agreement of 11th June 1891, which settled all disputes as to boundaries. By this agreement the whole of the region to the north of the Zambesi, west of the Shire’ and Lake Nyassa, to the Barotse country on both sides of the Upper Zambesi, —-the precise western limit not being defined—is included in the British sphere. Most of Lake Bangweolo was included, and half of Lake Moero, the northern limit being a line joining the north end of Lake Nyassa and the south shore of Lake Tanganyika. This line was adjusted with Germany, who succeeded in in- cluding within her sphere one of the most fertile districts on Lake Nyassa. There was left to Por— tugal a triangular block of land on the north of the , Zambesi, between Zumbo and the Lower Shire. On the east of the Shire’ the Ruo River forms the southern boundary of British territory, which included a block on the side of the river up to Nyassa. On the west side the boundary came lower down. By this $333?“ arrangement, something like 350,000 square miles were Zambesia- added to the British sphere, including some of the best watered and most promising portions of Central Africa. ZAMBESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 399 Mr. Johnston naturally began his work of organ- isation with the country south of the Lake. The ~missionaries, who had hitherto been supreme in these __ parts, did not take kindly to the intrusion of the Civil lPower, and some friction was at first the result. Much 'more serious was the friction which took place between .the representative of Her Majesty and the slave-trading chief Makanjila on the south shore of the Lake. An encounter between a small English force and the chief resulted disastrously for the former But such encounters are inevitable during the process of parting Africa among the Powers of Europe; if this is to be effected, the native chiefs and people must be made to see that resistance is hopeless. In dealing with native chiefs, however, and with Arab, or so—called Arab, settlers and traders, the greatest tact is needed, and patience. To attempt to sweep slavery off the face of the Continent at one coup will result only in the defeat of the object aimed at. Happily Mr. Johnston has shown on more than one occasion that he knows how to deal both with natives and with Arabs, and there is every reason to hope that under his adminis- tration Northern Zambesia, or British Central Africa, as it is officially called, will develop into a land of . peace and settled industry. This will all the sooner be accomplished if Her Majesty’s representative is loyally supported by the missionaries and the traders who have already done so much to render the name of Great Britain respected. Mr. Johnston has divided the protectorate on Lake Nyassa and the country beyond into provinces and districts; a considerable 400 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA revenue is raised by customs duties and taxation ; the Shire has become a highway of trade; it is rendered secure by two gunboats; two other gunboats are to be placed on the Lake; and everything seems to promise that in the near future British Central Africa will be flourishing and prosperous. In the end of I892 the Lakes Company was definitely incorporated with the British South Africa Company. The work of the Scotch missionaries here has been remarkably successful in many ways ; they have shown great practical sense, and have so far overcome the labour difficulty as to have erected a handsome church entirely with free native labour. The natives come hundreds of miles begging for work as labourers on the coffee plantations. Mr. Joseph Thomson returned in shattered health in the end of 1891 from his expedition to Lake Bangweolo. He traversed the plateau region between Lakes Nyassa and Bangweolo in various directions, and his report to the Company speaks in glowing terms of the salubrity of the region and of its suitability for plantations and for cattle—rearing. Meantime Mr. Rhodes, who visited England in the latter part of 1892, has floated a scheme for the construction of aline of telegraph through the heart of Africa, joining all the lakes, and bringing the Cape into communication with Cairo. Mr. Rhodes has been so successful in all he has touched that he may be able to accomplish this . enterprise also, an enterprise which cannot but contri- bute to the development of the Continent. ' CHAPTER XXI AFRICAN ISLANDS Madagascar—Neighbouring islands—Islands off the West Coast. FOR the sake of completeness reference may be briefly giuagas- made to the destiny of the principal African islands. Socotra and the Zanzibar islands have already been dealt with. The great island of Madagascar is virtually a French Protectorate. The connection of France with Madagascar is of ancient date. The island was known to Marco Polo and the Arabs, and was discovered, so far as Europe is concerned, by the Portuguese navigator Diego Diaz in 1500. iBoth Portuguese and Dutch, in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, tried in .vain to establish themselves on the island. In the early part of the latter century the French established themselves in Madagascar, to which they gave the name of ile Dauphin or France Orientale. Fort Dauphin, at the south end of the island, was founded in 1644; it was destroyed in 1672, and many of the colonists who had settled in the island were massacred. By various decrees in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries French rights to Madagascar were asserted. 2 D In I 750 the little island of Sainte Marie, off Madagascar, - was ceded to France, though the French were expelled eleven years after; but the island has remained French ever since. Fort Dauphin was reconstructed in I768, In 1773-86 the Hungarian Count Benyovski attempted to establish French influence, but without success ; 402 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA equally unsuccessful was another attempt in the first year of the nineteenth century. The island was taken possession of by Great Britain in 181 I. In the Treaty of Paris, Madagascar is not mentioned among the colonies which were not to be restored to France, and although the English Governor of Mauritius attempted to main— tain that Madagascar was a dependency of the latter, he did not succeed. At the same time British influ- ence has become strong in the island through the labours of missionaries. The London Missionary societies, as well as other British societies, have secured the adhesion of thousands of the Hovas, the ruling people in Madagascar, yet the British Government has never seriously attempted to assert any claims to domination, though early in the century there were treaties of friendship between this country and the Madagascar rulers. The small islands of Nossi-Bé, Nossi-Mitsiou, and Nossi-Cumba were taken possession of in 1845 by the French, who had been attempting in preceding years to make their influence felt on the main island. Other efforts were made in succeeding years to establish French influence, but without success. Under various pretexts France made war upon the Malagasies in I 883-85, the result being that a treaty was concluded in October 1885, literally establishing a French Pro- AFRICAN ISLANDS 403 * tectorate over the island, with the cession of the Bay of 'Diego Suarez on the north of the island. By the Anglo-French agreement of August 1890 the French Protectorate over Madagascar was recognised by Great Britain, in return for the acknowledgment by France of a British Protectorate over Zanzibar. It cannot be said that the Malagasy have ever thoroughly succumbed to French influence, though all the foreign relations of the island are supposed to be in the hands of France. A French Resident-General with a small military escort resides at the capital. The resources of the island have never been developed to any extent. Roads are almost non-existent. Though it is doubtful if ever it could be colonised by Europeans in the true sense, the high lands of the interior are healthy, and are capable of being turned to good account, both for cattle-rearing and agriculture. The people themselves, especially the Hovas, are of a higher type than the Africans, and under good guidance might do much to render their island of great commercial value. The neighbouring island of Mayotte was ceded to France in 1840, while the Comoros, half-way between Madagascar and the African Coast, were taken posses~ sion of in 1886. The island of Re’union has belonged to France since 1764. Mauritius was occupied by France in 1715, but was taken by England in 1810, and at the Treaty of Paris, in 1815, it remained British, with, as satellites, Rodriguez, the Amirantes, the Seychelles, and various scattered small islands. Neighbour- ing islands. On the other side of Africa it may be said that the $3338ng Agores, Madeira, and the Cape Verd islands have 0““- l been Portuguese since the fifteenth century, as the Canaries have been Spanish. Various islands off the West Coast are attached to the territories on the mainland opposite which they lie. Fernando P0 was ceded to Spain by Portugal in 1778, as was the island of Annobon. The islands of Principe and San Thomé have been Portuguese since the fifteenth century. St. Helena, usually regarded as an African island, was taken from the Dutch by the English in 1650. Ascension was occupied by Great Britain in 1815, and in the year following the distant islets of Tristan D’Acunha were occupied by the same 404 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA Powers. . Thus all these fragmentary appendages of the great Continent have been picked up by various Powers of Europe, and no African island now remains to be scrambled for. CHAPTER XXII THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA Extent and monotony of Africa—The tropical continent far excellence— Its relation to the ocean—Monotony of outline—Configuration of the surface Lack of mountain ranges High mean elevation—Tempera- ture —- Obstruction t0 river - navigation — Prevailing winds and rainfall — Lakes and rivers — Results of peculiar geography of Africa Economical characteristics of tropical regions—North and South Africa—Extent of desert lamb—Distribution of animals— Minerals—Communications Modes of conveyance—The natives— Labour supply—Density of population—Commercial value of Central Africa—How are its resources to be developed ?—Can the natives be utilised P—The r616 of the white man—Colonisation—North Africa— \Vhite colonisation—South Africa, its value. SUCH then in brief is the story of the “ Scramble for Ifillxomrggd Africa” and its results. It will enable us to form 0”er- some idea of the value of the share which has fallen to each of the Powers who have been engaged in the scramble, if we endeavour to realise what are the lead— ing characteristics of the geography of Africa, so far as these bear upon its economical development. It was a prevalent belief among the ancient Greek and Roman geographers, and even down to the time of the Arab occupation, that the torrid zone of the earth, and especially of Africa, was uninhabitable on account of ' its heat. Though not precisely in the sense in which these ancients meant it, there is a great deal of truth m 406 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA in this. From the European point of View, at least, Central Africa is believed by many authorities to be, as a whole, uninhabitable, or at least uncolonisable, on account of its heat. There is another impression very prevalent at the present day, for which African travellers reproach us.‘ We are apt, we are told, to forget that Africa is not a little bit ofa country like England or France or Italy or even India, but that it is a great continent embracing some I 1,500,000 square miles—5000 miles long from north to south, and 4500 miles wide at its broadest part; and that, as a continent stretching over some 700 of latitude and nearly as many of longitude, it must have many varieties of feature, of climate, of products, of people. While there is no doubt much justification for the reproach, the popular conception is, after all, not so very far wrong. Africa is the most uniform, the most monotonous, of all the continents; amid all its variety there is a certain sameness, a certain family likeness from north to south and east to west. This comparative uniformity of the Continent of Africa, and the fact of its having been so repellent to the intervention of white races reared in temper— ate latitudes, can to a large extent be accounted for by comparing the lie of Africa with that of the other continents. It lies almost evenly balanced on each side of the equator, between about 40° north and 40° south. The equinoctial line which passes through its centre does not touch the Euro-Asiatic continent. The Tropic of Cancer, which THE ECONOZIIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 407 skirts the south of China and passes through the centre of India and Arabia, leaving the bulk of the Euro-Asiatic continent to the north, runs across the north of Africa, leaving only about 3,000,000 square miles between it and the Mediterranean; while less than I,000,000 square miles lie to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, at the other end of the Continent. Again, the whole of North America is outside of the tropics. Of the southern half of that continent, much of the tropical area is occupied by the ocean with its moderating influences; and, while the larger part of South America is within the tropics, still a very considerable portion is situated to the south of Capricorn, and down almost to the verge of Antarctic influences. While the climate of the southern shores of Europe is very similar to that of the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and while the southern peninsulas of Asia are purely tropical, every variety of climate is found between that and the ice—bound shores of Siberia. In the other hemisphere, while the feet of the North American continent are laved by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, its head is almost within hail of the North Pole. Of Australia even, the larger half is outside tropical influences, and its non—tropical shores face the broad ocean and not landlocked seas, as do the north and north-east coasts of Africa. Africa, then, is the tropical continent flay excellence. Of its total area some two—thirds, almost 8,000,000 square miles, lie between the tropics, and have the sun verti— cal twice a year, while the rest of the Continent is more or less sub—tropical; so that, so far as climate The tropi- cal con i- nent par excellence. Its relation to the ocean. 408 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA goes, the popular conception is not far wrong. Even of America only about one-third of the land is within the tropics. Here, then, we have a barrier to European inter- course and settlement which does not exist to anything like the same extent on any other continent. It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader how this question of latitude acts as a barrier to the European occupation of the bulk of Africa. Perhaps it is not wise to be too dogmatic on the subject, for the data we possess are scanty in the extreme. But there is no doubt that among those who are entitled to speak with authority on the subject it is held that colonisation, in the proper sense of the term, is impossible in a tropical country, unless the Euro- pean can change his constitution, unless in the course of ages a variety is developed differing materially from the races that now occupy at least Northern and Central Europe—and such a variety would practi- cally cease to be European. But there are other geographical factors to be taken into account, which modify the general effects of lati- tude, partly mitigating, partly intensifying them. We have seen how Africa lies compared with the situation of other continents. What about its relation to the great water-mass of the globe? We find its southern shores looking out upon the Antarctic, a long way off ; from its western shores the broad Atlantic bears away without obstruction, and nothing intervenes between its eastern coast and the genial influence of the Indian Ocean. The northern and north-eastern coasts of the 2% l I 1 THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 409 Continent are much. less fortunately situated, only the narrow waters of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea separate Africa from the vast land-mass of Europe and . Asia. The whole of the east and south coast is bathed ‘ by warm currents, as is also the Guinea Coast round to . about the Senegal. The comparatively cold Benguela current runs along the west coast from the Cape to north of the Congo, while another coldish current skirts ‘ the west coast of the Sahara. Unfortunately these currents sweep their way around ; a coast of sad monotony of contour. Though Africa is more than three times the size of Europe, and although it is practically an island while Europe has an extensive land frontier, the coast-line of Africa measures only about 15,000 miles in length, while that of Europe is 19,000 miles. A glance at a map of the world will show how this marked difference arises. There is not a single indentation on the coast of Africa worthy of the name ; the coast—line all round looks like a barrier to keep back the beneficent advances of the ocean. Compare the north coast of Africa with the opposite coast of Europe, with its long Adriatic, and its Black Sea, with its entrances and offshoots. There is nothing in the whole round of the African. coast to compare on the one hand with the great sea—arms and magnifi- cent natural harbours that mark the west coast of Europe, including our own islands, nor with the richly- broken Atlantic coast of North America on the other. There is only one estuary of real magnitude on the whole continent, that of the Congo; hence partly the great hopes entertained of the future of that river. Such Monotony of outline. Configura- tion of the surface. 410 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA 1 second-rate harbours as those of Delagoa Bay and Mombasa are reckoned valuable possessions in Africa, for which nations struggle. This monotonous outline of the African coast acts disadvantageously in two ways from the point of View of European enterprise. In the first place, the lack of deep oceanic indentations deprives the great bulk of the Continent of the bene- ficent influences which contiguity to the sea brings with it; and in the second place, it deprives the enter- prising navigator and trader of ready highways to the interior. Thus the mere character of the contour of the coast has contributed to retard the development of the Continent. At the same time, let us recall the fact that the spread of railways over the Continent would tend greatly to counteract the commercial disadvantages arising from the lack of deep arms ‘of the sea, navigable rivers, and natural harbours. Railways are the great levellers, shattering old geographical traditions, and tending to place all continents on an equal footing, so far as communications are concerned. Passing from the contour of the coast-line to the configuration of the surface of the Continent, we find here again certain characteristics which distinguish Africa from all the other continents, except perhaps Australia, which might have been as far behind in civilisation as Africa had its latitude been different. The surface of Africa is nearly as monotonous as its outline. There is only one mountain range worthy of the name, that of the Atlas, which extends along the northern rim of the Continent from Tunis to the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and rising at its loftiest point, Miltsin, to 30° V {3’ .03 4 'Azores P. Mde‘l’afiégléé dual fjmrgtzz't'. ’ ‘W . 3‘ [A‘f'eféflT __:'A R m4 . 0 R fEl Ju r ‘3‘}; Asawaél / AscensionI. Br. § 0) 10° A T LA NT n SFIIelenaI. Br. 0 C E A N ‘‘‘‘‘ \/\/ OROGRAPHICAL MAP OF AFRICA Scale. 1230996000, 475En§lish We to 1Inn‘h. Scale of English Miles Troyic of Cain-i0 n \ . ...Bn'fi5h Possession 100 (T) 100 200 300 4.00 500 600 —‘ Magi-ark Caucafiuu ........... — Above 10,000féet ______ - .... ; 5000 to 10, 000 ............... - _ 2000 to 5000 ....... ,, _________________ El”: 500 to 2000-.., ................ I: fl 0 to 500 ....... , ................. E lmui andJaltlakwbelow ' W _ flwlevel orthe Sea. W L___4 ._~_‘ .__.... ,___. \.—.. .._.__. ._.__l , \20\\ \W \10‘\\ \ ‘W.Gr.\o E \\ poo] 1 l "20” ’ ” Lonfibn: anaréL Stanfonl, 26 &27 CockaPur St..Chaz-ing Cross. SW v THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 4II :I3,000 feet. Eastwards we find a line of detached heights, between the Nile and the Red Sea, with one or two points over 6000 feet, and leading us on to the great mountain mass of Abyssinia, rising in terrace after terrace to a culminating height of 15,000 feet, with a cap of perpetual snow. Proceeding southwards over a lofty plateau, we come upon another smaller mass of elevated land on the north-east and east of Victoria Nyanza, to which the Aberdare range belongs, and which is marked by such magnificent heights as Elgon, 14,000; Kenia, 18,000; and Kilimanjaro, 20,000—all of them old volcanoes, and one of them, Dunyé—M’buro, not yet extinct. Scattered over the region between this and Lakes Nyassa and Bangweolo we find a few points rising to over 6000 feet, but there is no other mountain range till we meet the Drackens- berg in South-East Africa, rising in places to 10,000 feet, and continued under varying names and at a lower level south—west and west into Cape Colony. Between that and the Cameroons only one or two spots reach a height of over 6000 feet. In the small mass of Cameroons we rise to I 3,700 feet, and find ourselves in an old volcanic region continued into Fernando Po and neighbouring islands. Between Cameroons and Lake Chad Mount Atlantika shoots up beyond the general level of the plateau ; while Ruwenzori (20,000 feet) and its neighbouring summits, to the south of Albert Nyanza, may be taken as belonging to the great volcanic series around Victoria Nyanza and north to Abyssinia. Even the Sahara is not so deadly level as is popularly believed ; there is a line of heights running Lack of mountain ranges. 412 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA north-west from Darfur, and culminating in Tibesti in a summit which deserves to be called a mountain, for it rises to over 7000 feet. - But when all is put together the really mountainous regions of Africa amount to little compared with the great size of the Continent. We have nothing in Africa that can compare in comparative mass and extent with the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the Carpathians, the Scandinavian ranges, in Europe, not to mention the Himalayas and the stupendous ranges of Central Asia, and the Andes and Rocky Mountains that run the whole length of the American continent. This lack of great mountain ranges upon the African Continent must be regarded as another serious draw- back to its economical development, since it markedly affects its rainfall and the distribution of its water supply. Nearly all the mountain regions we have referred to bear evidence of gigantic volcanic activity at a past period in the history of the Continent. The geological history of the Continent is, no doubt, one of great interest, but we cannot dwell upon it even if adequate data existed, which they do not. That at a recent period Africa was connected with Europe no one doubts, but the idea that the present surface of the Sahara is an old sea—bed has been abandoned in the face of recently—accumulated evidence. Over much of the Continent the old Plutonic rocks prevail immensely over the recent eruptive rocks, just as the older sedi- mentary do over the recent tertiary or quaternary. Both orders appear to be generally intermingled and largely associated with semi-crystalline and metamorphic forms. THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 413 In a general way the composition of the soil of Africa is favourable enough to the varied requirements of humanity ; its great want is water. It is a striking fact that, notwithstanding the paucity efilggvggfin of great mountain ranges in Africa as compared with Europe and Asia, the general mean elevation of the former is greater than in either of the latter. In the case of Africa it is from 1900 to 2000 feet, while that of Europe is only 1000 feet and Asia 1650 feet. This reveals to us the great characteristic feature of the surface of Africa, that of a high plateau, descending almost everywhere in terraces to the coast. A glance at the special map indicating height of land will show the prevailing contour of this African plateau. All round the coast is seen a strip varying in breadth, but generally comparatively narrow, of not more than 500 feet in height. But the great bulk of the Continent is a plateau of from 500 to 2000 feet, much nearer to the latter than the former. Indeed, the mass of the Continent south of the equator, exclusive of a consider- able section of the Congo basin, is from 2000 to 5000 feet, with a broad belt including the great lakes pushing northwards far beyond the equator into the Upper Nile basin and Abyssinia. Scattered over this, we have seen, are patches which rise to over 6000 feet. The central portion of this, trending north-east from Damaraland to Abyssinia, and from 500 to 1000 miles wide, may be said to average 5000 feet in height. The northern half of the Continent, while retaining its plateau character, has a considerably lower general altitude, averaging 1500 feet, though much of it rises 414 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA to 2000 feet. In Africa, in short, the relief of the land, instead of being concentrated in one or two enormous mountain ranges, has been spread over the . Continent with wonderful equality. Egghera- The practical importance of the plateau character of the surface of Africa will be apparent when the influence of altitude in modifying temperature is kept in View. The mean annual isotherm of 70° is almost coincident with the north coast of Africa, and just comes inside the south coast. The mean annual isotherm of 80° is in the north almost coincident with the Tropic of Cancer, and on the south enters at the Guinea Coast, but sweeps so abruptly south as to include the bulk of Africa south of the equator. These are enormous average temperatures to embrace a continent; no other land—mass has anything like them. Over a large area of the Continent the usual day tempera— tures are of course much higher, and were it not for the rapid nocturnal radiation, Central Africa would really, as the ancients believed, become uninhabitable on account of the heat. When it is remembered that as a general rule temperature decreases by I0 for every 300 feet of altitude, the great advantage of the plateau character of Africa, so far as the European is concerned, must be at once evident. When such altitudes are available as we find in Africa around the great lakes—Victoria, the two Alberts, Tanganyika, Nyassa, and the district between the last two, as also in the Cameroons and the Abyssinian highlands—with ordinary care and a fair constitution to start with, a lengthened residence and reasonable activity become THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 415 possible, and, if on the verge of the tropics, even colonisation may be practicable ; though the last state- ment must be taken with caution. For, be it remem- bered, it is not the mere heat of the tropics that tells on the European constitution; there is the malarial atmosphere engendered in the low-lying regions, and even in the uplands in some places. More trying even than this, according to many reliable authorities, is the excessive variation of temperature between day and night. The difference between summer and winter temperature in some parts of Africa is very great; in the Central Sahara and in Bechuana- . land it is as much as 36°, and in South-West Africa even 60°. Such a difference can be provided for. But when there is a sudden lowering of the temperature at sundown in a tropical or sub-tropical moisture—laden atmosphere it is apt to tell severely on the European constitution. This is one point that has yet to be tested in Mashonaland, which, though sub-tropical, is in some respects a country that promises well for European occupation. These are a few of the advantages and disadvan- ppfiggfnon tages of the plateau character of Tropical Africa, so navigation. far as concerns the influence of the climate on the European constitution. It entails, however, still another obstacle to free commercial enterprise. The plateau, which prevails almost everywhere, slopes down in terraces more or less rapidly to the coast, and down these terraces the rivers from the interior must make their way, with the result that we find the courses of the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, the Zambesi, more or Prevailing winds and. rainfall. 416 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA less interrupted by cataracts. These are a serious obstacle to navigation. Fortunately on the Niger the break occurs far up the river, leaving a long, clear waterway; but on the Congo we meet with some 200 miles of unnavigable cataracts, beginning at about I 50 miles from the sea, and so cutting off from direct access the 1000 miles of splendid waterway above, which leads into the heart of Africa. Had it not been for this we cannot doubt that the Congo would have been traced from below long before Stanley’s brilliant achieve- ment from above. At the same time, as has already been pointed out, these geographical disadvantages can be almost nullified by the construction of railways. No doubt both in Europe and America river-navigation is of importance, but it is insignificant compared with the importance of railway communication. In fact, the judicious introduction of railways would greatly enhance the value of the African waterways. Prevailing winds have much to do with temperature, and still more perhaps with rainfall; and it is to be feared that here we touch upon one of the weakest of Africa’s many weak points. On the east coast the prevailing winds are towards the Continent, bringing with them a fair supply of moisture; all round the Gulf of Guinea the ocean sends an ample tribute of moisture, while farther south the cold Benguela current will tend to diminish the supply. The north-east trades just skirt the Sahara coast, and do it little good, while the winds that cross the Mediterranean and Red Sea have already parted with most of their moisture to the Euro-Asiatic land—mass, and what little remains is ._._“ 5:1. . 5]; [flung i 1'3 - 1711,40 . i‘ O , ru'rmu/ H (“MTV Au‘f—A' ‘A <7 0 'I'HHFJIAX ._ ‘ ‘__ 1.4 3-3.. r . I ot‘l‘gll]; dtll“‘:f 7-1 2 90mm: .w -u. s I) l“ I! h l 4‘ 1 )6“ ’.~ 1 1 . , 9‘ , ii): ‘ - of H,» ’ ‘ ‘ ° 7 / ‘ . _ _ x, '____ . ‘ P‘l'll.\'(l/4'Ill ‘717 ‘AP El El-g «23‘ ‘ l A ,‘ , . ,7 , , av -: lsl'h USmI‘SI 'L'Z 7 ) - ”(1th ”'1! I: ' lamaxwmm H a [L ‘/ Alt/ma}, J V r Tulxrrlm t. [fuxwunu ' I“ ‘ , . otiulrun ‘ If u f' , :l .1 ./ ,AIC'IH‘" ,’ m.- k‘g'h'l‘- " A' 71.1w.» .)""”’“ \ . . . ‘ ,:,._,‘;, ,.._.,__. ,,_, ... '9 1 Tl'hluv ul (Jun-or ‘rl'lmljll J \1c-Ivlo, '*"’ ' ' """ ‘ 1.8" A 17] A R A 0 I: , . Tim/011i 1:1 7/ ‘u I ° :I gh‘ier‘; min Ilur “""N‘rh"; ”m“ VI: 1 .m; . ' « I) . _A I) l-ztnul _ 7 , ' u d Wang'anga 7 "‘ (7 'lm t5 JD 1 20°: " 5W ,77 Wm: .7 "M,” oMulwuk 7 ‘ s T I m 7 7 . : ioi'qiu ‘I'Ifr ' V ‘ 7 A , A . nut \ , Taganet “.1,“ ' x, yjlfcmnalm,’ A ' Inn/Lo f ~ , ' - -.r(....7 Latitude N 01111 Ba [‘0 (.7? ‘a‘luthauu Lomhm: Edward Stanf0111,36 8c27 C ock spur St.,Chm~ing Cross. '5 .W. .,Vhwlrflrrd;y (flog fatuhlichmelw l “NA..- «— THE ECONOAIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 417 ' levied by the coast-lands. What, then, are the results . of these influences so far as the supply of moisture, the :rainfall of the African Continent, is concerned? It :should be remembered that we have precise and con- tinued observations for very few places in Africa. From such meagre data as we have we find that the region of greatest rainfall is round the Niger mouths and south along the coast to the Ogové, with one or ‘ two patches on the coast to the south of the Gambia. “There we may have over 100 inches annually. On ’the Lower Niger region, up by the Benue’, and on a :sweep from the Upper Benué down to the vicinity of 'the Congo mouth, and probably including some of the 'northern tributaries of the Congo, the rainfall is esti- mated to average from 50 to 100 inches annually. The same amount is found along a broad strip of the Upper Guinea Coast, and over an extensive area in 'the heart of the Continent, on the Middle and Upper Congo and its great feeders, and around the great lakes. ‘There is also a patch on the Tana river region, to the north-east of Victoria Nyanza, and a strip on the east coast from Mozambique to the river Jub. But 'the great bulk of the centre of the Continent from the ‘Niger and Benué on the north to the Zambesi on the ISOUth has about 50 inches, reaching on the Upper ‘Congo and its feeders 100 inches. Fifty—inch patches are found on the coast of Algeria and Tunis, over a considerable area of Morocco and into Abyssinia. lOver much of the western Mediterranean border, on :the southern face of the Atlas, we have at least from 10 to 25 inches. A similar supply prevails over a 2 E Lakes and rivers. l belt of varying breadth going east from the mouth,of the Senegal along the Central Sudan States and onto the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile. A still wider‘ belt to the north of. this receives from 5 to 10 inches, but it merges into the Sahara, where the annual average is less than 5 inches—too little to be of any avail for cultivation. To the south of the Zambesi the rainfall is about 50 inches on the east coast and on _to the edge of the Mashonaland plateau. It gradually diminishes to 25 inches, and still ‘farther as we get westwards. The western half of this region north of the Orange River has the minimum rainfall. On the coast'bf Cape Colony they have 50 inches and over, but this rapidly diminishes as we leave the coast. The north-east horn of Africa, including Somaliland, has from 10 to 25 inches, with the exception of an .area from Lake Rudolf to beyond the Jub, where the rainfall is from 5 to 10 inches. Thus, then, except in the centre of the Continent, in Tropical Africa the rainfall is almost everywhere inade- 418 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA quate for industrial operations ; so that where Europeans might settle, so far as temperature goes, the water- supply is defective. Even, however, in the central belt, especially in East Africa, there are considerable areas of desert met with, where the water-supply is almost nil. Closely related to the supply of water from above is that on the surface of the Continent. One of the most characteristic features of Central Africa is its- group of great lakes—Victoria Nyanza, Albert and- Albert Edward Nyanzas, Tanganyika, Moero, Bang-- weolo, Nyassa—just on the eastern edge of the region where the rainfall may be from 50 to 100 inches. On JANUARY W‘fi‘ '~ ‘ MEAN ANNUAL TEMPE'RA'I‘URE AND RAINFALL. VEGETAHON Mu). . 10 o , 10 20 _ 4.0 ‘ . . ... . 10 0 10 20 3 30 1 a . 7 REFERENCE TO- " REFERENCE TO COLOURS ------ red/lines mflwlaofhm fir Jarwary and . . ' ..f 5. ‘ . . . . .. [he had lmas' are the Isotham . ‘ .. . ,1} ,. . ‘ . Nu: .m / l , .. . . ———————, W _'_‘ ______________ Dark 63% m V U ’~ " ' V ‘ films“ are the degrees of I: ' V .. .. . , ”1.375. ...". ' l” am the ’ annual 1801 . . > I ' ~ *' > Hula 6W ‘ Wableland and ”WM -------- light x; J ' 2' . ._ _ ' “ , ., . ., . .. g) “ and the 1‘13qu are degmas- oflhlzmhaflsefmln. _ 5_ " '=' B Indzee to 24 Slime/wage mrw'Jy/J'easan) .Bmm ' , . . . ‘ l . 5 . - 24. ‘ 4-8 W WW ................................ . ..... Yellow 1722 ramfad areas are «411121 from, g ..... ,, ....... ‘ -’ - 48 ........ ,, ........ 80 _____________ _- the figures are Wdegreea of'FahN/nhdlls‘ Sade. _- . . ' ~ ‘ - Bergmf’figxmk‘fll/Itlas. _ - - ‘ of . _ ' ‘ -" : " Over 80 ______________________ _ / - . _- _ _“ lg: DAL-unlm . _. _ . ....... 50 60 BM“ .... .» 4 - .1 """ , . . . ' ‘ 40 50 60 ' 20 10 W.Gr. O E.Gr. 10 W.Gr. o E.Cr. 10 20 30 40 Isothzrfis Frvm the Report on A-br/wSPW' Cub-(glzafig L by MW!” Bum , MA- LondnnganaréL 26§Ll7 Cockspur St.,Charing Cross. 53V. 4 ¢ 30 SCALE OF at». .41“ 8'.” k THE ECONOJIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 419 the northern edge of the 25 to 50 inch area we find ‘Lake Chad, which is really not much more than [an enormous swamp varying very greatly in area raceording to the season. South from the southern .edge we find a corresponding swampy lake, Ngami, which may be all that remains of a much greater lake, into which, at no very remote period, the Zambesi may have discharged its waters. The only other lakes of any consequence in Africa are Lake Dembea among the Abyssinian mountains, and Lake Rudolf to the north- ,east of Victoria Nyanza, situated in a comparatively dry region, and forming the receptacle of an inland drainage basin. But the great mass of lacustrine waters is concentrated in the centre of the Continent. It is not surprising, then, to find that the rivers of Africa, with one exception, draw their supplies from the centre of the Continent. The Nile drains the waters of the three Nyanzas, and one of its chief eastern feeders comes from the lake of Abyssinia. The Congo may be said to rise in Lake Bangweolo, while the Tanganyika sends its contribution to the river. Many tributaries come from the south, drawing their waters from that great sponge, as Livingstone called it, an enormous marshy region that may be said to form the water-parting between the Congo and Zambesi, whence the latter rises, as well as the Coanza, which makes its way to the west coast. While the Niger itself is fed from the rainy region of Western Africa, its great tributary, the Benué, comes from the central zone. These are the four great river-systems of Africa, and the Nile is the only one which, in any 420 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ‘3' part of its course, reaches beyond the tropics. The'E Senegal and the Gambia, though tropical, are insigni- -: ficant; the Limpopo is also small, and is of doubtful utility for navigation, while the Orange is not much better than a huge torrent. Dry river-beds are found ' in many places outside the tropics, even in the Sahara. In this enormous desert we find \Vadies of very great length, and along these are signs that at one time they may have been permanently flowing rivers. Even now, when the rain has been more than usually copious, they may contain water for a few days, “and water can always be obtained by digging. On the other side of the Continent, again, in the Cape region and the countries around its borders, the dry river-beds may suddenly become destructive torrents. But, as a general rule, outside the tropical area, permanently flowing water is rare. Results of The foregoing is an attempt to exhibit, with necessary 2:33:55, brevity and generality, the leading data which may be OfAfrica' said to go to constitute the surface geography of Africa. All that appears on that surface, or that may be got out of it by human exertion, may be said to be an outcome of the various factors with which we have been dealing. We have first the position of.the Con- tinent on the earth’s surface, 77.6. latitude; then we have the outline or contour of the coast, and its relations to the surrounding oceans; the contours or hypsometric characteristics of the surface; the distri- bution of the sun’s heat, the prime influence of all; the direction of the prevailing winds, and the distribution and amount of the moisture which they bring; the THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 421 supply of surface water, or hydrography of the Con- tinent. What, then, on the face of it, so. to speak, 'do we find as the first outcome of these various "influences P To begin with, in the great central region, the region Egononpcal 0 arac 91‘- of fairly abundant rainfall and of generally ample istics of surface water-supply, we find on the whole spontaneous 3:333? tropical exuberance of vegetation, and plentiful animal life. Even here, especially in East Africa, there are, how- ever, great patches of poor scrub-land, or steppe country, little better than desert. But the main feature is rich grass-land covered with trees, sometimes in clumps, sometimes condensed into forests of no great extent, very generally of an open park—like character. In the region of most abundant rainfall, around the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea, in patches along the Benué, on the Upper Congo and its tributaries, and generally wherever we find the rainfall most abundant, we have genuine tropical forests, though nothing, it would seem, to compare in continuous extent with the great forest region of South America. Here, then, in the great central belt, from 10° north to 20° south, the region of true tropical heat and tropical rainfall, we have nature spontaneously exuberant. Outside this region there are few districts of which the same can be said; it mainly depends on the rainfall. South of the central and eastern Zambesi, except the low-lying Manica ~ country, the district where there is a fairly abundant extra-tropical rainfall, including Mashonaland, Mata- beleland, parts of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and east and south Cape Colony, we find -"\ North and South Africa. 422 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA grass-lands with trees, though not very evenly dis, tributed, and liable to be affected by capricious rainfall.-' ~ Similar patches are found in Abyssinia, along the valley}:- of the Nile, and along the slopes of the Atlas and the .3 Western Mediterranean coast- lands. Between the north of the central belt and the; Mediterranean coast, and also over most of the north-i: east horn of Africa, is found an area either absolutely desert, or the next stage to it—poor steppe, scrub, or other land of a like nature. This area covers some- thing like 4,000,000 square miles—one-third of the: Continent. Of this about one-half is pure desert, the veritable sandy Sahara. The true Sahara is not one compact area. On its south, with a varying breadth, we have the so-called steppe or scrub—land, much of which is really fairly good grass-land at certain seasons of the year, with vegetation of a shrubby or scrubby character. This broadens out to the north of the Senegal, and extends in a wide strip along the west coast region. It pushes its way right into the centre of the Sahara, and broadens out into the Ahaggar highlands. Another wedge runs north from Darfur into the Tibesti country, while the same characteristics prevail over most of the north-east horn of Africa. On the other side of Africa we find a strip of true desert along the west coast from the Coanza to the Orange River. This spreads out on the south of the Zambesi. Over about two-thirds of South Africa, and extending well to the south of the Orange River, we have the scrub or steppe characteristics known in the Cape region as the Karroo. THE ECONOZl/IIC VALUE OF AFRICA 423 Thus, then, in Africa we have at least 2,000,000 Extentof esquare miles of true desert, and probably about a 9simi1ar area of land at a stage above the desert, varying lfrom the poorest scrub to land that may at some time )of the year yield a fair amount of grass with only the [natural moisture that may fall to its share. This, of i course, is a general statement, for it is wholly impossible ' to draw any hard-and—fast line between absolutely good and absolutely bad land ; nor is there any mathematical line between tropical and non-tropical regions. We find oases of verdure in the most desert regions, and desert areas surrounded by exuberant vegetation. If we compare the map showing distribution of surface with that showing distribution of rainfall, we cannot but be struck with the very close relations that exist between the two factors. Indeed, this factor of rainfall influences other factors in a remarkable way, not only in Africa, but all over the world. In South Australia every inch of rain above a certain quantity may, it has been calculated, be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to the wheat—farmer. desert land. Indirectly also, no doubt, rainfall influences the gistribu- 1011 of distribution of animals; for graminivorous animals go animals- where they find the most abundant food, and the carnivores follow in their train. The distribution of the larger carnivores and of venomous animals is no doubt of some practical importance, for they constitute a certain amount of danger to the opening up of the Continent by Europeans; but it is an element which may for practical purposes be neglected. Indeed, the existence of the larger animals, whatever order they Minerals. 424 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA belong to, may actually promote the opening up of. the Continent, seeing that they attract the sportsman, ‘1 who may act as pioneer for the trader and the missionary. But from the commercial point of View ‘ the most important of African animals is no doubt the elephant, which is, in a general way, found from the . edge of the northern desert region to below the Zambesi. I From the latter region it is rapidly retiring northwards. It used to be found quite near the south coast, but in the Cape Colony proper it is now only found in a preserve. It is now rarely found near any coast, and there can be little doubt that, unless its destruction is placed under stringent regulation, it will in no long time be found only in the most inaccessible regions. It is doubtful if even the larger wild animals in Africa will ever become extinct. The only chance of accom- plishing such an end would be for civilisation to cover the whole Continent. But it will take a long time for Africa to reach even the stage of India, and yet, in that part of the British Empire, wild animals are still plentiful enough. As might be expected, the elephant is found to be most abundant in the central region of plentiful rainfall and exuberant vegetation; and, in reckoning up the commercial assets of Africa, it must be taken into account. Much more important for the development of Africa than the distribution of animal life on its surface is the extent to which minerals are found beneath it. Until the geology of the Continent is more completely worked out than it is at present, we can only speak very partially on the subject. That gold is found in ' r THE ECONOZIIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 425 Africa has been known from remote times; that the gold mines of Mashonaland and Manica, of which so much has recently been heard, were worked long before the Portuguese touched its shores, we may be sure, the massive ruins found scattered over that region are evidence enough of the fact. That gold exists in great abundance not only in that region but over much of the area south of the Zambesi, in the west as in the east, there can be little doubt. North of the Zambesi, in the Lake Nyassa region, it is also found. The Gold Coast deserves its name; unfortunately, the climate is a great obstacle to the working of the mines. Inland from the Red Sea, on the east of Nubia and down by Harrar, it is also found, and was probably worked there in the old Egyptian times. Silver is also found there, and both gold and silver in Abyssinia. Gold has been worked in Senegambia, and silver in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis. In some of the last-mentioned places these precious metals may not be abundant, still it may pay to work them. So far, then, the most coveted of all metals seem to exist in the greatest abundance on the south of the Zambesi, just in the region where an active white population is most wanted. Still farther south, in Natal, the Transvaal, and the Cape, we have reason to believe there is a fair supply of coal, which probably also exists. But so far Africa can hardly be said to boast of its coal supply. Yet iron, and that of a very fine quality, is fairly abundant in several regions, and has been long worked by the natives. In the Transvaal, on the west Communi- cations. 426 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of Lake Nyassa, to the west of the Upper Zambesi, in Tibesti, in Abyssinia and Darfur, in the Victoria Nyanza region, and along the shores of Tunis, Algeria and Morocco, this useful metal is found in remarkable quantities. Copper also is found in the Transvaal, and in great abundance on the south of the Orange River, in Damaraland, and in Katanga, west of Lake Bang- weolo. It is believed also to exist in quantity in the Congo region, in Algeria, Morocco, and possibly in Darfur. Nor must we overlook the diamonds of Kimberley. But as yet we know too little of Africa to be able to* say with any confidence what are its mineral riches. And when they are found, their mercantile value will depend upon their accessibility. This suggests another important factor which must be taken into account in estimating the value to humanity of this peculiar continent, and that is its accessibility. We have already seen that there are no ocean high— ways into the heart of the Continent; its coast-line is nearly as monotonously regular as a circle. Natural harbours are few and far between. Still, that is a difficulty which engineering science can overcome, if the interior itself were easily accessible. But we have seen that the waterways, which look so magnificent on the map, and which lead into the heart of the Continent, are deceptive in their appearance. We have seen that the four great rivers of Africa, in making their way down from the plateau to the coast, are all more or less broken by cataracts. The cataracts of the Nile are not so bad that they may not be overcome, and as a waterway it is fairly useful, and might be more so if the THE ECOZVOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 427 countries to which it gives access were under moderately good government. However, the railway that runs along its side for many miles is a much more important trade-route than the river itself. Fortunately the Niger presents some hundreds of miles of fairly clear water- way, though its mouths are troublesome, and shallows and sandbanks have to be avoided. Its great tributary, the Benue’, is navigable by small steamers for hundreds of .miles, at least in the wet season; and, as it goes almost direct east, it leads into the heart of the Continent. These two rivers run through one of the richest regions of Tropical Africa. The Congo, we have seen, after some I 50 miles of splendid waterway, suited for vessels of considerable size, is barred by 200 miles of rapids, above which there is a clear 1000 miles of navigable river; while some of its great tributaries, north and south, add hundreds of miles of fair routes. The railway, now being constructed past the rapids, will, if ever it is completed, render this one of the finest trade-routes in Central Africa. As for the Zambesi, if once its fickle mouths are passed, steamers of moderate size may go up as far as the Kebrabasa rapids (only 200 miles), though shoals must be looked out for; above that point it is only adapted for canoes. The Shire tributary, which leads into Lake Nyassa, though also interrupted by rapids, is navigable for small steamers. Thus all these apparently great rivers have defects more or less serious, decreasing their value as highways to the interior. The Niger is the freest, and, with suitable roads when needed, will suffice for the trade of the region for a long time. The same Modes of convey- ance. 428 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA may be said of the Congo if once the railway were made. What is more doubtful is whether the traffic over the line will for a long time be sufficient to make the railway pay. Except in those parts where Europeans have been settled for some time—that is, on the north and south borders—there are no roads in Africa worthy of the name—none on which any large traffic could be con- ducted. Large areas, it is true, in the centre of the Continent are so level that even wheeled vehicles could be run over the land ; but that also would not amount to much in the way of commerce. Africa is, however, covered with a network of roads of a kind—native paths leading from village to village, formed by the naked feet of many generations of villagers, but only broad enough to admit of single file. Beasts of burden are of course scarcely possible on such tracks, and as a matter of fact, over the great part of Africa the native himself is the only beast of burden ; under such conditions no serious commerce is possible. In North Africa, all over the desert, in Egypt, and in the Sudan States, we, of course, find the camel, by whose aid alone has it been possible to create highways across the desert. In Somaliland there is a fine breed of donkeys. In the Sudan States the horse has been introduced, but mainly for riding purposes. Where Europeans are largely settled, no doubt modern means of locomotion are found, but the state of things described is rather of Africa in what we may call its natural condition, before the modern European invasion began. It seems strange that the natives have never attempted to utilise the THE ECONOJIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 429 African elephant as the Indian has done its Asiatic congener. There is some evidence that in the Roman times the elephant was used for fighting and carrying purposes, but his utilisation never seems to have become general on the Continent. There is a prevalent opinion that the African elephant never can be subdued to the uses of humanity; but no serious experiments have ever been made. There is some reason to hope that, now that Europe has taken the Continent in hand, something will be done to discover whether this native force cannot really be utilised. But in time, no doubt, every region likely to yield results to commerce will be tapped by railways. To the south of the Zambesi a network is being rapidly constructed. The same may be said of Algeria and Tunis. In both the British and German spheres in East Africa there are indications that in no long time the interior will be accessible partly by railway and partly by roads. In dealing with the geography of Africa, without doubt the most important factor to be met with on the surface of the Continent is the native himself, both from the point of view of science and of the economical development of the Continent. It is quite impossible to deal here with the ethnology of Africa, vastly inter- esting as it is. An examination of the language-map will show the great divisions from that point of View, though language is not always a safe guide to ethnical affinities. Still, on the whole, in Africa it seems to present us with a key to the great divisions of its population. To the superficial observer all Africans seem at first very much alike; in the same way, no The natives. 430 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA doubt, to the African all Europeans, all whites indeed, ‘ have a family resemblance. Colour has much to do with this. But while in Africa, as among the American Indians, and as among a large part of the population _ of Central Asia, there is a general continental type, there is in reality great variety, from the light- brown, regular-featured Berber in the north to the poor, ugly Hottentot in the south. In a general way the northern and north-eastern part of the Continent is given up mostly to people of Semitic and Hamitic stocks. As we approach the Central Sudan this merges into the true Negro type, which prevails over the whole of the Niger basin down through Senegambia and along the Gold Coast, east- south-east to the region around the Victoria Nyanza, throwing ‘a broad wedge northward into the Tibbu country of Sahara. Just where the Continent begins to narrow, and we touch upon the Congo basin, we meet with what is known as the Bantu-speaking stock, with its various subdivisions, of which the Zulu may be taken as the type. Scattered among both Negroes and Bantus are found remnants of various other types. Round about the great lakes the ruling people are really Hamitic. In many places over the centre of Africa pigmy tribes are met with, remains probably of an aboriginal race who may have had the Continent to themselves long before Hamites, Negroes, and Bantus invaded it from Asia, and to whom the Bush- men may be allied. The Hottentots also seem to be a very early people, quite unlike any other African race. The Fulah people, a superior race who prevail BQPULATION MAE ‘3“ Ca bes / . .Q 7‘ +3: 02“? "-7. . e. . ‘£u%‘P ° Murzuflw {Rafa-.121 Gulf of} o U Ambriz '. f I ' L (m; SfPaul fie Loannla a,“ R.Coa.nza Q .- -.S'.‘Helm (BI-it‘d») 1 20 \ ‘Il \ 'h‘opic of f‘ ' ~ .' asemn‘e N Orange ‘k‘ PortNoHath . QB CayeT . 5 ‘. -. - I aafGoadH e ‘ ' '. ‘ Q 01:9" 1“ 'a‘eabdh . MDZcunha $935 6% 20 w. Gr. 0 E . Gr. 20 Q“ 40 N 60 M4. ' ‘S 1 m u 9' “P tau ova-curnnu London: Rama-d Stanfurfl,26&27. CoolsPur SKChanné (”moss , SW oral: Geo PEuab THE ECONOJIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 431 in the Central and Western Sudan, differ in many respects from other African races. These are the main distinctions of race-types in Africa so far as linguistic characteristics go. But from the point of View of the exploration of Africa, and the development of its resources by Europeans, the important question with regard to the natives is—VVill they be a help or a hindrance? On other continents, in North America, in Australia, the question has been solved by practically getting rid of the natives altogether. In Africa we cannot do that, any more than we can do it in India, even if we conceived it to be our interest to do so. However it may be in the very remote future, we cannot at present do much in Central Africa with- out the help of the natives. The natives of Africa, except in the more intensely Moslemised parts in the north, can never have been said to be any hindrance to exploration. They are themselves in many parts very keen traders. Nearly the whole of North Africa (except Abyssinia) is Mohammedan, and that tells in two ways. It certainly raises the native in the scale of civilisation; at the same time it is apt to create a fanatical aversion to European intercourse. That has been the great obstacle in the Central Sudan, in Sokoto, Kanem, VVadai, and neighbouring states which are yet practically independent. France has overcome it in Tunis and Algeria; it is dormant in Egypt; in the old Egyptian Sudan it is rampant among the Mahdiists and Senoussites; in Morocco it is still a barrier to free intercourse. The people of . North Africa, Moslcm or other, are fairly industrious, Labour supply. Density of population. 432 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA and if once their enmity were overcome they might co- operate very effectively with Europeans. For the future development of Africa, it is, however, with the Negroes and Bantus we shall have mainly to reckon. Without labour we cannot develop the Continent, and if we cannot get the native to work, what is to become of Africa? We are often told that the Negro is a lazy being, who never will be trained to habits of industry. But as a universal statement facts belie that assertion. When he can pick up his living with a minimum of exertion, he will do so; that is human nature. But in South Africa, in the Cape, the Transvaal, Natal, West Africa, and elsewhere, he does work, and that often with great steadiness and regularity. On some of the plantations of the Germans inland from Zanzibar, before the recent troubles, the people came quite willingly to work, induced to do so by the wages offered. At the same time, it must be admitted that voluntary hard work is not congenial to a people who, for ages, have been accustomed to do no more than they were forced to do. It should be quite possible, by judicious treat— ment, to lead the natives on to industrious habits ; but we must not expect, in this and other matters, to force them in a generation or two up to a stage which it has taken us 2000 years to reach. Meantime, in Cape Colony and Natal it has been found necessary to intro- duce labour from India and the Malay Archipelago. There are many questions suggested by the con- sideration of this subject of the natives of Africa into which we cannot here enter. With the intervention of European powers, the cessation of native wars, and the THE ECOJVOAIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 433 3 suppression of slave-raiding, the native population is l bound to increase. According to the estimate of one > of the most competent authorities, Mr. Ravenstein, the t total population of Africa does not exceed 130,000,000, , 22:. only about 10 to a square mile, though other ; authorities estimate it at 200,000,000. But the Con— ‘ tinent, comparatively poor as it is, is capable of sustain- ing a much larger population. A glance at the map showing density of population will show how closely related this is to the rainfall. Population is densest of all in the Niger region where the rainfall is greatest. Here we find, in places, over 70 to a square mile; in other places it ranges between that figure and 35. A similar density, is found round the north—west of the Victoria Nyanza, in the Lower Nile Valley, on the south coast of Cape Colony, and the western shores of the Mediterranean. In Abyssinia, between the Ogové and Congo, in the Manyuema country, on the Upper Nile, and the northern slopes of the Atlas, and in one or two other spots, it is from 15 to 56. But over a large part of Central Africa, including most of the Congo basin, the Upper Nile, Senegambia, and the Upper Niger, it is only from 8 to 15 per square mile. In East and South Africa, Portuguese West Africa, the region between Lake Chad and the Upper Nile, and Lake Chad and the Niger, and much of the Red Sea coast, the density is only from 5 to 8. A band on the south of the Sahara, another band including Somali- land and running to the south of Victoria Nyanza, Damaraland, and Namaqualand, the bulk of the Atlas and the coast of Tripoli, only reach from I to 5 ; while 2 F 434 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA the Sahara and the Bechuanaland region—something like one-fourth of the Continent—have less than one, person to the square mile. If the European occupation and exploitation of the Continent continues, as it is almost bound to do, some- thing must be done with and for the natives. It is to be feared that, so far, Christian Missions have not had the effect hoped for. But better methods are being introduced. The great thing is to remember that these poor natives have a long leeway to make up; that violent and sudden interference with old-established domestic institutions will do no good; that tact and firmness and just treatment will accomplish a great deal; and that a negro cannot by any amount of civilising influences be evolved into a European. Commercial What, then, is the practical result of our inquiry, Egg; with special reference to the economical value of Africa? Within what limits is it likely to be of utility, not only to the sparse indigenous population, but to humanity at large, and to Europe in particular? The obstacles. which have hitherto kept it behind all the other con— tinents will always have more or less weight; but they are obstacles which are by no means invincible. Let us again first take the central zone, Tropical Africa, two—thirds of the Continent, which has been the chief field of the recent scramble. Most of the natural riches of the Continent are concentrated in this region. Even in gold and silver, in copper and in iron, it seems to have fairly abundant stores. The animal product, ivory, comes mainly from this region. Here we meet with the great forests and a wealth of THE ECONOZLIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 435 ' vegetation of all kinds, yielding such natural products ; as rubber, coconut and palm oils, ground-nuts, valuable : seeds of various kinds, fibres, gums, and many other : natural products of commercial value. We know from ; actual experiments that much of this area is well . adapted to such cultivable products as rice and maize, ' tobacco and coffee, indigo and cotton. Bananas and other tropical and sub—tropical fruits grow in abundance, or could be cultivated to any extent. In many districts cattle are reared in enormous numbers, and under skilled direction could be increased and improved in quality, both for food purposes and for their hides. Goats are common, and in the Central Sudan sheep are reared. About the fertility of the soil, over at least one—half of the area, there can be no doubt. Thus it is evident that if we simply confined ourselves to the natural products of Central Africa, and utilised them judiciously, so as not to exhaust them, a fair commerce could be created. Still the mere natural . animal and vegetable products of a tropical country ‘could never yield a trade of great dimensions; the demand is too limited, and the supply abundant. The common food products, the common textiles—corn of all kinds, cotton, wool, hemp,-—these with the useful minerals form the vast bulk of commerce of our own and every other country. At present it is estimated that the total exports of the whole of Central Africa by the east and west coasts do not amount to more than £20,0oo,ooo sterling annually. Even this is considered by some authorities an excessive estimate; yet it is a great deal less than the export trade of Canada alone. How are its resources to be de- veloped ? 436 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA If we could add to this the cultivation, on a large scale, of some of the useful products referred to above, and i if these could compete favourably with similar products from other parts of the world, the commercial value of Africa would be greatly increased. Moreover, as the population increased, as colonisation advanced and wants multiplied, the native market itself would become of increasing importance. What, then, is wanted to develop the natural re- sources of Africa, and utilise the capabilities of its soil? First of all, we must have easy and cheap means of communication if a great‘export and import trade is to be developed. There may be the finest cattle, rice, corn, tobacco, tea, coffee, in the world, around Tan— ganyika, Albert Nyanza, Victoria Nyanza, Nyassa; but if the produce can only be brought to the coast on men’s or even elephants’ backs, it would not have a chance of success. Of course, if the river-navigation were im- proved, if the impassable sections of the Congo and the Niger, the Nile and the Zambesi, were bridged by rail\\rays,it would greatly improve the prospects of success. Still more, if there were direct communication by rail from the heart of the Continent. But this is a prospect of the distant future. In that future the population of the world, at its present rate, will have vastly increased, and increased supplies of the common necessaries of life will be required. Meantime, in addition to making the best of the native products, we can do little more than experiment, and happily experiments are being made in various quarters. But experiments should be made all over. We want to know what can be made THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 437 of the vast plateau region round the great lakes, and of the low countries which they dominate. In the Lake Nyassa region we may soon have some positive data to go upon as a result of the enterprise to be carried out under Her Majesty’s Commissioner, Mr. Johnston. Indeed, the rivalry among the so-called European spheres in Africa is so great, that in a very few years we must have a much more precise idea than we have now of what can be made of Central Africa. At present it is not possible to go beyond the expres- sion of a belief that it has great capabilities. It is here, however, that the importance of the con- Can the siderationg already discussed becomes apparent; if 3:31:31? the way were quite clear, otherwise, if means of com— munication were all that could be wished, through what human agency is the work to be carried on? So far as our present knowledge goes, the native is absolutely indispensable to the development of Tropical Africa. Our somewhat scanty experience tends to prove that Europeans, even southern Europeans, could not do the hard daily work that is required—in the forest, in the field, in plantations, in mines—to render Central Africa of commercial value. It is not only the malaria that constantly broods over the coast and the low—lying river-courses, and is set at liberty to poison the atmo- sphere when the rotting soil is stirred; the mere heat of the tropics seems to incapacitate Europeans for work of this kind. If, then, the native cannot be utilised in this direction, labour must be introduced from regions, the natives of which could be readily acclimatised. But experience proves, as has been said, 438 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA that there is no reason whatever to despair of the African " native ; that in time he may take to fairly regular habits ‘ of industry. 'trlilmrafiietof But what about the white man himself? Apart 8W 6 man- altogether from the question of hard manual daily labour, can he settle in Central Africa in any great numbers? The prevailing belief on the subject has been already referred to; but even after obtaining all the information possible from men who have had experience in various parts of Africa, the data which we possess on the subject are extremely scanty. We find on the Nyassa-Tanganyika plateau missionaries and traders living with their wives and children; but the experiment has not been tried long enough to admit of any conclusion being drawn. Emin Pasha lived in the Equatorial Province for twelve years, so did Mackay, the missionary, in Uganda; and there are other isolated instances of the same kind. But what is wanted is a thorough investigation of the whole subject of European residence in tropical countries, based on existing data, and on data to be collected in the future ggfflsa- from Central Africa. We know absolutely that over nearly the whole of the west coast of Tropical Africa a residence of only two years is risky, and it, is so too over much of the east coast. With regard to the higher lands in the centre, the general belief is that a healthy and vigorous human race, say a race of our own type, ‘ could not be reared for many successive generations even on the high plateaux of Central Africa.» The experiment with South Europeans—Italians, Greeks, Spanish, Maltese, Portuguese—has never been tried THE ECONO/LIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 439 on sufficiently great a scale to admit of safe conclusions being drawn. Meantime the problem is not of very practical moment. It would be madness to encourage colonisation in the true sense of the term in Central Africa at present. If the Continent is to be developed, European men must go and fix themselves at various favourable stations over the centre, but they must go as unattached pioneers. In such a capacity no young man with a sound constitution to start with need hesi- tate to go. Now, briefly, as to the north and the south of the mtg. Continent. The Sahara we need not discuss. There is plenty of water underneath its inhospitable sands. On the borders of Algeria that water is being tapped with great success, and hundreds of thousands of date- trees are yielding profitable results; but the demand for dates is not such as to encourage their cultivation over 2,000,000 square miles. Under French domina— tion, especially if railways are constructed across the desert, no doubt oases will be created at intervals, but the Sahara is likely to remain much as it is until a very remote future. The grass—lands which fringe its southern border and go on to the fertile Central Sudan might no doubt be turned to good account for cattle and sheep; and in time will be. \Vith regard to the countries along the Mediterranean border, certainly much of the Tripoli coast region is not much better than desert; but Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, along the coast—lands, and the lower slopes of the Atlas and the valleys among the mountains, notwithstanding the occasional lack of rainfall, are all of distinct value, both 440 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA E from the point of View of commerce and colonisation. ii With regard to European colonisation, a communication on the subject, received from Sir Lambert Playfair, our representative in Algeria, may be quoted ; it may be held as applying to all the Mediterranean countries :— Whm “I think it would be almost impossible for any giggiisa' Anglo-Saxons to settle here as actual labourers. They could work in agricultural pursuits during the winter months as well as, or better than, in England, but they would never stand the heat of summer, except perhaps in a few very favoured localities. As employers of labour, of course, the case is different, and any one could live and prosper here. Marshal MacMahon made the experiment; he got out a colony of Irish, both men, women, and children ; they were a complete failure, many died, and the remainder had to be sent home very soon. They suffered from fever, sunstroke, and general demoralisation. \Vith 'regard to the Latin races it is quite different; but for them colonisation in this country would be at a standstill. . The Italians in the east and the Spaniards in the west are the most useful classes of the population. \Vith them may be classed Maltese and natives of the south of France. Other Mediterranean nations are not represented here. It is quite wonderful to see how the Spanish Alfa- gatherers—men, women, and children—support the alternations of great cold and intense heat on the high plateaux, with hardly any shelter; an English labourer working there in summer would be dead in a week. As a general rule, you may safely say that natives of northern Europe cannot support the climate of North THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA 441 Africa as actual labourers, and only moderately well as employers of labour.” This, of course, applies with very much greater force to Central Africa. Still, even in North Africa, the natives themselves, the Arab. and Jew population, can never be dispensed with, and must co—operate with the Europeans in developing the countries. Iron abounds, silver is found, cereals, vines, tobacco, olives, and other products, are extensively grown, and no doubt there is ample room for industrial development in all these countries, including Morocco. There is no reason why Greeks and other South Europeans could not settle with their families in Egypt; but, so far as actual work goes, Egypt is for the Egyptians. Along the region watered by the Nile there is no doubt that Egypt is capable of much greater development than she has yet attained. I_t will afford some idea of the com— parative value of North Africa, that the total value of the trade of the _countries mentioned, insignificant as their area is compared with Central Africa, amounts to about £45,000,000 sterling annually, one half of which is for exports. - With regard to South Africa—that is to say, Africa $312231“ south of the Zambesi. Here we find that the western value- half, and the south away from the coast, has but a scanty rainfall. The natural vegetable products are of but poor account; even ivory is now obtained in com- paratively insignificant quantity. But to balance this it is the richest region in all Africa for minerals. It promises to be one of the most productive gold 442 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA regions—if not absolutely the most productive—— in the world. It is through its gold, just so much capital, as it were, stored up in the ground, that Australia has been able to advance so rapidly in all directions. So we may hope it will be in South Africa. Not only will it yield capital to develop what we may call the permanent resources of the region, but it will attract a large and vigorous white population. The diamonds of South Africa are well known, and its coal, its iron, its copper, are natural riches of high import- ance. Notwithstanding the meagreness of its rainfall, the southern half of the region has proved a fine field for sheep and cattle rearing, not to mention ostrich- farming. The inhabitants have already found out methods of storing the rain which does fall, and no doubt they will find means of tapping the underground supply. The country may grow all the corn it requires for its own wants, though it may never have much to spare for export. It is a splendid vine region, and both tea and sugar can be grown successfully in some parts. In other parts well to the north, where the water—supply is abundant, the general altitude is so high that it is hoped that in time it may become the home of hundreds of thousands of people of British origin. Even in the sub—tropical parts, away from the low-lying regions and the river-beds, Europeans seem to prosper. It is not, therefore, surprising to find that South Africa already sustains a white population of over 500,000, and that it has been colonised by generations of Europeans, who thrive as well as they do at home. \Vhile the native cannot, of course, be compared to the English mechanic THE ECONOZIIIC VALUE OF AFRICA 443 or peasant or navvy, he still works well enough in his own way, while thousands of Malays and Indian coolies have been imported. South Africa, in short, is the one region in which we can say with confidence that European colonisation, in the fullest sense of the term, is possible. It does an annual trade amounting to £ 35,000,000 sterling—one half exports. Africa. be- fore and after the scramble. CHAPTER XXIII CONCLUSION Africa before and after the scramble—France’s share—Germany—Portugal —Italy—Spain—Congo Free State—Great Britain—Tropical Africa the great problem—Limits to European colonisation—Can the native African be trained to work ?——Slave-raiding and the Brussels Act—- Value of African commerce—Europe’s duty to the natives—\Vhat remains to be scrambled for—Egypt and British supremacy—Eng- land’s duty. LET us briefly inquire what has been the result of the scramble of the last eight years ; what share has fallen to the lot of each of the Powers engaged in the game? In the beginning of I 884, of the I 1,500,000 square miles which make up Africa, the total area appropriated by the European powers and the Boer Republics probably did not exceed 2,500,000 square miles; at this moment there are barely 2,000,000 out of the I 1,500,000 remaining to be scrambled for. It is over 3000 years since Phoenicia began to nibble at the Continent; this nibbling process went on until 1884. In the last eight years there has been a mad rush, and nearly the Whole ‘of the Continent has been gobbled up. Let us see, then,how matters now stand ; in Appendix I. will be found the statistical results in tabular form. any -=~ 3: CONCL USION _ 445 France has emerged from the scramble with 31333“ bigger slice of Africa than any other Power. Her domain includes and extends from Algeria and Tunis down to the Guinea Coast. It embraces the bulk of the Sahara, all the country watered by the Senegal, and most of that watered by the Upper Niger. It includes the great bend of the Niger and the famous city of Timbuktu; a line from the Niger to Lake Chad separates part of French Africa from the terri- tories of the British Niger Company. With the ex— ception of Liberia, our own little patches of colonies on the West Coast, and German Togoland, France claims most of the country formerly vaguely known as Guinea. Farther south she has appropriated a great block of land between the Cameroons and the Congo. On the other side she has taken Mada- gascar under her wing, while outside the entrance to the Red Sea she has a big patch round the port of Obock. Altogether the area claimed by France in Africa verges close on 3,000,000 square miles. But bearing in mind what has been said as to the geographical characteristics of Africa, let us see what is the value of this enormous African empire from the point of View of commerce and colonisation. In- cluding the French Sahara, those portions of Algeria and Tunis bordering on and really forming part of the desert, and a considerable area of the French Sudan and Senegambia, some 2,000,000 square miles of French Africa is desert, or just the stage beyond desert. It is not useless ; experiment has proved that probably below the whole desert area there is an ample supply Germany. -\ 446 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA of water which has only to be tapped and distributed over the surface to turn the desert into a garden. But this involves great outlay, and people are not willing to sink their money in these desert wells so long as better land is to be had. But the Sahara is by no means the hopeless place it used to be thought; and already in the south of Algeria many flourishing date plantations have been rearedgby means of the water from below the surface. Of course much of Algeria itself, and even Tunis, is fine agricultural country, and the progress made under French domination has been great. There are also profitable stores of minerals. As for colonisation, white people from the south of Europe, especially Maltese, may settle in Algeria and even work day after day. Natives of Central and Northern Europe are not likely to find continual labour possible under such a climate. They might live there and superintend the work of the natives, but to work day after day, all the year round, under a sub-tropical sun would lead to disaster. Outside of Algeria nearly the whole of the remainder of French Africa lies within the Tropics. What that means, so far as Europeans are concerned, ’ has been briefly indicated already, and may be referred to briefly again. Meantime, let us see how other Powers have fared. Germany, who may be said to have begun the scramble, has only a very small fragment of her African domain outside the Tropics,—Namaqualand——and much of that is desert. Togoland, on the Gold Coast, has all the characteristics of West Africa. The Cameroons is in the heart of the Tropics, but possesses a 4?: l CONCLUSION 447 magnificent sanatorium in the lofty Cameroons Moun- tains. Damaraland and Namaqualand probably con- tain gold and certainly copper, and the herbage, though comparatively scanty, covers an area large enough to encourage cattle-rearing on a scale likely to be profitable; but it is difficult to see how much can be made of the country for a long time to come. On the other side of Africa, Germany has acquired a great block—close on 400,000 square miles, double the area of all Germany—purely tropical in climate, with great areas of desert or poor steppe country, scantily watered, and demoralised by slave- raiding. Still this is the most hopeful part of German Africa. The coast is peopled with indus~ trious traders; several trade—routes come down from the interior; experiments on a considerable scale have proved that plantations of tropical products are pos- sible ; and both cattle and sheep can be successfully reared on certain areas. Portugal has still left to her about 900,000 square Portugal. miles in Africa, all of it more or less tropical, but all of it well watered, and much of it capable of industrial development. Even rejuvenated Italy joined in the scramble, and has come off, nominally at least, with 600,000 square miles as her share of the spoil. This includes a long stretch of the Red Sea coast from the Italy. Straits of Babelmandeb northwards, and a precarious hold over Abyssinia, part of the Galla country, and Somaliland—all of it within the Tropics. True, Abys- sinia is the most mountainous country in Africa, possessing great variety of Climate, and could, under Spain. Congo Free State. Great Britain. 448 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA intelligent guidance, be put to many industrial uses. But it remains to be seen whether Italy’s suzerainty will ever be more than nominal. Spain has a small block of 250,000 square miles of sand on the coast of the Western Sahara; besides Fernando Po, and a patch or two on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. In the heart of the Continent the Congo Free State, an appanage of the King of the Belgians, covers almost 900,000 square miles. It is almost divided by the equator, is richly watered and timbered, and capable of producing every tropical product. At present commercial enterprise is confined to the collection of the natural products. So far as area goes, Great Britain stands next to France, with 2,500,000 square miles; and if one dared to include Egypt, the British sphere would even exceed that of her rival. Of the total area, over 2,000,000 square miles lie within the Tropics. Our West African colonies, and the extensive regions covered by the sphere of the Royal Niger Company, are unmitigatedly tropical.’ British East Africa, over I ,000,000 square miles,is entirely within the Tropics, but with much variety of surface and climate. In the high plateau countries around Lake Victoria, and Lakes Albert and Albert Edward,it would at least be interesting to try cautious experiments as to the possibility of European settlement when a railway will make these regions easily and rapidly accessible. South of the equator, of the‘vast region included in the Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, Bechuanaland, Zambesia, and Nyassaland, nearly 1,000,000 square miles, 600,000 1i. CONCLUSION 44 9 square miles are also within the Tropics. But so far as the possibility of colonisation by English people and the inhabitants of Northern and Central Europe goes, we have undoubtedly, by a long way, the advantage over any other Power. Although the Zambesi is well within the Tropics, it may be taken as in a general way, the dividing line between Central Africa and South Africa. So far as experience has gone, the whole of Cape Colony and Natal, and neighbouring lands, including the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, which willingly or unwillingly are under British influence, are colonisable by Europeans of any country ;——that is to say, Europeans cannot only settle there, but they can make it their home and perpetuate their kind, and that is the real test of colonisation. When we get beyond that, it is not safe to settle or live long in the low-lying grounds; but in the plateaux, in the high- lands of Mashonaland for example, there seems every reason to believe that colonisation in the true sense of the term is perfectly possible. The whole region, at least, is amply favourable to the most strenuous British enterprise, and promises in the future to become the chief sphere of direct European activity in Africa. The region varies much in industrial value ; there are great areas over which the rainfall is so scanty that agriculture is scarcely possible; but at least South Africa should supply its own wants in this respect, while to sheep and cattle rearing there seems to be no limit. Of the gold of South Africa we have heard much. There is plenty there, and gold always gives a new country a great pull to start with. But coal and iron and copper are also ‘ 2 G 450 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA abundant. Everything seems to indicate that a great future is in store for British South Africa. As to the large British area lying to the north of the Zambesi, between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, there is no getting out of the fact that it is tropical, and that while it has some magnificent lofty plateaux and highlands, there is no reason to believe that it is, as a 1, whole, exempt from the laws which govern other purely » tropical countries so far as European residence is con- 4 cerned. But according to latest reports, by so compe- tent and trustworthy an authority as Mr. Joseph Thomson, these plateaux are admirably adapted to plantations, and if colonisation in the true sense is not possible, the region, as a whole, is one of the healthiest in Africa. At the risk of repetition, let us briefly resume some of the conclusions reached with regard to the Central area. giciiggaihe It is tropical Africa, then, and that means the agoraw prob- bulk of the Continent, which forms the great problem of the future to be faced by those European nations which zmw, , ‘ kc . m have taken the destinies of Africa upon their shoulders ; and what is true of that applies more or less even to the small sections outside of the Tropics. What are the obstacles to European enterprise in this tropical area have already been briefly indicated. Limits to Had Africa been in the same geographical position 50335:? as North America, or even Australia, the problem would have been simple enough; it is to be feared it would have been solved by getting rid of the natives altogether, as has practically been done in those more temperate regions. But in Africa the conditions are different. It may be that in the far future science may discover CONCLUSION 451 some means of acclimatising Europeans in tropical Africa. So far as our present knowledge goes, that is impossible. Menand even women may with due precautions live in tropical Africa for years, but sooner or later they must return to recruit their exhausted energies in their native air. In all our Central African possessions there are regions rising from 4000 to 6000 feet above the sea—level, where the scorching heat of the tropical sun is mitigated by altitude. \Vith a height like this, and other favourable conditions on the verge of the Tropics (as in Mashonaland), even colonisation might be possible ; while in the true tropical area, with civilised comforts and a sound constitution to start with, experience shows that a healthy, energetic life can be led for a lengthened period. But all evidence seems to indicate that the colonisation of Central Africa by whites is impossible; that means, of course, that if the resources of the Continent are to be developed, it must be by the help of the natives. By themselves it does not seem at all probable that the natives could ever do more than live from hand to mouth, would never do more work than absolute necessity compelled them to do. If, then, anything is to be made of Central Africa, if the most is to be made of its natural resources— mineral, vegetable, and animal—and if the capabilities of its soil are to be turned to good account, it must be done by the natives under the guidance of others who have reached a higher stage of civilisation than they have. The subject is so important that we may be pardoned for referring to it once again in this concluding chapter. It is often said that the African native never Can the native African be trained to work ? 452 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA will work unless forced to do so. Well, there are various kinds of force; slavery is not the only form of com- pulsion that can be brought to bear on humanity. How far force, even of the most gentle kind, may be used for the ostensible good of a people at the stage of development of the African is too delicate a question to discuss here. The very gentle compulsion exercised by the Dutch in their East India colonies has certainly led to good results for all concerned. But in Africa we have undoubted instances of the natives being induced to undertake hard work, for wages, of their own free will. Hundreds of South African natives work at the diamond and gold mines, and serve in various capacities in the British colony of South Africa. We might adduce the hard work performed during months and years by the natives who go on exploring expeditions, for though many are volunteers, some of them at least may be forced to go against their wills. Arab domination in Africa is not in the least desirable; but undoubtedly the Arabs on the Middle Congo have greatly changed the face of the country and elevated the condition of their retainers by sheer force of example. Many Arabs have settled in the Middle and Upper Congo region; they have sown fields of rice, planted bananas and other trees, built themselves good houses, and otherwise shown their followers how to live in comfort; their followers have not been slow to imitate their masters, and several towns ofcomparatively good houses have grown up, and large areas been brought under cultivation. But lest it may be thought that the slave—raiding, ivory—stealing Arab is an un- CONCLUSION 453 fortunate example, we may adduce a striking instance to prove that the African can be trained to hard and even skilled work. A' church has quite recently been erected in the heart of what is still savage Africa; a creditable and even handsome church it is, with many graceful points of architecture an apse,a double-towered front, a dome, and a variety of tasteful adornments ; it might grace even a London suburb. It stands in the Blantyre highlands, consecrated by the name of Livingstone, near the banks of the Shiré river, to the south of Lake Nyassa. It is a region that for centuries has been devastated by slave—raiders and native wars, a region which, when Livingstone passed through it in his sad last wanderings, was in a deplorable condition. For some years, however, that region has been in the hands of Scotch missionaries and Scotch traders. Thousands of acres are under coffee plantations, and thousands more have been taken up by English planters to be brought under cultivation. The natives, who a few years ago lived in the wildest savagery, come hundreds of miles voluntarily to beg for work in'these plantations. Many of them have been trained to various trades. ‘This church then, de- signed by a Scotch missionary, was built entirely by the natives with free labour. He and his col- leagues taught the natives to make bricks, burn lime, and hew timber. All the materials were found on the spot, except glass, internal fittings, and some portion of the roofing; and they were put together, brick upon brick, by the natives themselves, free labourers under white superintendence. Here there Slave-raid— ing and the Brussels Act. 454 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA is not the least suspicion of compulsion, and the result is wonderful. We may banish the unfounded idea that the African native can never be trained to labour. If judiciously treated, there is every hope that in time that which has been accomplished in the Nyassa highlands, the South African diamond fields, and in our West Coast colonies, and by Captain Hore on Lake Tanganyika, will be accomplished elsewhere in Africa, and that the savage African will be gradually won over to civilised ways. There is one thing upon which all the Powers, it is hoped, are now happily agreed ; and that is, that slave- raiding and slave-export must be put down. There is no doubt that the slave—trade is doomed, and that on the East Coast it will soon be as extinct as it is on the West. Internal domestic slavery is another thing; it will only vanish when the beauty of free labour comes home to the native, and when he rises a few degrees higher in the scale of civilisation than he is now. But apart from all considerations of commerce, and of turning the native to good account as a labourer, surely, on the verge of the twentieth century of the Christian era, we ought to be ashamed to have alongside of the most advanced civilisation some I 20,000,000 of people, sunk in the lowest savagery. The Act passed by the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference of 1890-91, and signed by all the Powers having an interest in Africa, has for its object the suppression of slave—raiding, and the stoppage 0f the importation of spirituous drinks. The obligations impressed upon the Powers are very serious, and if faithfully and unitedly carried out, would CONCLUSION 455 soon accomplish the object of the Act. There is a Central Commission at Zanzibar which has shown some signs of activity; but as yet it is too soon to look for results. The duty imposed on Great Britain, to take one instance, is to open up British East Africa in such a way as to render slave-raiding not only impossible but unprofitable. It remains to be seen how far England will do her duty in this respect. With the help of the natives,then,what could be made Emilia? of Africa? At present, Africa occupies a poor place commem- in the commerce of the world. Its total exports hardly exceed £6o,ooo,ooo sterling. India alone, covering only 1,500,000 square miles, exports to the value of £90,ooo,ooo. Of the African £6o,ooo,ooo some £40,000,000 come from the Mediterranean States and Egypt on the one side, and South Africa on the other, leaving only $20,000,000 for the whole of the centre ofthe Continent. Surely more could be made of it than this. Even if its oil, and its gums, and its rubber, and other natural vegetable products, were developed as they might be, they would yield far more to commerce. But at present the world is fairly well supplied with such products from other quarters. The time will come, however, as population grows—«and it is increasing at an alarming rate—when the world will require additional fields for food and other supplies. Barren and dry as much of Central Africa is, there is ample space for cultivation of various kinds, and for the rearing of sheep and cattle. Grain and cotton, indigo and tea, and tobacco, coffee, and sugar, are all products adapted to various parts of Central Africa. 456 T1’1Uij PARTITION OF AFRICA We can do without drawing upon Africa for these things at present, but the time will come, and soon enough, when she must become one of the feeding-grounds of the world. Moreover, with the spread of European domination, native wars must cease, and slave-trading be abolished, and so the population is bound to increase. Surely if India, on 1,500,000 square miles, can sustain 300,000,000 of people, Africa, on I 1,500,000, might well be the home of three times its present population ; and can we doubt that if the African were as industrious as the native Indian, his continent would , bear a very different aspect from that which it does at Europe’s duty to the natives. present P Let those European Powers then, which have thrust themselves upon the native, look upon it as both their interest and their duty to train him to habits of industry, so that his continent may be prepared in time to take its place alongside of the other continents in the general economy of the world; and in this View also let the missionaries be taught by their failures in the past, and adopt more rational and practical methods in the future. As the natives rise slowly in the scale of Civilisation their wants will increase, and so they will become better and better customers to the European trader. Of course all this demands much more efficient means of communication than we have at present; but we may be sure that roads and even railways will come in good time. When we think of what has been accomplished in eight years, we need not despair; only do not let us cherish the delusion that we shall be able to remedy in a generation the neglect and abuses of thousands of av CONCLUSION 457 years. Without pretending to treat the African as the equal of the white man in any way, let us, for our own I sakes and his, deal with him humanely ; let us give him fair play; let us not sink ourselves to his level of brutality. There has been far too much blundering and plundering in the Eurdpean treatment of Africa hitherto. It seems probable, then, that the future of tropical Africa depends pretty much on our method of dealing with the natives. Some of us may think it would have been much better for them had Europe let them alone altogether. But if one adopts that position, where are we to stop? On the same principle it might have been much better had humanity never been evolved at all ; or even had the earth been arrested in its development before life had begun its chequered career on its surface. Such considerations are too late. Europe has taken Africa in hand, and she cannot draw back from her task. It is not necessary, however, indeed it would only be disastrous, to attempt to force the native into the European mould. That may come in the long run; but wherever the forcing process has been tried, especially by injudicious missionaries, the product has not been lovely. By all means try to civilise and even Christianise the African, but do it with tact and knowledge of his constitution, physical and moral. There is plenty to get out of Africa, and it will pay the European to train the native to make the best of the resources of his long—neglected continent. South Africa is all right. In Central Africa each Power has 458 _ THE PARTITION OF AFRICA acquired a fair share of good and bad. Even Portugal has been roused by the action of Great Britain and other Powers from her lethargy of centuries, and may even yet atone for her past delinquencies. The Germans, it is hoped, will learn in time that harsh military methods are not those best calculated to develop the resources of their territories; and, on the other hand, the Belgian officers of the Congo Free State must learn that nothing is to be gained by brutality. If the Arab cannot be induced to co-operate with the European, then he must be driven out. Nothing has been said about the ivory which is the Arab’s chief object of plunder, for the simple reason that African ivory is doomed, and even now its export does not exceed £1,000,000 sterling. migigbe In conclusion, let us say one word about what gambled remains of Africa to be scrambled for. The Central Sudan, that is the region to the north, the east, and the south of Lake Chad, is one of the most interesting and commercially most valuable regions in tropical Africa. Wadai, Kanem, Darfur, Bagirmi, Bornu, Sokoto, are all Mohammedan states, with organised govern- ments, and a fair civilisation. They are splendid countries for the European merchant, and as it is send great caravans of slaves and ivory and other goods across the Sahara, to return with commodities imported from Europe. Of these states England has her foot in Sokoto and Bornu on the one side, while Darfur may be said to be within the British sphere on the other. It is a race between England, Germany, and France to get hold of what remains—Bagirmi and Wadai CONCLUSION 459 especially. Kanem may go to France; let us hope that the rest will fall to our share. Morocco, of course, is bound in the long run to be divided up, possibly between Spain and France, . though it might be well for England to secure a post opposite Gibraltar. But what about Egypt? At present it is no doubt within the British sphere. Its retention in that position is and ought to be no party question. Can we doubt that if we cleared out, some other Power would edge its way in? No doubt the time will_come when all civilised nations will combine for the common good of the race, and when mere 1and~hunger will cease to be a moving force in international politics. But the millennium has not yet come. It is evident that some one Power in the mean- time must have the lead in the world, must have the prevailing influence in the world’s politics and the world’s commerce, in the dealings of Europe with the lower races. Most of us will think it advisable that neither Russia nor France, nor even Germany, should have that lead, but that it is best for all concerned that England should maintain her present supreme position, should keep hold of all she has. Therefore, if it is necessary for the maintenance of our supremacy to keep Egypt, let us keep it. Do not let us be smitten with the craven fear of being great, nor try to shirk the responsibilities which arise naturally from our dominant position. We have done a good deal of knuckling down to certain other Powers in our recent dealings with Africa. Happily not much harm has come of it; but let us stop where we are. Egypt and British supremacy. 460 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA In the building up of our world-wide empire we have no doubt done many things which we ought not Eggand’s to have done, and left undone many things which we ought to have done. Yet the name of our country still stands high all the world over, especially among our less advanced brothers in Africa and elsewhere, for , many of those qualities which exalt a nation. In the Dark Continent then, in the new era upon which it has entered, let all who have to take any part in the great task which has been begun, and the issu s of which cannot be foreseen, endeavour to “be abuse the grand old name of” Englishman. ,- we“ APPENDIX 1. THE PARTITION OF AFRICA, JANUARY I893 THE following table has been compiled by Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, F. R. .S., who kindly allows me to use it here. The population figur s are necessarily in most cases only the roughest estimates :— C Area, Square P l . Inhabitants to Iiles. 0p“ anon. :1 Square Mile. British Africa : Gambia 2,700 50,000 19 Sierra Leone 15,000 275,000 18 Gold Coast 46,600 1,905,000 41 Lagos and Y oruba 21, 100 3,000,000 142 Niger Territories and Oil Rivers 269, 500 1 7, 500,000 65 British Guinea 3 54,900 22,730,000 64 Cape Colony (with Pondo Land and Walvisch Bay) 225,940 1,728,000 8 Basutoland . IO, 300 219,000 21 Natal . 20,460 544,000 22 Zulu and Tonga Lamls 9,790 173,000 18 British Bechuanaland 71,430 50,000 0.7 Bechuanaland Protectorate 99,500 80,000 0.8 Matabili, Mashona, and Nyasa Lands, etc. . 524,000 1,600,000 3 British South Africa 961,420 4,394,000 4.6 Zanzibar (Protectorate, with Northern Ports) 1,040 200,000 192 Ibea, to 6° N. latitude 468,000 6,500,000 14 Rest to Egyptian frontier . 745,000 6,000,000 8 Northern Somali Coast 40,000 200,000 5 Sokotra _¥1,73§o_ ”10$ 7 British East Africa 1,255,420 12,910,000 10 462 THE PARTITION OF AFRICA A 32:“ Population- 51:13:21,511: British Africa—cont.— Mauritius and Dependencies 1,030 393,000 381 St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha . 130 6,500 50 Total British Africa 2,572,900 40,433, 500 16 French Africa : Tunis . . . . ' 44,800 1,500,000 33 Algeria 257,600 3,900,000 15 Sahara I , 550,000 1 , 100,000 0. 7 Senegambia (01d possessions) I 5,000 I 80,000 1 2 Gold and Benin Coasts 50,000 600,000 12 Sudan and Guinea (re- mainder) 525,000 10,000,000 19 French Congo(an