THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

THE

PARTITION
OF

AFRICA
BY

J. SCOTT KELTIE
ASSISTANT-SECRETARY TO T H E ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
EDITOR OF ' T H E STATESMAN'S Y E A R - B O O K , ' E T C .

WITH TWENTY-FOUR

SECOND

MAPS

EDITION

LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD
26 & 27 COCKSPUR STREET, CHARING CROSS, S.W.
1895
All rights

reserved

We sail'd wherever ship could sail,
We founded many a mighty state ;
Pray God our greatness may not fail
Through craven fears of being great.
TENNYSON.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
T H E R E is every reason to be satisfied with the reception
which the first edition of this work has met with.
While one or two German and French papers have
charged me with Chauvinism, others declare that my
treatment of the enterprises of these countries in Africa
has been quite impartial. In revising the present edition
I have endeavoured to modify such passages as might be
open to a charge of unfair patriotic bias. This is the case
especially with respect to Portugal, for many valuable
suggestions with reference to which I am indebted to my
friend Mr. J. Batalha Reis. Yet withal, I am afraid it
remains evident that I am not indifferent to my country's
success in the race with her rivals.
Much has taken place in Africa during the two years
that have elapsed since the publication of the first
edition.
This has necessitated extensive revision of
several of the later chapters, and an addition of some
seventy pages to the work. The book has been carefully revised throughout, and important additions have
been made to the maps.
I have again to express my indebtedness to the
friends mentioned in the preface to the first edition for
valuable help in preparing the new edition. My thanks
are also due to Count Joachim Pfeil, Mr. F. C. Selous,
Mr. H. H. Johnston, C.B., and Mr. Herbert Canning,
Secretary to the British South Africa Company.

J. S. K.
7.Zth February 1895.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
F E W 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 Continent, 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 downwards.

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

NOTE.

I think it right to state that none of the gentlemen
whose names are mentioned in the Preface are responsible
for the opinions expressed or the policy advocated in
this work.
J. S.
March 28, 1895.

KELTIE.

PREFACE

TO FIRST

EDITION

vii

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 bearing on the subject of the present volume
will be found in Appendix II.
I must acknowledge the kindness of Sir John Kirk
in reading the whole work, and making many important 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 interested.

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.
^th January 1893.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
T H E AFRICA OF T H E ANCIENTS
PAGE

Antiquity of African civilisation—America—Australia—The Egyptians—Phoenicians 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 — Hecatseus — Herodotus — The Nasamonean youths—Enterprise under the Ptolemies—Eratosthenes
—Ptolemy's map — Roman enterpiise—The Periplus —
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 settlement—The Islamic conquest—North Africa—The Sahara and
Sudan—East Africa—Timbuktu—Arab commerce and geography—Islamism in North and East Africa—West Africa—
Arab settlements on the East Coast—Central Sudan—Distribution 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
Henry's enterprise—First African Company formed—First
Portuguese establishments—Congo discovered—The Cape
rounded—Result 01 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

CONTENTS

IX

C H A P T E R IV
PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION
PAGE

Portuguese " discoveries" in the interior—Genesis of map of
Central Africa—Discovery as a claim to possession—Establishment 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 .
.

45

CHAPTER V
THE BEGINNING OF RIVALRY

Portugal's monopoly of Africa—Slaves and gold—English enterprise begins—French enterprise—England begins the slavetrade—First English chartered Company—Beginning of a new
era—The Dutch enter the field—Growth of the slave-trade—
First British charteied 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 .
.

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 slavetrade—The Portuguese in East Africa—An Austrian Settlement— Feeling against the slave-trade
.
.
. 7 4

C H A P T E R VII
T H E 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—Portugal on the East
Coast—Central Africa
.
.
.
.
. 8 5

x

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

C H A P T E R VIII
SIXTY YEARS OF PREPARATION
PAGE

Activity after 1815—French conquests : Algeria—Senegambia—
Gambia and Sierra Leone—Liberia—The Gold Coast—Lagos
—The Niger—The Cameroons and the Cape—South Afiica
—Livingstone's work—The Zanzibar region—Opening up of
Central Africa—Early German aspirations—Biitish influence
at Zanzibar—The Red Sea—Egyptian conquests—The Suez
Canal—Madagascar—Position in 1875
.
.
- 9 5

C H A P T E R IX
PRELIMINARIES TO PARTITION

The slave-tiade—Interest in exploration—Stanley's influence—
Germany—The King of the Belgians' ambitions—The Brussels
Conference of j3j3—The International African Association—
National Committees—Expeditions to East Africa—Kaiema
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—Annexation in 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
progress—Proposed creation of a Congo State—Stanley completes his work
.
.
.
.
. 1 1 4

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
Trans-Saharan railway—Tunis—Assab and Obock .
. 1 3 6

CONTENTS

XI

C H A P T E R XI
BRITISH ADVANCES IN THE SOUTH AND EAST
PAGE

South Africa—Bechuanaland—Damaraland—South African Confederation — Matabeleland — Nyasaland — Zanzibar — The
Sudan—Socotra
.
.
.
.
.
. 1 5 3

C H A P T E R XII
GERMANY ENTERS T H E

FIELD

The position in 1884—Eaily 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 piotection
requested—Increase of trade—Sir Bartle Frere—British jurisdiction confined to Walfish Bay—Blindness of British statesmen to Germany's aspirations—Germany's cautious advances
—Herr Liideiitz—Bismarck sounds the British Foreign Office
—Liideritz proceeds to Angra Pequena—Liideritz obtains
concession—German flag raised—Indignation in England and
the Cape—Evasive conduct of British Government—Germany
declares protectorate over Angra Pequena—Continued British
delusions—England recognises German protectorate—Attitude of England and the Cape—Further annexations
.

161

C H A P T E R XIII
GERMANY IN THE CAMEROONS AND THE GULF OF GUINEA
Further operations in S.W. Africa—Attempt to annex St. Lucia
Bay—German traders on the West Coast—British influence
on the West Coast—England's dilatory action—Germany
takes action—The Dubreka river—Togoland declaied a
German protectorate — The Cameroons — Annexation by
Germany—The Oil Rivers secured to England—Feeling in
Germany and England—Bismarck's pait
.
.

193

C H A P T E R XIV
T H E BERLIN CONFERENCE AND T H E 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

xii

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA
PAGE

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—Extension northwards—
Becomes a purely Belgian undertaking—Disappointed traders
—Rising of the Arabs—Exploring activity—Administration
—Abuses—Missions—Trade—Slow development of trade—
What the State has done : its future
.
.
.

207

C H A P T E R XV
GERMAN EAST AFRICA

Germany and East Africa—British suspicion aroused—Rohlfs's
mission—Karl Peters—A new society formed—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—Witu—Harmony
between England and Germany—A 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 tenitories—The
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—Insurrection subdued—Sultan's rights bought—The Imperial administration—
German militaiy methods—Confidence restored—Expeditions
to the interior—Experimental methods—Arrangements between Germany and England
.
.
.
.

CHAPTER

XVI

THE STRUGGLE FOR T H E NIGER

Activity on the West Coast—Native States in Senegal and Upper
Niger basins—French campaigns—Ahmadu and Samory—
The Futa Jallon—Within the bend of the Niger—France and
Liberia—Expeditions to Lake Chad—French in Timbuktu—
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

230

CONTENTS

xni

Oil Rivers—The West African colonies—Lake Chad and
the Central Sudan—French expedition to Lake Chad—Niger
Company a private undertaking—International anangements
concerning West Africa — Liberia cramped •— Position of
England and France in West Africa—British trade hampered
by French advances—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—German wedge towards Lake
Chad—Rearrangement with Germany—France passes beyond
the Shari towards Bahr-el-Ghazal—German share Cameroons
extension—Wadai — Rabah in Bagirmi and Bornu—The
French area of Saharan Sudan—A Trans-Saharan railway—
French aspirations partially realised—French railway dreams
—Colonisation projects — French administration in West
Africa—Spanish claims—Juby station—Position of the three
Poweis
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

266

C H A P T E R XVII
GERMAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA

German South-west Africa—Boundary from Portuguese territory—
Delimitation between the German and British spheres in
South-west Africa—Chiefs refractory—The resources of Southwest Africa—Swakop a seaport—Rumours of abandonment
—Anglo - German Company — The Cameroons — Delimitations : with England; with France—Administration—Exploration and development of the country,—Togoland — Its
development—Delimitation—The German sphere in Africa .

CHAPTER

XVIII

BRITISH EAST AFRICA

Former position of England at Zanzibar—Initiation of the British
East Afiica Company—Extent of the Sultan's territories—
Witu—Hesitation's of British Government—Kirk's efforts—
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 woik—Initial troubles
—Pioneer expeditions—Dr. Peters attempts to outflank the
Company—Anglo-German agreement of 1890—Emin Pasha
—The Company's stations—Uganda entered—Communications—A railway—British occupation of Uganda—Government and Uganda—Captain Lugard—Treaty with King of
Uganda — Lugard extends British occupation westwards—

314

XIV

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Trouble in Uganda — The Company decide to abandon
Uganda—Action of the Government—Portal's mission—Strife
of religious parties—Biitish protectorate—March to Wadelai
—Government compromise—Intermediate area east under
Zanzibar—Coast-strip—Witu country reverts to Zanzibar—
Railway postponed—Congo State push to Nile—French expeditions to Mobangi—Congo State leases Lake area from
Britain—France objects—France pushes Nile-wards—CongoBritish agreement cancelled—Germany protests—England's
position—Work accomplished by the Company—British protectorate in Zanzibar and Pemba
.
.
.
•
CHAPTER

335

XIX

T H E ITALIAN SPHERE AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN

Italy occupies Assab Bay—Massawa—Hostilities with Abyssinia—
Treaty with Abyssinia—Colony of Eiitrea—Italy captures
Kassala—Annexations on the Somali coast—Italian relations
with the British East Africa Company—Italy's position in
Africa—The Egyptian Sudan—Baggara Arabs—Wadai
.
CHAPTER

391

XX

BRITISH CENTRAL 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—Lobengula's treaty—The Government and the Chartered Company—Value of Matabeleland—
The Company takes possession—D'Andrade feebly supported
—Gouveia—Progress made—Collision with the Portuguese—
Anglo-Portuguese arrangement—Pioneers en route—Railway
to mouth of Pungwe—Matabele raids—Lobengula's power
broken — Chartered Company and Downing Stieet — Administrative powers granted — Company's resources — British
enterprise on the Lake Nyasa region—Claims of Portugal
—A trans-African Empire—Portuguese rush up Zambezi—
British troubles with the Arabs—Portuguese attempts to take
possession — Serpa Pinto north of the Zambezi — H. H.
Johnston frustrates Portuguese—Extended British enterprise
—A Commissioner appointed to British Central Africa—
Anglo-Poituguese agreement—Progress in Northern Zambezia
—Encounters with slavers—British administration in Nyasaland—Thomson and Rhodes in England
.
.
. 4 0 1

L I S T OF MAPS
TO FACE PAGE

2.

34.
5.
6.
78.
910.

n.
12.
13.
14.
IS16.

Carthaginian Settlements on the Coast of Africa
Africa according t o —
Herodotus, 450 B.C.
)
Eratosthenes, 200 B.C. J
Ptolemy, 150 A.D.
, on one sheet
Al Idrisi, 1154 .A.D.
Ptolemy, adapted to a modern map .
Al Idiisi, reproduced from Lelewel's Atlas
Martin Behaim,
1492 A . D .
Diego Ribero,
1529 A . D .
Pigafetta,
1591 A . D .
Jacob van Meurs, 1668 A . D .
H . Moll,
1710 A . D .
C. Smith,
1815 A . D .
Africa, showing Euiopean Possessions in 1884,
before the Berlin
,,
,,
,,
after the Berlin
Orographical Map of Africa
.
.
.
Hydrographical Map of Africa showing the navigable
Temperature Map of Africa for January

16

20
28
40
46
48
66
76
84
Conference
Conference
.
.
.
waterways

17.
18.
19.
July
on one sheet
20. Mean Annual Temperature and Rainfall Map I
21. Vegetation M a p of Africa
22. Population Map of Africa
.
.
.
.
.
23. Africa, at the close of the Brussels Conference in 1890
24. Africa, showing political divisions 1895

192
228
464
470

472

5io
516

CONTENTS

xv

C H A P T E R XXI
AFRICAN ISLANDS
PAGE

Madagascar—Neighbouring islands—Islands off the West Coast •

CHAPTER

455

XXII

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

Extent and monotony of Africa—The tropical continent par excellence—Its relation to the ocean—Monotony of outline—Configuration of the surface—Lack of mountain ranges—High
mean elevation—Temperature—Obstruction to 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 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 ?—Can
the natives be utilised ?—The rdle of the white man—Colonisation—North Africa—White colonisation—South Africa, its
value
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

459

C H A P T E R XXIII
CONCLUSION

Africa before and after the scramble—France's share—Germany—
Portugal—Italy—Spain—Congo Fiee 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 — Brussels Anti-Slaveiy
Conference—Value of Afiican commerce—-Europe's duty to
the natives—What remains to be scrambled for — Egypt
arid British supremacy—England's duty
.
.
.

APPENDIX

I

THE PARTITION OF AFRICA, JANUARY 1 8 9 5

APPENDIX

498

.

.

519

II

LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WORKS BEARING ON THE
SUBJECT OF THE PRESENT VOLUME, MOST OF WHICH
HAVE BEEN CONSULTED BY T H E AUTHOR .
. 5 2 2
INDEX

53i

T H E PARTITION OF AFRICA
CHAPTER I
T H E AFRICA OF T H E

ANCIENTS

Antiquity of African civilisation—America—Australia—The Egyptians—
Phoenicians 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—Hecatseus—Herodotus—The Nasamonean youths—Enterprise under the
Ptolemies—Eratosthenes—Ptolemy's map—Roman enterprise—The
Periplus—Ptolemy's knowledge of Africa—Nile exploration under
Nero.

W E have been witnesses of one of the most remarkable Antiquity
of African

episodes in the history of the world. During the past ^ l i s a '
ten 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.
While yet Europe was the home of wandering barbarians, 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

2

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 E g y p t ; it is enough for us t h a t 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 4 0 0 years ago, and has only
during the past few years been t a k e n seriously in h a n d
b y the peoples who have the m a k i n g of the world's
commerce and the world's history.

America.

L e t us, b y way of contrast, glance briefly at what
has h a p p e n e d with respect to A m e r i c a and Australia.
F o u r h u n d r e d years ago Columbus stumbled upon a
new world with a land area of 1 6 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 square miles,
about five times the size of Europe. W i t h the exception
of fringes of undeveloped civilisations, the secret of
whose origin we have not y e t fathomed, t h e American
continent was given over to barbarians ; it is doubtful
if its total population exceeded 4 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 ; t h e population of N o r t h America was probably not m u c h more
than half a million.
In the 4 0 0 years t h a t have
elapsed since this m o m e n t o u s discovery, the feeble
indigenous civilisations have disappeared, the coppercoloured barbarians have been driven into recesses, e x terminated, or reduced to complete subjection ; a n d over
the face of the Continent have spread some 1 3 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0
of people of E u r o p e a n origin or descent.
In the
United States alone, covering about t h e same area as
Europe, there are probably now about 6 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 of
white people, and in C a n a d a another 4 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 .
All

THE AFRICA OF THE ANCIENTS

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 neckand-neck race with the Old along every line of
progress.
It is little more than a century since the first con- Australia,
vict settlement was established in New South Wales.
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. When 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- The Egypy

x i

priate the African continent by those whose interests
and enterprise have extended beyond their own homes.

tians.

4

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

We do not venture to account for the origin of the
Egyptians or of their civilisation. Whether the civilisation of Egypt was of purely indigenous growth, or
whether its germs 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 B.C. 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

THE AFRICA

OF THE ANCIENTS

5

Ethiopia (the country generally lying south of Egypt
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. Possibly they m a y ; but if so,
that knowledge never found record ; or if it did,
the record has been lost. It is just as probable that
they remained till the time of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, 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 for Europeans, so
far as anything like even approximately accurate knowledge goes, a blank from io° 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 sixteen years
since the course of Africa's greatest river was traced
out by Mr. Stanley.

6

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

If, then, 400 years after the discovery of a new
Continent, with all the intense eagerness of the
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 areas in
Central Africa, need we be surprised that the Egyptians
and other nations of antiquity, with wants insignificant
compared with ours, with a total population, "all told,"
scarcely equal to that of one of our great states, with
all Europe and all Asia before them where to choose,
should leave the torrid, impenetrable, unproductive
continent and its savages alone, taking from it only
what could be conveniently reached from trading
stations on the coast, or through the navigable channel
of the Nile ? Nor should it be forgotten that the camel
is a comparatively modern introduction into Africa, and
both the ox and the horse would be but poor substitutes
for it in traversing the Sahara, the most formidable
barrier to the penetration of Central Africa from the
north. Moreover, it should be remembered that Egypt,
especially in the height of her greatness, was, on the
whole, more concerned with Asia than with Africa ;
indeed, as we have seen, up to a comparatively late period,
Egypt, 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 Mediterranean coast. Thebes was about the limit of Homer's

THE AFRICA

OF THE ANCIENTS

7

knowledge of Africa on the south, though he had
heard of the Ethiopians and the pigmies, who thus
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 enterprise 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.
The Egyptians themselves were possibly largely of this
type, as was the population along the Mediterranean
coast of Africa. Utica, perhaps the earliest Phoenician
(Syrian) colony in Africa, was founded about 1100 B.C.,
even before Gades (Tarshish), on the coast of Spain,
and 280 years before Carthage, a few miles distant

8

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

on the same Tunisian coast. Before Carthage was
founded, Utica had established stations or trading
factories along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and
down the Atlantic coast. 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 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 circumnavigation of the Continent by Phoenicians in the time
of King Necho, about 610 B.C., has often been told.
So far as the data 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

CARTHAGINIAN

SvnvSeerav,

t3mith.,&

SETTLEMENTS

IN

AFRICA.

Bunbuty

20
Scale of o

50

100

200

3oo Miles

L o n d o n ; E d w a r d Stanford, 2 6 &27 Cockspur St..Charing Cross,SAV

•Sirtrdbr&is Steq1 Sstab*

THE AFRICA

OF THE ANCIENTS

g

ships of the Phoenicians must have been quite as capable
of coasting along Africa as they were of navigating the
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 i o o o B.C.) 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
maintain that it was on the south - west coast of
Arabia, and was really only an entrep6t or great distributing centre.
Quite recently, since the opening
up of the gold-producing country on the south of
the Zambezi, the view has been revived that there
we must look for Ophir. We have only conjecture to
guide us ; it is a balance of probabilities. Wherever
Ophir may have been situated, there can be little doubt
that the traders of the period, Phoenicians, Arabs, Egyptians, 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

IO

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

gold-mines accessible from the Nile Valley ; but no OldWorld country known and accessible to these ancient
nations, not Arabia, not India, not Abyssinia, not any
Mediterranean country, can be compared with the
Arabs on Zambezi region in its gold-productiveness. Let it be
coast.
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 east 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 seems 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
the country which we now call Mashonaland is evidenced
by the great ruins scattered over the country ; whether
they were Arabians, Persians, Indians, or Phoenicians,
remains to be discovered ; it is certain that these ruins
are older than the Mohammedan period. But that the
gold supplies obtained by the Phoenicians, through the
Arabs in such lavish abundance, may have been brought
from the rich mines of South Africa is not at all improbable. 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

THE AFRICA OF THE

ANCIENTS

knew is derived. Unfortunately not a scrap of Phoenician or Carthaginian literature has come down to us.
We have much fuller and more precise knowledge of Carthaginians on the
the extent of Phoenician, or rather Carthaginian, know- westooast.
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 Phoenician
'

knowledge

first to begin the partition of Africa some 3000 years ago; of Mricathough 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. 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-

12

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

terranean coast. But after all, this partition of Africa did
not amount to much. The doctrine of the Hinterland
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 greatness of the motherland, Phoenicia, was to a very large
extent dependent on their colonies, such as they were.
With the disappearance of the 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.
Relations
How far the trading relations of Carthage and her
with the

interior.

**

o

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 native
tribes 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. Even in the

THE AFRICA

OF THE

ANCIENTS

13

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 indispensable for desert traffic, was a serious obstacle to anything 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 Mediterranean 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 The first
0

Greek set-

under Necho,over a century before the voyage of Admiral tiements.
Hanno, we hear of the first establishment of a European 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 B.C.
that the Greeks planted a settlement of their own
on the Continent.
They chose one of the most
delightful and fertile spots in all 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

14-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

settlement grew up, which carried on agriculture
and had trade relations with the Nasamones 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 intercourse 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, doubtless, 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
Hecate, 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 unfortunately cannot reproduce a copy of the actual map of
Hecataeus, 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 knowledge of the Mediterranean coast, of the Middle and
Lower Nile, which was supposed to rise in the circumambient ocean, but of scarcely anything beyond.
Europe occupies a space quite out of proportion to its
size, while Africa, or at least Africa east of the Nile,
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
Hecataeus. We have a little more detail and a little
more precision in parts. Unfortunately we have only
fragments of the text of Hecatseus, 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 B.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 westward of Egypt, and of some of its oases, and of the
mountains that divide that desert from the Mediterranean 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 Nasamonean

heard, at fourth hand it is true, of certain youths from youths,
among the Nasamones to the south-west of Cyrenaica,
who made a long journey into the interior across the

i6

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 essentially 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 Hecataeus, 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 Automolse, 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 i o o years after Herodotus came the ConEnterprise
pSfiemies. 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
Eratosthenes.
progress which had been made.
The Highlands of
Abyssinia were known, and the Abyssinian tributaries
of the Nile, and probably also the White 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

J\FRTCAACCOBDINGTOHERODOTUS 4 5 0 B.C.

AFRICA ACCOHDLSTGTO ERATOSTHENES 2 0 0 B.C.

Equaioi

THE AFRICA OF THE ANCIENTS

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
of the rest of Africa than did Herodotus.
But we need not trace in detail the extension of the ptoiemy's
Map.

map of Africa from one geographer to another. Ptolemy,
the famous Alexandrian astronomer, who flourished
about 140 years after Christ, may be regarded as summing up all the knowledge of the Continent that had
accumulated since Egypt began her career, 4000 years
at least before his time. About 170 years before
Ptolemy's time (35 B.C.) Egypt had become a Roman
province, Carthage having succumbed to the same Roman
.

Enterprise.

all-conquering power over 100 years before that.
The Greeks, and after them the Romans, were therefore 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 Hecataeus. Before Ptolemy's time traders and
navigators had pushed round Cape Guardafui, and we

c

THE PARTITION

18

OF AFRICA

The Peri- know from the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea that there
*
were many towns and trading centres at least as far
south as the latitude of Zanzibar, if not farther. This
PeripluS) which dates some sixty years before Ptolemy,
is a great storehouse 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.
Probably it was not very
long before the date of the Periplus that the Egyptians
had rounded the Cape Guardafui, and the towns they
found on the coast were in all likelihood inhabited not
by aboriginal Africans, 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
east coast, possibly as far as the mouth of the Zambesi.
Ptolemy's
Ptolemy himself was no traveller. He was, in truth,
p us

J

knowledge

of Africa.

what

'

is sometimes called an armchair geographer. He
not only availed himself of the knowledge accumulated 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 ACCOBDMG TO PTOLEMY 150 A D .

ZTXHBBM

Terra. I n c o g n i t a

'^Bax-ditusM

'err a. I n c o g n i t a .

AFRICA ACCOBDING TO AL TDRISI 1154 A.D.

THE AFRICA

OF THE ANCIENTS

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 Mediterranean and Red
Sea coasts of Africa and down by the shores of the
Indian Ocean traders and navigators wrere 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.
We do read of an expedition in the reign of Nero Nile exploration
about 60 A.D., an expedition, too, which had for its object under Nero.
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 impassable, 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 0 north latitude, where

20

THE PARTITION

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 knowledge of that interior until the time when the proselytising 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 Periplus of the Erythrean 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.
Down the west coast trading stations still existed for
some distance, though many of the old Phoenician and
Carthaginian settlements had been abandoned, and no
effective occupation had ever been made to the limit of
Hanno's journey. The Red Sea coast was also well

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</,.- &

AFRICA
ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY

About 150 AD.
adapted to a modern map.

'
100

Scale of Engbsh Miles
I 0

100 2 0 0 3 0 0

Thz modern,
mop is printed,
for co/wenience
of

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I

400 50O
in.- pale
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colxjw

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Stanfijrd,26

&27 Cockspur

St.,Charin-tf

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&eogEstahUshrrient

THE AFRICA

OF THE

ANCIENTS

21

known, and a regular traffic had been established along
the Somali coast east and south, probably as far as the
mouth of the Zambesi. But outside the Red Sea very
hazy notions existed as to the character and trend of the
African coast, so that we cannot say that the knowledge of it was anything but vague. In the interior
we may conclude that the Nile Valley was well known
as far as Meroe in the time of Ptolemy, and even
the Abyssinian branches of the river.
There are
distinct traces of an early Graeco-Egyptian influence
in Abyssinia. Beyond Meroe information of a somewhat vague kind existed as to the river as far as
the Bahr Ghazal, and perhaps a little beyond. That
from this direction any knowledge of the sources of
the Nile, of the great equatorial lakes, and the snowy
peaks around them, had reached the Egyptians, and
through them the Greeks and Romans, we have no
shadow of evidence. It is improbable. Up to fortyfive years ago no information as to these features
had come down the Nile. But Ptolemy's maps, as
they have reached us, do show the Nile issuing from
two lakes, with feeders flowing from the Mountains
of the Moon. What did this mean? Had Ptolemy
really obtained certain information from some travelling traders as to these lakes and mountains ? Had
he only heard of the lakes and mountains of Abyssinia,
and the feeders that issue therefrom? and did he or
his successors project these down the Continent as
knowledge of Africa extended? Volumes have been
written on both sides, and men of the highest standing
are found taking opposite views. There is this to be

22

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

remembered, that a busy trade was carried on from a
centre called Rhapta, on the coast of the mainland
somewhere near Zanzibar. That the traders at Rhapta
and other centres had means of communication with
the interior we cannot doubt. The Arabs, Persians,
Indians, Egyptians, or whatever race the foreign traders
belonged to, may not have penetrated Central Africa
themselves, but trading caravans, manned by natives
in all probability, came and went,—or at least there was
communication from tribe to tribe,—and in this way
knowledge of the central lakes may have filtered down
to the coast.
It was thus that Burton and Speke heard of the
great lakes of the interior before they set out on their
memorable expedition. The Arab traders from Zanzibar and Mombasa saw these or heard of them, and so
the knowledge reached the missionaries—Krapf and
Rebmann and others,—and through them modern
exploring enterprise was stimulated. But it is useless to
dogmatise as to the knowledge of Ptolemy's time; at
its best, even if it had a basis of actuality, it was so
vague and inadequate as to be little better than ignorance. These Ptolemaic lakes, however, remained on the
maps with the Mountains of the Moon, extended till
they crossed the Continent, down even to our own
times. Ptolemy's geography was the geography of
Central Africa down to the time of the Portuguese,
with the few additions that the Moslem conquerors
were able to make.
Abyssinia was but imperfectly known, though Axum
was a great trade centre. In lower Egypt the region

THE AFRICA

OF THE ANCIENTS

23

between the Nile and the Red Sea was fairly well
known, elsewhere probably little was known beyond
certain trade routes: the routes, for example, from
Thebes to Berenice.
There were other routes from
Thebes up the Nile, and also direct across Nubia to
Meroe ; thence the merchants went on by Axum to
Adulis (Massawa), and also to Assab.
Of course
between Thebes and Memphis and Alexandria there
would be constant traffic. Another trade route went
from Thebes round by the oases of Siwa and Aujila
to the country of the Garamantes, the present Fezzan
and thence north to the coast of the Syrtes. Was
there any direct connection in Ptolemy's time between
North Africa, say Cyrene or Utica, and the countries
to the south of the Sahara? This may very well be
doubted ; though that there was indirect trade from
tribe to tribe from the Central Sudan may very probably have been the case. With so many ports along
the Mediterranean, along the Red Sea, and even well
down the east coast, there must have been considerable
trade with the interior, but we have no means of
ascertaining its precise nature and extent. Down,
then, to Ptolemy's time such partition of Africa as had
been effected by European powers scarcely extended
beyond the coasts.

CHAPTER

II

T H E ISLAMIC INVASION
Africa after the division of the Empire—An early Teutonic settlement—
The Islamic conquest—North Africa—The Sahara and Sudan—East
Africa—Timbuktu—Arab commerce and geography—Islamism in
North and East Africa—West Africa—Arab settlements on the
East Coast—Central Sudan—Distribution of Islamism.

toe^vfsion ^ 0 R centuries after the Roman occupation of Africa
oftheEm- a n c | a ft e r the division of the empire there was almost
constant fighting along the Mediterranean, so that
much could not be done directly either for a knowledge of the Continent or for its development.
After the decay of the Roman Empire distant commercial enterprise seems to have ceased, and we hear
little of Central Africa. There was, however, during
that period one episode which may be considered
An early noteworthy. In 480 A.D. some 80,000 Vandals (men,
Teutonic

*

N

_T

settlement, women, and children) crossed from Spam to North
Africa under Genseric, at the invitation of Bonifacius,
Count of Africa, who soon would have been glad
to get rid of them ; but they had come to stay : after
the manner of their race they were true colonisers.
For more than 100 years this Teutonic people, the
first of their race that ever settled on the Continent,

THE ISLAMIC

INVASION

25

maintained themselves in North Africa, holding Carthage
and other great cities, and sending expeditions to attack
Rome. In the end (about 536 A.D.) they had to yield
to the Eastern Empire, and disappeared from history :
those that survived were no doubt absorbed into
the general population of North Africa.
Had they
been able to maintain their position they might have
served as a powerful bulwark against the advance
of the Moslems. But the time was not yet ripe for
men of our own blood to share in the partition of
Africa.
From the point of view of the exploration and par- The isiamio
conquest.

tition of Africa this migration of the Goths is mainly a
matter of curious interest. The next really great event
after the Roman Conquest bearing upon the partition
of the Continent was the spread of the religion of
Mohammed, bringing with it into Africa hordes of
Arabian conquerors and traders, who in a comparatively
short time took possession of the northern half of the
Continent, founded states, and developed a commercial
activity more extensive than even that of the Phoenicians.
This Islamic occupation of Africa has not even yet
ended, though now that the European Powers have
taken the Continent in hand, its progress is likely to
receive an effective check. The Arab Conquest may
be said to have begun with the invasion of Egypt in
640 A.D. by Amru Ibn al Aasse, with 4000 men.
This was followed by a large immigration from Arabia.
By 664 Fezzan had been taken, Kairwan founded, and North
Africa.

an advance made to the borders of the present Morocco.
By 711 the whole of the North African coast lands had

26

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

fallen to the Arabs, and become to a large extent
Moslemised. Europe was swept entirely out of the
Continent.
With these Arabs came new life and
progress in agriculture, in commerce, and in arts. The
Arabians were always great traders. Wave after wave
of Arab immigrants continued to pour in, large cities
were built, and the people generally raised above their
condition under the decayed empire of Rome. By the end
of the fourteenth century the religion of Mohammed had
The Sahara crossed the Sahara and taken a firm hold of the Sudan,
and Sudan.

where and in the Niger region it continued to spread
down to our own times. Vast numbers of Arabs also
migrated at an early period across the Red Sea to the
Abyssinian coast and southwards to Somaliland, and
when the Portuguese, in the fifteenth century, sailed up the
EastAfrica. east coast, they found rich Arab cities from Sofala north
to Magdoshu. Meanwhile Kordofan, Darfur, Wadai,
Kanem, Sokoto, and other powerful Sudan states took
shape and developed a certain kind of civilisation, though
it took time to bring them all under Moslem sway.
Regular caravan routes were established across the desert
Timbuktu, from Timbuktu (founded, it is believed, by the Tuarej,
in the twelfth century) to Morocco, Algeria, Fezzan, and
Tripoli, with the aid of the newly-introduced camel,
and there was developed that trade in ivory and slaves
which is so intimately associated with the name of the
Arab at the present day. This was the first serious partition of Africa on a large scale, but, as we have seen, among
an Asiatic, not a European people. The obstacles which
form so deadly a barrier to European exploration and
European settlement scarcely affected a people who came

THE ISLAMIC

INVASION

27

from a country the climate of which differed but little
from that of Africa. Indeed, it is to be noted that
hitherto all the peoples who had taken part in the
partition of Africa—Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks,
Romans—would find but little difference between the
climate of North Africa and that of the lands of their
origin.
With the spread of the Arabs and the spread of Arabcom.

merce and

Islam not only came commerce and a certain amount geography,
of civilisation, but knowledge of the geography of the
Continent greatly increased. The governors of distant
provinces had to make regular reports to headquarters ;
the annual journey to Mecca made the pilgrims familiar
with the countries along their route. Learning, as we
know, was nourished and promoted in North Africa,
in Asia, in Spain. We meet with a long series of
historical and geographical writers, and even with a
succession of travellers, some of whom penetrated into
the heart of Africa—from Masudi and Ibn Haukal in
the tenth century down to Ibn Batuta in the fourteenth
and Leo Africanus in the sixteenth. The information
thus obtained from travelling pilgrims, conquerors, and
traders found its way into the works of Arab geographers like Abulfeda, and was rudely embodied on
Arab maps. The famous map of Edrisi, constructed
at the court of Count Robert of Sicily in the twelfth
century, was based on information derived from a vast
number of sources.
Kano, Kanem, Darfur in the
Central Sudan were known, and Berbera, Zanzibar,
Sofala in the east. Timbuktu was visited, and is
mentioned for the first time by Ibn Batuta in the

28

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

middle of the fourteenth century; he described the
- Niger as far as Kuka. Still, at its best, the knowledge of the African interior thus accumulated was
scanty,
isiamismin
Islamism in North Africa was of the most aggressive
North and

&t>

EastAfrica. character, and swept away almost all traces of previous
religions and previous civilisations. Berbers, Romans,
Greeks, Visigoths soon merged all their distinctions in
Islamism. 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 established 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.
west
About the middle of the eleventh century there
Africa.

seems to have been a fresh migration of Nomad Arabs
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
Islamism first reached those Fulbe, Fula, or Fellatah

MericUea
TABUX.A

KOTCOA

AB
EX>KI S 1 0
SKRVATA J7T

R06ERIANA

1154

ftwi Leltwel* At/as

•J3SCRIPTA

%^3 &*pvV\1*>

THE ISLAMIC INVASION

29

who have played so conspicuous a part in the chequered
history of the Western Sudan.
The first settlements of Islamic Asiatics on the east Arab settle1
1
1
1
1
1. • 1 meats on
coast took place about the year 740 A.D., when political the East
Coast.

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: (1) Magdoshu ; (2)
Kilwa or Quiloa ; (3) Brava, Melinde, and Mombaz or
Mombasa. Magdoshu was supreme in the north and
Kilwa in the south. With 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 951 A.D. ; Kilwa between 960 and
1000. 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 Portuguese 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 goldyielding 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.

30

sSaif1

Distritmlamism.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the fifteenth century that Mohammedanism found its
way into Somaliland and the region around Zeila and
Harar.
^ *s P r °bable 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
Fellatah. In 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 Mohammed even down to the Gulf of
Guinea. Generally speaking, it may be said that Islam
h a s a firm hold over the whole of Africa north of I o°
north latitude, and has a prevailing influence between
that and 5°. Towards the east 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. Even in the countries watered by the
Niger and its tributaries, where the fanatical and intelligent Fellatah are dominant, Mohammedanism has
but a slender hold among the bulk of the people ; they
are to all intents and purposes pagans.
The distribution of Mohammedanism is of import-

THE ISLAMIC

INVASION

3i

ance, as it is a factor to be taken into account in the
attempt to spread European influence. But it is anticipating 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,
commercial activity, and the establishment of slavery as
an institution.

C H A P T E R III
T H E PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

Venice, Genoa, Dieppe—Prince Henry's training—Europe in Prince
Henry's time — Portugal's exploring energy — Prince 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.

Venice,

T H E sailors of Venice and Genoa, which, with other

Genoa,

Dieppe.

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 Dieppe 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 1364 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 comptoirs, or factories,
extending from Cape Verde to the Gold Coast, and to
have built a church at El Mina. French patriotism

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

33

naturally makes the most of the feeble evidence on
which the story of these enterprises is founded. If the
occupation of the West African coast by Dieppe merchant 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 century. The Rio d'Oro, Madeira, and the Canaries are
found on maps of about that date. It is even stated
that an Englishman, Robert O'Machin, eloped with a
young lady and a vessel from Bristol and was drifted to
the shores of Madeira ; but that story has been proved
a fable. 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
tion of Africa is with justice dated from the famous training
siege of Ceuta on the coast of Morocco, opposite
Gibraltar, by the Portuguese in 1415. After six
centuries of oppression the Moors had been driven
from Portugal, though they lingered in the south of
Spain. When Prince Henry (the Infante Don Henrique),
who has come to be known as " the Navigator," though
he himself navigated very little, was born in 1394, the
D

34

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 Saracen. 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 enterprises 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.
Probably this
visit to the coast of Africa had much to do in
inspiring the prince with a burning desire to trace
its outline; 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 coast of Africa to such places as
Sofala, Kilwa, and Zanzibar, familiar to Arab geographers, he would be able to make his way to India
There is no doubt that India had, long before the

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

35

rounding of the Cape, become the goal of the enterprising Portuguese navigators.
Much of the foreign trade of Europe was still in the Europe in
Prince

hands of the Venetians, whose ships met the caravans Henry'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.
When Portuguese enterprise in Africa began, Venice
was at the height of her power and mercantile prosperity.
The various ethnical groups which compose the population 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
West, 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.
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

36

prince
entS?

THE PARTITION

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 annexation in Africa by a modern European power.

prise.

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 (near Cape St. Vincent), which may be said to

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

37

overhang the west coast of Africa. Three years after
the siege of Ceuta, Prince Henry began his great enterprise, 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 1441-42 that the
next prominent Cape—Blanco—was doubled, and the
Rio d'Oro reached by Antonio Gonsalvez and Nuno
Tristam. Gonsalvez brought home with him some
gold dust and ten slaves. The slaves were presented by
Prince Henry to Pope Martin V., who thereupon conferred upon Portugal the right of possession and
sovereignty of all the country that might be discovered
between Cape Bojador and the Indies. In 144 5 Joao
Fernandez, who went out in an expedition under
Antonio Gonsalvez, started alone from Rio d'Oro, and
travelled for seven months in the interior, bringing back
much information as to the country and people. The
river Senegal was reached, and Cape Verd doubled in
1446 by Dinis Dias, 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
information 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. Here it may be stated that if
we may trust Barros, writing forty-two years after the
event, but apparently on contemporary documents, Pero

38

First
African
Company
formed.

First Portuguese establishments.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

d'Evora and Gonsalvez Eanes, sent by the King of Portugal in 1487, actually reached Timbuktu. It was not till
1462 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 II. During Henry's lifetime 1 800
miles of the West African coast had been followed 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 returned with a cargo of 200 slaves. In 1471 the
Guinea Coast was doubled and followed round by the
Bight of Benin as far as the delta of the river Ogove.
At the Ogove 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 II., on whom the Pope conferred the title of " Lord of Guinea," a title attached to
the crown of Portugal even to our own time. But

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

39

probably the first regular modern European settlement
or colony established on the continent of Africa was on
the Gold Coast, at a spot to which the name of St. Jorge
da Mina, or briefly A Mina (now generally known as 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 14.82 exploration was again started with renewed Congo
^

r

©

•

discovered.

vigour. In that and the two following years Diogo 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 Diogo Cam's ship was the
great German geographer, Martin Behaim, whose map of
Africa in 1492 shows at least some of the results of exploration up to that date. The year after Diogo's return
Bartholomew Diaz set out, and all unknowing passed Tne cape
rounded.

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 almost come to within hail of the
Arab settlements on the east coast. The true contour
of the Continent had been gradually outlined, and even

4o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Martin Behaim's Africa was a great advance on anything that had gone before. The most famous of all
these Portuguese navigators, the first to reach India by
the Cape route, Vasco da Gamaj completed the work of
his predecessors, not, however, until ten years after the
return of Diaz. Meantime (1487) 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 visited Abyssinia in
search of the mysterious Christian potentate, Prester
John. The Negus found Covilham so useful that the
Portuguese had to spend the remainder of his life in the
country. When Vasco da Gama set out on his famous
voyage in 1497 he knew, from the information sent home
by Covilham, that Sofala would be reached by doubling
the Cape, and that thence it was plain sailing to India.
It is beyond the scope of this work to give a history of
African exploration, otherwise we should have to refer
in detail to the important information as to Abyssinia,
collected by Portuguese travellers and missionaries in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Result of
That same year, 1497, marked the discovery of Newdiscovery of
America, foundland 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 directed to the much less hope-

MARTIN

BEHAIMS

Western, _____—

_

GLOBE
_____^HgTPjLHphcrc

1492.

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

41

ful continent, whose contour was being revealed to the
world by the Portuguese, and glimpses afforded of its unknown interior. 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 imported 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 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 thevascoda
Gama sails

Cape of Good Hope. A month later he touched ^^%
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 destination of Gama, and the conquest and settlement of Africa
were left to others.
As we have seen, occupation had already begun on The "Kingdom of

the west coast and was continued there. Diego Cam Congo."
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

42

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Portuguese titles ; churches were erected, and an appearance 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
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?), rapidly destroyed
all t h i s ; 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

PORTUGUESE

CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS

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 among the natives, in their
language and customs, may be detected some remnant
of the old ecclesiastical influence. The king still bears
a Portuguese name. The death of Don Pedro V. was
announced in 1891. St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of st. Pauide
Loando

the west coast colonies, was founded in 1578. Other founded.
settlements were planted along the west coast. The
neighbouring territories, Angola, Benguela, and Mossamedes, were gradually taken in, and stations planted
in the interior; occupation here, it is only just to say,
was comparatively effective.
On the opposite coast Sofala was taken in 1505 by conquest of
r r
J

J

J East Coast.

Pedro de Anhaya, who made the king tributary to
Portugal, and laid the foundations of a fort. Tristan
da Cunha captured Sokotra and Lamu in 1507, and in
the same year Duarte 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
Zambezi. Though used as a place of call by Portuguese 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 established 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

44

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

or 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
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 Lourengo Marquez
to Cape Guardafui was thus virtually in the power of
the Portuguese by the year i 520. 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 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.

I T would be foreign to the purpose of this work to Portuguese
"discover-

discuss in detail the discoveries in the interior claimed ies"intiie
interior

by the Portuguese.
It will be remembered that
Ptolemy makes the Nile issue from two 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 1492, 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, much of which can
only be regarded as originating in the fancy of the
cartographer. 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, from east to west, from
the Cape to the Sahara. 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 number 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 Pigafetta's
narrative of 1 591, 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 (Nyasa) figures
in Portuguese maps of 1546 and 1623 ; and there is
good evidence that a Portuguese visited the lake early

AFRICA

ACCOBDLNG TO

DIEGO

RIBERO,

JRz&rodiuceR, from, the, second. JBcrryicai. mocp made,

at

152 8.

Seville

Slart/erdi?

GeJty* ./.VtaJ*

PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION

47

in the seventeenth century. According to early Portuguese authorities, a lake in the position of Nyasa extended right northwards to the latitude of Mombasa.
The question is how came all these lakes and rivers Genesis of
map of Cen-

and mountains to be located in Central Africa within t r a l Africa,
so short a period after the Portuguese had sailed down
its coasts ? There is no evidence forthcoming to convince even a partial inquirer that Portuguese explorers
or missionaries succeeded in the brief period in covering
the whole of the African interior in their wanderings.
It is evident, from the fantastic hydrography of these old
maps, that all their lakes and rivers were not laid down
from trustworthy observation. At the same time we cannot dismiss as fabrications the evidence of contemporary
chroniclers and of historians who had access to original
documents. To the English student there is a vast
amount of material in Portuguese archives still inaccessible. But from what has been published it is
impossible to deny that in the sixteenth century even
Portuguese missionaries at least penetrated well into
the interior. One passage may be quoted which would
seem to show that the Portuguese did much more in
the interior than in recent controversies they have been
credited with. Garcia da Orta, the master of Acosta
and Clusias, was one of the great savants of the sixteenth century.
His work, Colloquios dos Simples e
Drogos . . . da India, is exceedingly rare in the first
edition. It contains, fol. 57, the following remarkable
statement:—" From the island of St. Thome to Sofala
and Mozambique a priest came by land. . . . I knew
him very well. . . . Ethiopia is very well known of

48

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

us . . . we have travelled through many of its lands."
Even if we grant, however, all that the Portuguese
claim for their early travellers and missionaries, the
results, as given in the maps and in the old treatises on
geography, are so erroneous and misleading as to be
of little value. The probability is, as may be seen
from Pigafetta's narrative, that much of the information
rudely embodied in the maps of the fifteenth, sixteenth,
and seventeenth centuries of great " seas " or lakes or
waters, which existed in the interior, was obtained from
the natives, who then, as now, in some parts, had
relations with Central Africa.
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 certainly seem to have
journeyed occasionally for considerable distances 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; and putting this information alongside the
Ptolemaic maps, the cartographers and geographers of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had no difficulty
in filling up the centre of the Continent 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 throughout the results of discovery in our

AFRICA a c c o r d i n g t o P i g a f e t t a , 1591

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PORTUGAL IN POSSESSION

49

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.
All this would have only an academic interest, were Discovery
J

asa claim

it not for the fact that in recent years Portugal based g°0£osses"
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 Nyasa, had navigated
the Congo and the Zambezi from their sources to the
sea, this would hardly constitute a reason for leaving
millions of square miles of the Continent to remain
unutilised and unoccupied merely because Portugal
was not in a position to turn them to account. 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. 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 constituting a claim to an immense tract of
land in the interior.
In the early years of the Portuguese occupation Estawisiithere seems to have been more activity on the west ^*e|J| s e
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
E

5o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Arguin.
On the east coast the Arab and Indian
traders continued their trading operations under Portuguese auspices and to the profit of Portuguese officials
and 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
Zambezi 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 Zambezi, as far as the
confines of the kingdom of Prester John (Abyssinia) ;
the " kingdom " of that potentate was called Monemoezi.
(Is this the same name as Unyamweze ?) It is difficult
to discover how far the early descriptions of these socalled 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,
me MonoEmpire.

Of the great interior kingdoms, and especially that
of the Monomotapa, the most wonderful descriptions
are given ; as for t h e Monemoezi kingdom, if it existed

at all, its extent must have been greatly exaggerated.
Tales are told of the Monomotapa's capital; his palace,

PORTUGAL

IN

POSSESSION

5i

with its innumerable halls and chambers 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 if the 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
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 African
been common enough in Africa. Some powerful chief doms.»
established his sway over his neighbours, as the Muato
Yanvo did in Lunda for some three centuries, or the
Muato Cazembe in the Lake Mweru region, or as Chaka
did some sixty years ago in the Zulu countries, as
Lobengula's father did in the Matabele 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

52

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

King Mtesa of Uganda, who after all was but a barbarous 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 Zambezi and Limpopo, are those of the capital or
other " cities " of the Monomotapa, is not suggested by
any serious Portuguese writer. The Monomotapa's
"city" seems to have been built of wood and mud; these
ruins are of stone, and must, in all probability, have
been erected by, or under the superintendence of 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
Zambezi 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 chroniclers. With regard to these African
" empires" the words of the late Andrade Corvo in
his invaluable work, As Provincias Ultra marinas, with
reference to the empire of Monomotapa are well worth
quoting. Refering to the sad state of affairs in Eastern
Africa at the period when the Philips of Spain held
Portugal, 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

PORTUGAL

IN

POSSESSION

53

tribes. And this new empire increases, strengthens,
and grows with wonderful rapidity, and extends and
spreads itself through vast regions, subjugating extensive provinces, and incorporating in itself various powers,
until it finally becomes so great as to be wholly unmanageable, 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 the late
Lobengula, King of Matabeleland, claimed sovereignty.
On the east was Manika, between which and the coast
apparently was the kingdom of the Quiteve ; and on the
north of Manika, on the Zambezi, 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
Barreto's

the coast. One of the most famous and earliest of expedition.
Portuguese expeditions into the interior was that made
by Francisco Barreto in 1566. 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. 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 Zambezi as far as Sena, and then marched

THE PARTITION

54

other

AFRICA

along the south bank of the river to a place named
Mengos, the chief of which had revolted against the
Monomotapa.
Barreto had agreed to chastise the
chief on condition that the Monomotapa would permit
him to proceed through his territory to the gold mines
of Manika. 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,
x

expeditions

interior

OF

s

^ * stated, started a few years later from Sofala, succeeded in reaching the mines of Manika, where he
witnessed the primitive process of extracting gold.
But his expedition ended in disaster. Even before
Barreto, a missionary priest, Gonsalvo da Silveira,
in i 560 succeded in reaching the territory of the Monomotapa ; 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 considerable
influence with the native chiefs. The result of the really
disastrous expeditions of Barreto and Homem was that
the Portuguese government of the Monomotapa 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 missionaries building
churches in Manika, in the region we now call Mashonaland, westwards as far as Tati, northwards along the
Zambezi, and in the country between Manika and the
coast. Fairs, as they were called, i.e. factories or trading
centres, were established, and forts, we are assured

PORTUGAL

IN POSSESSION

55

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 abandonment of the mines and fairs
and churches in the Monomotapa's empire. That the
Portuguese had stations or establishments of some kind
as far in the interior as what is now known as the
Mashonaland plateau, in the early days of their occupation, must be admitted, unless we are prepared to treat
the historians and chroniclers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries as writers of fiction.
According to the authority of Boccaro, who was The Treaty
of Monokeeper of the archives at Goa, in the early part of t h e motapa.

seventeenth century, the Emperor of Monomotapa (as
he was called) in 1607 ceded to the Portuguese all the
mining rights of his territories by a treaty, the original
of which still exists in the Goa archives. But the celebrated Treaty of Monomotapa, which was adduced in
connection with the Delagoa Bay arbitration, and given
more recently as a proof that Portugal had a claim to
Mashonaland, is dated 1630. It has the "emperor's"
mark (X) and a host of signatures of Portuguese officials.
It would be against the weight of evidence to deny the
genuineness of those two treaties. We fear, it must be
admitted, that had Portugal been a strong power like
Germany or France, the treaties would have had much
more weight with the British government in adjusting
the claims to Mashonaland. But then if either of these
powers had obtained such a claim it would not have
neglected and abandoned the territories thus made
over to them as Portugal had done. Throughout his

56

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

work Andrade Corvo 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 commercial 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 possible ; 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 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,
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 progressing in colonisation, without developing commerce or industries, and without the
famous gold and silver mines giving the marvellous
results which were expected from them, and which the
Government wished to zealously guard for itself. Moreover, in proportion as the colony goes on decaying, the
pomp and luxury of the governors continue to increase ;

PORTUGAL

IN

POSSESSION

57

and truly the corruption increased, as it still continues
to do, more and more."
Of the condition of things at the end of last Real
nature of

century, Andrade
J

Corvo gives an equally lament- Portuguese
°

x

J

dominion

able account. Even such places as Inhambane, j^cJf
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.
The real nature of the connection of Portugal with East
Africa, and of what she has done for the commercial
development of the country during the centuries she has
been planted on the coast, is well summed up in the
words of 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 (1885) to be made." 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 Zambezi, except perhaps in a few
coast towns, and not always even there. Even when due
allowance is made for Corvo's partisanship, we cannot
believe that he deliberately misrepresented facts.
Corvo's conclusion is confirmed by the course of
events in Zambezia 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

58

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

by that time the irresistible Zulu had made his way
south of the Zambezi, and was sweeping all before him
as he did on the north. The Portuguese were helpless
to prevent this, as they were helpless some sixty years
ago to prevent Lobengula's father from taking possession
of Matabeleland (the old " empire" of Monomotapa).
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 ? It is only fair to state that according to Portuguese authorities, whom there is no reason to distrust,
Umzila, Gungunhana's father, was placed in possession of
Gazaland by Portuguese soldiers, commanded by Onope
Lourenco de Andrade, father of Paiva de Andrade.
The importance of the subject in view of recent events
must be the excuse for following briefly the connection
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
T H E BEGINNING OF RIVALRY
Portugal'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
monopoly

had erected forts at Arguin and El Mina, had established of Africa,
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 S t 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
East, the conquest of which absorbed the energies of

6o

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 1520 Cortez had conquered Mexico, and
Magellan had passed through the Straits that bear his
name. So early as 1508 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 compared with that which, within a century after its discovery, 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 likewise 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 BEGINNING

OF RIVALRY

61

But this monopoly was shortlived, at least on slaves and
gold.

the 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 "formerly 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 expedition into the country of the Monomotapa, the export of
slaves, not only to America, but to Europe, had become
one of the most lucrative branches of Portuguese trade
in Africa. By the middle of the fifteenth century 700
or 800 slaves were exported annually to Portugal
alone ; and in 1517 Charles V. granted a patent to a
Flemish trader, authorising him to import 4000 slaves
annually to the West Indies. In virtue of a bull from
the Pope a market was opened in Lisbon ; and as early
as 1537, it is said, ioyooo to 12,000 slaves were
brought to that city, and transported thence to the
West 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 Manika, 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
time considerable. It was no doubt that which brought
the first rivals of Portugal into the field.
As early as the last year of the reign of Edward VI. enterprise
(1553) the first English ships were fitted out for Guinea egins '
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."
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 150
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 RIVALRY

63

similar trading voyage to the Gold Coast, stopping
every 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
fell 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 French
0

enterprise.

vessels were also met with by other English traders,
which shows that at this early date France had her eye
on West 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 1 5 5 8 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
Portuguese lorded it over all the coast. Beside those
at Arguin and at Elmina, it is evident that by this

THE PARTITION

64

England
begins the

OF

AFRICA

time they had built forts at other .points on the
coast. Old Richard Eden speaks of the " arbitrary
monopoly of the Portuguese on this coast, of such
who, on account of conquering 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 themselves cannot wholly
possess."
These private English ventures to the coast of
.

.

slave-trade. 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
S
in iisn
^ e ^ r s t r e a * English chartered African Company
company. w a s t n a t f° r which Elizabeth granted a patent in
1588. Three voyages were made under this Company
(1589, 1590, and 1591). It was found that the Portuguese had been expelled from the Senegal by the
natives, though they still had stations on the Gambia,

THE BEGINNING

OF RIVALRY

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
1

.

1

o f

a

n

e

w

founded in the year of the Armada, and eight years era.
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 World 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
in 1581, and though they had yet a struggle before field,
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
Spain was now virtually the possessor of all the acquisitions of Portugal, Holland considered her African
settlements and colonies legitimate spoil.
The first
Dutch trading voyage to Guinea seems to have been
made about the year 1595. Holland rapidly gained
supremacy all along the coast, and swept not only the
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
had obtained a commanding footing in West Africa.
F

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
Growth of Indies with negro slaves.
By the beginning of the
the slave-

trade.

First

&

/

f

a

b

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.
British traders were making continual complaints to
Parliament of the difficulty of getting a supply of
negroes " of the best sort" for the sugar colonies in the
West Indies, owing mainly to the monopoly of the
Dutch. The latter had held St. Paul de Loanda for
some time ; but when, in 1641, they made peace with
Portugal (after the latter regained its independence),
they gave up that position, though they were virtually
masters from Arguin Bay to the Bight of Benin.
The first British African Company does not seem to

British

chartered have done much good, nor indeed did those chartered
Company.

&

'

THE BEGINNING

OF RIVALRY

67

in 1618 by James I., and in 163 1 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 by Charles II. in 1662, The British
Company

was more successful, and a fort was built on James of 1662.
Island in the Gambia.
This Company was formed
for the purpose of trying to checkmate the Dutch,
who were constantly harassing English traders, seizing
their ships, and destroying the stations they attempted
to establish.
The conduct of the Dutch became
so intolerable that Charles II. declared war against
them in 1665, and the English captured forts at
Seconda, Cape Coast Castle, and other places, and
built new ones for themselves. But the British Company continued to be unfortunate, and in 1672 its rights

68

Another

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

and properties were made over to a new Royal African

new Com-

pany.

Danish
forts.

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
r

'

J

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.
BrandenStill another European power had joined in the
burg

colonies,

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
Great Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William I.,
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. Gross Friedrichsburg was built in 1683,
near Cape Three Points, and treaties were made with the
chiefs of the coast and the interior. Expeditions for
trade and exploration were sent inland, and for some
years there was busy traffic between Prussia and West
Africa as far south as Angola. Not only on the Gold
Coast, but in Arguin Bay, on the south of Cape Blanco,

THE BEGINNING OF RIVALRY

69

where the Portuguese had built a fort long before, these
Brandenburgers 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 ten 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 The
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 established 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

7o

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 confiscating vessels belonging to the Portuguese, Dutch,
and Brandenburgers, and they persistently advanced
claims against the Royal African Company until at last
a war broke out between the two nations.
TheEngiish
In 1698 the monopoly of the English Company was
Company's

misfor-

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 valorem) 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
Intrigues and Arbitrary Proceedings of the Governing
Company,by William Wilkinson, Mariner." It affords an

THE BEGINNING

OF

RIVALRY

idea of the articles which constituted the trade of West
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
of England, and are brought directly home, which is a
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 continent whose chief commerce is sugar, tobacco, indigo,
ginger, cotton, and dyeing stuffs, which are the natural
product of the New World, whose penury or plenty
lies indispensably upon the trade of negro servants
from Africa, which the Royal company manage with
more than an ordinary slight for their own advantage,
taking care that the planters shall never be furnished

72

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

with negroes sufficient to follow their business with
satisfaction, and imposing w h a t prices they please, and
do trust b u t for six m o n t h s ; for which t h e y e x a c t such
an interest, t h a t they, in a manner, sweep away the
profit of their labours, so t h a t although be the planter's
industry never so great, yet h e shall not be able to
effect his designs, because his h a n d s are thus bound b y
the c o m p a n y ; y e t I a m sure t h a t if the planters were
furnished with negroes from Africa, answerable to their
industry, t h a t four times the sugar, indico, cottons, etc.,
would be imported every y e a r ; then let every rational
man judge, if this would not be infinitely more advantageous to the k i n g d o m in general.
" A n d to such a height is the feuds of this c o m p a n y
grown, t h a t they p r e s u m e not only to oppress the
subjects abroad, b u t likewise to lord it over t h e m here
in E n g l a n d , b y imposing 4 0 per cent upon such as
with their licence t r a d e to Africa, as Samuel Sherring,
and others, now in L o n d o n , can witness, who paid t h e m
t h e value aforesaid, for a permission to t r a d e at Angola,
a place in Africa, and remote from a n y of their castles
and factories, a n d in the Portugueses territories, which is
both hurtful to traffick, and prejudicial to t h e king's prerogative and revenue, it being a point of religion to p a y
tribute to C e s a r ; b u t I never heard of any law, or gospel,
to oblige men to p a y tribute to the African C o m p a n y . "
The Dutch
I t should be noticed t h a t the D u t c h had established
at the Cape.

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 BEGINNING OF RIVALRY

73

white population increased but slowly, and the tyrannical restrictions of the Dutch East India Company did
not encourage settlements. Thus for many years the
effective occupation was confined to Cape Town and a
few miles around it.
Although of no importance in connection with theTheEngi
inTangie

partition of Africa, it may be noted that England held
Tangier, in Morocco, from 1662 to 1684. Portugal,
after many struggles, had obtained possession of
this important position in 1471. 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
expensive that she abandoned it in 1684, after
having destroyed the fortifications. Portugal had a
footing in Morocco till 1769, when she evacuated
Mazagan, while Spain still holds the old fortress of
Ceuta, and a fortified station at Melilla, further to the
east.

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—The Portuguese in East
Africa—An Austrian Settlement—Feeling against the slave-trade.

Position in T H U S , by the beginning of the eighteenth century, we
ofeigh- find in the African field all the chief European factors
teenth century,
which have played so prominent a part in recent years
in the partition of the Continent, in addition to that
Moslem or so-called Arab element which was then
dominant over half of Africa. Far stronger then than
now was the hold which Turkey had over the north of
the Continent; her power extended from Egypt (conquered in 15 17) to Algeria; while the influence of
Morocco was felt as far as Timbuktu and Guinea.
During the whole of the eighteenth century there
was comparatively little change in the relative positions
of the European powers.
Holland gave a king to
England in 1688, but that had little influence in promoting friendly relations between the two sets of
colonies in West Africa. Portugal continued to reign
in the region south of the Congo, and, with varied
fortunes, subject constantly to the attacks of the natives,

STA GNA TION AND
occupied a few fortified
and M o z a m b i q u e ;

SLA VER Y

75

places between D e l a g o a B a y

for, as we shall see, she h a d

to

abandon all the coast further north.
The Dutch
held their own at the Cape, and French and Dutch
and English struggled for supremacy on the west
coast, which, during the eighteenth century, continued
to be the chief field of contention among the European
powers in Africa.
Let us see briefly what was the
position in West Africa in the first half of the century.
Between Cape Blanco and St. Paul de Loanda settlements in
there were in all forty-three forts or stations.
The west
J
Africa.

first European settlement on the mainland was at
Arguin, on the Gum Coast, as it was called, in about
20° north latitude. This had originally belonged to
Portugal, then to the Dutch, then to the French, then
to the King of Prussia, who offered it to England for
£100,000, but from whom it was ultimately bought by
the Dutch for £30,000. It was, however, taken by the
French in 1721. France may be said to have been
supreme from here to the Gambia, having a fort on the
Senegal, and settlements and plantations for a long
distance up the river. There was even then another
fort and settlement at Goree, near Cape Verd.
England's west coast possessions then as now began
at the Gambia, where the Royal African Company had
a good fort on James Island, with sundry factories
higher up on each side of the river. There had also
been a fort on the Sierra Leone river, but it had
been abandoned in 1 7 2 8 ; as had, too, the fort on
Sherboro river. Farther round, on the Guinea Coast,
we find English forts at Dixcove, Secondee, Commenda,

;•

76

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Cape Coast Castle, Fort Royal, Queen Anne's Point
(these three close together), Annishan, Anamabo, Agga,
Tantumquerry, Winneba, 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 1740, though they may have been
reoccupied, and in nearly every case they were flanked by
Dutch forts. Cabinda had been taken, plundered, and destroyed 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
F o r t ; 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
isy 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 advanced to ^ 2 0 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. Of course then
as now they held possession of St. Paul de Loanda,

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STAGNATION

AND

SLAVERY

77

where we are told they had several forts and a large
city, 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 1740 Denmark had only one fort on
the coast, at Accra, she had later on three others, at
Fingo, Adda, and Ouetta ; 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 buildings ; 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 was much controversy during the first half of the century as to what A a *"
©*
should be done with the African Company; w h e t h e r ^ ^
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, constituted by Act of Parliament, with liberty to trade and
to form establishments on the west coast between 200
north and 20 0 south latitude.
Let us recall the fact that the eighteenth century

78

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

wars of and the first fifteen years of the nineteenth was a
teenth cen- period of almost chronic war in Europe. There was
tury.

sierra

the war of the Spanish succession (1700), our own
rebellions, the Quadruple Alliance against Spain (1718)
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, established our supremacy in India, and obtained a firm
footing in other parts of the world, while we lost the
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
hands. The Dutch lost the supreme place they occupied during the latter part of the seventeenth and early
part of the eighteenth century. The British forts and
factories were valued mainly as slave depots, and
similar depots were planted by traders of various
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
Rivers, though at that time oil was of little or no
account. In 1787 England resumed her old connection 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,

STAGNA

TION AND SLA VER V

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 Company's rule followed them, and magistracies were established at Swellendam in 1745, and at Graaf Reinet in
1784. In 1788 the boundary of the colony was extended 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 expedition, which sailed round to Natal in 1705-1706, found

8o

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

an Englishman established there with two wives and a
family. He said he was the only survivor of a number
of men who had been landed there with a view to
establish a colony. It is generally believed that the
Orange river was not crossed till the present century,
but Mr. Theal, in his History of South Africa, tells us
that in 1761-62 a large expedition crossed the river and
penetrated into Namaqualand as far as 2 6° i 8 / s o u t h .
By this time cattle - runs had been extended to
Olifant's river, and the Copper mountains of little
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 possession of Possession Island, Angra Pequefia, Walfish
Bay, and other places, in the name of the Company, a
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 extended
more than 200 miles from the south coast, while the
total annual revenue was only ^30,000,—a sum quite
insufficient to cover the expenditure.
T e slave&
Let us for a moment turn to the slave-trade. There
seems little doubt that the African Company, which was
dissolved in 1750, was ruined by the famous "Assiento"
contract with Spain of 1713 ; 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

STAGNATION

AND

SLAVERY

81

the trade went on. Macpherson, in his History of
Commerce, calculates that in 1748 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 considerably over a million.
It would be difficult to
estimate the number of Africans deported from the
Continent from the time of the first European connection with i t ; 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- The Portuguese in East Africa rapidly declined, and that of the East6 m
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, however, 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

82

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the East Africans with a rod of iron, and her pride and
cruelty had their reward in the bitter hatred of the
natives.
In East Africa the Portuguese have left
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.
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
practically an end to their sovereignty between Cape
Guardafui and Cape Delgado. After this the Imaum
of Muscat held a nominal sovereignty over the East
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 establishment of Zanzibar as an independent state in 1861.
Thus by the beginning of the eighteenth century
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 Delagoa
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

S3

Austria dreamed of acquiring African possessions. In An
Austrian
the hope of securing the trade to the east to the settier
°

ment.

Austrian dominions in Flanders, Tuscany, and the
Adriatic, Maria Theresa granted a charter in 1775 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 1776. He proceeded to Delagoa
Bay, and made terms with the chiefs on both sides of the
river, who declared they were independent of the Portuguese 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, awaking to what they regarded as their rights, addressed
representations and protests to the Austrian Government. 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
against the

England was rapidly taking up a strong position against slavetrade.

the slave-trade. From the first there had been here
and there a voice lifted up against this traffic.
It
was in 1772 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 1787

84

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

Clarkson, Wilberforce, and others formed themselves
into an association to secure the abolition of the slavetrade.
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
1807 and 181 5 most of the other great powers assumed
the same position as England, and by 1815 the slavetrade 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.

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V

A-T^r
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Establishment

CHAPTER

VII

THE POSITION IN

I8 I5

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—Portugal on the East Coast—Central Africa.

PROFESSOR

SEELEY,

in his Expansion
r

of England,
J

d

TG
U
struggle

maintains that the great aim of Napoleon in his pro- getween
.t rancs and

longed struggle with this country was to secure supremacy En s land -.
beyond the seas. However this may be, Napoleon
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 Reunion 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
Colonies

Mother
country.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

settlement—Canada, Australia, the Cape.
She was
supreme in India, her influence was paramount in
Egypt, she retained some of the best of the West
India Islands, she possessed patches on the west coast
of Africa, while the British flag was planted on the
islands of every ocean.
A t t h e beginning of this n e w era in t h e history of
fa

fa

/

^ e w o r ^ t n e ° ^ conception of the relation of the
c o i o n j e s to the Mother Country still to a latge extent
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 between the Empire 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 development and expansion, is barely ten years
old.
This is not the place for a discussion of the subject
of Imperialism and Federation, of the relations which

THE POSITION IN 18x5

S7

should exist between the various members of the 1Sm a n d
Imperially •
1 • •
1 - 1 1 1 .
Umpire ; but it is necessary to realise clearly the views Federation
which were entertained on this point when the European
powers may be said to have started afresh about eighty
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 elsewhere 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 torturechamber.
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 ten 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

88

fharefn
38 f i5 Ca m

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 operations was Africa, and on Africa a rush was 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
eighty 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, or at least ruled, by
semi-civilised Mohammedan fanatics.
Indeed, the
whole of the Niger region was divided up into somewhat small states among which Mohammedanism was
rapidly spreading. Mungo Park had perished on the
river he longed to explore, while Rene Caillie 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

IN 1S15

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 ;
her 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 1884? though Portuguese writers admitted there had never been effectual
occupation.
At the mouth of the Congo itself there were a few Portugal in
&

West

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

9o

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

moment in 1884 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
Portuguese within the past few years. Had Portugal then claimed
the injurisdiction 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 legitimate trade nor knowledge of the country was promoted
by such excursions, and they can hardly be regarded
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
eighty years ago unclaimed; although, as we have
seen, Walfish Bay and Angra Pequena were occupied
by the Dutch Cape colonists in the previous century.
The Cape Colony, only finally made over to England cape
Colony.

in 1815, though it had been occupied continuously
since 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, Natal—was as unknown and
as untamed as the wildest parts of Central Africa.
The total area of Cape Colony was only 120,000 square
miles, and the total population 61,000, of whom 1 5,000
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 Portugal on
fe

J

r

&

tneEast

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 extend beyond the precincts of their coast towns and their
stations. Expeditions had been sent into the interior as
far as Cazembe'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 Manika; that there were dealings 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-called 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 181 5 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. Considerably 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 Magadoshu, 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 Central
from the Portuguese, and partly from native chiefs.
France had been toying with Madagascar for 170 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 independent. 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, Khartum 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 mediaeval 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 occupation 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 expansion ; England had quite enough occupation for the
energies of her surplus population, and for her commercial 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 181 5 (including slaves) probably did not
exceed £30,000,000 sterling. The total exports could
hardly have been more than £15,000,000, more than
half coming from Egypt and the countries on the
Mediterranean.

CHAPTER
SIXTY YEARS OF

VIII

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 German
aspirations—British influence at Zanzibar—The Red Sea—Egyptian
conquests—The Suez Canal—Madagascar—Position in 1875.

ALTHOUGH during the sixty years after 1815 the most Activity
after 1815
, . Ar.
1
-rimportant annexation made in Africa by a European
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, Caillte had reached Timbuktu, 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

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 revealing 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 i 8 6 0 had much effect in arousing the covetousness of Europe.
French
The French Conquest of Algeria, begun in 1830
Algeria. ' and completed only after long years of sanguinary
struggle, was a benefit to the civilised world, and probably 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. Unfortunately 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 £1 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 between the two territories. The scheme is again under
consideration, and, no doubt, another attempt will be
made to accomplish it.
While France was consolidating her position in
Algeria, she was steadily extending her influence in
the Senegambian interior. So long as fifty years ago senegamTbia

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.
When Colonel (afterwards General) Faidherbe retired
from his long governorship 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

93

Gambia

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

been established ; a n d a t t e m p t s h a d been m a d e to introduce t h e cultivation of cotton, indigo, a n d other products,
not, however, with m u c h success. I n t h e whole interior of
the Senegambian region, France, during these fifty years,
had entire c o m m a n d of t h e situation, E n g l a n d n o t conceiving t h a t her interests d e m a n d e d interference on her
part. Y e t she could, h a d she yielded to t h e solicitations
of native chiefs, have e x t e n d e d her influence over the
whole of t h e U p p e r Niger.
Indeed, in 1 8 6 5 a strong
committee of t h e H o u s e of C o m m o n s came unanimously
to t h e resolution " t h a t all further extension of territory
or assumption of government, or new t r e a t y offering
a n y protection t o native tribes, would be inexpedient."
T h o u g h n o t rigorously adhered to, t h e policy
has, in t h e main, been carried o u t with respect to
the W e s t African colonies ever since, thus leaving
F r a n c e a free h a n d to e x t e n d her possessions between
the Senegal a n d t h e Gulf of Guinea. T h e exclusive
right retained b y E n g l a n d in t h e T r e a t y of 1 7 8 3 to
trade for grain with t h e A r a b s of Portendic, on t h e
coast between t h e Senegal a n d Cape Blanco, was
e x c h a n g e d in 1 8 5 7 for the F r e n c h factory at A l b r e d a
on t h e north b a n k of the Gambia.
Till 1 8 1 6 G a m b i a h a d been all b u t abandoned.

and Sierra

Leone.

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.
1821 to 1843 ^

w a s

From

subject to the Government of

Sierra Leone ; then after twenty-three years of independence it became in 1866 part of the government
of the West 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 arrangement 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 1 8 5 7 ; while it pushed its influence
for an indefinite distance into the interior.
Meantime the British settlements on the Gold coast.
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

ioo

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, Apollonia, Secondee, and Commenda, with a protectorate over
the two Wassaws, 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.
Lagos.
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, and includes the Yoruba country in the interior as a protectorate.
It is interesting to note that in the seventeenth century
the French attempted to effect a settlement at the mouth
The Niger, 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

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 responsibilities, still possessed those charged with the
interests of the Empire, as indeed it did till only
ten years ago. After much expenditure of life and
money the Niger was virtually abandoned—given

THE

102

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.
The earnerAn English mission station was founded at Victoria,
oons and

the cape.

°

the Cameroons coast, in 1858, and British traders
virtually dominated the coast. In 1842 France established herself on the fine estuary of the Gaboon, and
twenty years after took possession of the Ogove. 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 undisturbed in her West African possessions.
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 Pequena
were declared British in 1867, and Walfish Bay in
1878, the latter was not actually annexed to the Cape
till 1884.
on

SIXTY

YEARS

OF PREPARATION

103

Meanwhile, Cape Colony itself had its hands full of south
Africa

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 1 8 6 5 ; in 1871 Basutoland came under British rule.
A constitution was
established in 1853, and responsible government in
1872. 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 1 8 5 2 ; Natal had been created an
independent colony in 1 8 5 6 ; 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 Zambezi; 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 m virtue of

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

the D u t c h settlement there in 1 8 2 0 . E n g l a n d went so
far as to found a station named B o m b a y opposite
Lourenco Marquez, and there were continual disputes
for possession between her and Portugal u p to 1 8 7 5 ,
t h e T r a n s v a a l also p u t t i n g in a claim for a patch of
coast.
A t last t h e rival claims were referred for
arbitration to the President of the F r e n c h Republic,
Marshal M a c M a h o n , who decided in favour of Portugal,
even going to t h e e x t r e m e of giving Portugal more
territory t h a n she h a d claimed in her statement.
The
chief ground of Portugal's claim was the " T r e a t y
of M o n o m o t a p a , " which had lapsed long before.
The
present town of Lourenco Marquez was only founded
in 1 8 6 7 on the site of an old village of the same
name.
Livingwork.

But a new era for t h e Continent had begun.
Livingstone had entered Africa, and had initiated those
explorations which opened up the heart of t h e Continent,
and led to t h a t scramble which is now all b u t completed.
Before his death in 1 8 7 3 he had been to L a k e Ngami,
h a d completed t h a t journey across the Continent which
revealed the course of the Zambezi, gave us the first
authentic information as to the character of the country
watered b y it and its tributaries, and carried the British
n a m e and British influence into regions which only the
other day have become a p p a n a g e s of the Imperial Crown.
Others had followed in Livingstone's footsteps—Galton
and Andersson in D a m a r a l a n d , Baines in the same region
and east to Matabeleland (whose riches he revealed
to t h e modern world) and the Z a m b e z i ; while others
—missionaries, explorers, hunters, and t r a d e r s — w e r e

SIXTY

YEARS

OF PREPARATION

105

penetrating into every corner of the country to the south
of the Zambezi. Livingstone himself had concluded
his great Zambezi expedition in 1863, which, disastrous
as it was in some respects, opened up what was practically a new country to the world, and led to the
foundation of those trading and missionary stations
in Nyasaland which were destined to form the basis
of British influence in one of the most promising regions
of Central Africa. In 1865 Livingstone began his
final wanderings, that 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- The
&

'

'

Zanzibar

ginning of the seventeenth century, had been nominally re s ion at least under the Imaums of Muskat, there were constant attempts of the local sultans to establish their
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 Sey'id
Said, however, had made himself master of Patta,
Brava, Lamu, Zanzibar, Pemba, and Kilwa, and
threatened to attack Mombasa, where the aged Soliman Ben Ali, as representing the governor under the
older rulers of Oman, was in power. Soliman appealed

THE PARTITION

io6

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, Pemba,
and all the coast between Melinde and Pangani; Brava
also was placed under our protection, and many advantageous concessions were made to the British. But,
Captain Owen was more than half a century before his
time; in 1828 the British Government, after Mombasa
had been occupied for four years, yielding to the jealousy
of the East India Company, abandoned the concession,
and all the region was left 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 Imaum Sey'id Said having built a palace at
Zanzibar, and finally chosen this city as his residence,
Captain Hammerton was sent there in December 1841,
as England's first Consul, and as the Political Agent
for India. The struggles of Mombasa with Muskat
were renewed, but the latter in the end prevailed, so
that when, in 1861, Sey'id Majid (who succeeded
Sey'id Said in 1856) 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
openingup to Magdoshu. Moreover, the Sultan's influence, if not
of Central

Africa.

.

.

.

r

.

.

. .

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-

SIXTY

YEARS

OF PREPARATION

107

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 their journeys in the
interior, had told of great lakes which they themselves
had navigated. In 1848 Rebmann caught sight of the
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 Early GerA
a

t

manaspira

bulk of the important work done in Central Africa tions 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 enterprise. One of the most prominent names connected
with the exploration of East Africa is that of Von der
Decken. Between i 8 6 0 and 1865 he undertook ex-

io8

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

tensive explorations in the Kilimanjaro region, and
visited several parts of the coast between Cape Delgado
and the river Jub. 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 Jub river on 14th August 1864, he
writes: " I am persuaded that in a short time a
colony established here would be most successful,
and after two or three years would be self-supporting. It would become of special importance after
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 on
the Colonisation of East Africa, in which he wrote :
" Von der Decken on many occasions said that he
would not hesitate, if Sey'id Majid agreed to it, to buy
Mombasa from the Sultan in order to found an establishment and place the commerce of the interior in the
hands of Europeans, and especially of Germans. After
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 advantageous 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

SIXTY

YEARS

OF PREPARATION

109

purposes, Germany was at the time too much occupied
with her position in Europe to be able to take steps
to improve her position beyond the seas. But these
two utterances are noteworthy as being probably
the first hint that Germany might in the future enter
the field as a colonising power in Africa.
At the
time that Von der Decken wrote, and for twenty
years after, British influence was supreme at Zanzibar ; British influence at
the succession of able British representatives at the Zanzibar.
court of the Sultan were virtually 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 (Sey'id Burghash succeeded Sey'id
Majid in 1870), was undoubtedly more powerful than
the Sultan himself; and seventeen 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 British supremacy in
Zanzibar 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 fraction of the trade was in
their hands.
There was one episode of this period to which

no

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

brief allusion must be made. As the result of an
inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee into the Slave
Trade in East Africa, Sir Bartle Frere was in November
1872 appointed Her Majesty's Special Envoy to the
Sultans of Zanzibar and Muskat to induce them to
sign a treaty rendering the export of slaves from Africa
illegal. Sir Bartle Frere spent some three months in
Zanzibar and in visiting the coast of the mainland.
The Sultan was, however, extremely obstinate, and
could not be induced to comply with the wishes of
the British Government, even though these were supported by the representatives of Germany and the
United States. Unfortunately France took advantage
of the position to advise the Sultan to hold out, promising to support him in the maintenance of the export
of slaves, and to lend him the aid of a squadron of her
fleet. The Sultan was so intensely irritated at the
demands of the British Envoy, that he actually offered
the protection of the whole of his dominion to France.
Happily, France had not yet recovered from her defeat
by Germany, and by the time her squadron was ready
to sail for Zanzibar, Sir (then Dr.) John Kirk, in whom
the Sultan and the Arabs had the utmost confidence,
by his tact and firmness, his thorough knowledge of
the Sultan's character and of local conditions, succeeded in completing the work begun by Sir Bartle
Frere, and the treaty was signed on 5th June 1873.
The French representative made himself so obnoxious
that he had to be withdrawn, and all idea of French
" protection" was banished from the Sultan's mind.
It should be remembered that France, in 1842, had

SIXTY

YEARS OF

PREPARATION

in

joined with England in guaranteeing the Sultan's independence.
Proceeding northwards, we find but little alteration The Red
Sea.

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
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 Tajura 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, Egyptian
conquests.

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 The Suez
Canal.

THE PARTITION

112

OF AFRICA

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
Madagas- that. The greater island of Madagascar, farther south,
car.

°

.

continued to receive attentions from France at intervals
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, Nossibe on the west
coast taken possession of in 1840, and Mayotte in
1841.
Position in
Thus, then, the progress of partition among the
European powers had been comparatively slow and insignificant during the sixty years that had elapsed since
181 5. 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.
France was the only Power that showed any eagerness
for steady annexation and any foresight as to future

SIXTY

YEARS

OF PREPARATION

113

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 waterway, may be regarded as the
initiatory episode.

CHAPTER

IX

PRELIMINARIES TO PARTITION
The 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—Mr. Stanley returns to the Congo—Annexation in 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
progress—Proposed creation of a Congo State—Stanley completes
his work.

The slave-

FROM

about 1850 the interest in Africa grew more

trad.6

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 of
Angola, for there were still Brazil and Cuba to be
supplied, and when, many years before, all other civilised
nations agreed to suppress the traffic, Portugal begged
for, and obtained, the insertion of a clause excepting
her African ports from the operation of the treaty.

PRELIMINARIES

TO PARTITION

115

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 traffic which harrowed 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.
When
Livingstone reached the heart of the Continent at
Nyangwe he found their malign influence everywhere present.
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

n6

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

to suppress it, and in this way the interest in Central
Africa was intensified,
interest in
Another considerable section of civilised mankind
exploration

»

became

fascinated

with

the

discoveries

which

were

gradually revealing to us the wonderful character of a
continent whose rim only was m a p p e d in the school-days
of m a n y now living.

Stanley's

R e b m a n n and K r a p f ; 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 exploration into a kind of holy crusade.
Cameron's remarkable journey across Africa from east
to west in 1873-75 helped us still further to realise
the conditions of the interior. Missionary effort was
greatly increased and strengthened, especially in East
Africa, as far inland as Lake Nyasa, 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, t n e
whole civilised world had an interest in the results of his
expedition. Letter after letter from the great explorer,
and telegram after telegram from the heart of Africa,
as to the fortunes of the expedition, served to fan this
interest and kindle it into a world-wide enthusiasm.
To the work accomplished by Stanley more than

influence.

to that of any other explorer it is due that this somewhat abstract enthusiasm for Africa was, in the space of

PRELIMINARIES

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117

a comparatively few years, precipitated into action on 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 himself 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 first, followed by French, was
sent out to take possession, in the name of their Master,
of one of the most powerful 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 Germany,
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.

n8

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

She was still flushed with the fruits of her great victoryover France. She was now a 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 movement which, within fifteen years, was to make Africa
little more than a political appendage to Europe.
The King
When Stanley's first letter came home, Leopold, King
ambitions °^ t ' i e Belgians, w a s m h*5 prime. He wras 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 promotion 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 complications to engage his attention outside his own domain.
It was natural that a man of his energies and ambitions should wish Tor 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

PRELIMINARIES

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119

was a whole continent, almost unoccupied and untouched, 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 The
&

&

&

Brussels

12th September 1876 a select Conference to discuss conference
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 eighteen 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.1
It must be remembered that in
September 1876 Stanley was on his march from
1

But it is of interest to remember that long before this, ere Leopold
came to the throne, while travelling in the east, he seriously contemplated the acquisition of part of Borneo, or of some other island
in the eastern archipelago. For this statement there is the highest
authority.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Lake Tanganyika to Nyangw<§, 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
the meeting of geographers and philanthropists, knew
no more about the Lualaba and its ultimate destination 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. 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 the King's 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 philanthropical 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-

PRELIMINARIES

TO

PARTITION

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 Commission, or International African national
African A

Association, having its seat at Brussels, should be sociation.
founded for the exploration and civilisation of Central
Africa, and that each nation willing to co-operate
should form a National Committee to collect subscriptions 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 :—Austria-Hungary—
Baron von Hofmann, Count Edward Zichy, Fer. von Hochstetter, Lieutenant Lux. Belgium—Baron Lambermont, M. Banning, M. Emile de
Borchgrave, M. Couvreur, M. le Comte Gobler d'Alviella, M. James, M.
de Laveleye, M. Quairier, M. Sainetelette, M. Smalderl, M. Van Biervliet,
M. Leon Vander Bossche, M. Jean Van Volxem. France—Admiral le
Baron de la Ronciere de Noury, M. Henri Duveyrier, the Marquis de
Compiegne, M. d'Abbadie, M. Maunoir. Germany—Baron von Richthofen,
Dr. Nachtigal, Dr. Schweinfurth, Herr Gerhard Rohlfs. Italy—the Chevalier Cristoforo Negri. Russia—M. Semenof.

122

National
Commit-

tees.

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 British
delegates were therefore appointed to the International
Commission at Brussels. Instead, the African Exploration Fund of the Royal Geographical Society was
established in March 1 8 7 7 ; and with the public subscriptions 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 21st June 1877 it was
found that the Belgian Committee had already subscribed 287,000 francs, besides 44,000 francs annual
contribution. By June 1879 Belgium's contribution
had exceeded 600,000 francs, while small contributions

PRELIMINARIES

TO PARTITION

123

had been sent by the German, Austrian, Hungarian, Dutch, Expedi.

.

and Swiss Committees.

tions to

No time was lost in beginning East
&

fe

Africa.

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 expeditions. 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 established in the interior, but the first permanent station was
only founded in 1880 by Captain Cambier at Karema, on Karema
.

m

the south-east shore of Lake Tanganyika. It was in
connection with this station that experiments were made,
at the expense of the King of the Belgians, with Indian
elephants. These, unfortunately, all died, probably from
want of intelligent treatment; the question as to the
possibility of acclimatising Indian elephants in Africa has
yet to be settled. Notwithstanding the great sacrifice of
human life and the enormous expenditure of money, these
attempts at founding oases of civilisation in Central Africa
were failures so far as the objects of the Association were
concerned.
Karema was really the only station that

founded.

THE

124

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

survived, and explorers have on more than one occasion obtained succour there. The results to exploration have been almost nil, 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 work of
The truth is that, so far as the exploration of Africa
commit- goes, much more was done by the National Committees
tees.

s

'

J

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

PRELIMINARIES

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125

other Committee that seems to have done any real
work was that of Germany.
But the Association soon ceased to be really international. 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 A newphase.

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 Stanley'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
letters had roused Europe to action. Contingent after
contingent of missionaries was sent out, Protestant and Missions in
Central

Catholic, and stations were being established not only
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
things a barrel organ with which to charm the suspicious savages among whom his course would lie.

Afri

ca.

126

Stanley
and the

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

The poor Abbe was unfortunate, and had to abandon
his barrel organ ; he took refuge at last with Captain
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
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 result, so far at
least as concerns the spread of French influence in
this part of Central Africa. One 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
It was, however, on the other side of the Con'

'

Belgians!116 tinent 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 25 th of that month Mr. Stanley met the
King and several representative gentlemen of various
countries, presumably members of the International

PRELIMINARIES

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127

African Association.
At the decisive meeting of
the 2nd of January 1879 there were present representatives 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 themselves into a " Comite des Etudes du Haut Congo,"— The Congo
Committee

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 its object,
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 lightdraught 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 n o t

128

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

It was, therefore, resolved that a fund should be subscribed to equip an expedition to obtain accurate information, 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 on the International 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.
Mr. Stanley
It was publicly announced that the Belgian steamer
returns to

L

J

°

the Congo. 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 connection with the expedition was kept a secret as far as
possible. While Mr. Stanley was at Zanzibar, collecting a force of natives there, the agents of a Dutch
house on the Lower Congo were busy collecting Kroo-

PRELIMINARIES

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129

boys as porters. But all this was done as quietly as
possible. The truth is, annexation was in the air. AnnexaThe 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. Moreover, 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 evidently 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
^

.

1 1

. . . .

, .

.

Aims of the
Congo Com-

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
K

130

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

merchants of various nationalities, or at least had
received considerable subscriptions from various mercantile 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 expressed by their various subscriptions their sympathy
Be?giany w ^ ^e project." Thus the new Congo undertaking
enterprise. w a s 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 (1882), Mr. Stanley tells us,
the Committee, "having satisfied itself that progress
interand stability were secured, assumed the title of 'AssoSong^As- ciation Internationale du Congo,' which, be it rememsociation.

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
che 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 knowledge and the development of Africa's resources, seems

PRELIMINARIES

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131

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: " I t would be wise to extend the influence ofcruaeideas
1

.

1

1• r

1

«i

1

ii-

of a Congo

the stations over the chiefs and tribes dwelling near state,
them, of whom a republican confederation of free
negroes might be formed, such confederation to be independent, 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
of works of public utility, or perhaps might be able to
raise 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 permitted any man of intelligence to suggest the foundation 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 Through the Dark Continent

132

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

with attention, surely he would have realised the complete 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.
Tko King's At the same time, it indicates that the King, if not
aims.

Stanley on

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, creditable to King Leopold.
From our present point of
view, this enterprise of 1879, under Mr. Stanley's
leadership, was the first overt step towards the
European partition of Africa on a large scale.
" O n 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 laudable objects which the King of the Belgians and his loyal
lieutenant, Mr. Stanley, professed to have had in view

PRELIMINARIES

TO PARTITION

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
overcome the results of thousands of years of savagery.
Mr. Stanley found the Barga waiting for him at Stanleys
progress.
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 Rhodes and Jameson, as Lugard, Thomson, and
Johnston, 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,
with 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

THE PARTITION

134

Proposed
creation of
g0

S+o??

OF

AFRICA

Banana, he found t h e factories of English, French,
Dutch, and Portuguese firms, who had been carrying on
t r a d e on the Lower Congo for over a century.
Vivi,
the limit of navigation on t h e lowrer river, was reached
on the 2 6 t h of September, and preparations were at
once m a d e to establish t h e first station of the Congo
Committee h e r e ; b y the 2 4 t h of J a n u a r y 1 8 8 0 it was
finished, and Mr. S t a n l e y was free to proceed u p the
river to select sites for other stations. Leopoldville was
founded on Stanley Pool, treaties m a d e with native
chiefs, explorations of the southern tributaries made, and
other work done, when Mr. S t a n l e y returned to E u r o p e
to m a k e the position clear to t h e Committee, and urge
the construction of a railway from the lower river past
the cataracts to the Pool.
By this time the " Comite des E t u d e s " had developed
J

'

x

into the Committee of the " Association Internationale

State.

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 t 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 Association 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

PRELIMINARIES

TO PARTITION

135

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
completes

Stanley's many troubles—troubles mainly due to ineffi- ms work,
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 Nyangwe Arabs, who had followed in his
footsteps down the river ; had been able to welcome
and instruct his successor, Sir Francis de Winton ; had
shown by advice and example how the work of organisation 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 developirig,
which, as if by magic, suddenly roused the Continent
from its lethargy of ages.

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 Trans-Saharan railway—Tunis
—Assab and Obock.

M. de

W H I L E 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 de Brazza,
Italian by birth and parentage, was born in 1852.
He received his education in France, and entered
the French naval service in 1870.
In the years
1875-78 he, in company with M. Marche and Dr.
Ballay, carried out a successful exploration of the
Ogove 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,

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

137

and rapidly declined in volume. De Brazza crossed
over the hills at the head of the Ogov£, and soon found
that these 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, De Brazza did not rest long in De Brazza
Europe.
Stanley had almost a year's start of his Congo.
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
Ogove 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
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,

138

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

on his w a y down t h e river, came upon Stanley pushing
in t h e opposite direction.
Stanley at t h e time knew
little about D e Brazza.

T h e latter had founded an

" i n t e r n a t i o n a l " station on t h e Ogove, a n d rapidly
crossing over to t h e Lefmi (the L u v u of Stanley),
found n o difficulty in following t h a t river down to t h e
broad bosom of t h e Congo. H e seems to have been
able to establish friendly relations with t h e chiefs a n d
people around, a n d succeeded in discovering one chief
who, according t o D e Brazza's own report, claimed t o
be suzerain of all t h e country around, even t o t h e south
bank of t h e Congo.

Thereupon, on i s t October 1 8 8 0 ,

the representative of t h e International Association m a d e
a solemn treaty with t h e chief, whereby t h e latter placed
himself under t h e protection of France, a n d accepted
the French flag. D e Brazza lost no time in crossing
over t o t h e south
founded

side of Stanley Pool, a n d

there

a station at N t a m o or K i n t a m o , close b y

where Leopoldville now stands, a n d which his admirers
in F r a n c e n a m e d after him Brazzaville. T h e station
De Brazza

on t h e Ogove he himself n a m e d Franceville.
I t will thus be seen t h a t M. de Brazza h a d cast

and

Stanley,

aside all pretence* of carrying

out the

designs

of

the

he

simply

the

International

emissary

of

Association;

France, doing

his

was

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.

It was only when Mr.

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

139

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 on 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 equipment for his stations.
Roads were made in other
directions to the Alima, on which a station was established, and down which it was intended to take the
expected steamer. After seeing everything in order, De
Brazza started for the coast in the beginning of 1882,
and partly explored the Kwilu-Niari river, on which
meanwhile 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

140

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 1882, just about three months before Mr.
Stanley.
A national
So far as France was concerned, it was evident that
scramble.

Portugal

by this time the international features of the enterprise, initiated by the King of the Belgians, were
entirely abandoned ; and so it was 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. T h e . 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
lethargy. She had sat for centuries within hail of this
great river and had never manifested any curiosity to
discover where it came from, or to what uses it might
be put. It was only when more energetic Powers

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

141

stepped in to do the work she ought to have done
long before that she interfered.
It was the flittings hither and thither of M. de Portugal's
claim to

Brazza, and his indiscriminate distribution of tricolours, the Congo,
that rearoused the apprehensions of Portugal,—" rearoused," 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 correspondence concerning the claim of Portugal to the
West African coast between 5 0 12' and 8° south latitude. " In the name of the Most Holy and undivided
Trinity," in the years 1810, 181 5, and 1817, Portugal
solemnly agreed not to carry on the export of slaves
on any part of the African coast outside her own
territories. Her right to export slaves from her own
territories 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 reminding 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
herself on her virtue in confining the traffic in her
most lucrative export to her own coast-line, but surely
she could not hope to induce such shrewd men as

142

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Palmerston, Clarendon, and Aberdeen to take a similar
view. 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° I2 r to 8° south latitude. British vessels were constantly 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 correspondence on the subject, the native chiefs would have
welcomed.
Portugal was particularly jealous of any
attempt to dispute her right to the territories of Molemba
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 on 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

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

143

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 establish 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 Government 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 " t o extend the dominion
of Portugal north of Ambriz," and in 1876 the late
Lord Derby reminded the Duke 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 50 12' and 8° south
latitude
Lord Granville, unlike his predecessor, expressed Negotiar

r

tionswith

without hesitation the willingness of Her Majesty's England.
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

144

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 West 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 o n ; 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
An Anglo- casuistry on the part of Portugal, a " Congo Treaty"
Portuguese

Congo

W as

at last agreed upon, and signed on the 26th of

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

145

February 1884, by which Great Britain acknowledged
the claim of Portugal to the line of coast between 5° I2 r
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 proposed 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. Whether it was
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
action as Foreign Minister it has been the fashion to
place the worst construction.
L

146

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

During the progress of the negotiations (in 1883),
Portugal, feeling uneasy as to what might be the attitude 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 Commission 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 difficulties which followed with
Portugal in the Zambezi region and Nyasaland would
have been avoided. As it was, what with Great Britain's
and Portugal'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 confirmed.
The treaty
There was a universal protest from all the Powers
abandoned.

r

of Europe, which was joined in by the English press,
against allowing a Power like Portugal, who had been
in Africa for four centuries and had done nothing
for its development, to have the virtual command of
one of the finest rivers on the Continent.
Prince
Bismarck appealed with success to France to join

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

147

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 international conConference came, however, in the first instance from ference
'

decided on.

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
declared their adhesion, and the Berlin Conference of
1884-85 was agreed to.
What was Prince Bismarck's estimate of Portugal Bismarck's
0

opinion of

as a colonial power he very clearly expressed in a Portugal,
communication through Count Munster to Earl Granville with reference to the Conference, dated 7th June
1884—
" We are not in a position to admit that the Portuguese 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
all nations, that the action of Portuguese officials would

148

Thepositionontke

Niger.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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."
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
J

y

&

did for the exploration of the Niger and the development of its trade. In time traders of other nationalities 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 themselves into a United African Company, which, in
a short time, was able to command most of the

.

FRANCE

AND PORTUGAL

ON THE CONGO

149

markets, and to regulate the prices of native commodities.
But still there was trouble on the Niger, and cause German en-r» • •

terprise on

for much anxiety as to the fate of British interests, the Niger.
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 Benue,
and did much for the exploration of the latter.
In the end, as the agent of the German Colonial
Society, he rushed up the river with the intention
of making treaties with the native chiefs ; but 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 its hold and extend its 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 1880-81
Colonel Gallieni 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.

150

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 throwing 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 Benue* 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 casting 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

151

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 A TransSaharan

extension took place in 1881.
France had long railway,
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 18 81 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.

152

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, and
with no scruples as to the " integrity " of the Turkish
empire, which in 1894 she professed herself so anxious
to maintain. 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 disapproved, and she had to be content with only a small
Assaband beginning at the bay of Assab, on the Red Sea coast,
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 Tajura,
which, however, was not actually occupied till 1883,
though it had been nominally a French possession
since 1862.

CHAPTER

XI

BRITISH ADVANCES I N T H E SOUTH AND

EAST

South Africa—Bechuanaland—Damaraland — South African Confedera>
tion—Matabeleland—Nyasaland—Zanzibar—The Sudan—Socotra.
BETWEEN

1875 and 1884 Britain had practically the south
Africa

whole of South and East Africa before her where to
choose; but she did not realise the value of her opportunities.
Responsible government had been granted
to the Cape in 1872, but her statesmen were somewhat 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

154

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 was not annexed till 1894. 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 premature 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. Since then, however, other railway projects have been carried out which
modify the importance of the Delagoa Bay line. To
these allusion will be made in a later chapter.
BeciraanaIn 1884, roused by the attempts at extension on
land.

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
Zambezi. By the labours of Moffat, Livingstone, and
their successors, and by many years' intercourse with
hunters and traders, the Bechuanas had long been

BRITISH

ADVANCES

IN SOUTH

AND EAST

155

familiar with the British ; Kuruman, Mafeking, Kolobeng, and Shoshong, taking us into the heart of the
Bechuana country, have been familiar to readers of the
records of missionary enterprises for nearly half a century. What with the Germans on the west, and thej
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
Transvaal, south of 22° south latitude, and east of 20 0
east longitude, was surrendered to Great Britain, though
a British protectorate 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 Shoshong in May 1885 ; the British protectorate now extends to 22° south latitude. 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 adherence to Her Majesty, and has remained loyal ever
since. And well he may, for it bound us as his suzerain
to protect him against the raids of his old enemy,
Lobengula of Matabeleland. Sechele and other chiefs

156

Damaraland.

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

followed Khama's example, and so some 160,000
square miles were added to the British Empire. This,
however, was not accomplished without much hesitation
and vacillation on the part of Mr. Gladstone's Government, which was in power from April 1880 to June
1885, during which period Great Britain lost much that
she might have kept, had there been more promptitude
on the part of the 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 1884
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 Zambezi.
It is difficult to understand why the Cape did not
J

r

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 Walflsh 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 supported by the Cape,

BRITISH

ADVANCES

IN SOUTH

AND EAST

157

which then went to sleep until rudely awakened by the
raising of the German flag at Angra Pequena in 1884.
Meantime, in 1885, the Home Government brought south
J

&

'

African

the subject of South African Confederation before the oonfederaCape 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.
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 had MataoeieJ

'

b

.

attracted diggers and settlers ; Mohr on his journey to
the Zambezi about that date, found Sir John Swinburne
and other Englishmen settled at Tati and working the
quartz reefs. Baines had already been in Matabeleland,
and later still Selous and other hunters traversed the
country between the Limpopo and Zambezi; English
missionaries were at work, and in other ways British influence was being spread in a region which has now
become part of the Empire, and promises to be one of
its most important acquisitions in Africa.

land.

158

Nyasaland.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

North of the Zambezi the spread of British influence
r

and British enterprise which had been begun by Livingstone in 1859 w a s continued, with one or two breaks,
by the establishment of various English and Scotch
missions on the Upper Shire and on Lake Nyasa ; by
the placing of steamers on the lake ; the establishment
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 Nyasa and Tanganyika. Plantations were established on the Blantyre
Highlands ; schools were opened at various points over
Nyasaland; 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 Nyasa
region by the critical year of 1884, while* Portugal had
made no attempt to take 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 Zambezi, 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

159

framed to suit the wishes of the British Government.
It was under pressure from England, as has been seen,
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 slavetrade and to encourage legitimate commerce that Sir
William Mackinnon and Sir Fowell Buxton constructed
some sixty miles of road into the interior from Dar-esSalaam. So long ago as 1878 the then Sultan Sey'id
Burghash actually offered to make over the commercial
exploitation of the whole of his dominions to the late
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 his offer, and to support
him by declaring Zanzibar a British protectorate; a
step which would have been in accordance with the
Sultan's wishes. But even Lord Beaconsfield, with
all his imperial " instincts " shrank from assuming the
responsibility. Even he had no suspicion of the colonial
aspirations of Germany, which had then taken deep
root; or if he had, he did not foresee to what they
would lead. At all events, the opportunity was let
slip here as it was in Damaraland: British influence, it
may have been thought, was real enough without saddling England with a protectorate. And after all, the
loss has probably not been so great as at first sight
appears ; what precisely that loss has been will be seen
later on.

160

The Sudan.

soootra.

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 ;
though it was not till 1885 that the region south of
Wady Haifa was abandoned, after the death of Gordon,
by the advice of England, who continued to hold
Suakin, and established herself at Zeila 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 T H E

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 Walfish Bay—Blindness of British statesmen to Germany's aspirations—Germany's cautious advances—Herr
Liideritz—Bismarck sounds the British Foreign Office—Liideritz proceeds to Angra Pequena—Liideritz obtains concession—German flag
raised—Indignation in England and the Cape—Evasive conduct of
British Government — Germany declares protectorate over Angra
Pequena—Continued British delusions—England recognises German
protectorate—Attitude of England and the Cape—Further annexations.

L E T US briefly resume the position in 1884.
J

r

T

U p toTheposir-

that year the great European powers in Africa were
England, France, and Portugal. This last Power claimed
enormous territories, but her influence was feeble,
and her actual occupation of the most limited character. The idea of joining her east and west coast
possessions 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
country from 5 0 I 2 / 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
M

tioninl884.

162

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
standi^ but not much more. Great Britain was practically 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 Namaqualand 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-hesitatingly to her four colonies, while the Niger Company
was extending its influence on the river and buying
out all rivalry. In Nyasaland missionaries and traders

GERMANY

ENTERS

THE

FIELD

163

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, and in 1883 Boer Commissioners went to
Berlin ostensibly to raise a loan, actually to endeavour
to get rid of the still remaining results of 1877-79.
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 comparatively leisurely partition of the Continent into a hasty
scramble. Prince Bismarck was still the de facto 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 Britain ; she was fretting
under the conviction that without foreign possessions
she could never be considered a great world-power.
Germany was tired of a stay-at-home policy.

164

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Early GerCataclysms do not occur in the history of humanity
man colonisation,
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
part of 1 8 8 4 ; 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 competition became more and more intense, as discontent
with their condition spread among the lower strata of
society, the fever for emigration laid hold of the
country.
There was really no Germany then, no
united and powerful empire with surplus wealth and
surplus energy to acquire colonies for itself. Moreover,
even fifty years ago, when the migrating spirit began

GERMANY

ENTERS

THE FIELD

165

to increase in strength, all the new fields of settlement 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 discontented 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, including 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 enormous 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 German
J

^Ji

J

Colonial

for the purpose of promoting emigration to Brazil, societies.
This was rapidly followed by other Colonisation

166

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, expired without producing permanent results ; but the
Dresden Society 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 1871—in 1868-—one of the most important
societies for the promotion of German interests abroad
had been founded—the " Centralverein fur Handelsgeographie 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

167

a previous chapter.
This society had and has its
headquarters in Berlin, with branches in all the leading 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 Export, has done much, not only to promote
German commerce, but also to foster the colonial
spirit.
But so far as Africa was concerned the great The
instrument in nourishing the growth of the spirit for African
^

^

^

acquiring colonies was the German African Society of
Berlin, which with the scientific exploration of the
continent combined the opening up of unknown regions
of Africa to trade and industry. This Society was
formed in 1878, from the union of the German Society
for the Scientific Exploration of Equatorial Africa
(founded 1873) and the German African Society
(founded in 1876), as a branch of the International

Society

168

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

African Association, with more practical if somewhat
vague objects in view. German explorers had alreadydone 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 Kakoma
and other centres in the East African interior,
from which under Bohm, Kaiser, and Reichard much
Exploring good exploring work was carried on towards Lake
activity.

Tanganyika and the upper waters of the Lualaba,
while the economical aspects of the region were not
lost sight of.
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
Wissmann'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
entertained serious ideas of acquiring a footing
in the Congo basin.
During 1882-84 Flegel was
extremely active on the Niger and Benue, and undoubtedly did much to add to our knowledge of the
geography of the region. At the same time, afterevents 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

GERMANY ENTERS

THE FIELD

169

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 increasing 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 wonder, then, that when the German The
Colonial Society was founded at Frankfort, on colonial
J
.

Society.

6th December 1882, it received widespread and
enthusiastic support. By the end of 1883 it had
3260 members (now over 20,000) belonging to all
parts of the Empire.
Still another impulse was
given to the colonial movement by a manifesto issued
by the German African Society in the same year
(1883), *n 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
1

x

r

and the

any other determined him to take the final step. He Q^§^ra
had asked the Chambers of Commerce of Hamburg, merce *

i7o

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 incisive 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 it as to the protection of German interests in South-west Africa.
Bismarck's
At first, it must be said, the colonial movement did
early

cofonies°r

not

^n<^ m u c n 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

171

with no response in Germany. It was only after Germany became a united empire under Prussia (1871),
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- colonial
literature

peared in the periodical press, but various books which
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 Deutsche Kolonien
(1879), a n d Fabri's Bedarf DeutschlandKolonien (1883).
The latter, especially, had a marked influence in intensifying 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-Progress (
German

burg) houses began to have intimate trading relations ^ade m
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 Hamburg traders managed to make headway, and in 1852
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

172

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

O'Swalds and Hansings 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 from Zanzibar 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 Confederation, and especially after the conversion into one
United Empire, the trade of Germany increased with
giant strides, and the factories on the West 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 Ogove, 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 West Coast, and a
considerable number in the interior of Damaraland and
Namaqualand. Thus when in 1884 Bismarck took the
decisive step in the creation of a " Colonial Empire," it

GERMANY

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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 overtures 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 therefore declined it.
Ten years later the position had
entirely changed.
There can be little doubt that the long and irritating The Ger&

&

man and

correspondence which took place between the Foreign fj^ign
Offices of Germany and Great Britain with regard to offices*
the claims of German subjects in the Fiji Islands had
much to do in fostering the colonial spirit in Germany
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 reference to her claims.

174

Damara-

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 possessions, 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 Zambezi. It was natural, moreover, that a beginning should be made in West Africa,
where German interests were so widespread and so important.
From the beginning of this century missionaries

land and

Namaqua- from South Africa had penetrated into Namaqualand
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

GERMANY ENTERS

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175

purpose of exporting cattle to supply the ships calling
at St. Helena ; for the country can 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 Mission The
Rhenish

established its first station at Bethanien in Namaqua- mission^

anes.

land. Other stations in the interior were 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. Walfish Bay still continued to be of
importance as the chief harbour on the whole extent
of coast-line. 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
protection

communicated with the British Government and sug- requested,
gested a joint demonstration of English and German
warships.
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
the Cape Government exercised any real influence in
the country. It was at this period that the Germans
actually acquired, for the first time, territory in this

176

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
took every opportunity of hoisting the flag of their
increase of country. Trade, moreover, went on expanding, and a
trade*

missionary trading society was actually founded in
Barmen. This trade had, however, to be carjrried 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
sir Bartie Transvaal began to break into the country. Sir Bartle

Frere.

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 traders,
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

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177

last Mr. Palgrave was compelled to formally intimate British
&

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J

jurisdiction

that Great Britain had no power over the native chiefs. Singled to
r

Walfish

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 Damaraland 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 Beaconsfield, and repudiated all responsibility outside of Walfish
Bay ; and to make the position quite clear, in the instructions given to Sir Hercules Robinson as Governor
of Cape Colony, under date 30th December 1880, it
was distinctly stated that Her Majesty's Government
regarded the Orange River as the north-western
boundary of Cape Colony, and would lend no encouragement to 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
N

178

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 itself 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 communication from Berlin, the British Foreign Office once
more repudiated all responsibility outside of the narrow
circle around Walfish Bay.
Blindness
Such, then, was the position between Great Britain
statesmen and Germany in the end of 1882, with reference to a
J

toGer-

many's as- great stretch of territory on the border of Cape Colony.
pirations.

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J

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J

The British Government would have nothing to do with
it, and there is nothing on record to prove that the
Cape Government was in the least anxious for its
formal annexation. Neither at home nor in the Cape
Colony was there any suspicion, apparently, that
Germany was in the least likely to pick up the leavings 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
among all parties at home, at that date, against the

GERMANY

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FIELD

179

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 ; Imperialism 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
teaching we have begun to realise the value of our
Empire beyond the Seas. But at that time neither
the one party nor the other foresaw what the near
future had in store ; Lord Beaconsfield was as indifferent, 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. We have seen how strong the colonial

i8o

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 correspondence 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 Namaqualand within the British sphere, if for no other reason,
with a view to a United British Africa south of the
Zambezi. 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.
Germany's
" Ohne Hast, ohne Rast," has been the motto of
advances. Germany in her colonial enterprises, as it has been in
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.
Luderitz in the summer of 1882 had certainly something 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
Herr
but think, intended the action of Herr Luderitz as the
Luderitz.

first delicate step towards the accomplishment of their
colonial aspirations, a sort of test case, that would

GERMANY

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181

bring the British Government to book, and force the
hand of Prince Bismarck.
At the date mentioned
Herr Liideritz (who may be regarded as the representative 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 indicating 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 following 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 Bismarck
J

sounds the

about to establish a factory near the Coast, between the f ^ j ^
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

182

LMeritz
toAngra

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 protection which they give to their subjects in remote parts
of the world, but without having the least design to
establish any footing in South Africa."
To this the following reply was returned under
date February 23, 1883, signed by Lord Granville,
with the concurrence of Lord Derby :—
" 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 Liideritz to await the

Pequeiia.

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

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FIELD

183

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 Tilly\
under Captain Carl Timpe, supplied with every requisite 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 Tilly
left Cape Town on 5 th 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

184

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

and his friends reached Bethany across the almost
LMeritz waterless desert that intervened. On the ist of May,
concession, in a conference with the chief, at which the German
missionaries and the chief men of the tribe were present, Vogelsang explained the object of his mission,
and without much difficulty a contract was signed by
the chief and others interested, by which the former
sold to Herr Luderitz some 215 square miles of land
on the Bay of Angra Pequena, including all rights of
supremacy. This included about 10 miles of coast,
German and an extension inland of some 24 miles. On the
flag raised.

indignationinEngd

l?S n™

day after the conference these pioneers of German
colonisation returned to the coast, where wTith 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 enthusiasm of the Empire on behalf of its aims,
In England the rumour that an " irresponsible
b

r

German adventurer " or " filibuster " had dared to raise

tne Cape.

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,

GERMANY

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185

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 communications. In the Cape, as might have been expected, the
news of Herr Liideritz's enterprise was received with
indignation and incredulity. An English war-ship, the
Boadicea, 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 Boadicea returned to the Cape on the 3rd of
November with the news that Herr Llideritz 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
Government still apparently cherished the hope that
the action of Herr Liideritz was unsupported by

186

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 Pequena.
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 1881, 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, instead 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 Luderitz'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

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FIELD

187

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
°

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r

conduct of

informed the German Consul at the Cape that they ^J***^
were prepared to take Herr Luderitz's acquisitions under ment '
their protection if the rights of others were not interfered
with thereby; and on 15 th October the gunboat
Nautilus was ordered to Angra Pequena 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
Pequena district, and if so, on what titles were they
based. Ten days later (21st Nov.) Lord Granville
replied that England exercised sovereignty only over
certain parts on the coast, as Walfish Bay and some
islands opposite Angra Pequena ; 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 Government, Lord Granville stated, to prevent disputes between
the Germans and the English who believed they had
old rights at Angra Pequena, had sent a war-ship, and
the report of its mission was awaited. The vessel was
the Boadicea, 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

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 31st December,
through the German Ambassador, Count Munster,
recalling previous correspondence with reference to
the German missionaries and the repeated declarations of the British Government that they had no
jurisdiction over any part of the region in question
outside Walfish Bay.
Moreover, Bismarck pointed
out 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 administration 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-

GERMANY

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FIELD

189

take the control of the whole coast to Walfish Bay,
Angra Pequena included.
It is difficult now to realise the ostrich-like blindness Germany
of both the Home and Colonial Governments to the protectorate over

real nature of the situation, and to accomplished facts, pjjjg^
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 t n e German Consul at the Cape
was instructed to remove all doubts entertained by the
Cape Government by informing it officially that Herr
Llideritz and his possessions were placed under the
protection of the Empire ; and to enforce the information a German war-ship was ordered to Angra Pequena.
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 sin question,
and that the matter was still the subject of discussion
between the two Governments.
Two days later continued
J

British de-

Lord Derby informed a deputation who waited upon lesions,
him, that although England herself never directly
annexed Angra Pequena, she nevertheless claimed
the right to exclude all other powers from the coast

190

England
recognises

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
Pequefia.
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 Pequefia, and if
the British Government sees that it can be done honourably 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) o n the subject Lord
Derby tried hard to prove that the German Government 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 openness 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
°

1

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x

protector- 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 21st
June the British Cabinet decided to recognise the

ate#

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FIELD

191

German Protectorate over Angra Pequefla ; 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 unoccupied coast. And yet the Cape Parliament, encouraged 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 25 th August the Cape Ministers presented 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. Attitude
The great lines had been drawn.
Germany was and the
.

.

J

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 longneglected continent, within the space of a few years,
it might almost be said months, became parcelled out
among the Powers of Europe. The Home Government and the Cape Government cannot afford to cast
stones at each other for their conduct in connection with
Angra Pequefia ; 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 him-

Cape.

192

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

self 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 of Germany
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, and there have been humiliating
episodes in the part we have taken in the scramble ;
but we may also congratulate ourselves that we have
not fared worse than we have done.
The final scene in what may be regarded as the first
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 Elizabeth^ hoisted the Imperial flag over
Angra Pequena in token of the annexation of the coast
and twenty geographical miles inland, from the Orange
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 0 south and the
Portuguese boundary with the exception of Walfish Bay.

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AFRICA
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C H A P T E R XIII
GERMANY IN THE CAMEROONS AND THE GULF
OF GUINEA
Further operations in S.W. Africa—Attempt to annex St. Lucia Bay—
German traders on the West Coast—British influence on the West
Coast — England's dilatory action — Germany takes action—The
Dubreka river—Togoland declared a German protectorate—The
Cameroons—Annexation by Geimany—The Oil Rivers secured to
England—Feeling in Germany and England—Bismarck's part.

I T has been thought important to dwell at some length Further
1
/•
'
.
i
i
1
operatio
r /-on the first act in the great drama of German colonisa- m s.w.
&
#

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 Mowe, with Dr.
Nachtigal as Imperial Commissioner and Consul-General
on board, visited the coast in the end of September
1884, and supplemented the work of the Elizabeth by
raising more flags and making fresh additions to the
German Protectorate. Llideritz 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
O

Africa.

194

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

mines, and other concessions said to have been made
by chiefs, but these did not affect the German supremacy ; 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 i t h November,
Lord Derby found it necessary to snub one more hopeless attempt on the part of the Colony to annex territory 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 0 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 Southwest 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,

GERMANY

IN

THE

CAMEROONS,

ETC.

195

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 Congress let us state briefly what Germany had accomplished in other parts of Africa before it met.
Herr Luderitz, flushed, no doubt, with his success Attempt to
r*

r

annex St.

on the West Coast, made, towards the end of 1884, a Lucia Bay.
strenuous attempt through his representative, Herr
Einwald, 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 Einwald 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 Governments were thoroughly awake. News of Herr Einwald's
doings leaked out, and on 18th December H.M.S.
Goshawk 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 correspondence between the two Governments, questions in
Parliament, and excitement in the press, ending (25th
June 1885) by a declaration on the part of Germany

196

German
traders on
the west
Coast.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

t h a t she would m a k e no annexations in E a s t Africa
south of Delagoa Bay.
It has been pointed out in a previous chapter t h a t

during the 17th and 18 th, 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 interior. 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,
German traders will grow rich where an Englishman
would starve, and they, as we have seen, after the
re - formation of the empire developed increasing
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

GERMANY

IN

THE

CAMEROONS,

ETC.

197

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 Rivieres 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 concentrated 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 o u t ; 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

198

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, nolo episcopari 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.
British inAgain, between the eastern boundary of the colony
fluence on

the west

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 expedition was purely British. In the
Oil Rivers and the Cameroons British missionaries
and British traders had held supreme influence for
many years, and over thirty years ago Burton raised
the British flag on 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 petitions

GERMANY

IN THE CAMEROONS,

ETC.

199

were unanswered. So long ago as August 1879 ^ v e
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 ourselves. 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- England's
dilatory

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

200

Germany
action.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

t h a t it would be desirable to place the Oil Rivers a n d
the Cameroons, including the Baptist Mission t h a t h a d
been established there for m a n y years, under British
protection.
I t was not until 16th M a y 1 8 8 4 t h a t
Consul H e w e t t was instructed to return to his post in
W e s t Africa and m a k e preparations for declaring a
British protectorate over p a r t of it, for the Cameroons
chiefs were to be " asked to u n d e r t a k e t h a t they will, if
required, cede such portions of their territories as it
m a y be t h o u g h t desirable to acquire." O n the 6 t h of
J u l y Consul H e w e t t was in t h e B o n n y river. H e purposed visiting the Benin a n d other rivers, as well as the
Cameroons, b u t could not give the c o m m a n d e r of H e r
Majesty's vessel in which he was to sail a n y e x a c t date
for his visit.
Meanwhile the G e r m a n s were losing no time.
The
recommendations of the H a m b u r g Chamber of Commerce in the end of 1 8 8 3 have been already referred
to. T h e a n n e x a t i o n of a p a r t of the coast opposite
F e r n a n d o P o was p a r t of the p r o g r a m m e which they
recommended to Bismarck.
O n 2 0 t h April 1 8 8 4 ,
a b o u t one m o n t h before Consul H e w e t t received his
instructions, L o r d Granville a t the Foreign Office received the following communication from the G e r m a n
Charge d'Affaires in L o n d o n :
" I have the honour to state to your L o r d s h i p t h a t
the Imperial Consul-General, Dr. Nachtigal, has been
commissioned b y m y G o v e r n m e n t to visit the W e s t
Coast of Africa in the course of the n e x t few m o n t h s in
order to complete the information now in the possession of the Foreign Office at Berlin on the state of

GERMANY

IN

THE

CAMEROONS,

ETC.

201

German commerce on that coast. With this object Dr.
Nachtigal will shortly embark at Lisbon on board the
gunboat Mb'we. He will put himself into communication 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. I venture, in accordance with
my instructions, to beg your Excellency to be so good
as to cause the authorities in the British possessions in
West Africa to be furnished with suitable recommendations."
The Charge d'Affaires was assured that the British
colonial authorities should be enjoined to give all possible assistance to the eminent German Consul-General.
On the same day the Foreign Office received information of a strong anti-English pro-colonial article in the
Kblnische Zeitung, which might have aroused their suspicions as to Dr. NachtigaPs movements, especially
when combined with the events taking place at Angra
Pequefia, where already Luderitz had hoisted the German flag. Still the necessity for prompt measures was
not realised at Downing Street.
On 1 st June 1884 the Mowe, with Dr. Nachtigal on TheDutoreka rr

board, accompanied by the Elizabeth, anchored off the
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 however in the following months sent to the coast, and the

202

Togoiand

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

G e r m a n flag was even hoisted over the station. But on
the representations of the French G o v e r n m e n t Prince
Bismarck gracefully gave w a y here, as he did elsewhere,
averring t h a t he would never seek to encroach on a n y
territory to which F r a n c e might show the slightest
claim, or even preference. Bismarck's .delicacy towards
F r e n c h susceptibilities was in all these doings and
negotiations in m a r k e d contrast to his bluff and uncompromising t r e a t m e n t of the British Government.
Dr. Nachtigal proceeded southwards to the little

declared a

German

patch east of the Gold Coast already referred to, and

protector-

L

ate

now known as Togoiand.
It was, unfortunately, considerably to the east of the old B r a n d e n b u r g settlement
at Cape T h r e e Points, so t h a t sentiment could have no
p a r t to play in what followed.
A t eight different
places on this coast there were German factories.
In
J a n u a r y 1 8 8 4 a G e r m a n g u n b o a t had touched at the
coast a n d t a u g h t the natives t h a t the Germans as well
as the E n g l i s h h a d big ships to look after their interests.
S o m e of the natives, indeed, were deported to Berlin
a n d were brought back, doubtless greatly impressed
with the power of G e r m a n y . O n 2nd J u l y the Mowe,
with Dr. Nachtigal on board, drew u p in front of the
settlement of Little Popo. Other places were visited,
a n d after arranging matters with M'lapa, K i n g of T o g o land, the German flag was raised at Bagida on 5 th
July, and T o g o i a n d declared a G e r m a n Protectorate.
Other sections of the coast were a n n e x e d at later dates.
But serious differences threatened to arise between
G e r m a n y and France, the latter claiming sovereignty
over certain parts within the sphere a n n e x e d by

-

J

GERMANY

IN THE CAMEROONS,

ETC.

203

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.
After placing Togoland under the protection of The
the German flag, Dr. Nachtigal steamed onwards in
the Mowe towards the Cameroons. Here the ground
had been prepared for him. At midnight-meetings
with King Bell and other potentates in the Gameroons
River, the four German traders settled in the place
succeeded 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.
It may be that on the whole they would have preferred British to German domination ; but unlimited
rum was what they coveted above all, and the temptation offered by the German traders was more than they
could resist.
Commannder Moore, in the Goshawk,
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
were 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

204

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

chiefs, the Cameroons might have fallen 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—
Annexation

r

r

1

^m!. '

" 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 intruding upon the French sphere. As Bismarck, however, was always inclined in his search for colonies to
be particularly complacent towards France, the difficulty was easily settled ; and the Rio Campo was
recognised as the southern limit of German annexation.
River^seMeantime Consul Hewett had been thoroughly roused
England, to the seriousness of the situation, and lost no time in
making treaties along the coast between Victoria and
the colony of Lagos. His action was supplemented
by that of the Niger Company, and thus the Oil Rivers
and the mouths of the Niger were secured to Great
Britain. There was, of course, great excitement both
in England and Germany.
There was naturally
Peeling in jubilation in Germany over the success of the smart
Germany

andEng-

policy of Bismarck, while in England reproaches were
freely heaped upon the Ministry of the time for
their blindness, prevarication, and indifference to British
interests.
Lord Granville naively reproached Prince

GERMANY

IN THE CAMEROONS,

ETC.

205

Bismarck for intentionally misleading him as to the
real purpose of Dr. Nachtigal's mission, while Bismarck taunted Granville for his want of penetration,
and maintained that his little ruse was perfectly
justifiable. Had he frankly informed the British Government 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 intentions 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 Pequena 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 •
toying with France in order to embarrass our position
in Egypt.
As to the part played by Prince Bismarck, his Bismarck's
part.

attitude with respect to the Cameroons was in marked
contrast to his seemingly forbearing, patient, and
courteous conduct in the Angra Pequena affair. Possibly 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

206

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

misled the British Foreign Office as to the real object
of Dr. Nachtigal's mission is apparent; but as he was
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 operations 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.
Though England had to give up the whole coast at the
base of the Cameroons mountains as far as the Rio del
Rey—Bismarck accused her of trying to shut out the
new German colony from the interior—she was 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
case in 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.

C H A P T E R XIV
T H E BERLIN CONFERENCE AND T H E 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—Extension northwards—Becomes a purely Belgian undertaking—Disappointed traders—Rising of the Arabs—Exploring activity
—Administration—Abuses—Missions—Trad e — Slow development
of trade—What the State has done : its future.
FOLLOWING

the example of Germany, the other great
x

J
t

A oonference necei

European powers made a rush upon Africa.
In- s a r v 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 received 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

208

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,
origin and
Curiously enough the proposal for an International
purpose of

the confer- Conference to consider the whole question of the
ence

x

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 between the Powers directly interested. The great purpose 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
annexations would be recognised as valid by other
Powers.
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 15 th
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

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND CONGO STATE

209

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 TkeGenerai
Act

of trade to all nations within the region watered by
the Congo and its affluents, including the coast of the
Atlantic from 2° 30' N. lat. to 8° S. lat. The Free
Trade Line was further prolonged on the north to the
East Coast at 5 0 N. lat, and down that coast to the
mouth of the Zambezi; up the Zambezi to five miles
above the mouth of the Shire, and onwards along the
water-parting between the Zambezi and Lake Nyasa to
the water-parting between the Zambezi and the Congo.
This eastern extension, however, was only to be
effective if agreed to by the sovereign States having
jurisdiction in the regions included therein. Only such
dues were to be levied as would compensate expenditure in the interests of trade; no differential duties
were permitted, and all rivers were to be free to the
flags of all nations. After a lapse of twenty years the
subject of import duties could be reconsidered. The
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 Conference 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
P

2IO

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

revised at the end of five years. These then were the
principal provisions with regard to the Congo.
Essentially the same conditions as regards navigation 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 protectioti.
There was to be perfect freedom of navigation to the
trading ships (not the warships) of all nations ; " No
exclusive privilege of navigation 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 dep6t, 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."
Rule as to
Other declarations were included in the work of this
effective

occupation, remarkable Congress ; it laid down the important rule
which was to guide the Powers in the great game of
the Partition of Africa. Occupations 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 attach-

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STATE

211

ing to spheres of influence—a mode of tenure soon
destined to play such an important part. This obligation, however, refers only to the region dealt with in
the Act, that defined above, p. 209.
These, then, were the chief provisions of the famous creation of
the Congo

" General Act of the Conference of Berlin." To what F*ee 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 Bismarck'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 Free State. We 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
was followed by the Comite d'fitudes, which became
the 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
Sir Francis de Winton (failing General Gordon) went
out as Governor. On the 22nd April 1884 the United
States Government recognised the flag of the Association (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 Government, Colonel Strauch, the President of the Associa- The Revertion, intimated to the French Government that if France,
the Association were ever compelled to part with

212

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

its possessions, France should have the right of preemption. On 22nd April 1887 the Foreign Minister
of the Congo Free State, writing to the French Minister
at Brussels, pointed out that his Majesty reserved
his right to make Belgium his heir so far as the Free
State was concerned, though in that case Belgium
would take over the obligation to give France the right
of pre-emption, should she ever decide to part with the
territories of the Free State. In fulfilment of this promise, the following arrangement was agreed to between
France and Belgium on 5th February 1895, in view of
the treaty of cession of 9th January 1895, by which
the Congo Free State was made over to the Belgian
Government:—
Article 1.—The Belgian Government recognises that France
has a right of pre-emption over its possessions on the Congo in
case of their alienation by sale or exchange in whole or in part.
Any exchange of territory with a foreign Power, any placing of the
said territories in whole or in part in the hands of a foreign State
or of a foreign company invested with rights of sovereignty, will
also give occasion to France's right of pre-emption, and will become therefore the object of a preliminary negotiation between the
Government of the French Republic and the Belgian Government.
Article 2.—The Belgian Government declares that there shall
never be gratuitous cession of all or a portion of the said possessions.
Article 3.—The arrangements contemplated in the above
articles apply to the whole of the territories of Belgian Congo.

As to the contention that such an arrangement is
invalid without the consent of the Signatory Powers
to the Berlin Act, it should be pointed out that the
various international arrangements recognising the
Congo Free State were made after the King of the Belgians accorded the right of pre-emption to France

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND CONGO STATE

213

(23rd April 1884). The right of pre-emption made
over to France by King Leopold was notified to the
various Powers by the French Government through its
representative in a despatch dated 31st May 1884.
There is no evidence that this right was ever explicitly
recognised by the Powers, and therefore its validity is
a question to be settled by international law.
A week before the Berlin Congress met, Germany
followed the example of the United States, and recognised the flag of the Association as that of a friendly
State, and intimated her readiness to recognise the
frontiers of the New State to be created as laid down
in a map joined to the Declaration. The map indicates the boundaries of the State in the main as they
were subsequently recognised by France and Portugal.
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
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 modification on the spot, and, as will be seen,
were actually considerably modified. The Association
itself signed the General Act as an independent
Power. The various agreements 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
of the Conference (April 30, 1885) that the Belgian

214

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

King Leo- legislature authorised King Leopold to be the chief
the State founded in Africa by the Congo TnterJ

pold toecomes sov- 0 f
ereign of

the state.

n a tional

°

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 possessions of the International Association of the Congo were
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.
s?atemade
Though anticipating events, it may be appropriate
Belgium, 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
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 was 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 21st
July 1890, it is declared that the Free State cannot be
alienated. In the beginning of 1895 a bill was introduced into the Belgian Parliament for the annexation of
the Congo State to Belgium, in accordance with a treaty
of cession with the Belgian Government of January 9th.
As the bill will probably become law, Belgium will,
ten years after the adoption of the Berlin Act, be
possessed of a million square miles in Africa, and the

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND CONGO STATE

215

last shred of International Co-operation on the continent,
from which so much was expected, will have vanished.
No doubt before introducing the bill, King Leopold had
ascertained that France had no objection to the step.
Here, then, we have what may be regarded as the Boundaries
of the Free

first substantial result of the scramble for Africa. It state,
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 12' S. lat. as her northern limit, but she was compelled 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,
130 miles from the mouth. Thence the delimiting line
went eastwards to the Kwango, which it followed up to
about 8° 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 boundary of the Congo State winds
eastwards between the water-parting of the Congo
and Zambezi to a point south of the exit of the
Luapula for Lake Bangweolo. The line then proceeds
north to the exit, and follows the Thalweg of the
Luapula north to Lake Mweru, through the lake to
the issue of the Luapula, and thence eastwards to Cape
Akalunga on the south-west of Lake Tanganyika. The
precise boundary was only settled in the agreement

216

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

between King Leopold and Great Britain of 12th May
1894. The boundary then follows the west shore of
Tanganyika as far as the 30 0 E. long., which it
follows to 4 0 N. lat. 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 claimed the north bank of
the river as far as the Mobangi, which became 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 formed the
northern boundary, until it meets the eastern limit. The
above would give the Congo Free State the enormous
area of 900,000 square miles, with a population which
at a guess may amount to 14,000,000 of savages.
Recently the sovereign of the Free State has shown
dissatisfaction with the 4 0 limit on the north, maintaining that this State, like any other state, is at liberty
to extend its dominions. Both France and England
at first strenuously objected to this where it affected
them.
But expeditions from the Congo were 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 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.

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND CONGO STATE

217

King Leopold had the excuse that he was acting in
accordance with an arrangement between himself and
Sir William Mackinnon as representing the British
East Africa Company, Sir William to receive permission to lease a strip within the Free State from
Lake Tanganyika to the British sphere in the north.
At first Lord Salisbury did not object to this ; but he
did not remain long indifferent, and repeatedly notified
the King that no annexation in that region by the Free
State would be recognised, a position maintained with
equal vigour for a time by his successor Lord Rosebery.
The officers of the Free State also pushed northwards
along the Mbomu, a northern tributary of the Mobangi,
and planted stations in what France regarded as her
sphere. These attempts on the part of the sovereign of
this Free State to push beyond the 4 0 north led to
serious complications. As will be shown in the chapter
on British East Africa, circumstances compelled the
British Government to accept the situation, and an
agreement was concluded in May 1894, by which the
old Sudan province of Bahr-el-Ghazal, up to 1 o° N. lat.
and the whole of the left bank of the Nile down to
Mahagi on the N.W. shore of Albert Nyanza, was leased
to the Congo Free State and the King of the Belgians,
who in return leased to Great Britain a strip between
Lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward, and consented
to certain readjustments on the north-west frontier of
British Central Africa. As might have been expected
the arrangements did not commend themselves to either
France or Germany. On the demand of the latter,
Great Britain resigned the lease of the strip on the

218

Great

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

eastern frontier of the Free State; and in August 1894
the astute King Leopold made an arrangement with
France, by which on his agreeing not to occupy nor
exercise any influence in the Bahr-el-Ghazal or on the
Nile, north of 50 N. lat, France ceded to the Free
State a block of territory beyond 4 0 N. lat., starting
from the junction of the Mbomu and the Mobangi,
along the former river to its source, and thence along
the water-parting of the Nile and Congo to 30 0 E.
long.
In this way King Leopold acquired all he
really wanted, free access to the Nile and the rounding off of his northern frontier by a natural boundary.
Great things were expected from the foundation of

things ex-

.

peoted of the Free State, which was referred to at the time as one
tne Free
state.

0f

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
Free State was to be the model boy in the new African
School. He was never to go beyond bounds ; he was
never to interfere with his neighbours ; never to bully
the weaker boys under him.
The great object for which professedly the International Congo Association 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 geography. As has been already
said, we cannot doubt that the motives which actuated
the King of the Belgians in entering upon this enter-

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STATE 119
prise 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.
He it was who until quite recently supplied the funds
with which the enterprise was carried on, and notwithstanding 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 Becomes a
purely Bel-

Belgium be accorded favours not granted to other gian un^

*>

dertaking.

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 exclusively 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 maintained ; 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.
x

for, there can be little doubt that the manner in which

ed traders.

220

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the imposition of duties and taxes was carried out, and
the keen competition on the part of the Belgian officials,
and even of the State, with traders of other nationalities,
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 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.
More recently (1894) several Englishmen have been
engaged to take service in the Free State. Besides a
company for constructing a railway for the Lower Congo,
past the Cataracts to Stanley Pool, there are five trading
companies on the Congo, all Belgian, with a nominal
capital of ^ 3 60,000. These Belgian companies were
for a time 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," were such as to render private enterprise
almost impossible. Some relaxation was found to be
necessary, and a modus vivendi was devised which gave
the companies a certain amount of liberty. Hitherto,
however, their operations have been of a very limited
character, partly due to the difficulties placed in the way
by the Arab traders. Still stations or factories are being
established in the interior for the collection of ivory,
rubber and other native produce, and it is to be hoped
that, now that boundary difficulties are settled and the
Arab slavers routed, and comparative peace reigns, commercial operations will take a wider extension. The

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STATE 221
railway begun in 1890 has proceeded with phenomenal
slowness, and by 1894 only about thirty miles had been
constructed. The capital of the company was quite
unequal to the enterprise, and in 1894 attempts were
made to raise a loan, with doubtful success.
More recently the conduct of the Free State officers Rising of
the Arabs

roused some of the powerful Arab traders to rebellion.
M. Van der Kerckhoven's expedition dealt very summarily with the Arab slavers met with on its route.
This alarmed the Arabs on the upper Congo and Lake
Tanganyika, who evidently feared that unless they made
a stand, their nefarious traffic would be seriously checked.
The result was an attempt of the Arabs to rise against
the whites. No doubt they thought they had as much
right to seize the natives and their wives as the Europeans
had to take possession of the land. At all events in
1892-93 there was a general rising of the Arabs, and
although at first the Free State forces and that of the
Belgian Anti-Slavery Society met with some disasters,
by the end of 1893 the Arabs on the middle and
upper Congo, and as far as Lake Tanganyika, were
thoroughly defeated and their strongholds captured.
Some of the chief Arabs gave in their submission,
though it is feared that another attempt will be
made to re-establish their position. Some African
authorities, thoroughly acquainted with the Arabs
and their ways and sentiments, maintain that the
methods adopted by the Free State are bad policy;
and that it would be wiser and more conducive to
the end in view to make friends of them, and convince them that they would gain far more in the end

222

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

by legitimate trade than by raiding for slaves and ivory.
However, so far as the Free State is concerned, this
method has not been adopted. And indeed it is difficult to see how, with European Powers on every side
of them, the Free State in the west, Germany in the
east, England, France and the Congo Free State in the
north, and England in the south, the slave-traders have
any chance of continuing their occupation for long, if
only these Powers co-operate in carrying out the Brussels
Act. The trade is without doubt ruined ; but the areas
claimed by the various Powers are so enormous, the
officials so few, and means of communication so primitive, that it is not possible, at present, to cover more
than a fraction of the ground, or block all of the many
routes from the interior to the coast. It is to be hoped
that the Free State will continue its activity until there
remains no foothold for slave-raiders in all its territories.
In these campaigns against the slavers some 70,000
Arabs and their followers have been slain. The leading
figure in this crusade has been Baron Dhanis, who has
been ably seconded by an English surgeon, Mr. S. L.
Hinde, who, for his services, was made a captain in the
Belgian army. Nyangwe and Kasongo, essentially Arab
strongholds, have been swept away, and other centres
established, from which European influence will emanate.
Exploring
There has been no lack of zeal on the part of the
King to carry out his own aims and part at least of the
object 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 the Lukuga, has been laid down with a fair ap-

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STA TE 223
proach to accuracy. North and south all the great
tributaries have been explored, and since 1885 nearly
7000 miles of waterway have been opened up to navigation. One great geographical problem—that of the
Welle*—has been solved. A fair knowledge has been
obtained of the countries watered by the magnificent
rivers, and of the various tribes which inhabit them.
Again, a regular administration has been established, Admim*
.

>

^

^

' tration.

and it must be admitted that there has been a certain
amount of success. The administrative headquarters
are in Brussels, where there are a variety of functionaries,
though when the State becomes definitely a colony of
Belgium, no doubt changes will be made in the administration.
The State is divided into twelve districts or provinces, with a governor-general and a subgovernor or commissary for each district. There are
numerous stations not only on the Congo itself but on
the great tributaries north and south ; the administrative staff numbering some eighty officials. A system
of justice, criminal and civil, has been devised, with
courts of first and second instance. On the Upper
Congo martial law is supreme.
The finances of the State reached a critical position
in 1894. Notwithstanding the subsidy of the sovereign
and the annual contribution of Belgium, the deficit in
the finances threatened to be enormous. The revenue
from customs and taxation is insignificant, and the expenses connected with the action against the Arabs, the
Kerckhoven and other aggressive expeditions, are very
great. Now, however, that there remains little to withdraw the energies of the State from the industrial

224

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

development of the resources of the territories, it is to
be hoped t h a t the tide will turn and t h a t substantial
results will begin to be reaped from this royal enterprise. T h e effective forces of the S t a t e number ( 1 8 9 4 )
4 5 0 0 , besides a native contingent recruited in the
C o n g o of 3 5 0 0 men.
Abuses.

Missions.

T h a t , in the hands of inexperienced y o u n g officers,
poorly paid, dealing with savages, under the influence
of a tropical climate, far from the controlling influence
of public opinion and t h e restraining h a n d 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, t h a t t h e natives have been a t
least occasionally, if n o t frequently, treated with great
cruelty, and dealt with as slaves, there is only too much
evidence to prove. W e do not require to go to the
Congo State for instances of t h e demoralising effect
which savage surroundings have on even highly civilised
men.
N o r must it be forgotten t h a t we can hardly
deal with Africans as we do with civilised Europeans,
a n d t h a t if a n y progress is to be m a d e at all a certain
a m o u n t of compulsion m u s t be used. But if this be
so, it imposes t h e d u t y of exercising all the more care
in selecting officers who will not be tempted to m a k e
this compulsion assume t h e form of cruelty and
slavery, and so risk t h a t b r e a k i n g - u p of the F r e e
S t a t e which not a few consider to be inevitable.
A m o n g t h e civilised influences at work in the New
S t a t e we must reckon t h a t of Christian m i s s i o n s —
Catholic and Protestant, English, American, French
and Belgian. T h e r e are m a n y stations in various parts

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND

CONGO STATE

225

of the territory, and among the missionaries are a
certain number of the old-fashioned, indiscreet, unpractical 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 Trado,
carried on, and trading centres established at various
points besides those occupied by the State stations.
Altogether there are now (1894) about 800 whites
(there were only 254 in 1886). Of these one-half are
Belgians, of whom there were only 46 in 1886. More
than one-half of these whites are on the lower river ;
300 are in the service of the Free State. It may be
said that all the white population of the Congo are
more or less directly engaged in trade, not even excluding the officials themselves, either on their own
behalf or on behalf of the State. Private traders, as
has been stated, complain of the increasing competition 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, and
will shortly be in reality, a Belgian colony ; the King
has expended immense sums on the region ; and he can
hardly therefore be blamed for making an effort to
supplement the drain on his private resources by profits
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
Q

226

siowde-

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

the State territories increased from £80,000 in 1887 to
£321,680 in 1890, though it was only a little over
£200,000 in 1891, £220,000 in 1892, and £248,000 in
1893. The total commerce from the Congo basin by the
river increased from £300,000 in 1887 to £564,400
in 1890, falling to £ 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 in 1891, £300,000 in
1892, and about the same in 1893. 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 exclusively 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, and fell to £130,000
in 1893, more than one - half obtained from outside the Free State limits. Of caoutchouc £40,000
worth came from the Free State in 1893, while nearly
double the amount is the produce of French and Portuguese Congo. So with coffee ; of the £68,000 worth exported by the Congo in 1890, only £ 3 5 0 0 worth can be
credited to the Free State, while in 1893 of the coffee
exported none came from the Free State proper at all.
Thus the trade of the Free State and the whole of

velopment

of trade,

the Congo basin has fluctuated greatly during the last
five years, and i t is still insignificant. So far, only the
natural products of tropical Africa have been dealt
with ; practically nothing has been done to develop the
capabilities of the soil, except perhaps on a small scale
around the various stations. Such mineral resources as

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND CONGO STA TE 227
may exist in the Congo region-—and though much
secrecy is maintained they are believed to be considerable,—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 expected 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 and fighting 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 has averaged ^"200,000, but for 18 94 the estimated
expenditure is ^290,000, leaving a deficit when all sums
are taken into account of ^70,000. The estimates for
the defensive forces of the State in 1894 is ;£i 50,000 ;
in 1892 it was only ^40,000. 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 enterprise from purely commercial
motives, but it is obvious that there is a limit even to
His Majesty's finances. It 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-licences, etc.—of raising a revenue.
If the
organisation of a state is to be carried out, it of course

228

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

involves expenditure ; and the profits on Central African
trade are so enormous that they can well afford to yield
a percentage in return for the security which a state is
supposed to afford. It might 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 realising 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 was
so great that (November 1892) the Company was compelled to import over 600 Chinese coolies. There are a
few isolated Chinamen 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.
It has been a failure, for within a few months nearly
500 died, and sometime after, most of those that were
left suddenly decamped, and a few were subsequently
seen far in the interior trying to walk overland to China.

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at Stanford's

&eoa-

Establishment

THE BERLIN

CONFERENCE

AND CONGO STA TE 229

While then the dreams of the Berlin Congress have what the
State has

vanished, and the Great International Free State has done,
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 flourishes
to some extent even within the boundaries of the Free
State, while cannibalism is widely prevalent, and civilisation can hardly be said to have taken root; yet it must
be admitted that on the whole there has been some progress, or at least change. The change in the seventeen
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 continue to exist
under its present organisation. It may be broken up
into several states, or may be divided among several its future.
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 certainly be looked
back to in the future as one of the most remarkable
outcomes of the modern contact between Europe and
Africa ; while its royal founder will be reckoned among
the most enterprising, ambitious, astute, and well-meaning Kings of the century.

C H A P T E R XV
GERMAN EAST AFRICA
Germany and East Africa—British suspicion aroused—Rohlfs's mission—
Karl Peters—A new society formed—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—Witu—
Harmony between England and Germany—A 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 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—
Insurrection subdued—Sultan's rights bought—The Imperial administration—German military methods—Confidence restored—Expeditions to the interior—Experimental methods—Arrangements between
Germany and England.

Germany T H E fact that the Conference had been convened at
and East

Africa.

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

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

231

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 Livonius, 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 Warsheikh on the north to
Cape Delgado on the south, and included all the islands
on the coast. There can be no doubt also that through
the Arab traders his influence extended far into the
interior, though probably no native chief beyond the
coast region acknowledged the Sultan's suzerainty.
Meantime trade was increasing steadily at Zanzibar,
where British influence was still predominant, and the
British Indian traders, both Hindu and Mohammedan,
of whom thousands were settled on 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 an address

232

British

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

to the Central Verein fur Handelsgeographie> 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.
In 1882
Count Joachim Pfeil wrote an essay strongly urging
Germany to occupy the very districts which were afterwards acquired. He pointed out that the region east
of the lakes must offer a field for profitable trade and
cultivation, and that the claims of the Sultan were of a
very shadowy kind.
Thus it will be seen that the attention of the

suspicion

aroused.

Robifs's

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 protectorate 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 to Zanzibar, to which he had been appointed
German Consul-General. On January 14, 1885, Earl
Granville communicated with Berlin, 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 Bismarck's

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

233

reply showed that he, or those by whom he was
inspired, had mastered the history of the Zanzibar
dominions, and knew how to apply 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
enough to cite.
No direct statement was made
as to what was the real object of Dr. Rohlfs's
mission, but on 25 th February Earl Granville
was informed that the Consul - General was " commissioned 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 effect, she could not object
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
Books contain a mere selection from a vast mass of
correspondence, the bulk of which is, though printed,
supposed never to be seen except by the official eye.
From this private and confidential correspondence it

234

Kari

Anew
formed.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
Foreign Office professed itself satisfied with the vague
assurances from Berlin.
Karl Peters was in 1884 only twenty-eight years of
age. He had been educated at German universities,
and had resided for a time in England. On his return
to Germany he was ignorant of colonial affairs, and
had apparently no interest in the colonial movement.
He was, however, drawn into the movement mainly
through the influence of his friend Dr. Lange, who
himself did so much to promote it. Peters is a man of
somewhat imperious temper, and from the first seems
to have been filled with a feeling of bitterness towards
England. The German Colonial Society founded by
Prince Hohenlohe Langenburg, with its thousands of
members, was not practical enough for the more advanced colonial party.
Early in 1884 another, the
Society for German Colonisation, was formed by the
late Count Behr Banddin, who was the first president.
He was soon succeeded by Dr. Lange, who in a short
time was followed by Dr. Peters. This new Society,
inspired by Count Joachim Pfeil and Dr. Peters, lost
no time in maturing a plan of operations for further
wholesale annexations. Various councils at first prevailed. Some proposed to enter Africa by Sofala.
But the favourite scheme was to annex the lofty region
east of Mossamedes, in Portuguese West Africa, so that
the claims of Portugal were not held of much account
Everything was prepared in the summer of 1884 for

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

235

an expedition to Mossamedes, when the German Government intervened and told the enterprising young men
that whatever they did was at their own risk, and that
no annexations in that region would be sanctioned by
the Government. This turned the attention of the
Society again to East Africa. St. Lucia Bay was proposed, but in the end the scheme all along advocated
by Count Pfeil was adopted, and it was decided to
make Zanzibar the basis of operations. Many practical
men, including a number of capitalists, gathered round
the new society, which was not, however, very liberally
provided with funds ; £2000 was all these enterprising
men had at their disposal.
The greatest secrecy was observed. It was arranged A secret
0

J

Q

expedition

that Dr. Peters, in company with Count Joachim Pfeil ^ff^st
and Dr. Jlihlke, a devoted friend of Peters, should
proceed quietly to Zanzibar. Of the three, Count Pfeil
was the only one who had been in Africa, and who had
any practical knowledge to guide the enterprise. They
gave out that they were bound for Liverpool, but unobserved, 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. Quite against the advice of the German Consul,
who had received instructions from Berlin to discourage
the project, but supported by other German residents
in Zanzibar, they left the coast on 12th November.
Seven days later the first " treaty " was signed with a Treatymaking,
native chief, and the German flag was hoisted at
Mbuzini.
Following the Wami River, the three
German pioneers went on to the high land of Usagara,

236

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

and treaties were rapidly negotiated with ten 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
TheGer- 12, 1885, he founded the German East Africa Cornman East
Africa
pany, to whom the rights he and his colleagues had
r
J J
&
&
Company.

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 protection to the territory acquired, or which might be
The first acquired, by the Society for German Colonisation. This
German

charter.

sir John
Kirk.

is noteworthy as the first document of the kind issued
by the Imperial Government; it was in fact a charter.
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, these " treaties " were probably
as valid and as valuable as most of those that have
been made with native chiefs by " pioneers" of all
nationalities.
After the events which had taken place on the West
r

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, experience, firmness, and thorough knowledge of Africa and

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

237

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 had been virtually
offered to England ; 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 the whole of
the interior, but the greater part of the coast. The
orders from Downing Street were of the most peremptory
character, and Sir John's anguished remonstrances were
of no avail. It was not till 28th April 1885 that the Friendly
attitude of

annexation was formally announced to the Sultan.
J

The *ne British
Govern-

latter immediately sent a strong protest to Berlin against mentthe 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 ConsulGeneral in forwarding German interests.
It was not of course the business of Prince Bismarck Extent of
Sultan's

to inform the British Government beforehand what dominions,
were his real designs on East Africa. With regard to
the Sultan's claims, he pointed out that as a matter of

238

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

fact the Sultan exercised no jurisdiction whatever away
from the coast, and that on the latter even, between
Cape Delgado and Warsheikh, 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
Zambezi region. That the Sultan had real dominion
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,
^f^rmatf ^ e worst that can be said of Germany's action in the
fai?dEng~ ^natter is that she stole a march upon England, which,
according to accepted standards, can hardly be regarded
as immoral, either in business or diplomacy,—in neither
of which is chivalry supposed to hold a place. But even
if England could have forestalled Germany in her East
African annexations, would it have been wise to do so ?

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

239

Although much of the region is desert, or but little removed from it, 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 therefore never be a source of real strength to her? The
co-operation of a nation such as Germany in the development 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 perhaps then the wisest course to welcome the Germans
to East Africa with more promptness than was done
in West Africa, and to instruct the British representative
to co-operate unreservedly with his German colleague.
On 25 th May 1885, Lord Granville assured Prince British
Bismarck that the British Government had no intention East Africa,
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.

240

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

initiation of In these somewhat humble terms was the initiation of
the British

East Africa the Imperial British East Africa Company announced
Company.

L

x

J

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 diplomatic acumen, and surmise that his real motive was to
divert Bismarck's attention from a region far more
valuable than that which had been snatched, as it were,
from under the paw of the British lion ?
The smtan
The Sultan, however, was not inclined to resign
protests.

himself to the situation so readily as the British
Government. He sent his troops into Usagara to
raise his flag over a region which he considered his
own, and where the Germans had stolen a march upon
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 travelling 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. The Sultan continued
obstinate, and would not listen to the proposal made by
the German Government for a recognition of German
territorial rights in Usagara and Witu. The good offices
of Sir John Kirk were of no avail, and it was only when
a formidable German squadron appeared before his

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

i&ti

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 territorial claims, including Witu. 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, thus recognised, was witu.
proceeding apace on the coast to the north of Zanzibar
—the region of which Kersten in 1867 had strongly
urged the annexation by Prussia. According to German
statements there was a question as to Richard Brenner
(another companion of Von der Decken) having concluded a treaty on behalf of Prussia with the Sultan of
Witu, a small district north of the mouth of the Tana
river. The Sultan Simba 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 surrounding 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 Simba guns
and ammunition. Simba 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
R

242

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of his kingdom (500 square miles) for the Witu Company, and on 27th May it was placed under Imperial
protection. When, in June 1885, Lord Salisbury sucHarmony ceeded to Earl Granville at the Foreign Office, a satisbetween

England factory understanding had been arrived at between the
Germany.' t w o 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
which would regulate the trade between his dominions
and the newly - acquired German territories ; if this
were accomplished, Germany would join the acknowledgment, 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
Adeiimita- appoint a Joint Commission, with representatives of
mission. England, France, Germany, and Zanzibar, to carry out
on the spot the work of delimitation. The Commissioners 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, where, with
the consent of Great Britain, the Sultan of Zanzibar had,
by means of General Mathews, secured treaties which
placed the whole district under his authority.
In

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

243

September 1884, Mr. H. H. Johnston had obtained
concessions of territory in the district of Taveta, and on
the slopes of Kilimanjaro. 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 afterwards developed into the Imperial British East Africa
Company. A communication on the subject was sent
to Berlin by Lord Salisbury in November 1885, a n d
it was pointed out that the concession was several months
earlier than the treaties made with General Mathews for
the Sultan or subsequently with Dr. Jlihlke and his colleagues 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 understood that neither side should seek to steal a march
upon the other. But the German agents were impatient, and were pushing their way into the Kilimanjaro 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-

244

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

lected much information which was of service in
enabling the German and British Governments to
come to an understanding. And meanwhile a commercial treaty was arranged (August 1886) between
Zanzibar, Germany, England, France, and other Powers,
by which definite tariffs were substituted for the somewhat arbitrary levies that previously existed, and an
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.
Extent of
At last (29th October and 1st November 1886)
allotted to the British and German Governments came to a definite
the Sultan.

agreement as to the territory which would be recognised as under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar, 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 Zanzibar and Pemba, the smaller islands within a radius

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

245

of ten 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 0 40' N. lat.) with
a radius of five nautical miles, were left to the
Sultan.
The intervening strips of coast were regarded as independent, an arrangement which threatened to be disastrous to British enterprise.
The
Sultan gave up all claims to Kilimanjaro. Although
Mr. Johnston's Kilimanjaro concessions had not been
of much avail, the aspirations of the embryo British
East Africa Company were to some extent satisfied
by the definition of a boundary to the north of which spheres of
Germany would not interfere with their " sphere of
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 untrammelled 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 delimitations left a loop-hole for serious misunderstandings;
nor was it clear that an arrangement between two
Powers was binding on other Powers not parties to it.
In the case of East Africa it was agreed that the Limits of
German

northern limit of German influence and the southern sphere.

246

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
and Chagga, round the northern base of Mount
Kilimanjaro, and thence directly north-west to the
eastern shore of the Victoria Nyanza, at i° S. lat.
Thus practically the whole of the magnificent Kilimanjaro 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 which was scarcely called
for. Still further restrictions were, moreover, placed
on British enterprise, restrictions which very shortly
gave rise to much bitterness and threatened to shut
out the British Company from the interior altogether.
Although Germany undertook not to make any acquisitions 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 intersection of the Equator and 38° of East Longitude,
and thence direct to the point of intersection of i°
of North Latitude with 37 0 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

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

247

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 The suitan's

some 600 miles, though when Germany first appeared position,
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 adding insult to injury. It is not to be wondered at that Sir John
Kirk 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 apparently 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
J

&

J

&

between

December 1886, the southern boundary of the German andPortusphere was marked by the course of the river Rovuma f j ^ e t e m "

248

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

to the confluence of the river M'sinje, and thence west
to the shore of Lake Nyasa. West of Lake Nyasa
no definite line was at the time laid down, 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
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 adduce any
proof that she had ever exercised effective jurisdiction
over the whole of the extensive area. A similar concession 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
Bay inci-

dent.

,

-^

•

-

. •,

, 7 ,

as to the Rovuma gave rise to an incident which
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 arrangement as the southern boundary of the Zanzibar
dominions. The Sultan, still sore no doubt at the
treatment to which he had been subjected by the two
great Powers, at once protested that he would not

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

249

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 his. 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
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 themselves 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 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

250

Fresh

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 British
and Portuguese relations on the east coast became
strained. To the attitude which Portugal assumed on
this occasion may to a considerable extent be attributed
the uncompromising stand made by England at a later
date on the Zambezi. Portugal insisted on retaining
possession of Tungi Bay, and claimed all north as far
as the river Rovuma, the boundary named in defining
the spheres of influence of Germany and Portugal. An
agreement has since (September 1894) been come to
between these two Powers by which, while Tungi Bay
is left to Portugal, the coast north, including the
mouth of the river Rovuma, is recognised as German
territory.
In the midst of these negotiations a difficulty arose

difficulties

between
Germany

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. (afterwards Sir) William
Mackinnon, and the Committee was mainly composed

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

251

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
precise boundary between the English and German
spheres on the west of Victoria Nyanza unsettled, and
as will be seen this gave occasion for difficulties in
the future.
Again, to the north of Witu, German
agents made treaties with all the " Sultans" up to
near Cape Guardafui, including the strips of coast
between the Sultan of Zanzibar's stations; however,
although Germany formally declared a protectorate up
to Kismayu, 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. Deveiopx
#

mentofthe

Peters was still the head and moving spirit, lost no German
time in endeavouring to reap the fruits of its treaties
and of the enormous concessions which the German
Government had obtained on its behalf. And here

252

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 1887,the German East
Africa Association 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 Planters'
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,

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

253

maintained that compulsion was necessary and justifiable 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 Germany
chapter, the British East Africa Company had begun smtan's
strip.

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
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 An admini.
r

J

stration

sole administration of the district and the collection of J**^
the customs, which under certain conditions were to be
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 connection between the Company's officials and the German
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

254

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

officials was sent out to carry on the new administration. 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) C. 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
of arms. In short, great things were expected to be
the result of the new departure.
ttfl^erman I t : m u s t b e s a i d t h a t t h e British Consul-General
tio^.imstra" 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 C. Euan Smith's fears were only too speedily
justified. The German officials took over administration on the 16th of August 1888 ; and on the 21st
the British Consul-General telegraphed to London
that disturbances were reported from Bagamoyo and

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

255

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 riot only the
Germans but the English ; by the end of the year
they made no distinction between Germans and English ; white men were " all robbers alike."
Unfortunately the German officials did not care to A rebellion
J

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,
and resource that could not but compel respect. Germany 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 instigators of the whole movement.
Of course the
Company was quite unable to cope with the " insurrection" which it had deliberately incited, and the
direct interference of the Imperial Government was
necessary. In the beginning of 1889 Captain Hermann von Wissmann, who had twice crossed Africa,

organised.

256

Wissmann
appointed
Imperial
Commissioner.

Insurrection subdued.

THE PARTITION

OF

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
plantations which had been established on the Pangani
and elsewhere were abandoned, and everything reduced
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 slavetrade 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
and armed with the newest weapons. The Commissioner
had at his service sixty German officers and soldiers, and
the co-operation of 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 t n a t 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 1 st 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 defeated, and

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

257

German sovereignty established over the whole sphere
from Cape Delgado to the river Wami.
There was, of course, no longer any question of the smtan's
rights

administration being left entirely in the hands of the bought.
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 The imImperial Civil Commissioner appointed by »the German ministraGovernment, his headquarters being at Dar-es-Salaam.
Under him are district officers settled in the ports
on the coast, and responsible for the traffic to and
from the interior. The total area thus taken over is
estimated at 350,000 square miles, though the population 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
Nyanza, though these are schemes which are at present
only in prospect. A steamer was, however, in 1893,
placed on Lake Nyasa by the German Anti-Slavery
Society, though it is doubtful how far it has conduced
to the suppression of slavery. In the meantime, with
S

258

German

OF AFRICA

remarkable rapidity, all t h e leading coast towns have
been occupied a n d fortified. E a c h has its little garrison
of S u d a n e s e or E a s t Africans, under E u r o p e a n officers,
and every precaution is taken t o render their immediate
environment as sanitary as possible. T h e chief stations
in t h e northern district are a t T a n g a , P a n g a n i , Saadani,
B a g a m o y o , a n d Dar-es-Salaam, besides which there are
four subsidiary stations. I n t h e southern district there
are only three stations,—Kilwa, Lindi, a n d Mikindani.
In t h e interior there are stations a t M p w a p w a in
Usagara, on Mount Kilimanjaro, on t h e south a n d
west coasts of Victoria Nyanza, a n d on t h e north-east
of L a k e Nyasa. T h e garrisons of t h e various stations
do n o t spend their time in idleness.
Road-making,
house-building, a n d other useful work is being continually carried on. L a r g e herds of cattle a n d other
domestic animals are being accumulated, gardens a n d
plantations a r e cultivated, buoys laid down, lighthouses
erected, a n d these old, old towns on t h e E a s t African
coast will no doubt in time reach a condition of prosperity quite equal if n o t superior to t h a t which t h e
Portuguese found to exist when, four hundred years ago,
they began their conquest of t h e coast.
T h e e x a m p l e of t h e Germans a n d t h e people in their
r

military

methods,

THE PARTITION

r

r

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

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

259

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 slavedealing 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 untenable ground that Europe has no right in Africa at all.
Once the strife was over, Arabs and Indians gathered confidence
restored.

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 Bagamoyo, 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 marketplaces have been erected. Certainly the rapidity with
which the Germans have established themselves in the
country, and the wonderful progress already achieved,
have made a deep impression upon the natives—
Africans, Arabs, and Indians alike—who contrast what
the Germans have done in five years with the little
accomplished 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 Expedition
tothein-

squattmg on the coast. Expeditions have been sent tenor,
out in various directions, partly for the purpose of pro-

26o

Ezpen-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

specting, partly to found stations, and partly to establish 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 established 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, unfortunately to
fall a victim to the vengeance of Arab slave-raiders
as he was making his way to the Congo. Another
expedition on its way into the interior encountered
a horde of raiding Wahehe, 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 establishment of German authority in the coast regions is
concerned. The conditions of the interior are of course

mental

methods, entirely different, and no doubt the German Government 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

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

261

of the Brussels Congress (1890-91) to suppress slaveraiding, and the traffic in arms and spirits. In the carrying 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 arrangements with other Powers, has done everything it could to promote the interests of German East
Africa.
At Tanga, on the Pangani, and in other favourable
positions, plantation work has again been resumed with
considerable success, while experimental stations are
being established for the benefit both of the whites and
natives.
Certainly the most promising part of the
German sphere is on the north in Usambara and on
the slopes of Kilimanjaro and the plateau on the south.
During 1893-94, experiments in coffee plantations have
met with great success, and the culture is rapidly spreading. Experiments in tea, tobacco, and other cultures
are also being made by the German East Africa
Society and others. Now that the rebellious chiefs on
Kilimanjaro have been subdued, it is probable that
attempts will be made to plant German settlers on
its slopes. It is expected that a considerable stretch

262

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of railway from Tanga in the coast to Karagwe will be
completed, and so encourage increased plantation in the
Pangani region. The southern district is much more
backward. The soil is not so promising, the country
not so healthy, and the natives have proved very
troublesome.
This little difficulty is being rapidly
removed, and both in the north and the south Germany
is establishing her authority over the natives as well as
the Arab traders. The total value of the exports of
German East Africa is about £ 5 00,000, whilst imports
amount to about ^ 6 0 0 , 0 0 0 in value.
One good result of the disturbances in German East
Arrange- Africa was a satisfactory arrangement between Germany
ments be-

tweenGermany and

England.

and

Great Britain as to their respective spheres in that
r

r

p a r t Qf fag continent. While by the arrangement of
1886 a boundary had been drawn between the coast
and Victoria Nyanza, the region to the west of the lake
was regarded by enterprising 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-operation 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-

GERMAN

EAST

AFRICA

263

standing with her neighbour in East Africa as to the
limits of their respective spheres. 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 belonged geographically and
ethnologically.
By yielding to German sentiment in
this matter probably England secured better terms
in Africa than she would otherwise have done. By
the agreement of October 1886 the northern boundary of German East 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. In November 1890
this line was extended straight across the lake and
westward until it reached the boundary of the Congo
Free State, only deflecting southwards so far as, if
necessary, to include the lofty Mt. Mfumbiro within
the British sphere ; recent exploration has proved that
this mountain 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 left within the
British sphere. 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 Nyasa,
which so far affected Portugal alone. On the west

264

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
Nyasa 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, nor could Great Britain
expect to be recognised as mistress of all the most
desirable spots. The western limit of Germany was
of course the eastern boundary of the Congo Free
State.
This—followed as it shortly was by the acceptance of
a British protectorate over the islands of Zanzibar and
Pemba,all that was left unallotted of the Sultan's domains
—put an end to any risk of serious misunderstanding
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 Tanganyika and Nyasa, the
Shire and the Zambezi, much of the trade of the
centre of the continent may be diverted into the British
sphere. The construction of a railway from a point
on the German coast to the interior would give Ger-

GERMAN EAST

AFRICA

265

many an immense advantage, especially with a steamer
on Victoria Nyanza; but the realisation of such a
benevolent scheme seems to be far off.
From the
1st of April 1891, a civil governor has been placed at
the head of the administration of German East Africa,
and to him the military power will be subordinate. It
is certainly a step in the right direction. The total
number of troops employed for the defence of German
East Africa is 1800, trained by a large number of
European officers and non-commissioned officers. The
annual expenditure in the sphere amounts to £280,000,
over one-half contributed by the Imperial Government.
The following statement of the settlement come to
between the German East Africa Company and the German Government is of interest. Capital of the Company,
6,000,000 marks, of which there is called up 1,500,000
marks = £ 7 5 , 0 0 0 ; interest at 5 per cent = £ 3 7 5 0 .
Authorised loan, 10,500,000 marks, of which has been
issued 4,000,000 marks to capitalise customs rents due
to Sultan = £200,000 ; at 5 per cent interest, £10,000
per annum.
Revenue of German custom houses, say £80,000
per annum = 1,600,000 marks, of which the German
Government guarantee the Company as first charge,
600,000 marks = £30,000. Interest on £200,000 loan
raised to pay off Sultan, £ 1 0 , 0 0 0 ; interest on capital
issued, £y$yooo at 5 per cent, £ 3 7 5 0 = £ 1 3 , 7 5 0 ;
leaving £16,250.
Say £10,000 available for sinking fund to pay off
£200,000 loan in 20 years; and £ 6 2 5 0 available to
meet interest on further loans issued.

C H A P T E R XVI
T H E STRUGGLE FOR T H E NIGER
Activity on the West Coast—Native states in Senegal and Upper Niger
basins—French campaigns—Ahmadu and Samory—The Futa Jallon
—Within the bend of the Niger—France and Liberia—Expeditions to
Lake Chad—French in Timbuktu—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—Niger Company a private undertaking—International arrangements concerning West Africa—Liberia cramped—Position of England and France in West Africa—British trade hampered
by French advances—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—German wedge towards Lake Chad—Rearrangement with Germany—
France passes beyond the Shari towards Bahr-el-Ghazal—German share
Cameroons extension—Wadai—Rabah in Bagirmi and Bornu—The
French area of Saharan Sudan—A Trans - Saharan railway—French
aspirations partially realised—French railway dreams—Colonisation
projects—French administration in West Africa—Spanish claims —
Juby station—Position of the three Powers.

Activity on I T has already been seen that during the I7th and 18th
the West

coast.

.

_

,

.

,

.,

A

.

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 West 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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

267

had been settled on the Oil Rivers since the old slavetrade 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 185053. 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 Bakel and Medina.
After the death of the great Moslem missionary Native
states in

conqueror Othman, a sheik of the remarkable peoples the Senegal
^

1

JT

and Upper

known as Fulah, in 1817, the extensive " empire" Niger
which he had established, 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. When, 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

268

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

least with fanatic Moslems as their rulers. The Fulah
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 formidable 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 fanatical sway
over most of the country from Dingueray, on the
east of Futa Jallon, to Kaarta, on the north of the
Upper Senegal. After the father's death his " empire "
was broken up, and Ahmadu 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 formidable was the powerful Samory (or Samadu), 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 Wasulu, 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
less animated by Moslem fanaticism, and a determina-

THE

STRUGGLE

FOR

THE NIGER

269

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
entrepot for trade between the Sudan and the Mediterranean, 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
campaigns.

the French, combined with political and scientific
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 negotiations and the taking of Kita, on one of the upper
branches of the Senegal, by Colonel Desbordes, that
Gallieni succeeded in signing at Nango, with King
Ahmadu, a treaty (21st March 1881) which, it was
maintained, gave to France the protectorate of the left
bank of the Upper Niger. In 1882-83 the post of
Bammako was definitely founded and fortified. Notwithstanding the attacks of the powerful Samory, king
of all the country around the Niger sources, the French
maintained their position, and in the two following
years forts were constructed at Kundu and Niagasola,
lying half-way north and south between Kita and Bammako. In 1885-86 Colonel Frey renewed hostilities Ahmadu
and Samory

with Samory, with whom a treaty of peace was signed
in 1886, and at the same time Colonel Frey had to
suppress a fanatical Mussulman insurrection. He was

270

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

succeeded by Gallieni (now Colonel), who (1887) induced 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
Bafoulabe 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.
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 gunboat 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 insignificant town of 10,000, still dazzled
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.
In the
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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

271

(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, a The Futa
53

J

Jallon.

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 1881 with Dr. Bayol by the
Almamy of Futa Jallon, though the tribe did not take
kindly to French protection, and even made overtures
to England ; but the success of Gallieni decided the
Almamy to take the prudent course of submission. In
1887 the Almamy, Ibrahim Sory, signed a treaty placing
all his country under the exclusive protection of France.
On 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, start- within the
.

ing
the
by
the

_

,

,

.

.

., ,

,

, hendofthe

from Bammako and zigzagging until he reached Niger.
Guinea Coast.
Captain Binger, it was notified
the French Government, made treaties by which
countries of Tieba, Kong, Jimini, Anno, and

272

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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, moreover, entered into
relations with Salaga, about two-thirds of the distance
between the Guinea Coast and Timbuktu.
It is
doubtful if Germany will consent to the establishment
of French influence at Salaga, by which she would be
shut out from the interior, and the precise boundary of
the British Gold Coast interior remains to be delimitated.
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. She
has the whole of the Upper Niger and the great bend
that sweeps round by Timbuktu, with more than onehalf of the area embraced within the bend.
The French hold on 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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

273

river below Bammako, and Nioro (January 1891), 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 on
the way to Timbuktu and Lake Chad on the one side,
and to Futa Jallon on the other. Colonel Archinard,
in April 1891, sent the troublesome Samory flying
towards the south and occupied his capital, Bissandugu.
By an arrangement concluded in August 1894, the
boundaries between Liberia and the territory claimed by
France were agreed upon. By this the Cavally River
becomes the eastern limit of Liberia, while a block of
Liberian territory in the north-east intervenes between
Sierra Leone and Samory's kingdom. This difficulty
having been settled, vigorous measures were taken to
bring this troublesome potentate into complete subjection. In 1894-95 Colonel Monteil entered upon a
campaign from the Guinea Coast, partly to protect
Kong from Samory. He occupied Satama, 36 miles
south of Kong, but his progress was so hampered by
the natives, and his conduct of the expedition so unsatisfactory, that in February 1895 he was recalled.
No doubt the French operations will be facilitated by
the telegraph which has been constructed to the Upper
Niger, and which will be continued to Bissandugu, the
capital of Samory, and now the most southerly French
post in the Sudan. It is not only France whose advances
in West Africa have been thwarted by this chief; he has
proved troublesome also to the British colony of Sierra
Leone. The necessity for repelling his hostile incursions
T

274

Expedi-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

led in the end of December 1893 to a collision, through
mistake, between an English and a French expedition,
which resulted in serious losses on both sides. A few
weeks later a similar collision took place, happily without
such disastrous results. These unfortunate collisions
seem to have been mainly due to the fact that
uncertainty existed as to the frontier between English
and French territory in this region.
French expeditions, partly exploratory, partly mili-

tions to

Lake Chad, tary and political, continue to traverse the country
between 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 connect the Senegal and the Niger is practically
useless. Now that the French have taken Timbuktu
there seems some likelihood of the continuation of the
railway being taken seriously in hand. Other expeditions
followed in the footsteps of Binger ; one, under Captain
(now Colonel) Monteil, having for its object to push on to
Say on the Middle Niger, and thence to Lake Chad, succeeded in accomplishing its object and crossed the desert
to Tripoli. 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.
Perhaps the most striking event in the last ten
years has been the entry of the French into Timbuktu
in the last days of December 1893. This was accomplished by a column under Colonel Bonnier. His subordinate, Lieutenant Boiteux, acted contrary to the
orders of the new Civil Governor who had been appointed
to the Sudan. Although the officer was disgraced, the

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

275

situation was accepted in France. But the occupation was not unattended with disaster. While the
inhabitants of Timbuktu were apparently resigned to
the position, the Tuaregs in the country around were
fiercely hostile.
One party of French troops was
surprised at some distance from Timbuktu and almost
annihilated. Other hostile manifestations were made,
but there is no doubt that the French will hold their
place, and retain possession of the city which has been
their goal for so long. The Tuaregs have been severely
punished for their successful surprises, several tribes
having been almost annihilated.
This French dream of a ^reat empire in Africa, British ac&

r

' tivity on

stretching without interruption from the Mediterranean ^*£°wer
to the Congo, received a severe check, though it was
by no means absolutely defeated, by 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

276

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 exchange—the 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 themselves putting every obstacle in the way of its utilisation. 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
Pioneers, pioneer in this new enterprise. As far back as 1852
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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

277

expected from the isolated and conflicting efforts of obstacles
individual traders and firms with very limited capital, in a
region where all was chaos, arising from generations 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. While 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 counter-intrigues
among their coloured agents made all progress impossible.
Even at the three or four points where alone
Europeans ventured to establish stations, frequent outrages occurred on the part of turbulent and indolent
natives, who overawed their more industrious and
peaceful tribesmen; while directly any tribe with
commercial instincts acquired a modicum of wealth,
this became the motive for attack by more warlike
neighbours, 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, bombard the stick
or clay houses on the banks, and then hurry back to
the sea with half the crew down with fever ; then the
natives, who had retired to a safe distance from the
river would return, rebuild their houses, and recommence their previous conduct, knowing that their houses
were safe for another twelve months.
In 1879, however, all the British interests on the

to trade,

278

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

A company Niger River were amalgamated into the United African
formed.

Company. There were at that time no other Europeans
on 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 18 81, the first difficulty
raised was that the capital of the Company was too
small. To meet this, the capital was increased from
;£i25,000 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 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 Benue, and preparations made for
the expected charter.
The French
Meanwhile, under the inspiration of Gambetta,
on the

Lower

French traders began to creep into the Lower Niger,
and two French companies were formed, their patent
intention being to secure the Lower and Middle Niger
and the Benue 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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

279

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 Mediterranean 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
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 commodities 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 The French
. .

out in cash or shares by the British Company, who
have still French shareholders on their list with holdings
amounting to £6o,ooo.
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.

bought out.

28o
German

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

N o sooner had this danger been got rid of t h a n

attempts on

the Niger, 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 Benu£, and the southern bank of the latter
river up to Ibi. The events at the Cameroons associated with the name of Dr. Nachtigal will be remembered, 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,
and every possible means was adopted to hamper British
operations in Africa. Herr Flegel, as had been seen,
had been familiar with the river for years, and had
really done much for the exploration of the Middle Niger
and the Benue. 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. But the National African Company,
having become aware in time of the German intentions
and of the projected scheme, had already taken steps to
secure its position on the upper river. Mr. Joseph
The com- Thomson had returned in 18 84,much shattered in health,
pany

triumphs, from his successful expedition into the Masai Land.
Before the meeting of the Berlin Conference, Sir George
Goldie engaged him to proceed up the Niger and
secure all the country on its banks by treaty. His
departure was delayed by illness, but as soon as he was

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

281

able he set 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 but characteristic, Mr. Thomson made his way up
the Niger to Sokoto and Gando, concluded treaties with
the Sultans, and secured the allegiance to the Company 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
treaties with native chiefs, securing to them the whole Becomes
&

the Royal

of the riverine territory up to, and they believed in- Niger
eluding, Burrum at the north-east angle of the Niger
bend. Immediately on the withdrawal of the French
flag the Company had urgently renewed their appeals
for a Royal Charter which would not only leave them
unobstructed in the development of their immense territory, 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 British
protection. At last, however, the whole of the navigable
part of this great commercial highway, and its almost
equally great tributary the Benue, were definitely secured

282

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

for E n g l a n d , and the National African C o m p a n y became
the R o y a l Niger C o m p a n y , with L o r d A b e r d a r e as
Governor, and Sir George T a u b m a n Goldie (the real
Progress

The com-

creator of the C o m p a n y ) as Vice-Governor.
T h e Comp a n y have about forty settlements, t h a t of R i b a g o on
the Benue being only 2 0 0 miles from L a k e Chad.
T h e capital of the Niger territories is at A s a b a .
An
elaborate system of justice a n d administration has been
established, while there is as little interference as possible
with the internal affairs of the native states. T h e r e is
a military force of about 1 0 0 0 men, with h e a d q u a r t e r s
at Lokoja, at the junction of the Benue a n d Niger, and
of course scattered over t h e territories a considerable
staff of white officials with great n u m b e r s of coloured
assistants, who are educated natives of the W e s t Coast
colonies, and to whose h e a r t y co-operation a n d excellent
work the C o m p a n y have acknowledged t h a t much of
their success is due. T h e developement of the c o u n t r y
is proceeding apace, t h o u g h the trade is so far entirely
in fibres, gums, ivory, kernels, palm oil, peppers, rubber,
a n d other natural products, the e x p o r t of which a m o u n t s
to about ^ 4 0 0 . 0 0 0 annually. But, as far as the deadly
climate admits, e x p e r i m e n t s are being m a d e on a considerable scale with coffee, cocoa, and other introduced
cultures, a n d m e a n s are meanwhile being taken to m a k e
the most of the natural forest and other products, without e x h a u s t i n g them.
Of course

the

brief career

of the

Royal

Niger

pany's

revenue.

Company has not been without troubles and difficulties.
It cannot, as a Government, expend more than it raises
by taxation, and as it is not yet practicable to tax the

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

283

natives, the administrative revenue depends on customs
duties; while the volume of trade, though growing
rapidly, is as yet insignificant compared with the area
occupied. The Company had, moreover, to contend
with vigorous and state-supported foreign aggression,
and could only obtain the money for the struggle by a
high customs tariff.
Unfortunately for imperial interests, this policy raised a great outcry, not only in
Germany and France, which naturally desired to cripple
the resources of their most active rival in West Africa,
but also in Liverpool. A powerfully organised agitation against the Company was carried on for some
years both at home and abroad. Prince Bismarck, after
dispatching his nephew, Herr von Puttkamer, to the
Niger as an imperial commissioner, fulminated ip. a
White Book against the Company's taxation, whilst
admitting that its administration was "admirably organised." All this resulted in its being compelled, after
four years' negotiations, to limit its administrative expenditure ; so that it had not only to abandon its plans
for extension eastward to the valley of the Nile, but
also to slacken in its efforts to establish in its acquired
territory the peace and order which it had declared an
essential preliminary to the development of commerce.
It was in vain that the Company pleaded that nearly
all taxation fell on its own commercial operations as the
chief traders in the Niger.
Under a parliamentary
regime votes are more important than arguments, while
the Company could not put its objects before the public
without divulging them to France and Germany. As a
last resource the Company suggested that an imperial

284

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

subsidy of ^ 5 0,000 a year might be granted. This
was not conceded, and the strange spectacle was presented of a Company willing and even anxious to tax
its own commercial operations heavily for imperial
purposes, yet denied permission to do so, because
similar taxation would have to be borne by other
traders, who would be enabled to enter the Niger in
safety, thanks to the order established there by the
expenditure of the revenue.
Freedom of
It seems to be a prevailing error that the Berlin Act
navigation
6

g[ *£

x

°

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 Conference
for transit of merchant ships to regions beyond British
influence, following the principle which, since the Congress of Vienna in 181 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
avoid the dues which have been imposed, and especially
the almost prohibitive duties on spirits, but these
attempts have invariably proved unsuccessful,
utmty of
The Royal Niger Company is the first English
companies. Company in modern times to which a charter has been
granted for territories under British protection. It was,

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

285

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 initiating the development of a tropical country, the inhabitants 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
step to something more advanced.
The protection
which Great Britain affords is limited to securing the
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
thus freed from all expenditure, it can impose whatever conditions it chooses in order to secure satisfactory 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—

286

The on
Rivers.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the first granted—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 took precautions to forestall
attempts on the part of other Powers to come between
itself and that portion of the Central Sudan which it
believed with some justice ought to be within its sphere.
It is to be feared, however, that the restrictions placed
on its administrative expenditure by the British Government have made it almost impossible for the Company
to continue the struggle with other Powers who have
been sending out expeditions from all sides. The time
will no doubt come, sooner or later, when these Niger
territories will be ripe for direct imperial administration ;
a step which the Company has frequently urged on the
Foreign Office.
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 jurisdiction 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 STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

287

the Company, and as they preferred to remain separate,
the Oil Rivers have been made a separate jurisdiction
under the title of the Niger Coast 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 considerably
restricted, though Benin has been added to its sphere.
Taxes have of necessity been imposed ; the rough system
of justice administered by Courts of Equity, composed
of the merchants themselves 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 (Colonel Sir Claude M. MacDonald) and
the traders, but that has been greatly reduced, and there
can be little doubt that in the end the new regime will
be for the benefit of all concerned,—whites and natives.
The revenue and trade of the protectorate have greatly
increased during the three years of its administration
by Sir Claude MacDonald.

288

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

In 1890 the majority of the merchants trading on
the Oil Rivers amalgamated into the African Association,
Limited, of Liverpool, with a subscribed capital of half
a million ; but there are still one or two independent
firms which possess a considerable share of the trade.
The total exports amount to over a million sterling
annually.
Misunderstandings between the Niger
Company and the African Association were frequent
during some years, but happily an arrangement has
been come to (1894) by which the two now work in
complete harmony.
The west
The Oil Rivers march, on their north side, with the
African

colonies,

. .

colony of Lagos, the most prosperous and promising
of all the British colonies in West Africa, mainly because 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 populated 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.
Lake chad
Before briefly referring to the international treaties
central
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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

289

pointed out, has always dazzled the dreamers of France
as the central point of the future great " African Empire," 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 substratum 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
type, totally distinct from the true negro, and coming
from the east. Here we have the old semi-barbarous
Mohammedan pageantry in its ancient glory, combined
with intense hatred of the infidel European. The
French have had difficulties with such potentates as
Samory and Ahmadu, though these also are
Mohammedans.
King M'tesa of Uganda was 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
Powers that undertake to reduce them to subjection
than all the rest of Africa combined, not even excepting
Morocco. But notwithstanding this, or in ignorance of
it, Great Britain, France, and Germany tried to outrace
each other in reaching the Chad regions, our knowledge
of which is mainly due to Barth and Nachtigal, especially
U

290

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the latter, who escaped, as it were, by the skin of his
teeth. France, as we have seen, has sent 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. 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.
French exAnother expedition under a young naval officer,
Lake chad. Lieutenant Mizon, actually entered the river itself in
1890 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

291

Adamawa, and of extending French influence as far in the
direction of Lake Chad as possible. He asserted that he
succeeded in concluding a treaty with a chief on the Upper
Benue, but a German officer in the same region maintained that he also had concluded a treaty with the same
chief some days before. M. Dubowski and M. Maistre,
starting from the Mobangi River, and following in the
footsteps of Crampel, in 1892-93 made their way north
through Adamawa, reaching the River Shari, where, according to their reports, they made treaties with several
chiefs. All this activity on the part of France prepared
the way for fresh arrangements for the partition of the
region to the south of Lake Chad. 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 (he was " detained " for four months), but this
could have no political significance, as Bornu is distinctly recognised by France as within the British
sphere. The leading expeditions from the German side
(the Cameroons) have already been referred to.
Both French and German expeditions have not only Niger company a

the sympathy but the active support of their Govern- private unJ

x

J

r r

ments, who supply considerable 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 Govern^
ment 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

dertaking.

292

interna-

OF

AFRICA

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,
which, so far, has only been a source of outlay without
return,
As was to be expected, the various stages of advance
r

tional
g

THE PARTITION

m

tne

'

*>

ments condirection of the Niger and Lake Chad have been
8
west?
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 original arrangements between Great Britain and
Germany on the territories south of the Niger have
already been referred to, others will be referred to later.
Between France and England there have been several
arrangements regulating the position of their colonies on
the coast, and their respective spheres in the interior.
On the Gambia, by the agreement of i o t h 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-

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER

293

Portuguese agreements of 12th May 1884 and 31st
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 Rivieres 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 south. In January 1895 t n e J o m t French
and British Commission, sitting in Paris, came to an
agreement as to the precise limits of the colony in the
interior.
This ought to obviate all collisions and
disputes in the future, though it is to be feared that
France is now in actual occupation of the whole region
from which the colony could derive its trade.
Much the same might be said of Liberia, though Liberia
,

r

.

,

.

. . cramped.

so far as the wants of its population go,—even with
all the encroachments of France,—the country itself
possesses resources enough if only they were properly
developed. But what with the presence of a British
colony on the north, and the French in the Hinterland
and on the south coast, Liberia has been gradually
reduced both in length and breadth, and by the arrangement made in August 1894 is virtually under the power
of France. So far as the prosperity of the country and
the welfare of the population are concerned, annexation
might not be a calamity ; the experiment of an independent civilised African State can hardly be said to
have been a success. It is a fair example of how far

294

• THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the native of Central Africa, even when comparatively
civilised, is, if left to himself, capable of developing the
resources of his continent,
position of
By the Anglo-French agreement already referred
England

*

S

&

J

andFrance to, the British Gold Coast colony is permitted to
Africa.
stretch inland to g° N. lat.; and if the treaties
which the French are reported to have made with
the natives in the interior are admitted to be
valid, the Gold Coast will be in much the same
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 i t ; with these France had a severe struggle in
1892-94, resulting in the practical subjugation of one of
the most troublesome native states in Africa, and the
establishment of French supremacy. 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,
France practically claims to be dominant in the interior.
From the point of view of haute politique our statesmen
may or may not be justified in merely " watching " (as
British
their expression is) these French advances. But, unhampered doubtedly, British trade in the West African colonies
by French

advances. h a s been severely hampered by these wholesale annexa-

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

295

tions.
England has not sought to enter into competition with France in the advance of the latter into
interior regions, of which the former during past years
could easily have secured a large share ; at first, because
British statesmen shirked incurring further responsibility,
and latterly, to all appearance, for no other reason than
to please France, England has held her hands. It may
be that those whose duty it is to safeguard the interests
of the British Empire believe that they have had compensation for this reticence elsewhere. It is usual to
reproach 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 laissez faire policy ; and in
the interests of the British Niger dominions, it would
only be fair to fix the meridian of Greenwich as the
eastern limit of French advance south of the latitude
of Say and north of g° N. lat. But French and British
statesmen, in endeavouring to adjust the many questions
pending between the two Powers in Africa, will have
to give and take; and it is possible that the interests of
the Niger Company may be again sacrificed to more
pressing imperial interests elsewhere as they were in
1890.
So far as British interests in this region of Central French and
0

British

Africa are concerned, the Anglo-French agreement of 5 th |ghe^se^n
August 1890 is of the utmost importance. Let us briefly re s ion consider its purport. The clause which relates to the

296

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 Commission to be appointed."
on the west
Commissioners from the two Powers were to meet
Middle
in Paris to determine the boundaries of the respective
Niger.

r
#

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
very differently by French and English cartographers.
The former make it almost straight, with a tendency
to bend southwards, the latter, justly recognising that
the country of Air or Asben is subject to Sokoto, make
it take a sharp bend northwards, to about i8° 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 has 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

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

297

west of Borgu to the western boundary of the Gold
Coast.
Again, it is maintained on the British side that, in m the chad
region.

accordance with the spirit of the arrangement, 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 have been made to get behind the
Niger Company's sphere, and if possible create a French
sphere on the south and east of Lake Chad, efforts
which have been to a considerable extent successful.
It is held that if 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-west of S a y ; that is, in
territory which France considers the agreement to have
given her. In short, it is maintained, France cannot
appeal in the one case to the letter of the agreement
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 within the British sphere, and it is believed
that the Royal Niger Company has established satisfactory relations with that State, and has taken steps to
knit these relations more closely. 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,

298

importance of
the Chad
States.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

to which it is subject.
Wadai, the most powerful
Mohammedan state in the Central Sudan, occupies the
space between Lake Chad and Darfur, 160,000 square
miles in area, with a population of a million and a half.
The Negro Mabas, who are the ruling people, are
fanatical Mohammedans, 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,
according to the Anglo-German agreement of July
1890, within the sphere of influence of Great Britain,
It is these Central Sudan States the suzerainty of
which has been coveted by France and Germany : the
J
J
'

lake around which they are grouped is the goal to
which so many French expeditions have been concentrating along half a dozen lines. No doubt the Royal
Niger Company had a position of advantage over all
the others, being, so to speak, within measurable distance
of the Lake. But it works on its own resources and
initiative, and not only has it no active support from
the British Government, but is actually prevented from
taxing its own and other commercial operations to
procure the funds for extension. On the other hand,
the Governments of France and Germany take an
active part in the race, and lend direct encouragement
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
might have been trusted to secure a footing in the Lake
Chad States, if they had been permitted to tax them-

THE

STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

299

selves and others to secure the necessary means. If the
Company had succeeded in overcoming 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 would have obtained prompt support
from the Imperial Government, though in view of recent
events in East Africa this is doubtful. In this way the
British sphere might have extended across the heart of
the Sudan from the Nile to the Niger, and included
one of the most desirable sections of the continent.
The Lake Chad region is one of the great centres of
the traffic 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 some years to come.
The most rational solution of the problem as be- Their
tween England and France would appear to have been between
m

France and

the continuation of the Say-Barrua line eastward from England.
Lake Chad ; though here again we are met with the
difficulty that thus Wadai would have been 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.
But here, as elsewhere in Central Africa, the course German
wedge

of events compelled a compromise.
While French towards
agents were forcing their way from the west and the
south behind the British sphere, with Lake Chad as their
goal, well-equipped expeditions from the Cameroons
made their way to the Upper Benue with a similar

300

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

object. This activity on the part of France and Germany
rendered inaction on the part of England impossible.
The Niger Company, however willing, had not the
means to proceed eastwards from Sokoto and take
possession of the states on the south and east of Lake
Chad ; while on the other side the advance from British
East Africa had stopped at Uganda, the Congo Free
State forces had planted themselves on the Upper Nile,
and Darfur seemed as far out of the range of practical
enterprise as Khartum.
It was clear, then, that an
understanding with regard to the extensive area lying
between the Cameroons and the Mobangi on the one
side and the Central Sudan on the other, was inevitable.
England's business was to safeguard the sphere of the
Royal Niger Company on the one side, and the extension of British East Africa to the region watered by
the Western Nile tributaries on the other. This latter
region was secured to Great Britain so far as Germany
was concerned by the Anglo-German agreement of
July 1890. Naturally, therefore, it seemed as if she
was a much safer neighbour than France to have between the West and East African British spheres. It
was considered, then, an excellent stroke of policy to
hand over the whole of this intervening region to
Germany and leave her to deal with the French agents
who were making their way through the British sphere
on the west and behind the German sphere on the
south. This policy was given effect to in the agreement between Great Britain and Germany, signed at
Berlin 15th November 1893.
Previous agreements in 1885, 1886, 1890, and

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER

301

1893 had defined the boundary between the German Rearrange.
ment with

and the British spheres from the Rio del Rey to the Germany.
" rapids " of the Cross River in Old Calabar. By the
new agreement the boundary between the rapids and
Yola on the Benue is formed by a straight line, except
that a territory around Yola and on the left bank of
the Benue, bounded by the arc of a circle, having for its
radius a line drawn from the centre of Yola to a point
on the Benue three miles below the mouth of the Faro,
is assigned to the British sphere. From the point on
the Benue the boundary follows a straight line to the
intersection of the 1 oth parallel and the 13th meridian.
Thence it is continued to the southern shore of Lake
Chad, which it is supposed to strike in longitude 14 0 E.,
cutting sections off both Adamawa and Bornu, which
is unfortunate. The territories to the east of this line
were recognised as within the German sphere, but " it
is agreed that the influence of Germany, in respect
to her relations with Great Britain, shall not extend
eastwards beyond the basin of the river Shari, and that
Darfur, Kordofan, and Bahr-el-Ghazal, as defined in
the map published in October 1891 by Justus Perthes,
shall be excluded from her influence, even if affluents of
the Shari shall be found to lie within them."
This, then, seemed definitely to settle the difficulty France
which the Royal Niger Company had continually to yond the
face through the enterprise of French agents, so far at |°^redis
least as the eastern limits of its territories were con- GhazaL
cerned. The enormous concession to Germany confirmed the friendship which England had sought to
maintain from the beginning of the African enterprises

302

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of the former. Naturally France was indignant at the
march which had been stolen upon her, and at the
apparently successful attempt which had been made by
Great Britain to checkmate her designs upon the
Central Sudan States. But she was not prepared to
quietly accept the new arrangement. In Africa, it will
have been seen, France and Germany have always been
most accommodating to each other, and in the present
instance Germany was as generous as she had been on
previous occasions. Germany and France like Germany
and England had their unsettled frontier questions.
No satisfactory arrangement had ever been come to
with respect to the eastern boundary of the Cameroons.
France proposed, in 1890, the 15 th degree of east
longitude, but this was rejected by Germany. Meantime, as has been seen, French expeditions were busy
making their way from the French Congo by the
Hinterland of the Cameroons towards the Shari. The
advantage gained by Germany in the arrangement with
Great Britain, placed the former in a position to induce
France to come to terms with respect to the Cameroons
boundaries. She had no hesitation in bribing France
with a large block of the territory secured to her by
the agreement of November 1893, and she cannot be
blamed for preferring her own interests to those of
England, even though in doing so she did the latter a
somewhat unfriendly turn. By a convention signed at
Berlin on 4th February 1894, the block of territory
acquired by Germany in accordance with the arrangement above referred to, was divided into two parts ;
the western section, fortunately for the Niger Company,

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER

303

was retained by Germany, while the eastern section was
made over to France. Thus France becomes the
neighbour of England on the extreme western borders
of the latter's East African sphere, all along the line,
from Darfur on the north to Bahr-el-Ghazal on the
south. For a glance at a map will show that no other
Power is likely to seek a footing in the enormous area
which Germany has left to French enterprise. Accordto the Convention of February 1894, Germany retains
a considerable stretch on the south shore of Lake Chad.
The boundary between the German and French spheres German
share

in this region begins at the mouth of the Shari and oameroons
#

^

ascends the river to latitude io° N. It then follows
the 10th parallel westwards to the meridian of Bifara,
a village at the head of the navigation of the Mayo
Kebbi, one of the headstreams of the Benue. That
place, as well as Lame to the south-east of it, is allotted
to France. From Lame the boundary continues southeast to the intersection of the parallel of 8° 30' N., and
the meridian of 15 0 E. of Greenwich. It then follows
that meridian, with very slight modification, and with a
deflection so as to include Kunde in the French sphere,
as far as 4 0 N. latitude, when it strikes south-east to the
Sangha, a navigable tributary of the Congo, at a point
18^- miles to the north of where it crosses the parallel
of 20 0 N. It then follows the parallel west for a short
distance, when it turns south and follows the old
southern boundary of the German sphere, to the Rio
Campos on the coast. This gives Germany a compact and
easily managed territory of 188,000 square miles, with
internal water communications on the Sangha, the Benue

extension.

304

wadai.

Rabaiim

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

and Lake Chad, a territory, moreover, which with enterprise is capable of being turned to good account.
The last ten years have taught us that there is no
finality in the partition of Africa. To all appearance
by the arrangement referred to, France has realised her
dream of uninterrupted territory from the Congo to the
Mediterranean. As has been stated, there seems no
probability of any other Power seeking to intrude into
the territory to the east of the long line just defined.
The most powerful and most important of all the
central Sudan States, Wadai, is not expressly mentioned
in these agreements ; nor can it be fairly held to lie
east of the line of the Shari. France could not complain if another Power forestalled her in this desirable
State ; though so long as she shows no intention of
impinging on the recognised sphere of her neighbours,
it is not probable that any effort she may make to
secure a footing in the intractable state will be interfered with. If we may judge from what France has
done in West Africa during her many years of occupancy, it will be a long time before she does anything
to tap and develop the resources of the vast area in
Central Africa on which she has set her seal. So far
as the Central Sudan is concerned, the outlet of its trade
has till recently been mainly across the desert to the
Mediterranean.
It will probably continue to be so
to some extent, though the Niger Company and the
French on the Upper Niger may divert some of it
to the Atlantic Ocean.
This seems the appropriate place to refer to certain

Bagirmi

andBornu. facts which complicate the problem of the introduction

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

305

of European influence into these Central Sudan States.
On the defeat of the forces of Suleiman in the Egyptian
Sudan, by Gordon's lieutenant, Gessi Pasha, in 1879,
Rabah, one of Suleiman's officers, fled to the NiamNiam country, accompanied by a considerable force of
men trained to fighting in the Sudan.
With these
Rabah seems to have made his way north-westwards to
Bagirmi, which, according to the very trustworthy
reports which have reached the Egyptian war office, he
succeeded in conquering. Rabah, indeed, would appear
to have become the dominant power in the Central
Sudan, greatly increasing his forces by additions from
among the natives whose country he conquered. So
powerful, indeed, did he become that, according to
report, he defeated the Sultan of Wadai himself, and
even conquered Bornu where, according to latest reports,
he is settled. The success of any attempt on the part
of a European Power to establish its influence in this
part of Africa would greatly depend on the attitude of
Rabah.
There is reason to believe that so far as
Bornu is concerned, Rabah is on friendly terms with
the Niger Company, and doubtless the Company knows
how to take advantage of this to confirm its hold on
the Chad State. The southern shore of the lake itself,
it will have been seen, is divided among the three great
African Powers.
As a sequel to the agreement of 1890, France has The French
had no hesitation in including on her maps of Africa sanaran
Sudan.

the bulk of the Sahara desert as within her sphere.
From the south-west corner of Algeria her cartographers
draw a straight line south-west to Cape Blanco, thereby
x

3o6

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

ignoring the Spanish claims over Adrar. Even if the
line 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
line 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 a million square miles. It should also
be noted that in drawing the western line the comparatively 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 included in Southern Algeria.
What is France to do with this enormous area of
desert ? For though recent explorations have corrected prevailing notions of the nature of the Sahara,
there is no doubt that, with the exception of an oasis
here and there, the million 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

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE NIGER

307

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 A Transhas been taken up again with renewed vigour. There railway.
have been various preliminary surveys to the south
of Algeria, and three main schemes have been advanced, 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 ^ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 would
represent the total annual traffic between the Central
Sudan and the Mediterranean countries west of
Egypt
Ostrich feathers and gum are the main
exports ; gold has long ago disappeared. As to slaves
the authentic figures, and they are very old, were for
Tripoli alone, about 400,000. A railway might in
time succeed in increasing the demand for European
goods, encouraging the development of the resources of

3o8

French

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the Sudan, and suppressing slavery. And if France is
chivalrous and confiding enough to construct a railway
with such prospects in view, it will not be for the British
Company on the Niger to complain, since it could do
them nothing but good. At any rate, at least part of

aspirations

partially
realised.

French

the dream of France has been realised : now she can
7

march over French territory from the Mediterranean to
the Congo. M. Henri Schirmer, in his masterly work
on the Sahara, declares emphatically that the Royal
Niger Company has fared far better than France in
recent delimitations, that the region north of Chad and
the Niger bend is worthless ; that the most hopeful of
the territories left to France are south of the bend.
It would thus seem as if a Trans-Saharan railway were
unnecessary, and that at least for a long time to come
the Niger and the Senegal would be the natural routes
for the commerce of the Central Sudan.
But French dreams are not confined to the construe-

railway

dreams.

tion of railways for the purpose of drawing the commerce
of the Sudan down to the French ports on the Mediterranean. 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
entrepot at St. Louis. This is a fair sample of the

THE

STRUGGLE

FOR THE

NIGER

309

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 colonisation propresent knowledge goes, is that of establishing colonies jects.
of thousands of French peasants and small farmers in
the great bend of the Niger, in Mossi, and other " kingdoms," 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 reeard to the administration of the French French administra-

territories in West Africa, it may be regarded as, with tion in
J

°

'

West

few exceptions, purely military, though to some extent Africanominally civil.
In the " colonies" of Senegal and
Rivieres du Sud there are a few places which are
classed as " pays possedes," consisting of a few communes and " territoires " — t h e 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 insignificant. 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 proteges," including such

3io

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 Superieur." In 1892 it was accorded
a political autonomy, a necessary consequence of its
administrative autonomy, which had existed since
1 8 8 7 ; and in the end of 1893 a civil governor was
appointed to take the place of the military commandant,
mainly for the purpose of discouraging the irregular
military expeditions which were being carried out by
individual officers on their own initiative. The French
Sudan 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 France's
occupation—where it exists—of the immense territory
claimed by her is so far almost purely military,
involving an annual expenditure on the part of the
mother country of about half a million sterling. At
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, Sego and Bissandugu, as well as at Timbuktu, and in the country between the Niger and

THE

STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

311

Senegal—forts have been built, European houses have
been erected, the natives have gathered round in increasing 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 established 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 Spanish
0

.

J

.

referred to, it may be said that they cover a district
along the coast from Cape Bojador to Cape Blanco,
or about 500 miles.
A protectorate was proclaimed
in 1883, and a factory was placed on the peninsula at
Rio d'Oro. But the suspicious Sheik of the country
would not permit the Spanish agents to leave the
coast, and would only consent to a treaty of friendship
with Spain. A French mission sent to Adrar was
scarcely more successful. The Sheik declined to see
the French Agent, though it is stated he signed a
treaty of protection. The interior limits are now the
subject of negotiations between France and Spain.
But Spanish authorities maintain that according to the
treaties which have been made with the Sultans of
Adrar and neighbouring territories, the southern limit
extends inland some 600 miles towards Timbuktu, and
the northern limit 420 miles from the coast towards
Tenduf. These distances, however, have been reduced
by France to considerably less than half. The total
area within the extreme limits is about 250,000 square
miles,—mostly sand, not worth contending for.

claims.

312

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

In virtue of treaties said to have been made in the
fifteenth century, Spain claims a spot on the west coast
of Morocco, near Cape Nun, known as Santa Cruz de
Mar Pequefia, in the bay of Ifni. Here a fort was
constructed in 1883 and the flag of Spain raised over
station
*" F a t t i e r south, at Cape Juby, Mr. Donald Mackenzie,
**
in name of the North-west Africa Company, established
in 1878, a trading station or factory. In spite of
hostilities on the part of the natives, the British factory
still remains, though it has never been recognised by
the British Government.
Position of
Such, then, is the present position of the struggle
tno tnrco

Powers.

between the three great Powers for supremacy in the
region watered by the Niger and the countries grouped
around Lake Chad.
So far England has not fared
badly.
She possesses the whole of the navigable
portion of the lower river and most of its great tributary
the Benue. Some of the richest countries, covering
about half a million square miles, are already within
the Niger Company's sphere; while Captain Lugard,
who has done so much for British interests in East
Africa, was sent out by the Niger Company in the
summer of 1894 to look after its interests in the
large region still left untouched by French treaties.
He succeeded, among other things, in making fresh
treaties confirming those which had already been concluded by the Niger Company with Borgu. Germany,
as has been seen, has extended her sphere from
the Cameroons to Lake Chad, and her boundaries
in this direction, being finally settled, she may, without distraction, devote her energies and resources

THE STRUGGLE

FOR THE NIGER

313

to the development of her compact block of territory.
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.

CHAPTER

XVII

GERMAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA
German South-west Africa—Boundary from Portuguese territory—Delimitation between the German and British spheres in South-west Africa
—Chiefs refractory—The resources of South-west Africa—Swakop a
seaport—Rumours of abandonment—Anglo-German Company—
The Cameroons—Delimitations : with England ; with France—Administration—Exploration and development of the country—Togoland
—Its development—Delimitation—The German sphere in Africa.

German

F O R various reasons German progress in East Africa

South-west

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
that both the Home Government and the Cape had to

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN WEST

AFRICA

315

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 appointed to settle details as to frontiers and individual
rights. The Commission completed its work in September 1885. By the British memorandum of 24th
December 1884 it n a < i virtually been conceded that no
objection would be raised to Germany extending her
sphere in South-west Africa as far east as 20 0 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, endeavoured 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 Boundary
from

1886 the river Cunene was recognised as the boundary Portuguese
0

J

between Portuguese West Africa and German South-

territory.

316

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

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 Zambezi. In this arrangement 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.
DeiimitaIt was only in the Anglo-German agreement of
tweenthe July 1800 that the final delimitation between German
German

#

and British South - west Africa

and

British South

Africa

was

spheres in

A°fric^west 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 0 E. long. The 20th degree
is followed northwards, as the eastern boundary, as far
as 22 0 S. lat, along which the line runs to 2 1 0 E. long.
That degree is followed northwards until 18 0 S. lat. is
reached, and along this the boundary runs eastwards as

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN

WEST

AFRICA

317

far as the river Chobe, which river is followed until it
discharges itself into the Zambezi, 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, with 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 Walfish Bay were left to be
determined by a Joint Commission, which has so far
taken no steps to solve the problem.
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 German protection, and since then he has on
more than one occasion endeavoured to cancel his
consent. Other small chiefs could only be induced to
come into the fold after troublesome negotiations.
One powerful chief, Hendrik Wittboi, has proved
specially refractory, and the acting commissioner,
Lieutenant Von Francois, had several serious engagements with him. So difficult, indeed, was it found
to subdue the chief, that in the end of 1893 Von
Frangois was superseded by another commissioner, who
in the summer of 1894 succeeded in inducing Wittboi
to surrender. Thus one great obstacle to progress has

318

There-

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

been removed. Petty wars between the various tribes
of Damaras and Namaquas are almost constantly going
on, and are embittered by religious fanaticism. But
with the strong military force at the command of the
Germans, all these disturbing influences must be
suppressed.
The claims of British concessionnaires
caused considerable trouble for a time, and in 1892
were declared invalid by the German Government.
Although the country itself, in the ten years during
which German enterprise has been at work, has not
fulfilled the glowing expectations which were formed
when the first announcement of its annexation was
made, it is by no means the hopeless desert which some
reports made it out to be.
Herr Liideritz, of course, soon found that without

sources of

south-west assistance he himself could never do much to develop
Africa.

r

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 exploration 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

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN

WEST

AFRICA

319

that we have now a very complete idea of the
character and resources of Germany's first colony.
Though not highly encouraging, at the same time, the
observations of competent explorers, and the experiments made by German settlers, prove that with capital
and industry the country may be made to yield a fair
return to the farmers and ranchemen.
Very precise
observations as to rainfall, water supply, and the
character of the soil have been collected, which will
form a safe guide to intelligent enterprise. German
farmers might find a home in the higher regions of the
interior, but only in small numbers ; as a field for
European emigration Damaraland and Namaqualand
are of limited capacity.
But judging from the progress
which has been made in ten years under considerable
disadvantage and mismanagement, this earliest of
the German colonies might be turned to fairly good
account. In the southern portion agriculture, except
in one or two favoured spots, is impossible. In the
north, on the other hand, where both water supply
and rainfall are more plentiful, various products could
be grown with advantage.
Over the whole country
the rainfall is deficient, but not to such an extent
as was at one time believed; precise observations
show that even in the south enough falls in most
years to encourage a system of storage. Cattle and
sheep can be reared over nearly the whole of the colony,
and a profitable trade is carried on towards Bechuanaland and other countries in South Africa.
With
proper means of transit the export of wool might
be conducted with profit. At present there is a limited

THE PARTITION

swakop

OF AFRICA

trade by sea in cattle and wool with Cape Colony, and
the country lying to the north of the German territory
as far as the Congo. The sea-trade is likely to increase,
as it is contemplated to arrange for the visits of
German steamers several times a year. Until recently
the only harbour was the British port of Walfish Bay,
which somewhat hampered German operations. But in
1893 a practicable port was discovered near to Swakop

a seaport.

Mouth, in German territory, the access to the interior
being, moreover, easier than from Walfish Bay.
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. 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
country, and published his detailed results in a volume
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 circumstances. 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

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN WEST

AFRICA

cut in twain. The trade with the natives also amounted
to nothing from the beginning, for the natives possessed
nothing to give in exchange for the goods offered."
But subsequent investigations have shown that probably Dr. Schinz's estimate was somewhat too desponding. Not only has copper been found in various
places, but also lead and gold, both quartz and alluvial;
but the two latter in such small quantities so far that
at present they are not of practical account. Other
minerals have been found, but only in small quantities.
The mineral resources of German South-west Africa
cannot at present be reckoned a valuable asset.
At various times there have been rumours that Rumours of
_
.
abandonGermany would be glad to get rid of her not very ment.
promising colony. As an appendage of a settled and
progressive and comparatively populous country like
Cape Colony, this region might be turned to some
account, as a source of food supply. But as an independent colony with a large administrative staff, only
moderately suited for white settlement, with a scanty
native population constantly engaged in inter-tribal
wars, it must for long prove an expensive luxury.
Negotiations were on more than one occasion 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
was effected 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 was sent out from England in the autumn
Y

322

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

Angloof 1892 for the purpose of prospecting and initiating
company. s t e p s for the development of what resources the country
possesses. This prospecting expedition did good work;
and its reports as to the minerals and ranching capacities of the country are on the whole favourable.
One party has been prospecting for a railway, and
with such a means of communication between the
coast and the interior there is no doubt that the development of the country would receive a great impetus.
The Company, under the name of the Anglo-German
South-east African Company, with Mr. George Cawston
as Chairman, was floated in January 1895. Among
other projects, it aims at the construction of a railway
from the west coast right across country to Matabeleland, a project which could hardly commend itself to
Mr. Rhodes and the Cape Colonists, and which, it is
believed, they have the power to block. Some other
companies and syndicates have been formed and are
at work, so that on the whole the prospects of Germany's premier colony are more promising than they
were three or four years ago. There are altogether
about 1200 whites in the colony, including 300 troops.
The Germans number about 620 and the English
about 270. The value of the total exports in 1893
is estimated at about ^ 7 0 0 0 , and the imports ^50,000.
The administrative centre of the colony is GrossWindhoek, some distance in the interior from Walfish
Bay.
Several good buildings, public and private,
have been erected here. When the best is said, it
must be admitted that in a country whose agricultural
capabilities are limited, which has powerful com-

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN

WEST

AFRICA

323

petition in cattle-rearing, whose mining resources are
doubtful, 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, progress must
be slow. Still it should be remembered that the colony
abuts for one hundred miles on the Zambezi, 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 more hopeful region of the The
Cameroons. It was found that, by the time the Berlin
Congress met, Germany was fairly in possession here,
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 middlemen just behind the coast who had been in the habit of
tapping the interior trade, were to some extent reconciled to the German suzerainty. But these middlemen
continued to show reluctance in giving up their profitable calling, and even at a recent date considerable
firmness had to be manifested in dealing with them. It
is to be regretted that the German officials have in
the Cameroons occasionally exhibited great want of tact
in dealing with the natives, and especially with the
imported native troops. This led in 1893-94 to some
manifestations of rebellion, which was repressed by the
Commissioner by measures of extreme cruelty, that led
to his recall. No European can in this respect afford to
cast a stone at another, though it must be said that

324

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

German officials have often shown an uncompromising harshness in their method of dealing with the
natives.
DeiimitaOn either side Germany had England and France as
tions:

with

.

.

her neighbours, the former, it will be remembered, having
been just in time to secure the Oil Rivers. A provisional
arrangement 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 in the 1890
agreement that each Power would 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 left the whole of the country of Adamawa
within the German sphere, but the precise delimitation be-

England;

tween the British and German spheres was only arranged
by the agreement of December 1893. The terms of the
last agreement have already been given in the chapter
on the " Struggle for the Niger." In brief, it leaves Yola
within the British sphere. The dividing line starting a
few miles east of Yola runs in a north north-east direction
to the south shore of Lake Chad, shutting off the Royal
Niger Company from all advance eastwards.
Great
Britain indeed agreed to leave Germany a free hand in
the whole region eastwards to the watershed between
the Nile and the Shari, but as has been shown in the

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN WEST

AFRICA

325

chapter referred to, Germany made over the greater
portion of this to France.
With France, Germany had no difficulty in making
an arrangement as to the southern boundary of her
newly-acquired territory.
On December 24, 1885,
an arrangement 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 0 east longitude. Although the two
Powers undertook not to make acquisitions beyond
the line thus fixed as far as 15 0 E., no stipulations were
made as to acquisitions on the east of this ; just as
Germany did not undertake in dealing with England not
to press to the north of the Benue east of Yola. As a
matter of fact, the arrangement between France and the
Congo Free State implied that the former might come
behind the German sphere as far north at least as 4 0 N.
latitude, which indeed she has done, and has had no
hesitation in endeavouring to continue her Congo territory north to the shores of Lake Chad; and her
efforts have been successful. By the agreement between with
Germany and France of February 1894 (referred to in
the chapter on the Niger) the Hinterland of the
Cameroons has been definitely defined. In the south
it goes as far as the Sangha tributary of the Congo,
beyond the 16th degree E., then starts north-westwards
to 4 0 N. latitude, at the intersection of 15 ° E. Thence
the boundary runs along this degree to 8° 30' N. latitude,
when it slopes N. W. to the Mayo Kebbi tributary of the
Benue at the village of Bifara ; thence north to the
10th parallel and eastwards till it meets the Shari,

326

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

which becomes the boundary between French and
German territory till it joins Lake Chad. Thus all
boundary disputes have been settled between France
and Germany in this region, and the latter is free
to devote her attention to the development of the
Cameroons.
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. Finally, 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 ^ 4 0 0 0 to the Missionary Society.
Administration.

E a r l y in 1885 Bismarck, in spite of t h e 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
considerable staff of officials, was appointed, and all the
machinery of government after German methods established.
A series of ordinances was promulgated,
imposing dues and taxes of various kinds, and especially levying very heavy duties on the import of spirits.
Notwithstanding the express request of Prince Bismarck,
the traders in the Cameroons shrank from forming themselves into a corporation for regulating local affairs, so
that the Governor had to take cognisance of local as

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN WEST

AFRICA

327

well as of more general matters of government. The
total area included in the Cameroons, taking in the
recently acquired territory up to Lake Chad, is about
188,000 square miles, 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 populated 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 at first found all their efforts to open up
the interior barred by those tribes which inhabit the districts 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, Von Stettin,
Uechtritz and Passarge. These expeditions, as is usual
with such German enterprises, were partly military and
partly exploratory. In attempting to break through
the cordon of middlemen, serious disasters happened to
the first expedition under Lieutenant Kund. However,
Germany meant to succeed, and in a 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 Barombi, on Elephant Lake, to
the north of Cameroons Mountains; and at Bali, on
the plateau far in the interior, towards the Benue, in a
region of rich grass land, with abundance of trees.

328

Expiora-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Germany, like France, had her eye on Lake Chad,

tion and

developmentofthe

country,

and large sums were voted by the Reichstag for the
&

J

*=»

purpose of extending German influence to that lake.
An expedition under Dr. ZintgrafT and Lieutenant
Morgen, accompanied by a military force and representatives 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
Morgen had to make the best of his way down the
Benue. Later expeditions have been more fortunate ;
that under Von Stettin penetrated to Yola and made
treaties that enabled Germany to deal on advantageous
terms both with England and France. Equally successful has been the expedition under Uechtritz and Passarge
in the opposite direction, resulting in valuable additions to
a knowledge of the capabilities of the country. Germany
has succeeded in firmly securing her influence, not only
on the coast but at many important points in the interior,
for notwithstanding the fighting that has taken place
there have been no " atrocities" on the German side.
It has been a "fair stand-up fight" between Germans
and natives in which, although there have been defeats
and losses, the Europeans have on the whole prevailed.
What can be 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 the development of tropical Africa. But it
may be worth noticing that besides the Cameroons
Mountains there are several heights that rise above the

GERMAN PROGRESS IN WEST AFRICA

329

plateau in 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 British subjects continues to be carried on and
increased by their German successors. The German
" Plantagen-Gesellschaft" and other associations, as well
as private traders, have established plantations of cocopalms, cacao, tobacco, sugar, cotton, and other cultures,
some of which at least have given successful results.
Cacao especially promises to form a culture of great
commercial value, and even the natives are taking to it.
Coffee, it is hoped, will succeed in the higher grounds. The
staple exports, however, are still the natural products of
the country, including ivory, skins and gums. The palmoil and palm-kernel trade is so far the most lucrative,
though even yet British vessels do as much trade in
this as is done by German vessels. The total exports
are valued at ^230,000, and the imports at about the
same.
Instead of 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 experimental stations and botanical gardens give
an air of civilisation to the country. The total number
of whites in 1894 was about 230, of which 153 were
German, 37 English, 19 Swedes, 16 Americans, and
4 Swiss. The number included 44 officials, 90 merchants, and 40 missionaries.
Altogether, the Cameroons is one of the most pros-

33o

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

perous and promising of German colonies, thanks partly
to the energy and administrative skill of its first governor
(for five years), Baron von Soden. Its revenue, which in
1890 was 290,000 marks (which had to be supplemented by a grant from the mother country of twice
that amount), is estimated for 1894-95 at 610,000 marks,
with no subsidy from Government. Unlike France 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.
Togoiand.
Of all the German colonies in Africa t h e little block
of some 16,000 square miles (in its greatest e x t e n t )
on t h e Gold Coast, k n o w n as T o g o i a n d , h a s so far been
decidedly t h e most prosperous. I t will b e remembered
t h a t it was t h e first spot on which D r . Nachtigal raised
the G e r m a n flag. A l r e a d y considerable trade was
established on t h e coast. I t forms one of t h e highways
to a n d from t h e thickly-populated portion of t h e Sudan.
It is of limited extent, with a population roughly estimated at 500,000.
N o e x p e n d i t u r e for formidable
military expeditions into t h e interior h a s been necessary,
while its administration is simple a n d inexpensive.
It
is placed under an Imperial Commissioner, with some
sixteen other officials ; unlike t h e other colonies it h a s
a local council consisting of representatives of t h e merchants. A n armed police force of thirty negroes is
sufficient t o maintain order. T h e country is capable of
growing almost a n y tropical products, while t h e forests
abound in oil palms, caoutchouc a n d other woods ;
though so far t h e commerce is almost entirely a barter

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN WEST

AFRICA

331

trade for palm - oil and palm-kernels. According to
latest statistics there are 73 Europeans, including
officials, in Togoland.
Of these 19 are officials,
63 are Germans, and 32 are engaged in trade representing thirteen European firms, with twenty - four
factories.
There are besides four native firms with
five factories. There are 22 missionaries. Nearly one
hundred vessels, of about 100,000 tons, call at the
ports of the colony in the course of the year.
Togoland has about thirty-five miles of coast, and is its development,
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
Frangois, 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. There
are several trading stations on the coast, and the seat
of administration is at Sebbe, near the eastern boundary
of the colony, at the head of a creek some distance
from the coast. There is no great entrepdt as in Lagos
or Accra, each tribe having its own trade centre. The

332

Deiimita

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

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. Good caravan
roads have been made in various directions. The total
commerce of the colony is valued at ^280,000, of which
about £ 160,000 stand for exports. But the duties levied
in 1894 more than paid the expenses of administration.
The German Togoland Company, founded in 1888 with
a view both to commercial operations and to the establishment of plantations, has already been successful in
both directions ; experimental stations are at work in
several localities. It is expected that in time coffee
will become a product of great commercial importance,
while the coco-palm is very extensively planted, so that
in time coco-nuts and copra may figure among the
exports.
Maize is extensively cultivated, and most
European vegetables can be grown.
it was only by the Anglo-German Agreement of
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 i° i o / E. longitude.
The boundary runs north a short distance to 6° i o '
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°
i o / N. latitude, where it reaches a neutral zone agreed
upon in 1888* This leaves the populous market town

GERMAN

PROGRESS

IN

WEST

AFRICA

333

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 0 N. latitude,
it remains for future negotiations 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 0 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 practically 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
populous enough and its resources abundant enough to
yield a good return to modest commercial enterprise.
Even in these days of steam and telegraph ten The German sphere

years is too short a period on which to base any pro- m Africa,
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 barely got beyond the Sturm und Drang
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

334

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 ten 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—Witu—Hesitations of British Government—Kirk's efforts—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—Uganda entered—Communications—A rail way—
British occupation of Uganda—Government and Uganda — Captain
Lugard — Treaty with King of Uganda — Lugard extends British
occupation westwards—Trouble in Uganda—The Company decide
to abandon Uganda—Action of the Government—Portal's mission—
Strife of religious parties—British protectorate—March to Wadelai—
Government compromise—Intermediate area east under Zanzibar—
Coast strip—Witu country reverts to Zanzibar—Railway postponed—
Congo State push to Nile—French expeditions to Mobangi—Congo
State leases Lake area from Britain—France objects—France pushes
Nile-wards—Congo-British agreement cancelled—Germany protests—
England's position—Work accomplished by the Company—British
protectorate in Zanzibar and Pemba.

I N a previous chapter it has been necessary to make pass- Former
ing reference to the British sphere in East Africa in deal- Engiand°at
.

ing with German enterprise in the same region. The
history of British and German annexations in East Africa
has had so much in common that this was inevitable, and
it may not be possible altogether to avoid traversing part
at least of the common ground again. The long and
intimate relations of England with Zanzibar have been
sufficiently dwelt upon. The premature offer of the Sultan
in 1877 to lease the whole of his territories, except the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, to Sir William Mackinnon,
has been referred to, as also his virtual offer to Great
Britain of a protectorate over his dominions in 1881.

Zanzibar.

336

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Not even the Earl of Beaconsfield's imperialism was
equal to such an opportunity in the one case, much
less that of Earl Granville in the other.
Without
the support of the British Government, Sir William
Mackinnon naturally declined to undertake so serious
a responsibility. It was he who in 1872, as Chairman
of the British India Steam Navigation Company,
connected Zanzibar with India and Europe by a regular
line of mail steamers. By that time German commercial,
if not imperial, enterprise had found a field at Zanzibar.
German houses had established agencies there, and the
cheap goods they placed in the market did much to
interfere with British trade; the Blue Books presented
to Parliament between 1880 and 1885 contain frequent
reference to the growing influence of Germany at
Zanzibar. It was not, however, as has been seen, till
1884 that serious alarm was felt, though five years
before that Sir Bartle Frere expressed anxiety concerning German designs in Africa. The watchful Sir John
Kirk, moreover, whose influence was then supreme at the
Court of the Sultan, did his best to arouse an incredulous
Government. The mild remonstrances of Lord Granville
with respect to the mission of Dr. Rohlfs have been
referred to in a preceding chapter; and also the
expedition under Count Pfeil and Dr. Peters, which
effected the first annexations for Germany in East
Africa. That was in the beginning of 1885. Then
began that long correspondence between the Foreign
Offices of London and Berlin, which placed England in
a somewhat humiliating position.
The poor Sultan
Burghash awoke to the fact that the irresistible Germans

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

337

threatened to annex every scrap of land which he claimed
on the continent of Africa ; for it must be borne in mind
that he regarded himself as sovereign of all East Africa
as far as Lake Tanganyika, his claims to which were mentioned at the Berlin Conference. Once more the Sultan
appealed to Sir William Mackinnon, and besought him
by telegraph to accept a concession which would enable
a British Company to occupy and work the limited
sphere thus reserved to British influence. Mr. H. H.
Johnston, it will be remembered, had obtained from
chiefs on Kilimanjaro and Taveta documents which
might be regarded as giving concessions of territory.
These rights Mr. Johnston made over to a Manchester
merchant; and this may be regarded as the basis or
starting-point of the British East Africa Company.
The famous despatch of Lord Granville to Sir E. initiation
Malet, the British representative at Berlin, of 25th May British
c

J

East Africa

1885, has been already referred to ; but we may quote company,
its actual words here, as they are full of significance.
" I have to request your Excellency to state that the supposition that Her Majesty's Government have no intention
of opposing the German scheme of colonisation in the
neighbourhood of Zanzibar is absolutely correct. Her
Majesty's Government, on the contrary, view with favour
these schemes, the realisation of which will entail the civilisation of large tracts over which hitherto no European
influence has been exercised, the co-operation of Germany
with Great Britain in the work of the suppression of
the slave-gangs, and the encouragement of the efforts
of the Sultan both in the extinction of the slave-trade
and in the commercial development of his dominions.
Z

338

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

" I should wish your Excellency, while speaking in
this sense to the Chancellor, to inform him that a
scheme has been started in this country under which, if
it is realised, the efforts of German enterprise may be
supported indirectly by British enterprise. You will
explain that some prominent capitalists have originated
a plan for a British settlement in the country between
the coast and the Lakes which are the sources of the
White Nile, and for its connection with the coast by a
railway. In order to obtain fair security for their outlay,
they propose to endeavour to procure concessions from
the Sultan of a comprehensive character. Her Majesty's
Government have the scheme under their consideration,
but they would not support it unless they were fully
satisfied that every precaution were taken to ensure
that it should in no way conflict with the interests of
the territory that has been taken under German protectorate, nor affect that of the Sultan's dominions lying
between that territory and the sea. Their wish would
be to avoid any clashing of interests such as might have
taken place, had it not been averted, on the Gulf of
Guinea. For this reason they wish at once to inform
Prince Bismarck of the existence of the scheme before
taking any steps respecting it, in order that he may at
once satisfy himself of their earnest wish to avoid the
possibility of misunderstanding by frank explanations."
This despatch was written a little more than a year
after Germany had taken the first step towards the
acquisition of foreign possessions, by planting her foot
on African soil at Angra Pequefia. It is indicative of
the radical change that had taken place in the British

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

339

Government towards German colonial enterprise on the
one hand, and to the extension of British influence in
Africa on the other. Within these few months the
Imperial spirit in England had acquired an enormous
expansion ; it had been recognised that at last Africa's
turn for partition had come, and that it was to the
interest of the British Empire that she should acquire
a fair share of the spoil
So far Germany had only asserted claims to a few of Extent of
«

.

.

.

.

.

~

.«

. t h e sui-

the native states in the interior opposite Zanzibar, and tan's terri«
.

. .

.

well to the south of the Pangani river and Kilimanjaro,
and acknowledged by treaty the Sultan's right to collect
duty on the products of these countries on arrival at the
coast. She recognised the rights of the Sultan over
some thirty points on the coast from Tungi Bay on the
south, to Warsheikh on the north, where the Sultan
had established forts or custom-houses ; the intervening
spaces Germany declared were independent, though in
the end, as has been seen, the Chancellor conceded to
the Sultan a ten-mile strip of coast between the points
named, and immediate control over the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia. The elaborate memorandum
already referred to, showing some acquaintance with the
history of Muscat and Zanzibar, and of the relations
of the British Government with both, endeavoured to
prove that in the interior away from the coast the
Sultan was merely a trader, with no more jurisdiction than any other trader. At his custom-houses on
the coast he levied dues on exports from the interior,
and his strong aversion to the abolition of the trade in
slaves was that the dues on this commodity formed the

tories.

34o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

most important part of his revenue. Sir John Kirk,
whose acquaintance with the history of East Africa was
of the most intimate kind, was able to point out many
errors and misconceptions in Prince Bismarck's historical
memorandum, but was not able to shake the claims
based upon it. Lord Granville virtually acknowledged
the justice of Germany's contentions ; England as well
as Germany was left free to treat with the Sultan
and make annexations in the interior. Unfortunately,
future arrangements between the two annexing powers
were, for a time at least, hampered by the declaration of
a German protectorate over the small Sultanate of
Witu, at the mouth of the river Tana, some hundreds
of miles to the north of the region where Dr. Peters
and his friends had initiated German enterprise. The
contention was that the Sultan of Zanzibar had no
claim whatever on Witu, nor indeed, as has been seen,
on the islands of Lamu, Manda, and Patta, which lay off
the Witu coast. Had the German occupation of Witu
been permanent, and the German pretensions to Lamu
and Patta been maintained, British enterprise in East
Africa would have been severely hampered. On the
contrary, if the British secured Lamu and Patta, Wituland was valueless as a German field, being cut off
from ready access to the sea, possessing no harbours
of its own. In this critical stage of the creation of the
British East Africa Company those interested in its
formation were seriously embarrassed by the timidity
of the British Foreign Office. German agents had a
perfectly free hand in making annexations all along
the coast and in the interior, while the British capitalists

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

341

were held back by the Government, in order that no
offence might be given to Prince Bismarck. Happily
for British interests, the course of events compelled
Germany to seek the friendly co-operation of England
in securing German interests on the Zanzibar coast, and
in return she withdrew all claims to any territory to the
north of what ultimately became the British sphere.
Meantime, as has been seen, Germany was securing Hesitations
her position and extending her claims in the region to the Government,
south of Kilimanjaro. In reply to the memorandum
from Lord Granville quoted above, Prince Bismarck could
not say whether the scheme of the British capitalists
somewhat tersely broached by the British Minister
would affect German interests, and therefore would
be " grateful if Lord Granville would defer any decision
with regard to the therein-mentioned projects of English
capitalists " until the German subjects interested showed
what their claims were. The British merchants referred
to were waiting impatiently to begin operations, but
were still kept in check by the Foreign Office, while
their German rivals were extending their operations and
securing a footing in the interior. At an interview
which Count 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
that an understanding rounding off the different territories could always be come to between the two

342

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Governments in a friendly manner, as had recently
been done on the West Coast." It is evident from this
that no active step had been taken on the part of
England to secure 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 Salisbury
on 30th June 1885, the former proposed that " a n impartial commission" should be appointed to delimit " the
true territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar from the country
which was occupied by the subjects of the German
Emperor." This quickly developed 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

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

343

district was swept within the German sphere. A few
days after the Sultan's representative had been at
Kilimanjaro, Dr. Jiihlke, 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
under the protection of Germany.
An international
commission, British, German, and French, was appointed
in the end of 1885, in order to carry out the delimitation of the Sultan's territories. Until the Commission
had concluded its inquiries, the British Government
agreed to allow the scheme to which the attention
of British capitalists had been turned, and which,
it was understood, was based on the concession obtained by Mr. Johnston, to remain in abeyance, though
these capitalists, when the Delimitation Commission had
been appointed, felt desirous of taking some steps to start
their enterprise. While the embryo English Company
was thus restrained from pushing its supposed claims,
and actively entering upon operations, the agents of
the German Company were given a free hand by their
Government on the ground 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 Rosebery, who
succeeded Lord Salisbury at the Foreign Office in
February 1886, and under whom negotiations were
carried on for a few months in that year. He plainly
informed the German Government that if the German

344

TheSuifined! "

OF

AFRICA

agents were not restrained from their advances on
Kilimanjaro he could not restrain the British Company
from sending agents to secure its rights.
The labours of the Joint Commissioners proceeded
J

tan's ternde

THE PARTITION

r

ver

y slowly, and were ended by Germany declaring
that their decision was valid only when unanimous.
The German Commissioner, therefore, had it in his power
to dictate to his colleagues. The labours of the Commissioners 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 arrangement 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.
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
Deiimita- delimitation was to apply extended from the Rovuma
tion of

British and River on the south, to the Tana River on the north.
German

spneres.

The northern boundary followed the Tana River to the

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

345

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 complications, and were for a time a source of trouble to the
British Company. It left not only the country north
of the Tana free to the enterprise of German
subjects, 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
charge of British interests should have consented to an
arrangement which threatened to confine British enterprise 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
England 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
bisecting the country of the important Wadigo 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.
As has been seen,

346

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the whole of the mass of Kilimanjaro was given to
Germany, 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
the despatches was the late Sir William Mackinnon ;
he in conjunction with the late Mr. Hutton of Manchester, 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 misunderstanding 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.
The first Anglo-German agreement, as has been

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

seen, was concluded at the end of 1886.
7

347

Under The British
East Africa

the presidency of Sir William Mackinnon, the British ^ o c i a "
capitalists referred to above, and others, formed themselves into the British East Africa Association, and
set themselves to acquire rights over the territory
which had been rescued from Germany as the British
sphere. Sir William Mackinnon, the founder of steam
communication with Zanzibar, it has already been
seen, had for long been a favourite with Sayyid Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar, and he had no difficulty in
obtaining from the Sultan, under date May 24, 1887,
a concession of the ten-mile strip of coast from the
Umba on the south to Kipini at the mouth of the
Tana River on the north. This concession was to be
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
which 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 considerable number of native chiefs in and beyond the main
concession, which served to complete and extend the
grant made by the Sultan, giving, indeed, to the
Company sovereign rights for a distance of 200 miles
from the coast. With these concessions in their hands
the Association of British capitalists had no hesitation
in approaching Her Majesty's Government praying that
they might be incorporated by Royal Charter as the

348

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Imperial British East Africa Company. There was no
difficulty in obtaining such a charter (September 3,1888),
into the details of which it is unnecessary to enter. It
practically authorised the Company to administer the
territory which had been leased to it by the Sultan, and
any other territories which might be acquired in the future.
British11 ^ ° i m P o r t a n t : s t e P w a s t o be taken without the consent
companyi,Csa °f Her Majesty's Secretary of State ; everything possible
was to be done to develop the territory and suppress
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
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 commercial 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

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

349

farther into the interior. This it had to do also under
the restrictions of the Berlin Act, as regarded the interior,
but not the coast, which it held under concession from
the Sultan, thus leaving it free to levy taxes, as the
Sultan had done, on all goods coming from the interior
irrespective of their origin or destination. This right,
for which the Company continued to pay the Zanzibar
administration in full, was afterwards arbitrarily withdrawn by the British Government, which, without
regard to the rights of the Company, placed the coast
protectorate under the free zone provision of the Berlin
Act.
Obviously for a Company to open up and administer The ooman extensive territory in a continent like Africa, having cult task "
little or no analogies with India, a very considerable
capital would be required, or the country must be of
such a character as would yield a fair return on outlay
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 authorised 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 development have large capital at their command ; expensive 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 Company;
and by its charter it was even prohibited from exercising
any monopoly of trade. It is probable that had the
founders of the Company, with Sir William Mackinnon

35o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

1

at their head, not been to some e x t e n t carried a w a y b y
a patriotic spirit, they would never have cast their m o n e y
into a concern out of which they could hardly expect
to receive a n y return during their own lifetime.
T h e founders subscribed ^ 2 4 0 , 0 0 0 a m o n g them ;
but although the nominal capital was two millions
sterling, the actual capital at t h e c o m m a n d of t h e Comp a n y never a m o u n t e d to half a million sterling.
The comAfter it obtained its charter the C o m p a n y lost no
pa>ny?B

work,

.

.

.

.

-

•

/ * • / *

i

i

time in setting to work to take possession of its field,
to establish an administration, to send out pioneer expeditions, 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 information. The Tana River was known in a general way
up to a certain distance, but its course was very inaccurately 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.
1

The founders and first directors of the Company, whose names were
appended to the petition for the Charter, were Sir William 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
Winton; W. Burdett - Coutts, Esq. ; Alexander L. Bruce, Esq. ; James
M. Hall, Esq. ; Robert P. Harding, Esq.; James F. Hutton, Esq. ;
George S. Mackenzie, Esq. ; Robert Ryrie, Esq.

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

351

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 reputation, would be a great obstacle to the Company's operations. But the Company went to work with promptness
and business-like intelligence. The leading spirit in
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 1888 he found that
Burghash had died, and that his brother Khalifa occupied 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 initial
trouble

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 excessive
anti-slavery zeal of the missionaries had complicated
matters, and greatly irritated the Arab population)

352

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
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 commerce,
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 compromise.
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,
pioneer exFortunately, 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.
Works were
begun which greatly facilitated navigation ; a light
railway was constructed on the island, and suitable

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

353

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
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 influence 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 territory, and the active work of opening up the country
was well begun.
It was not, however, only in the German sphere to Dr. Peters
attempts ft

the south of the Company's territories that the Company outflank
was threatened with difficulties in carrying on its work. PanyThe 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 expeditions were sent out towards the Tana River and the
north-west, Dr. Peters succeeded in evading the British
2A

354

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

vessels which were blockading the coast, and notwithstanding 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
Mahdists at Wadelai on the Upper Nile; Mr. Stanley
had set out (via the Congo) for his rescue in January
1887. 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 early in 1890, where Mtesa's weak son Mwanga
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 paganism. 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 energetic, than the Protestants, had gained
many followers and much influence in the country, and
would naturally 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 ; he succeeded, with the aid of the
Catholic missionaries, 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

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

355

was great when, in the autumn of 1890, having sailed
from Uganda to the south shore of the Lake, he
encountered Emin Pasha, and found not only that the
Pasha was " relieved," but that the British and German
Governments had come to an understanding as to
their respective spheres in East Africa, which rendered
all his efforts to extend German influence of no avail.
By the famous Anglo-German agreement of July Angio-Ger^

- 1

1

1

r

1

1

-managree-

1890, Germany retired completely from the north ofmentof
the line extending from the Umba to the east shore
of the Lake, leaving Witu and all the coast north to
the river Jub (over which she had declared a protectorate) to the operations of the British Company. The
line of delimitation was then carried across Victoria
Nyanza, and from its west shore to the boundary of the
Congo Free State. 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. But there can be no doubt that the Company
was expected to operate and establish British influence
in the sphere allotted to England under the AngloGerman Agreement of 1890, which virtually included a
large section*of Victoria Nyanza, the whole of Uganda
and Unyoro, and part of Karagwe, Lake Albert and

356

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

part of Albert 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, or his Suzerain the
Sultan, might be instigated to put in a claim if British
agents succeeded in effectively occupying it and restoring
its commercial 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.
Emin
Pasha.

Mr. S t a n l e y left E n g l a n d , as has been said, in order
J

b

to carry relief to Emin Pasha at Wadelai, in the beginning 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 1891-92
to reach his old province, but failed. On Mr. Stanley's
route from Lake Albert to the East Coast he made
treaties with the chiefs to the west of the Victoria

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

357

Nyanza, through whose territories he passed, and these
treaties he made over to the British Company. Mr.
Stanley, it is well known, made several offers to Emin,
one being to settle him and his followers in the British
sphere on the north-east of Victoria Nyanza. But
when Emin got into the hands of the Germans he
became completely their man, for the time at least. It
was only for a time. On reaching Lake Albert, accompanied by Dr. Stuhlmann, in 1892, he failed to induce
the Sudanese settled there to join him, and wandering
westwards to the Congo, he was deliberately murdered
by some Arab slave-raiders at Kibange, ten days south
from Stanley Falls, and two days from the river.
Shortly after Dr. Peters left Uganda it was entered The company's
on behalf of the Company by two of its officials, Mr. stations.
r
J
J
'

Uganda

Jackson and Mr. Gedge, 14th April 1890. These very entered,
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. Owing to the representations made
by the French Government when the Emin 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 not to enter Uganda,
and only did so on the invitation of the King and the

358

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

missionaries, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, to
help them to stem the Mohammedan party.
Mr.
Jackson actually declined Mwanga's first invitation,
and it was only after the strongest pressure on the
part of the King, the missionaries, and the chiefs, and
the acceptance by Mwanga of the Company's flag, that he
decided to enter the country. When Dr. Peters heard
of Mr. Jackson's approach, he was greatly irritated, and
beat a precipitate retreat to the south end of the lake,
notwithstanding Mr. Jackson's request by letter that he
would await the arrival of the Company's expedition.
The reports by these early expeditions were of great
service in showing the advantages and 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 were
to be sent for traffic and exploration into the interior,
communi-

T h e great problem forced u p o n the C o m p a n y was
that

of communications.

It

was

evident

that

so

long as t h e only m e a n s of t r a n s p o r t was the African
native, commerce could not advance b e y o n d the lowest
stage.

Camels, donkeys, and mules were e x p e r i m e n t e d

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

359

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 constructing 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
enormous Mau escarpment, making a descent and
corresponding 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, A railway,
the Company 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. With respect to British East Africa, it
was represented that the most effective means was the
construction of a 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

360

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of the railway itself. Under an experienced Indian
engineer officer, jCaptain Macdonald, the survey expedition 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, and a grant
at the rate of 3 per cent on a fixed sum for the construction of such a railway was agreed upon. 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 Company's
business, and entirely for its benefit. Political events at
home, however, led, as will be seen, to a certain change
of policy in East Africa. But let us return to Uganda.
British ocWhen Messrs. Jackson and Gedge entered the country
cupationof

Uganda.

J

&

J

#

Jn April 1890 they found it in a state bordering on
anarchy under the weak and cruel Mwanga. Catholics,
Protestants, 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, and they were
openly inimical to British domination.
Eventually
Mr. Jackson returned to the coast in the summer of
1890 with envoys from the chiefs of Uganda and
Usogo, who came to see for themselves whether the
English were supreme at the coast.
Meanwhile
Mr. Gedge was reduced to despair by the conduct of
Mwanga and his party; he retired to the south shore
of the Lake and counselled the abandonment of Uganda
at least for a time.

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

361

While at the south end of the Lake he learned that
Emin Pasha was at Bukumbi, the F.rench mission
station, with a large force, en route for Uganda. A
letter from Emin informed him that he had Dr. Peters'
treaty in his possession, and was proceeding to Uganda
" as representative of His Majesty the Emperor of
Germany's Commissioner for East Africa, to watch over
any infringement of the said treaty." Nine days later
(11 th October) the Pasha had to inform Mr. Gedge of
the conclusion of the Anglo-German agreement of
1st July 1890, which definitely assigned Uganda to the
British sphere of influence.
But the strong man whom the situation required
was already on his way to deal with Mwanga.
Before the conclusion of the July agreement, public
opinion in England became greatly excited over Uganda.
Partly owing to the efforts of the Germans to get hold of
it, partly to the critical position of British missionaries,
and the danger of the triumph of the " French " party,
partly to the strong representations made by Mr. Stanley
on his return from the Emin Pasha expedition as to the
great industrial and strategical value of the country, partly
to a feeling that no other Power but England should
have control of the Nile sources, the country was almost
unanimous in urging the Company to press forward
and take possession of Uganda. Her Majesty's Agent
and Consul-General at Zanzibar, Sir C. Euan Smith,
telegraphed (15 th February 1890) strongly recommending, as soon as possible, the despatch of a thoroughly
equipped expedition to Uganda; the cost, though heavy,
would be partly recovered ; any delay would enable the

362

Govern-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Arabs to recover their position. In the following month
Sir William Mackinnon was advised by the Foreign
Office of the despatch of two envoys to the court of
King Mwanga, by whom Her Majesty's Government
intended to send back presents to the King. It was
intimated that " the cultivation of a cordial understanding
with the King of Uganda is of the greatest importance

ment and

Uganda,

to the future interests and prosperity of the Imperial
British East Africa Company." A further communication
from the Foreign Office on 2nd April took for granted that
" the principal object which the East Africa Company has
in view, after establishing its position on the coast, is to
secure permanent influence in Uganda, and that steps
have been taken for that object by the despatch of
caravans."
It was asked what these steps were, in
order that they might be communicated to Her Majesty's
Agent " in anticipation of the arrival at Zanzibar of a
mission from Uganda, said to be now on its way to the
coast." It is only fair to the Company, in view of
subsequent events, to give these details, and to point
out that it would be somewhat difficult to place upon
the charter the construction embodied in this last
communication.
Under the circumstances it was
practically impossible for the Company to hold back
from Uganda.
It was universally regarded as the
Agent of Her Majesty's Government, and there can be
no doubt that its directors cherished the belief that
support in some form would be accorded to this great
and expensive enterprise, an enterprise to which the
Company's own means were inadequate.
Looking
back to the many articles which appeared in the press

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

363

at the time, it is evident that the belief was shared
by the British public. No doubt the Company hoped
that it would reap some return for its outlay in a great
increase in its trading operations, and it had some
grounds for believing that a railway from the coast to
the Lake would be constructed under the guarantee of
the British Government. But even when all this is
taken into consideration, it must be admitted that had
Imperial sentiment not been to some extent mingled with
purely commercial considerations, the Company, with
the means at its command, might have hesitated to take
a step so full of risk and involving so large an outlay.
By whatever motive the directors were actuated, they
yielded to the pressure of public opinion and the
representations of the Government. At the same time,
it must be pointed out, that the latter did not in so
many words commit itself to lend the Company
substantial support, or indemnify it for any outlay in
safe-guarding Imperial interests.
Captain F. D. Lugard, who had previously shown captain
his aptitude for dealing with refractory Arabs and
native chiefs in Nyasaland, entered the service of the
Company early in 1890. He had shown his capacity for
organisation, and his high quality as a pioneer explorer,
in the expedition which he conducted from Mombasa to
Machako's shortly after his arrival in East Africa, during
which he established several stations along the Sabaki
River. He was, with the small force at his command,
ordered to proceed to Uganda to carry out the forward
policy which the Company had resolved to adopt in
deference to the pressure brought to bear upon it,

364

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

and to which at the time it was not unwilling to yield.
Soldiers, porters, and camp-followers, all told, Captain
Lugard had only 300 men at his command. With
these he made forced marches from Kikuyo, and on the
18th 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 induced
^tJ^Ki
Mwanga to sign a treaty acknowledging the supremacy
of Uganda. Qf ^Q Company, but only for two years. Mwanga
declared that if a greater white man than Captain
Lugard arrived, he should 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 i t ; they had the advantage
of a Maxim gun.
They lived at first in constant
apprehension of attack; but in time Mwanga was
forced to admit that the British officer was his best
friend. Captain Lugard gave it to be clearly understood that he would favour neither one party nor the
other, but that he would maintain the authority of the
British Company against all parties. His perfect fairness
was in time recognised ; and the results of his measures
to abolish anarchy and establish trade and peace were
so evident that Catholics and Protestants were compelled
to admit it. This state of feeling was no doubt in part
induced by the fact that the Mohammedans were hovering on the outskirts of the country, ready to rush in and
take advantage of the dissensions among the Christians.

BRITISH EAST AFRICA

365

By the spring of 1891 the English position was so Lugard
strong that Captain Lugard felt at liberty to leave British
occupation

Uganda in charge of one of his officers, Captain Williams, westwards.
R.A., 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
first 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 (May 7th). 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
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 Mount
Ruwenzori he built another fort, and proceeded northward to Lake Albert. Here at Ravalli's he found Selim
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 h i m ; and many of them took service

366

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

in Uganda under the Company.
He succeeded in
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 that
Emin, accompanied by Dr. Stuhlmann, had preceded
him at Ruwenzori and on Lake Albert; but the Pasha
could not induce his former followers to throw in their lot
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 Kaba
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
should be strengthened, and Captain Lugard's policy
continued, in order to render this region a centre of
civilisation for all Central Africa.
Troublem
When Captain Lugard returned to Uganda (31st
Uganda.

r

&

b

w

December 1891) he found 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 the weak and
inconstant Mwanga had been induced to try to free himself from his allegiance to the Company. It has been
clearly proved that the French missionaries had been
importing arms and ammunition. Some French priests
arrived from Europe on 12th January 1892 ; the
bishop, Monseigneur Hirth, had gone out to meet

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

367

them, and returned with them.
With them came
the information that the Company had intimated
its intention of withdrawing from Uganda, failing any
support from the Government. The French were in
many ways the stronger party, and there is little doubt
that the Bishop resolved to try conclusions with the
Protestants with a certainty of success. British supremacy was at stake, and Captain Lugard only did his
duty in distributing what arms he could spare to the
weak but loyal Protestants.
At the same time he
begged Monseigneur Hirth to endeavour to restrain
his coreligionists, but without success. A trifling incident in the Bazaar seems to have led to what was
virtually an attack of the Catholic upon the Protestant
party (24th January 1892). Captain Lugard felt bound
in the interests of the Company and of England to
espouse the cause of the latter. 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 perfect justice and impartiality,
while maintaining 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 restored peace ; the Catholics were settled
in Buddu, on the north-west of Lake Victoria, the
Protestants in Uganda, and the Mohammedans in a
province of their own. King Mwanga was restored,
a new treaty was concluded (March 1892) with him

368

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

m a k i n g over U g a n d a in perpetuity to British protection, a n d under Captain Williams, L u g a r d ' s colleague,
all promised well.
The com-

Meanwhile t h e directors of the C o m p a n y in E n g l a n d

pany decide

to abandon had become somewhat appalled at the vast responsibility thus forced upon them.
Their comparatively
insignificant capital of half a million could not maintain the administration of some million of square miles ;
and in the absence of powers to raise taxes they did
not consider themselves justified in spending the
money of the shareholders on enterprises so far
distant from their base of operations.
In August
1891, after its hopes that Government would sanction
a subsidy for a railway were defeated, 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 a very considerable
sum of money to enable the Company to maintain
Captain Lugard at his post for a time.
But the
Company only undertook to hold on there till the end
of 1892. When the news of the revolution in Uganda
reached England there was an outcry against the Company for threatening to abandon the country under
such conditions, leaving the Protestants 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 Lord Salisbury had asked
the House of Commons to incur the expense of a
survey for a railway. With this, however, the Company
maintained it had nothing to do ; the railway was the
affair of the Government, whose duty it was to construct

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

369

it, in order, by so doing, to carry out the obligations
undertaken by Great Britain as a signatory of the Act
of the Brussels Conference. As a matter of fact the
original intention of Lord Salisbury to obtain a vote
for the construction of a railway was departed from,
and Parliament was asked to vote only £20,000 for a
preliminary survey.
The proposal (July 1891) was
met with strong opposition on the part of Sir William
Harcourt, who maintained that it was contentious
business. On this occasion he made a speech which
seriously hampered his party when it succeeded to office.
The Company by this time had spent all but £200,000
of its capital. It became evident that with this not
much could be done to meet the expenses which would
be absolutely necessary to continue the occupation of
Uganda and maintain the position secured by Captain
Lugard to the westward. Besides, the Company was Action of
b
r
J
the Governprimarily a trading company.
The power to raise ment taxes, though promised by the Imperial Government,
was still withheld; and although the revenue from
customs was steadily increasing, it did not amount to
much. The crisis in the Company's affairs, and in the
occupation of the immense sphere allotted to England
by the Anglo-German and Anglo-Italian agreements,
was reached in the summer of 1892, when Lord
Salisbury's Government was succeeded 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 material for
colonies. It was felt that under Lord Rosebery Imperial
interests would not suffer. The affairs of British East
2B

370

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 " abandonment " 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
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 volte-face for certain influential members of
the Cabinet; so that, in deference to them, a middle
course was adopted.
Captain Macdonald, who had
gone out to survey the railway route from the coast to

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

371

the lake, was ordered, while on his way to the coast, to
return to Uganda, and report on the events connected
with the civil war there.
But this was not enough.
It was resolved to send a commission 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 Portal's
r

r
9

\

J

J

mission.

representative at Zanzibar, was appointed as Commissioner to report on the " best means of dealing with
the country, whether through Zanzibar or otherwise."
With him were associated about half a dozen British
officers and other Englishmen experienced in East
African affairs. The expedition, accompanied by 200
of the Sultan of Zanzibar's soldiers and an army of
porters, left the coast early in January 1893. The few
Englishmen in Uganda who were holding the position
on behalf of the Company and of their country were
notified by the speediest possible means of what had
taken place, so that when Sir Gerald Portal and his
expedition arrived all was undisturbed.
Sir Gerald
arrived in Uganda on 17th March 1893, and on the
31st of the![month the Company's flag was hauled
down from Kampala, and the Union Jack raised in its
place.
The Commissioner spent two months in the
country investigating matters and endeavouring to readjust the relations between the different parties, mainly,
as the result proved, to give satisfaction to the Catholics,

372

strife of

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

who spread exaggerated reports as to the treatment
they had received from the British officials,
Sir Gerald found that in reality the three so-called

religious

parties.

religious parties, Catholics, Protestants, and Mohammedans, were hostile political factions, ready at any
moment to fly at each other's throats. By the arrangement which Captain Lugard had made the country was
so divided between the parties that each was confined to
a sphere of its own. To the Catholics was assigned the
district of Buddu, on the north-west of Lake Victoria ; to
the Mohammedans the districts of Katambala, Ketunzi,
and Kasugu; and to the Protestants the remainder of
Uganda proper, which, it should be remembered, is now
of very limited extent. Sir Gerald Portal modified this
arrangement so far as to give to the French or Catholic
party the important islands of Sesse, and some additional
territory taken from the Mohammedan sphere. This
naturally irritated the Mohammedans, whose remonstrances through the Sudanese officer, Selim Bey, were
interpreted by Captain Macdonald, who was left in
charge by Sir Gerald Portal on his return to the coast, as
a threat of rebellion. The consequence was that in the
summer of 1893 the Mohammedans were attacked by
the combined Catholics and Protestants, large numbers
driven from the country, and the rest allowed to remain
quietly in one of the districts assigned to them by
Captain Lugard. The result has been mainly to the
advantage of the Catholic party. In addition to the
districts assigned to the Catholics for occupation, they
were allotted exclusive rights for their missionary operations over the whole country between Buddu and Lake

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

373

Albert Edward as well as Southern Unyoro up to the
shores of Lake Albert.
The Protestant operations
were confined to Northern Uganda and the country of
Usoga on the east. When it is borne in mind that the
Catholics regard themselves as the representatives of
France, the wisdom of this arrangement is doubtful, in
view of the operations of the French in the region to
the west of the Upper Nile.
Under date 29th May 1893, Sir Gerald Portal made British protectorate.
a fresh treaty with King Mwanga (which was only
ratified in the end of 1894), by which Uganda virtually
became a protectorate of Great Britain. When Sir
Gerald took his departure from Uganda he left behind
him several British officers under Captain Macdonald,
the acting administrator. Among these were Major
Owen, who was sent west to Lake Albert Edward to
withdraw the garrisons from the two remotest forts
established by Captain Lugard, a proceeding for which
it would be difficult to find any adequate reason. Towards the end of the year Major Owen with a somewhat
inadequate force felt compelled to proceed from Fort
Grant against one of the chiefs of Kabba Rega of
Unyoro, who had recommenced his devastating raids
into the country on the south. Although Kabba Rega's
forces were in far greater numbers than those under the
British officer, the chief was signally defeated. Shortly
after an expedition under Colonel Colville, who had
been sent to replace Captain Macdonald, routed Kabba
Rega himself, and it is hoped that that potentate will
see it to be his policy in the future to keep on terms of
peace with his neighbours. To make amends for the

374

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

abandonment of the forts farther south a series of forts
was erected between Lake Albert and the Kafu River,
the boundary of Unyoro, which will probably prevent
any further incursions southwards by Kabba Rega.
March to Early in 1894 Major Owen, acting under instructions,
Wadelai.

for the protection of British interests in the Nile valley,
made his way down the Nile as far as Wadelai, where
he planted the British flag; it is to be regretted that
he was not in a position to push his way any farther
down the river. By these and other measures the good
work begun by Captain Lugard was in a measure confirmed and continued; for although, to save appearances, Sir Gerald Portal considered it advisable to make
a few modifications in Captain Lugard's arrangements,
the virtual result of his mission was to confirm the high
opinion formed by impartial judges of the ability, tact,
and humanity with which that officer had carried out
his most trying mission to Uganda.
As the result of Sir Gerald Portal's mission the
British Government was compelled to come to a definite
decision with reference to Uganda and the whole region
between that and the coast. The abandonment of
Uganda had ceased to be a practical question, if indeed
it was ever seriously contemplated except by a few
extreme politicians whose views on Imperial questions
find but slender support in the country. Lord Rosebery
as Foreign Minister, and later as Prime Minister, had a
difficult part to play. It is recognised that had he been
free to follow his own inclinations there could have been
no doubt that he, like Lord Salisbury, would have taken
steps not only to occupy Uganda, but to secure against

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

375

the aggressions of France and the Congo Free State the
whole of the sphere accorded to British influence by
the Anglo-German and Anglo-Italian agreements. In
this there cannot be any doubt that he would have
been supported by the majority of his own party as
well as by the whole of the Opposition. But it is
notorious that the few extreme anti-Imperialists in the
House of Commons were represented in the Cabinet by
ministers whose influence compelled the Prime Minister
to a compromise which could neither satisfy himself
nor the country at large.
In June 1894 it was Governannounced in Parliament that the Government had promise,
resolved to retain Uganda, and to administer it as a
protectorate under a Commissioner. But this applies
only to Uganda proper, which is now a territory of
comparatively limited area. The relations of the Commissioner to the countries beyond, to Unyoro, Toro, and
the other native states between Uganda and Lakes
Albert and Albert Edward, are of a very vague
character. He is to maintain friendly relations with
the chiefs, to discourage the slave-trade, and generally
maintain peace. But as forts have been built in this
outside region, garrisoned by native and Sudanese
troops in the British service, it is difficult to see how
the Commissioner can avoid dealing with it in much
the same fashion as he deals with Uganda. A passive
attitude towards Kabba Rega of Unyoro is impossible.
It may then be assumed that not only Uganda but the
whole region between Lake Victoria and Lakes Albert
and Albert Edward is within the jurisdiction of the
Uganda Commissioner.
This is the more evident

376

inter-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

seeing we are bound by the terms of the Anglo-German
agreement to give effect to the rules of the Berlin Conference throughout all the territories placed under our influence. Considering the peculiar geographical position
of Uganda this is inevitable, especially if the slave-trade
is to be controlled and the frontiers of the protectorate
proper defended from attack. Whoever may succeed as
Commissioner will be compelled to carry out the policy
of active occupation begun by Captain Lugard and
carried out by Major Owen under the sanction of Sir
Gerald Portal and Captain Macdonald. During 1894
Colonel Colville and several officers were sent to Uganda,
and other active steps taken to carry out the decision
of the Government. It may be stated that under the
name of Port Alice, Sir Gerald Portal established a new
settlement on the Lake, which it is hoped will become
the capital and headquarters of Uganda,
With regard to the region lying between Uganda

mediate

area east and the coast it is nominally to be under a different
under

J

Zanzibar, regime. It is not called a protectorate, and administration is not talked of. It is to be placed under a SubCommissioner, who will be responsible to Her Majesty's
Agent in Uganda. " His first and main duty," to
quote the words of the Under Foreign Secretary, " will
be to take charge of the communications between Lake
Victoria and the coast. His duty, of course, will extend
to establishing such friendly relations with the natives
as will enable these communications to be maintained,
and also to establishing such relations as shall make it
possible for British capital and enterprise to enter that
country, and the intervening country between Lake

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

377

Victoria and the coast if disposed to do so." Combined with the fact that the British East Africa Company
has already made treaties with most of the chiefs in this
region, treaties approved of and accepted by the British
Government, and virtually placing the region under
British protection, it is evident that the Sub-Commissioner's duties will not be very different from those
of the Commissioner of Uganda ; and that if he is a
man of intelligence, enterprise, and resource, he will
soon establish the pax Britannica over the whole of his
sphere, and probably soon render a more active policy
on the part of the Government inevitable. At present
the total annual sum allotted for the administration of
Uganda and the intervening country is only ^ 5 0 , 0 0 0 *
,
but this in time should be increased from local resources.
There still remained to be dealt with the ten-mile coast strip,
strip of coast which had been leased by the Sultan of
Zanzibar to the British East Africa Company. The
Company, when it retired from Uganda in March 1893,
retained posts in Kikuyu, at Machako's and one or two
places in the interior, thus practically confining its
operations within these limits. Government hesitated to
make up its mind what course to take ; it could not, without the consent of the Company, deal with the coast
strip held under concession, or attach it to the SubCommissionership ; nor could it withdraw the Company's
charter without reason assigned. In the beginning of
1895 Government offered the Company, on behalf of
Zanzibar, ^200,000 in satisfaction of all its claims,
including its assets, with a sum of ^ 5 0 , 0 0 0 for
the cession of its charter.
Thus ended the career

378

Wit

u

country

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of a Company from which so much was expected ; and
that, had it not been for the exigencies of party politics
in England, might still have been continuing the work
so well begun by Captain Lugard. If so, there can be
little doubt that effective British occupation would have
by this time extended far beyond the Albert Nyanza.
It is only fair to remember that the founders of the
Company stepped into the breach at a critical moment.
It is to be regretted that the Government, on the
&

'

zaSSbarf retiring of the Company from Witu, felt compelled
to take a step which led to a distinct retrogression of
British policy in Africa. When, in accordance with the
Anglo-German agreement of 1890, the Witu country
was made over to Great Britain, it was (May 1891)
placed under the control of the Company, the legal
status of slavery then abolished, and the India Civil
and Criminal Code established throughout the country.
The Company became dissatisfied with the treatment
of the Government, and in 1893 intimated that it would
not be responsible for the administration of Witu after
31st July of that year. The result was that Witu was
placed by Her Majesty's Government under the Sultanate of Zanzibar, Mohammedan law established, and
the legal status of slavery restored, a retrograde and
wholly unnecessary step for which the British Government has not yet been able to offer any excuse.
postponed
With regard to the railway, which has been fully
surveyed and which it is admitted is essential to the
efficient development and administration of the whole
territory between the coast and the furthest lakes, while
Lord Rosebery's Government admitted its desirability,

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

379

they professed that its consideration might safely be
postponed until further progress had been made by
existing means. But there can be little doubt that
its construction will be forced upon the consideration
of the Government in the near future if British administration and British enterprise are to be really effective.
The only danger now is that through delay we may be
forestalled by the Germans.
Such then was the position of affairs in that portion The Congo
State

of British East Africa lying between the coast and the ^|^flet0
eastern shores of Lakes Albert and Albert Edward.
Meanwhile important arrangements were being made
with respect to a portion at least of ; the extensive
British sphere lying beyond that limit, the claims
to which Lord Rosebery's Government repeatedly
declared it had no intention of abandoning. In the
chapter dealing with the Congo Free State reference
has been made to the fact that in 1891 a formidable
expedition was sent from the Congo towards the Upper
Nile. It is not clear that the expedition ever succeeded
in establishing a footing at Lado, which was believed to
be its objective point; and it is known that in the early
part of 1894 it received a severe check from the natives
of the Niam-Niam country. Still there is no doubt
that if the force from the Congo Free State had not
actually established itself on the Nile within the British
sphere, it was making every effort to do so. As has
been pointed out, King Leopold, as Sovereign of the
Congo Free State, maintained that in thus pushing on
to the Upper Nile, he was within his right in accordance with an agreement made with the late Sir William

380

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Mackinnon.
But both Lord Salisbury and Lord
Rosebery declined to recognise any such right, and
repeatedly warned King Leopold that he was trespassing. But the movements of the French on the
Upper Mobangi introduced complications.
It was
known that a strong French expedition, fully equipped
with boats and well armed, had been on the Mobangi
during 1893-94. It was stated that the expedition was
only waiting for the arrival of Colonel Monteil to proceed westwards towards the Nile. Rumours of other
expeditions French expeditions from west and east were also afloat.
0 ang. j ^ w a g k n o w n t kat apart from the acquisition of territory
in Africa, France was anxious to obtain such a footing
on the Upper Nile as would give her a controlling voice
in Egyptian affairs. She never was a party to the
Anglo-German and Anglo-Italian agreements, and considered herself unfettered by their conditions, at least
to the extent of being at liberty to take possession of
any part of the British sphere which had not been
actually occupied.
Between France and the Congo
Free State on the one hand, and the anti-Imperialist
section of the Radical party on the other, the hold
of England on the extensive and valuable territories
conceded to her beyond the great lakes seemed precarious. The position of Lord Rosebery, then Foreign
Minister in a Cabinet an influential section of whose
members was either indifferent or positively hostile to
extension of the empire, was a difficult one. He had
many interests to consider. Had he taken the bold
and most effective course of following up Major Owen's
expedition—such a force if well led need not have

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

38i

been expensive,—to come to terms with the people
on the Upper Nile, and plant the British flag on its
banks, he would have had the support of the country
and of Parliament, but he might have wrecked his
party. He cannot be blamed if he did not see his
way to such a course, and adopted what seemed at
first sight a strange compromise.
It was impracticable in the immediate future to send a British expedition to take possession of the region beyond the Upper
Nile, towards which, on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, it was believed the French were advancing. As the forces of the
Congo Free State were on the spot, why not make Congo state
leases lake

the best of the situation and utilise them as a buffer area from
Britain.

between French ambition and the Upper Nile? Such
seems to have been the train of reasoning which led to
the famous agreement of 12th May 1894 between Great
Britain and King Leopold as Sovereign of the Congo
Free State. By this agreement King Leopold recognised
the right of Great Britain to the territories assigned to
her by the Anglo-German and Anglo-Italian agreements,
and any subsequent modifications could not affect this
recognition. His Majesty agreed to accept from the
British Government a lease of a considerable area of
this territory, extending from Lake Albert to beyond
Fashoda, and stretching westwards to the 25 th degree of
east longitude and the water-parting between the basins
of the Nile and the Congo, so as to bar the further
advance of French claims. The main terms of this
remarkable arrangement must be given in full:—
Article 1 (a).—It is agreed that the sphere of influence of the
Independent Congo State shall be limited to the north of the

382

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

German sphere in East Africa by a frontier following the 30th
meridian east of Greenwich up to its intersection by the watershed
between the Nile and the Congo, and thence following this watershed in a northerly and north-westerly direction.
Article 2.—Great Britain grants a lease to His Majesty King
Leopold II., Sovereign of the Independent Congo State, of the
territories hereinafter defined, to be by him occupied and administered on the conditions and for the period of time hereinafter laid
down.
The territories shall be bounded by a line starting from a point
situated on the west shore of Lake Albert, immediately to the south
of Mahagi, to the nearest point of the frontier defined in paragraph
{a) of the preceding Article. Thence it shall follow the watershed
between the Congo and the Nile up to the 25th meridian east of
Greenwich, and that meridian up to its intersection by the 10th
parallel north, whence it shall run along that parallel directly to a point
to be determined to the north of Fashoda. Thence it shall follow the
thalweg of the Nile southward to Lake Albert, and the western shore
of Lake Albert to the point above indicated south of Mahagi.
This lease shall remain in force during the reign of His Majesty
Leopold II., Sovereign of the Independent Congo State.
Nevertheless, at the expiration of His Majesty's reign, it shall
remain fully in force as far as concerns all the portion of the
territories above mentioned situated to the west of the 30th
meridian east of Greenwich, as well as a strip of 25 kilometres
in breadth, to be delimitated by common consent, stretching from
the watershed between the Nile and the Congo up to the western
shore of Lake Albert, and including the port of Mahagi.
This extended lease shall be continued so long as the Congo
territories, as an Independent State or as a Belgian colony, remain
under the sovereignty of His Majesty or His Majesty's successors.
Throughout the continuance of this lease there shall be used a
special flag in the leased territories.

King Leopold bound himself not to acquire political
rights in these territories, and as a return granted to
Great Britain a lease of a strip 16 miles in breadth
from the most northerly port on Lake Tanganyika to
the most southerly port on Lake Albert Edward, a
strip, be it noted, bordering on the western frontier of

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

383

German East Africa. His Majesty, moreover, agreed
to an adjustment of the western frontier of British
Central Africa to the advantage of British interests.
This arrangement seemed at first sight a triumph
of diplomacy.
It settled definitely the irritating
question of the frontier between the Congo Free State
and the British sphere in the region of Lakes Mweru
and Bangweolo. It gratified the aspirations of those
who were ambitious to see an uninterrupted British
line extend from the Cape to the Nile, if not to Cairo.
Above all, it imposed a broad buffer between the
French sphere and the Nile, for the route to the north
of the 1 oth parallel was supposed to be effectively barred
by the Mahdists. And finally, it turned to the advantage
of British claims the position which had been obtained
by the forces of the Congo Free State on the Upper
Nile.
It was not to be expected that France would n
quietly France
J
.

submit to so emphatic a check in the game of grab
which she was playing with the other European Powers
in Africa, England being her most direct rival; but
for this we must have been prepared. The arrangement took place just at the time when France was
without a ministry; and the first act of the new
ministry was to issue a solemn protest against the
perfidy and illegality of the transaction, while the French
press would be satisfied with nothing but the advance of
the French force. It was maintained that according to
the Berlin Act, the Congo Free State had no right to
go beyond the 4th parallel N . ; that the right of preemption which had been accorded to France precluded

objects,

384

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the Free State making any arrangement with another
Power without her consent; that this attempt to annex
the former Egyptian province of Bahr-el-Ghazal was a
direct violation of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire,
which France for the moment felt it her duty to
champion.
Even if Egypt still maintained that she
had not abandoned her rights over the Sudan, she was
in the same position as other native African States
whose " rights" no European Power which has taken
part in the scramble for Africa has ever made any
pretence to respect. As to France's " right of preemption," it is difficult to see how that could bar the
acquisition by the Congo Free State of any addition to
her territory; while as to the boundaries as fixed by
the Berlin Act, that was a matter of arrangement
between the Free State and individual Powers. Moreover, it is notorious that much of the Berlin Act has
become a dead letter ; and besides, King Leopold did not
" acquire " the territory in question, but only consented to
hold it on behalf of its owner, Great Britain. But it is
doubtful if even in France the contentions put forward
were taken seriously; France herself has had no hesitation in ignoring the " rights" of Turkey in Africa when it
suited her purpose.
She had for the moment been
defeated in the game she was playing, and it was not in
her nature to take her defeat with composure.
France
England and the King of the Belgians were equally
Niiewards. involved in French indignation. Colonel Monteil was
ordered at once to proceed to the Mobangi and take
command of the forces there awaiting his arrival. He
was not to hesitate to take extreme measures to expel

BRITISH

EAST

AFRICA

385

the officials of the Congo Free State from the stations
on the Mbomu tributary of the Mobangi, considerably
to the north of the 4th parallel, which had been
established there for some time. Moreover, it was
understood he was to push on Nilewards and plant the
French flag, if necessary by force, in the face of any
opposition that might be offered by the forces of
England's royal lessee. But the astute King Leopold
had no intention of surrendering the advantages he had
secured. Before the arrangement with Great Britain
he had been negotiating with France with reference to
the stations of the Congo Free State in the Mbomu
country to the north of the 4th degree. The negotiations were promptly broken off by France when the
agreement came to light, not without a suspicion in
some quarters that the game had been pre-arranged ;
for, after the storm of indignation had somewhat died
down, the King easily succeeded in persuading the
French Government to renew them. We cannot blame
him if he had an eye solely to his own interests ; in
that respect he is neither better nor worse than the
other Powers. He treated England in East Africa pre- 0ongocisely as Germany did in West Africa. He gave up all agreement
, .

,

•1

11

r 1

•

claim as lessee to a considerable portion of the territory
acquired under the agreement of the previous May. By
an agreement signed at Paris, 14th August 1894, King
Leopold, as Sovereign of the Free State, renounced all
right of occupation or influence in the territory leased to
His Majesty by Great Britain north of 5° 30' north latitude. This line, it will be seen, touches the Nile a short
distance north of Lado. In return for this renunciation
2C

cancelled.

386

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

on t h e p a r t of K i n g Leopold, F r a n c e agreed to move t h e
b o u n d a r y of t h e Congo F r e e S t a t e considerably to t h e
n o r t h of t h e 4 t h parallel.

S t a r t i n g from t h e junction of

t h e M b o m u with t h e Mobangi, the Thalweg of t h e former
river is to form t h e b o u n d a r y to its source, the frontier
proceeding thence along the w a t e r - p a r t i n g between t h e
basins of the Congo a n d t h e Nile until it meets t h e
30th

degree east longitude.

T h i s , it will b e

seen,

moves the n o r t h e r n b o u n d a r y of t h e F r e e S t a t e in t h e
east to a b o u t t h e 5 th degree, t h u s violating the limit
which F r a n c e a few weeks before maintained according
to the Berlin A c t was inviolable.
I t is evident t h a t K i n g Leopold played a clever
game.

H e has obtained all t h a t h e wanted.

We may

be sure h e h a d no desire to be saddled with all the e x t e n t
of territory leased to him b y Great Britain.

His only

desire was to obtain access to t h e Albert N y a n z a a n d
the Nile, a n d this a d v a n t a g e h e still retains, in addition
to a considerable slice of territory to t h e n o r t h of t h e
4 t h degree.

England

h a d no power t o prevent t h e

a r r a n g e m e n t ; but so far as has been y e t disclosed she
neither assented to it nor objected to it.
Germany

G e r m a n y with less bluster t h a n
more
cession

firmness
to

F r a n c e , but with

a n d directness, protested against

Great

Britain

as

lessee of the

strip

the
of

territory along her E a s t African frontier between L a k e
T a n g a n y i k a and A l b e r t E d w a r d .

I t is to b e regretted

t h a t so friendly a Power as G e r m a n y was not consulted
on t h e point before t h e a r r a n g e m e n t was concluded,
a n d it is difficult to u n d e r s t a n d how, with t h e information at c o m m a n d , such a mistake should have been c o m -

BRITISH EAST

AFRICA

3*7

mitted. It was regarded by her as a violation of the
understanding which had been come to in 1890 as to
the western boundary of German East Africa, which
Germany insisted should march with the Congo Free
State. There was, however, little hesitation on the
part of Great Britain, in assenting to King Leopold
cancelling the lease of the strip objected to, and resuming full possession himself of the one concession he
had made to us. This lease, however, was scarcely
necessary, as Great Britain has a right of way through
German territory between Lakes Tanganyika and
Victoria ; and so far as the laying down of a telegraph
is concerned, a means may be found of doing so to
the north of Tanganyika, while at the same time the
control is kept in English hands.
Such then in brief is the story of the most exciting England's
position.

transaction in the partition of Africa which took place
in 1894. In England the views expressed at the outset were mostly coloured by political prejudices. On
the one side the arrangement with King Leopold was
unreservedly condemned as weak and humiliating; on
the other it was regarded as a clever compromise ; it
has certainly not succeeded in securing the object
ostensibly aimed at. Reference has already been made
to the difficult part which Lord Rosebery had to
play, first as Foreign Minister and then as Prime
Minister, with a Cabinet mainly indifferent or hostile
to British interests in Africa. Immediate action was
necessary ; it was impracticable to send a sufficient force
to take possession of the British sphere on the Upper
Nile; the course adopted seemed to secure the end in

388

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

view, and no doubt would have done so had King
Leopold adhered to his original undertaking ; but this
would have implied the active hostility of France. It
must be evident from the story of African partition that
neither party in England can afford to cast a stone
at the other ; both have blundered and both have yielded
when British interests were at stake. So far there is
little to complain of. But in the region under consideration, and in which the scramble for Africa is concentrated, it evidently matters much for British interests
and the future of Egypt whether France or England
secures a hold on the Upper Nile. England has had to
yield much in the Niger and Chad region ; it remains to
be seen whether she is prepared to allow France to get
the better of her in the race for that portion of the
Sudan to which the great lakes and the Nile are the key.
workacNotwithstanding its troubles in connection with
by the
Uganda, the British East Africa Company was not idle
Company.

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 energetically 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 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.

BRITISH EAST AFRICA

389

Specialists were employed to examine and report
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 1891 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 £ 7 0 0 0 in 1889 to £16,000 in 1892.
Under Dr. Stewart of Lovedale an industrial institution
for training natives was established near Machako's,
and at the expense of the late Sir William Mackinnon
a good road was made from the coast. 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 six
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.
Although it did not directly affect the operations of British pro-

tectorate in

the Company, the declaration in the summer of 1890 Zanzibar
r

Ji

*

of a British protectorate over the islands of Zanzibar and
Pemba tended to give it a greater feeling of security and

andPemba.

390

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

permanence. A regular administration under British
auspices was formed (by agreement, October 1891) in
the Sultan's restricted dominions, which must therefore
be regarded as distinctly within the British sphere.
In March 1894 Sey'id AH bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar, died, and Hamed bin Thwain, grandson of Thwain,
fourth brother of the late Sultan Burghash, was placed
on the throne by authority of Her Majesty's Government, now the protecting Power. It is deserving of
note that when the late Sir Gerald Portal (who succeeded
Sir C. Euan Smith as British representative at Zanzibar) was appointed Her Majesty's Commissioner, he was
authorised to exercise, under an Order in Council, a
general supervision over the territories immediately
under British influence in Eastern Africa. This was in
reality an acknowledgment of Imperial responsibility
for the administration of the entire British sphere in
East Africa.
The Sultan of Zanzibar now receives a fixed sum and
retains his private estates, the public revenues being
wholly administered by British officers under the direction
of Her Majesty's Consul-General. It is to be regretted,
however, that the revenues of the state have shrunk much
since the time when Zanzibar was independent under
the late Sultan Burghash, whose revenue amounted to
^ 2 3 0 , 0 0 0 yearly. This is due in part to the loss of the
German coast, and so of the chief ivory caravan route,
partly also to the creation of Zanzibar as a free port and
to the working of the free system of the Berlin A c t ; the
revenue of Zanzibar is not now a fourth of what it was.

CHAPTER

XIX

T H E ITALIAN S P H E R E AND T H E EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

Italy occupies Assab Bay—Massawa—Hostilities with Abyssinia—Treaty
with Abyssinia—Colony of Eritrea—Italy captures Kassala—Annexations on the Somali coast—Italian relations with the British East
Africa Company—Italy's position in Africa—The Egyptian Sudan
—Baggara Arabs—Wadai.

I T will only be necessary to deal briefly with the advance itaiy oceuJ

J

y

pies Assab

of Italy in Africa since the Berlin Congress, while the Bayposition 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. So long ago as 1875 Italian vessels
were hovering around Sokotra, 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 induced 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. Southwards they could

392

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

go no farther than Raheita, as the French station of
Obock barred the way. It was not until July 1882
that the Italian Government took actual possession of
the territory and bay of Assab. Italian explorers and
Italian missionaries had been active in this part of
Africa for years. Until 1885 Italy's footing in the
Red Sea hardly extended beyond A s s a b ; but in that
year, taking advantage of Egypt's difficulties with the
Mahdists, she took possession of Beilul and of the imMassawa. portant port of Massawa, the Egyptian garrison of the
latter being compelled to quit. These steps were taken
with the connivance if not the approval of England.
Had Italy not taken and held Massawa, it might have
fallen into the hands of the Mahdists. 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 650 miles,
itastmties
These advances on the part of Italy were not
Abyssinia, regarded, as may be believed, with anything like complacency 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 1887, 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.
King John was succeeded by Menelek,

ITALIAN

SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

393

King of Shoa, who showed some inclination to establish friendly relations with the Italians. By an agreement of May 1889, confirmed and renewed in October
of the same year, a treaty of " mutual protection" Treaty
was entered into between Menelek and Umberto I., Abyssinia.
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 formally
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 Abyssinia 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 well known that Abyssinia
has been supplied with arms and ammunition by France ;
that French agents have been promoting French interests
at the court of King Menelek ; and it is stated on good
authority that wells are being dug from the French
colony of Obock to meet a similar line of wells from
Abyssinia eastwards. Russia has also manifested an
interest in Abyssinia, and no doubt if it suited her
purpose that interest might result in action. In the
beginning of 1895 a Russian expedition, nominally for
exploration, left Europe for the French section of Obock,
whence, with the approval, if not support, of France,
it is to make its way into Abyssinia. 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 posessions on the Red Sea have been constituted into the

394

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

colony of colony of Eritrea, with an autonomous administration
and the management of its own finances. These, however, have to be subsidised by Italy, which spent over
five millions sterling on her Red Sea^colonies between
1887 and 1892. The area of the territory strictly included in Eritrea is not more than 52,000 square miles,
while that of the so-called protectorate of Abyssinia is
about 195,000 square miles, including Shoa, Kaffa,
Harrar, and other places claimed by King Menelek.
Italy
In July 1804, owing- to the threatening attitude of the
captures

Kassaia,

Dervish forces at Kassala on the north-west frontier of
Abyssinia, a large Italian force proceeded from the
Italian post at Keren, thoroughly defeated the Dervishes
and captured Kassala. By an arrangement with England in March 1891, Italy was permitted to occupy
Kassala if necessary for military purposes, only, however, on condition that it would be temporary, and that
she should give it up whenever Egypt was in a position
to take it over. The immense advantages to Italy of
occupying the frontier post is evident; moreover, it
may prove of great advantage when the time comes for
Egypt or England or both to make an attempt to
free the Egyptian Sudan from the thraldom of the
Mahdists.
The position of Italy in Kassala has
naturally provoked the hostility of the Dervishes, and
the result may be that the Italians will in self-defence
be compelled to enter upon a campaign which might
end in Khartum. This Italy could hardly undertake
single-handed. Moreover, the success of the Italians
has excited the active hostility of King Menelek of
Abyssinia, so that between the Dervishes on the one

ITALIAN

SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

395

side and the Abyssinians on the other, the resources of
Italy in money and men are likely to be strained.
But Italy was not content with securing: a position AnnexaJ

*=> r

tionofthe

on the Red Sea. Since she could not obtain Sokotra, ^ g 1 1
she turned her attention to the barren coast opposite on
the African mainland, inhabited by the fiercely independent nomads, the Somalis and Gallas. In February
1889 t n e Sultan of Obbia or Oppia, on the Somali coast,
between 5 0 3 3 ' north latitude and 2° 30' north latitude,
placed his Sultanate under the protection of Italy. In
April of the same year the Italian sphere was extended
to the country between 5° 3 3 ' 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 (o° 15' S. lat.) was declared to be
within the sphere of Italy
Here was a stretch of some 800 miles of coast, with Italian
1
11 1 • <
1 r 1
.irelations
vague extension inwards, added with wonderful rapidity with the
&
'

.

British

to Italy's " foreign possessions." It apparently did not f^ca
concern her that the coast was little better than a sandy 0omPanywaste; 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 Warsheikh, beyond the mouth
of the Jub, Italy obviously claimed what already be-

396

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

longed to another Power. However, the two Powers
found no difficulty in coming to an understanding. The
British 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 delimitation 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
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 35 0 east longitude, that meridian forming the boundary 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 estimated there is a scanty population of one and a half
million. The whole area claimed by Italy in 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.
A further delimitation between the British and
Italian spheres in Somaliland was made by agreement
between the two countries 5 th May 1894. The British
protectorate in Somaliland dates from 1884, in which
year Great Britain occupied Berbera, Bulhar and Zaila.
By an Order in Council dated 19th September 1889, a
protectorate was proclaimed over the whole coast from
Ras Jibuti on the Gulf of Tajura to Bandar Ziyada.

ITALIAN

SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

397

By an agreement concluded with France in 1888 the
boundary between the British and French protectorates
runs from the Gulf of Tajura by way of Abasuen, Bia,
Kaboba, and Jildessa towards Harrar. This important
town, since 1887 occupied by King Menelek, was not
to be occupied by either power, each retaining the right
to prevent any other Power from taking possession. By
the agreement of 1894, Great Britain Vaived her right in
favour of Italy, if the latter cared or dared to take possession. The boundary agreed upon begins at Jildessa,
runs in a S.E. direction past Milmil to 8° north latitude,
follows this parallel to 48° E., and reaches the coast at
49 0 E. This definitely settles the limits of British
Somaliland, which covers an area of 75,000 square miles.
France, as usual, protested against this arrangement,
maintaining that it was a violation of that of 1888.
But as England simply waived her right of protest
in case Italy occupied Harrar, it is difficult to see in
what respect she has broken faith. The right of protest
still remains to France if she chooses to exercise it.
Italy then, like other great Powers of Europe, has Italy's
acquired a fair slice of the continent in the scramble for Imca.1
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. Italy's African 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 notorious.
Massawa is no doubt an
important port, and its trade, as the leading gate from
the sea to Abyssinia, is capable of considerable develop-

398

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

ment. The monopoly of the trade of Massawa may
be worth having. But the advantage of most of the
other territory claimed by Italy is doubtful.
Italy,
unless her resources and her power increase immensely,
can never expect to have any real hold over the
most inaccessible and most mountainous country of
Africa, with a population fiercely independent. Certainly,
with its great variety of climate and its industrial capabilities, 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
Abyssinians.
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
to pursue is to cherish friendly relations with king and
people, and so secure an increased share in the commerce
of the country. As for the country in the Somali interior,
its commercial value can never be great. Both north
and south, Italy has England to compete with. On
the northern coast of Somaliland England is supreme
from Tajura Bay to near Cape Guardafui. 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 operations, 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 knowledge of her sphere, especially in the Somaliland interior,

ITALIAN

SPHERE AND EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

399

which they assure us is better pastured and better
watered than has been generally believed in the past.
On the other hand, it should be noted that travellers in
Somaliland in 1894-95 found it overrun by the troops of
King Menelek, who were ravishing the land, and slaying
or carrying off as slaves the bulk of the population.
The position of the former Egyptian Sudan, so far The
r

^

r

'

Egyptian

as outside influences are concerned, is not essentially Sudan,
different from what it was when abandoned on the
death of Gordon in January 1885.
From Fashoda
to near Wady Haifa, 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, while even among his followers themselves
his influence is reported to be tottering. For the rest,
Tripoli still remains directly under Turkey; Morocco
in 1894 passed safely through the ordeal of the death
of one Sultan and the accession of another, and may
be said to have taken a new lease of independence;
Egypt still remains under the nominal suzerainty of
Turkey, her actual suzerain being Great Britain.
The real rulers of the Egyptian Sudan are the so-called Baggara
Arabs known as Baggaras, notorious slave-raiders, who
hardly make any pretence of being guided by the

400

wadai.

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

religious fanaticism of the Mahdists. They hold Khartum
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. Wadai, with some of its dependencies,
is still outside any European sphere ; though possibly
France may claim that, by her agreement with Germany
in 1894, it falls within hers. Wadai is the most fanatical
Moslem state in Africa. As has already been stated, 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 settled, and from which as a basis
they have terrorised the whole of the Sudan States, and
taken possession of Bornu. A large portion of Darfur
and of the Equatorial provinces is nominally within the
British sphere. If France chose to claim Wadai, probably neither England nor Germany would dispute it.
But if England really means to obtain a hold upon the
sphere allotted to her by the Anglo-German and AngloItalian agreements, she ought to lose no time in implementing her claim by at least effecting treaties with the
native chiefs, or taking some other step which would leave
her claims undisputed. If this were done, there would be
hardly any of Central Africa left to dispose of except the
territory immediately under Mahdist influence. 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 Mahdist power; but the
time has not yet arrived for such a demonstration.

CHAPTER

XX

BRITISH CENTRAL 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—Lobengula's
treaty—The Government and the Chartered Company—Value of
Matabeleland — The Company takes possession—D'Andrade feebly
supported—Gouveia—Progress made—Collision with the Portuguese
—Anglo - Portuguese arrangement—Pioneers en route—Railway to
mouth of Pungwe—Matabele raids—Lobengula's power broken—
Chartered Company and Downing Street—Administrative powers
granted—Company's resources—British enterprise on the Lake Nyasa
region—Claims of Portugal—A trans-African Empire—Portuguese
rush up Zambezi — British troubles with the Arabs — Portuguese
attempts to take possession—Serpa Pinto north of the Zambezi—
H. H. Johnston frustrates Portuguese—Extended British enterprise
— A Commissioner appointed to British Central Africa—AngloPortuguese agreement—Progress in Northern Zambezia—Encounters
with slavers—British administration in Nyasaland—Thomson and
Rhodes in England.

T H E extension of the British sphere in South Africa British
1 .
,
.
i i
,
n
i
i . advancein
and in the region watered by the Zambezi and its south
&
J
Africa.

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
2 D

4Q2

THE PARTITION OF AFRICA

Government was directed to the region vaguely known
as Bechuanaland even before this period. During the
four years of British occupation of the Transvaal (18771881) comparative peace was maintained on its borders.
Transvaal But no sooner had the Transvaal reassumed its indeand
land.
i^echuana-

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 Government to consider what steps should be taken to protect 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 Transvaal, 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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND SOUTH AFRICA

403

Bechuanaland with a strong force. Sir Charles Warren
accomplished his mission with complete success. The
boundaries of the Transvaal were restricted to those
laid down in the Convention of February 1 8 8 4 ; and
the British sphere was extended northwards to 2 2°
south latitude. All this was accomplished by August
1885, a n d 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 Bechuanaland. The Colony, including later extensions, covers
70,000 square miles, the region to the north as far as
22 0 S., 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 conferences 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 Zambezi, was placed under the jurisdiction of the
Governor of British Bechuanaland ; though the British
South Africa Company claim the section of Bechuanaland north of the Crown Colony, by reason of its being
included within the sphere defined by their Charter.
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

404

various
annexa-

tions.

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

a previous chapter, by the Anglo-German agreement of
September 1890.
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
advantageous not only to itself but 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
m

Zambezi is one in which British missionary effort (we
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 is generally allowed
to have 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 a ll
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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

405

up for the loss of Damaraland by taking all that she
could lay hands upon to the north of Cape Colony.
Even before 1890 she had distinctly given it to be
understood, as will be seen, that she regarded the
Zambezi 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 1877; 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, has long been

406

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

coveted b y t h e B o e r s ; b y t h e Convention of 1 8 9 0 , it
was placed in a transition state, a n d as a result of the
negotiations between Great Britain a n d the T r a n s v a a l
in

1 8 9 3 - 9 5 , it has been ( F e b . 1 8 9 5 ) m a d e over

to

the latter, with certain restrictions as to the rights of
t h e natives a n d of British subjects.

The

Tongaland

strip between Swaziland a n d the sea is virtually British.
Mashonaland and.

But these were comparatively small matters, though
. .

Matabeie- all tending to complete the partition of the continent
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 Zambezi was
unannexed. Reference was made in a previous chapter
to the glowing account of a German trader of the
region sometimes called Zambezia, and locally known as
Rhodesia, extending from the Transvaal to the Central
African Lakes ; Sir Bartle Frere regarded Herr Weber's
communication as so important that he sent home a
translation to the Foreign Office, and urged the extension of the British sphere as far as the Zambezi.
Moreover, the Boers, ever on the lookout for new
lands into which to trek^ 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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

407

Mauch, Baines, and others, of the rich gold mines contained in this territory, were well known, and, as has
already been seen, in 1870 Sir John Swinburne formed
a company for working the Tati region in the southwest 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 Mashonaland for European settlement and agricultural operations.
When Sir Charles Warren was in Bechuanaland in 1885,
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 The Boers
designs he was afraid. At that very time an expedition Mashonawas being planned in the Transvaal for the purpose of
taking possession of Mashonaland. One correspondent,
writing to Sir Charles Warren under date Shoshong,
May 1885, 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

408

Portugal

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

are only waiting to hear what action the British Government will take to settle on their own. The natives all
showed the greatest desire to be under British protection, 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 England 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

and

Matabeie. Bechuanaland, and of the reports furnished by the
agents he sent into Matabeleland, the attention of adventurers 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 Zambezi 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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

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AFRICA

409

to territory in Central Africa could be recognised that
was not supported by effective occupation.
The
Portuguese Government maintained (it must be admitted with justice) that this applied only to the
coast, but Lord Salisbury stood firmly to his position.
Portugal appealed to her long historical connection with
Central Africa, and to the evidences which still existed
of previous occupation. She sent hurried expeditions
up the valleys of some of the southern tributaries of the
Zambezi, and pointed to what she maintained were
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, effective occupation of the country included in the domain
of Lobengula, away from the banks of the Zambezi.
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 bankruptcy, 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.
Germans, Boers, Portuguese, were all ready to lay British
suprema

their hands on the country claimed by Lobengula, secured.

4io

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
over Matabeleland had reached a crisis. It became
evident that no time was to be lost if England was to
secure the Zambezi 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 circumstances, 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 21st March 1888, Sir Hercules Robinson,
Governor of Cape Colony, and Her Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa, was able to inform the Home
Government that on the previous n t h February Lobengula had appended his mark to a brief document which
secured to England supremacy in Matabeleland overall her
rivals. This brief document may well be quoted here:
Lobentreaty.

" T h e Chief Lobengula, ruler of the tribe known as
the A m a n d e b e l e , together with the Mashona and M a k a -

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

BRITISH

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AFRICA

411

Amandebele people ; and the contracting Chief Lobengula engages to use his utmost endeavours to prevent
any rupture of the same, to cause the strict observance
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 dependencies 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 Amandebele 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, Amandebeleland, the 11 th 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 Bechuanaland, was, though a somewhat savage heathen, a man

412

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of shrewdness and intelligence, quite alive to his own
interests. Still it is perhaps doubtful if he realised the full
purport of the treaty, the object of which was, of course, to
sweep Matabeleland and its dependencies within the limits
of the British Empire. However, for the moment, it relieved him from any apprehensions of interference from
Boers or Portuguese, and secured to British South Africa
uninterrupted access to the Central Zambezi, 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 expected, 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 Lobengula, attempted to poison the mind of the latter against
the British. But the King remained throughout faithful
Lobenguia to his engagements.
Indeed, it was not Lobengula
and his

warriors,

himself who gave any cause for anxiety during the
initial stage of the English occupation. He was, no
doubt, a powerful chief, but even he was obliged to defer
to the wishes of his indunas and his army. His impis^
or regiments, composed of thousands of young men,
eager to wash their spears in blood, were difficult to
restrain; they were hungering to " eat u p " all the
white men in the country. Had it not been for the

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

413

greatest tact and forbearance on the part of the British
representatives who visited the country in the early
days of the treaty, terrible disasters would have happened. 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 indunas, and was signed by
Lobengula in their presence.
Portugal was not so easy to deal with as the South Claims of
&
#

/

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. Whatever claim she may have had to the country was completely 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 had
of old been occupied by Portugal, and that in fact they
were included in her province of Sofala, and this it
would be useless to deny.
From the first, however,
Lord Salisbury took up a firm position, and while
admitting his readiness to adjust boundaries at a suitable 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 Mashonaland and the other districts claimed by Lobengula ; but

Portugal.

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

the vague claims put forward by the Portuguese could
only be met with a firm assertion of the rights acquired
by 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 Portugal 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 Zambezi 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 indunas,
who were sent by him in the beginning of 1889, in
order to see with their own eyes " The Great White
Queen," who, he had been informed, no longer existed. 1
1
As a matter of fact there is little doubt that Lobengula claimed
far more territory on the east 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 Lobengula's 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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

415

No sooner was the treaty signed than Lobengula was
besieged for concessions of land, the main object of which
was to obtain the gold with which the country was said
to abound, especially in the east, in Mashonaland. The
King was perplexed ; hence the embassy to England.
But by this time, the first half of the year 1889,
important preliminary steps had been taken towards the
actual occupation of the country by British enterprise.
Mr. E. A. Maund played an important part in The rival
influencing Lobengula to place his trust in England °om a m e
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 procuring 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 forward 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 representative 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.

416

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

He asked if they could reckon upon the support of the
British Government in their enterprise. Lord Knutsford replied that the British Government could not mix
itself up with mining concessions, and the same intimation 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 Mashonaland. 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 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 north
and south of the Zambezi.
Cecil

Mr. R h o d e s (now t h e R i g h t H o n o u r a b l e Cecil J.

Rhodes.

Rhodes, member of Her Majesty's Privy Council),
born forty-two years ago, is the son of an 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,

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

417

and is believed to have amassed very considerable
wealth in connection with diamond-mining. Although
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 seeking to secure a leading share in the partition of Matabeleland, his aim seems rapidly to have developed into
the ambition of forming a great South African Confederation, 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 Zambezi, can only be adequately
explained on the supposition that he is actuated by
some such ambitious motive. At all events, after the
2 E

418

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

His com-

treaty had been ratified, Mr. Rhodes, himself keeping
in the background, lost no time in acquiring rights
over Lobengula'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.
A charter
To attempt to enter into and explain all the
obtained.

intricacies of the complication of companies and subcompanies, and their mutual relations, which have
interests of more or less importance in Matabeleland,
would be beyond the scope of this work.
There
were various changes and modifications ; the principal

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

419

companies uniting as the Central Search Association, and
that again developing into the United Concessions
Company. However, these interests, with the rights
of the Exploring Company, were concentrated in the
Company which early in 1889 took steps to obtain
a charter for the development 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 negotiations, 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. Cecil J. Rhodes, Mr.
Alfred Beit, Mr. Albert Grey (now Earl Grey), and
Mr. George 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 Company was also empowered to acquire any further concessions, 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

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

as the representative of the Imperial Government,
without, however, obtaining any assistance from the
Government to bear the expense of the administration.
On the contrary, the Company made a handsome contribution towards the completion of the telegraph line
into the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and completed the
railway from Kimberley to Vryburg. The KimberleyVryburg section was taken over by the Cape Government after its completion by the Chartered Company.
The
various

T h e capital of the C o m p a n y was a million sterling.
°

companies. 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 ^ 7 0 0 , 0 0 0
of the Chartered Company's capital. The position
was a curious and anomalous one, leading to misunderstanding, 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.
Here it may be again pointed out that the Bechuanaland section of the region included in the charter
has, for the present, been placed under the administration
of the Governor of British Bechuanaland, so that on
the south of the Zambezi the operations of the Company are meantime confined to Matabeleland and the
other countries claimed by Lobengula.
All this activity on the part of England naturally

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

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421

embittered Portugal more and more. In the latter part Portuguese
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 Zambezi, 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 Zambezi, which embraced some
30,000 square miles of the territory claimed by Lobengula 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
Zambezi 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 Manika. Next year this was transferred to the Societe Generale du Zambeze of Paris,
which sent out a large commission of experts under
Andrade to report on the country. The Paris Company did not consider the reports of these experts
sufficiently encouraging, and they declined to go further
in the matter. Andrade then endeavoured to obtain
capital in London, and succeeded in forming the Com-

422

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

panhia Africana and the Ophir Company. Spasmodic
attempts were made under these companies to work
the old mines of part of Manika.
In 1888 the rights of these companies were made
over under certain conditions to the Mozambique Company, 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 administration. 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 Manika 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
Gungunyana, 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 Andrade was not supported as he

Andrade
feebly supported,
deserved to be in his attempts to extend Portuguese
influence and develop Portugal's East African possessions. 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
Manika territory the most powerful of these half-castes

BRITISH

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AFRICA

423

was Manuel Antonio de Souza, known as Gouveia, from Gouveia.
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 Zambezi, and in the Manika district. In 1888 and
1889 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 Manika interior
towards the Mashonaland plateau. In the end of 1889
Colonel Andrade returned to Lisbon, but was back
again at his post next year watching eagerly the operations 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 occupation of the territories which they were authorised to
exploit, they had on the one hand the impis of Lobengula 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 pretensions against the tide of British 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 The
Govern-

Chartered Company and its sphere is very clearly ^ e n t a n d
stated in a communication from Lord Knutsford to the company1
High Commissioner shortly after the Charter was

424

value of

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

granted. " The Queen can, of course, at any time
annex or declare a protectorate over any part of the
territory within which the Company operates, and in the
absence of any paramount necessity for such annexation
or protectorate, or of the failure or misconduct of the
Company, security of tenure is granted to the Company
for the limited period of twenty-five years, which -is
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 ;
whilst there is reserved to the Government of the day,
at the end of that time, and at every succeeding period
of ten years, the right of considering, in the interests of
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 Lo-

Matabele-

land.

bengula in the Queen's name, explaining clearly the
significance of the Charter, and strongly urging him to
deal only with the Company and refrain from making
grants of land to private adventurers. The total area
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 tableland, 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 practically unlimited extent.
As in all parts of tropical

BRITISH

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AFRICA

425

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 Matabeleland 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 The G m
o1

x

pany takes

South Africa Company, it may be remarked, is much possession,
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 unsubdued 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 operations, 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
the Empire. Lieutenant-Colonel E. S. Pennefather was

426

pioneers

en route.

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

in command of the police, while Sir John Willoughby
and other officers formed part of the staff.
The
pioneers were men provided by contract by Mr. F.
Johnson. Mr. Frederick Courteney Selous, 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 Zambezi, 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 restless 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 25 th
June 1890, and by 12th September Mount Hampden
was reached. A road, necessarily rough, was made
pari 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, churches, schools, hotels, its lawyers,
and land-agents, its stores and clubs, its newspapers,

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

427

its racecourse, 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 episode in connection with the expansion of the British Empire. When
the goal was reached, the pioneer force was disbanded, 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 directions 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 t h e m ; and the rainy
season of 1890-91 is one to be remembered in the
history of Rhodesia.
At any time this season
is trying enough, and demands on the part of the
white man rational precautions to preserve his health
and avoid disaster; but this was an exceptional year,
and, alas ! as usual, " some one had blundered." The
rainy season of 1 8 9 0 - 9 1 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,
through some misunderstanding, stopped. The result
was widespread suffering and many deaths. Still, with

428

Progress

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

indomitable pluck the majority of the men made the
best of their situation. But the news of their sufferings, 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
deserve. But all these things did not damp the ardour
either of the pioneers or of the Company. The railway was carried from Kimberley to Vryburg, 150
miles. An English Company has since been formed
by the Chartered Company to extend the line of
railway north from Vryburg. The construction of the
first section, 100 miles to Mafeking, has been completed, and the line opened for traffic. Early in 1892
the telegraph was continued to Salisbury, which was
then brought into direct communication with London.
Since then it has been carried on to the Zambezi, in
accordance with Mr. Rhodes's scheme to construct a
telegraph line " from the Cape to Cairo," or at least
to Uganda, for which an African Trans-Continental
Telegraph Company was formed in December 1893.
A line from Zomba and Blantyre in the Nyasa region
has been carried south to meet the line from Salisbury.
Before the end of 1895, through the enterprise of Mr.
Rhodes, what was only a few years ago the unknown
heart of savage Africa will be in instantaneous communication with Europe. Salisbury increased in size,
new towns were begun elsewhere, a regular postal and
telegraph service, yielding a considerable revenue to
the Company, was established, and Lobengula was at

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

429

last induced to give the Company rights over the land
as well as the mines. The result was that Cape and
Transvaal farmers took up large areas of ground for
agricultural and cattle farms.
Other sources of
revenue for the Company have been mining and
trading licenses, and stand-holdings. But still there
has been very great 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.
But this
is being zealously pushed forward. The railway now
extends from Cape Town to Mafeking on the one
side, and to Pretoria on the other, whence Buluwayo
and Salisbury can be reached in a few days. The
ultimate aim is to connect the two places by rail with
Cape Town in the south, and with Beira on the
Pungwe River in the east, the two systems forming one
continuous trunk line.
The Bechuanaland railway
would supply Matabeleland and southern Mashonaland,
while the Beira line would serve to feed and tap eastern
and northern Mashonaland. But as railways are being
pushed into the interior from other directions, and as
the Pretoria line may be pushed northwards, it remains
to be seen where the important centres will be in
the future and in what directions the main traffic will
run.
As might have been expected, the action of the collision
1

1

r

wi

tk *ne

pioneer force was watched with jealous and resentful Portu-

x

eyes by Portugal. An agreement was concluded between England and Portugal in August 1890, by
which the eastern limits of the South Africa Company's

guese.

43o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 modus vivendi, pending further negotiations. In the meantime Colonel Paiva d'Andrade,
Gouveia, and one or two other Portuguese officers, had
returned to Manika, 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 Kessi, 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 Manika, and therefore 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,
Dr. Leander S. Jameson, C.B., who had given up a lucrative practice at Kimberley to accompany the pioneers.
Mr. Selous 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 vivendi till November
1890.
In the previous September, Mr. Colquhoun,

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

431

with a few companions, went down to Mutassa's
Kraal, in the Manika 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 0
and 19 0 S., and 32° and 33 0 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 Kessi, a small station of
the Mozambique Company, a few miles east of Mutassa's
Kraal. Mr. Colquhoun resolved to take decisive measures. 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 de Rezende. The two
former were taken prisoners to Fort Salisbury, and the
latter allowed to return to Massi Kessi, which was provisionally occupied by a small force of the Company's
police. Andrade and Gouveia were sent to the Cape.
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 Manika 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

432

Anglo-

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

were brought to an end by the ratification of a new

Portuguese

arrange-

agreement, signed on the I ith 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 Zambezi near Zumbo runs in a
general south-east direction to a point where the Mazoe
River is cut by the 33 rd 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
frontier along the slope of the plateau, the Portuguese
sphere was not allowed to come farther west than
3 2° 30' E. of Greenwich, nor the British sphere east of
33 0 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
Gungunyana, King of Gazaland, sent two envoys to
England in the summer of 1891, to offer his allegiance
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 Zambezi and the
Shire was declared free to all nations. A maximum

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

433

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 Railway to
0

y

mouth of

the mouth of the Pungwe to the plateau, and that Pungwe.
under conditions which would prevent her delaying the
undertaking for an indefinite period. There were, however, 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
seventy miles being finished in a short time. The railway starts from Fontesvilla, a point some twenty miles
up the Pungwe River, and runs in the direction of the
town of Umtali on the edge of the plateau. It stops
at Chimoio, 118 miles by rail (about 90 as the crow
flies) from Fontesvilla, about J J miles from Umtali,
to which and to Salisbury there is a good waggon-road.
The railway is carried well through the country infected
by the tsetse fly. The remaining distance has been
surveyed, and it is hoped that the railway will soon
be completed. Although the gauge adopted is narrow
and the construction light, and although the embankments are so low that damage is done near the coast
when the country is flooded, the line is reported to be
good and serviceable and likely to satisfy the needs of
traffic for some time. Meantime the Anglo-German
South-west Africa Company propose to construct a
line across the German territory to Bechuanaland and
even Matabeleland, a project which, if realised, might
2 F

434

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

seriously affect the interests of the Cape railways; but
one which, at present, seems beyond the limits of
practicability. It could not, without permission from
the Cape Government, be carried beyond German
territory.
The main difficulties thus seemed to be overcome,
and by the summer of 1892 the Company 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.
Another check came in 1893, from which the territory
however soon recovered.
Although care was taken
Matabeie from the first to avoid collisions with the Matabele,
their repeated raids on the Mashonas, who are under
the Company's protection, culminated on 18th July
1893 in a raid such as could not be overlooked. While
efforts were made to obtain a peaceful solution of the
difficulty, preparation for any further hostilities which
might be forced on the Company was not neglected,
and Her Majesty's High Commissioner authorised the
Company's Administrator, Dr. Jameson, to take all
necessary steps to provide for the safety of the settlers.
In the beginning of October the Matabele attacked
the Company's Police Force near Victoria, and the
Bechuanaland Border Police ; and on 6th October the
Company's force of about 620 men advanced westwards from Charter and Victoria, while other forces,
consisting of the Bechuanaland Border Police (Imperial),
the Company's Police, and natives under Khama, advanced
from the south towards Buluwayo. After a difficult
march and several battles, the power of Lobengula

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

435

was broken, and he fled with the remainder of his troops. Loiaen
gula's

On the 2nd November the Company's forces entered power
L

J

Buluwayo without opposition, and since then a new
town has been rapidly springing up, and Buluwayo
in the west threatens to rival Salisbury in the east
as a centre of enterprise; the former, like the latter,
has already its newspapers, its hotels, its races, its
churches, and other institutions indispensable to the
settled Briton. In the beginning of 1894 Lobengula
died, and the Company entered into full possession
of his territories. No doubt such a collision was
inevitable sooner or later, and the Company were
not sorry that an excuse for action occurred so soon.
The whole of the operations were accomplished without
any aid from Imperial troops or Imperial money. An
attempt on the part of the Home Government to interfere
too largely in the settlement of Matabeleland was resented
in South Africa. The result has been that the Imperial
Government retains but a slender hold over the Company's territories, which will be ultimately absorbed in
the South Africa Confederation that seems inevitable.
An attempt, however, on the part of Mr. Rhodes to
fix a tariff in favour of British goods, including the
Company's territories in the South African Customs
Union, was vetoed by the Home Government. The
success not only of the short campaign but of the
country generally is admitted to be largely due to the
administrative capability of Mr. Rhodes's right-hand
man, Dr. Jameson.
The final, or at least provisional, settlement of
Matabeleland was effected in an agreement between

broken

436

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

chartered Her Majesty's Government and the British South Africa
Company

and Down- Company,dated 9th May 1894. Probably such an agreement is unique in the history of the British Empire. It
is a mark of the change which has taken place in the
ten years since the scramble for Africa began, that
instead of the Home Government dictating terms to
a Chartered Company for a territory that was not
even a Crown Colony, the Company should be dealt
with as if it were an independent Power, practically
insisting on its terms to Downing Street. The first
clause defines the territory over which the operations of
the Company may extend, and it will be seen that it
includes much more than Matabeleland and Mashonaland. The territories referred to in the Memorandum
are " those parts of South Africa bounded by British
Bechuanaland, the German Protectorate, the rivers
Chobe and Zambezi, the Portuguese possessions, and
teaSve8 ^ e South African Republic." The administration of
powers
granted.
this territory is to be conducted by the Company in
accordance with its charter, and under an administrator
and a council of four members, composed of a judge
and three other members. The administrator is appointed
by the Company, of course with the approval of the
Secretary of State, who is, nominally at least, supreme
over the whole administration. The administrator holds
his office for three years, but may be reappointed.
The four members of the council are appointed by the
Company, with the approval of the Secretary of State.
The judge can only be removed by the Secretary of
State, while the other three members are at the mercy
of the Company. One of the three retires every two

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

437

years, but may be reappointed. The Company pays
the salaries of the administrators and all other officials.
Provisions are made for subordinate magistrates, for a
land commission, for locating natives on land adequate
for their maintenance, and various others connected with
administration and the development of the territories,
in all of which the Company are virtually supreme,
so long as nothing is done " to diminish or detract
from the powers conferred by Her Majesty's Order in
Council of 9th May 1891, or by the Charter incorporating the Company."
An Order made by Her
Majesty in Council is supreme over all. But in
effect, it will be seen, the Company have it all their
own way. They are absolute owners of all mines, and
either for mining purposes, for railways, for towns, or
any other public works, they are entitled to take
land from the natives, so long as they locate the
latter elsewhere.
Mr. Rhodes, with Dr. Jameson,
visited England in the end of 1894, and succeeded
in securing still further concessions confirming the
supremacy of himself and the Company. Among other
things, he decided to take over the direct administration of the Company's extensive territories north
of the Zambezi.
The Company is thus unfettered in its enterprise, company's
resources.

The country on the whole is one of the most favourable in South Africa for agriculture and cattle-rearing,
while the testimony as to the abundance of its goldbearing reefs is overwhelming. What is wanted are
men and money.
The former are pouring into the
country, and already over two million acres are appro-

43B

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

priated. The regulations of the Company both with
regard to land and to mining are liberal, and the
man who can land at Salisbury or Buluwayo with
even a few pounds in his pocket, has a fair field before
him, if he is willing to work. As to money, the
Company's resources have been heavily taxed by recent
operations ; but there is not likely to be any lack of
capital as it becomes clear that it can be profitably
applied. Quite recently more than a million sterling
in cash has been subscribed by prospectors, syndicates,
and investors as working capital for development purposes. Cheap and rapid communication is the main
desideratum; now that this is being supplied, the great
obstacle to rapid and profitable development is being
removed. Many competent authorities maintain that
portions at least of Mashonaland and Matabeleland are
well adapted for white colonisation in the real sense of
the term. That is a matter that can only be tested by
experience, such experience as cannot be acquired in
a single generation.
It may be stated that in 1893 the Company acquired
a concession from the native chief of an extensive
territory in the Lake Ngami region, which it is proposed
to colonise by Cape farmers. At the same time the
Company continues to pay tribute to King Gungunyana
of Gazaland for certain concessions in his territory,
notwithstanding the claims put forward by Portugal.
While the incidents on the south of the Zambezi
were keeping all Europe in a state of excitement, equally
stirring events were taking place on the north of the

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

439

river, where also a great area was being included in the
British sphere.
England's connection with the Lake Nyasa region, British
enterprises

it has been seen, dates from the time of Livingstone's on the Lake
'

**

Nyasa

great Zambezi expedition (1858-64). As the result re s ion
of Livingstone's work, missions, Scotch and English,
were established near the Shire, which joins the lake
with the Zambezi, and on the shores of the lake itself.
In 1878 a trading company consisting of Scotch
merchants 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 Zambezi is the approach.
This is the Company known afterwards as the African
Lakes Company, now the African Lakes Corporation ;
its capital was at first ^"20,000, afterwards increased
to ;£ 100,000.
Its aims were somewhat 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, until recently,
conducted with any great amount of energy and enterprise. 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 Nyasa and
Lake Tanganyika.
Planting on a small scale was
carried on, and some little trade was done. The boats

44o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

belonging to the Company were of service in carrying
the missionaries and their stores to the stations in
Nyasaland ; 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 Highlands 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 Nyasa 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
claims of the Lower Zambezi. Until Germany entered the field,
Portugal.

Portugal does not seem to have disturbed herself
greatly as to the British occupation of the country
on the Shire and Lake Nyasa. Her consent to the
abortive treaty with England of 1884, guaranteeing
among other things the free navigation of the Lower
Zambezi, was a tacit admission that Great Britain had
a right to territories to which the river gave access.
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 Continent.

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND SOUTH

AFRICA

441

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 " sovereign and
civilising influence " in the region in question. Enough
has been said already of the supposed rights of
Portugal to a trans-African Empire. At the date at A transAfrican
which we have arrived she could produce no evidence Empire.
of serious and continuous occupation, nothing to be
compared even to the comparatively slender establishments of British missionaries and traders in the Nyasa
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
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

442

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

natives.
You will state that this protest specially
applies to the districts of Lake Nyasa 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 annexation
of the region between Angola and Mozambique, or only
the region immediately occupied by British traders and
missionaries in Nyasaland, 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 the country south of the Zambezi, 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. " I t 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 Nyasa ; the decision of this
controversy has no practical value at the present day
as regards the political situation. It isy on the other
hand, an undisputed point that the recent discoveries
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

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND SOUTH

AFRICA

443

by the sea is by the rivers Zambezi and Shire. Her
Majesty's Government and the British public are much
interested in the welfare of these settlements. Portugal
does not occupy, and has never occupied, any portions
of the lake nor of the Shire ; she has neither authority
nor influence beyond the confluence of the Shire and
Zambezi, where her interior custom-house, now withdrawn, was placed by the terms of the Mozambique
tariff of 1877."
During 1887 Portugal endeavoured in vain to
advance her claims by voluminous correspondence,
intended to prove her historical rights. An attempt in
1888 to close the Zambezi 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 Troubl(
Nyasa region was complicated by the hostility of the AraDs.
Arab slave-dealers against the missionaries and the
trading companies. The Arabs were naturally alarmed
at the progress made by British influence in the region,
a progress which in the end might, they feared, extinguish their occupation. Hostilities were carried on for
some months in the district on the west of the Lake
Nyasa, and 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
against the Arabs and their native allies, and probably

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

was the means of preventing a wholesale massacre of
the British in the country. The Portuguese officials at
Mozambique did their utmost to hamper the British by
preventing the importation of much-needed ammunition
and weapons. It was not until the advent of Mr. H. H.
Johnston, as Her Majesty's representative in Nyasaland,
that an understanding was come to between the Arabs
and the Lakes Company, the sinews of war being supplied in a great measure by the British South Africa
Company, to the extent of ^"70,000. While slavetrading was by no means extinguished, it was to a considerable extent suppressed, though much yet remains
to be done ere it is abolished entirely. Unfortunately
the evidence is only too convincing that men calling
themselves Portuguese subjects do quite as much to
continue the traffic north of the Zambezi as the Arabs.
Portuguese
While these troubles were harassing the British
attempts

possession

#

occu

°

P a n t s °f Nyasaland in 1888, Portugal was making
a final determined effort to obtain possession of a region
which she had so long neglected. So 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 Nyasa
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. E. O'Neill,
reported that a formidable expedition was on its way
to the Shire River and the west shore of Lake
Nyasa, under Antonio Cardoso. Though this expedition reached the south shore of the lake, its reception

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

445

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 Nyasa.
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, serpa pinto
however, caused more anxiety than any other effort on the
Zambezi.

the part of Portugal to outdo Great Britain ; and by
the middle of 1889 it became apparent that no halfmeasures would suffice, and that if Great Britain were
to secure her interests on the north of the Zambezi, 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- H. H.
ston was not the man to allow himself to be outwitted, frustrates
Portuguese.

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
of 1889 this force had been increased to some five
thousand. Serpa Pinto professed that the expedition
was a peaceful one, his object being merely to pass

446

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

through the country of the Makololo for the purpose of
exploring in the region of Lake Nyasa.
These
Makololo were the remnants of those who had accompanied Livingstone in his first great expedition across
Africa, and had settled in the country to the west
of the Shire. Here they soon became dominant, and
though only a handful, made themselves masters of the
whole country. The action of the Portuguese force
belied the professions of its commander. The Makololo
were attacked, and many of them killed. They had
always remained attached to the English, and ActingConsul 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 Nyasa, 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 Nyasa and Tanganyika, 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
with the operations already described on the south of
the Zambezi, the excitement in Portugal against Eng-

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND

SOUTH

AFRICA

447

land was intense. The Portuguese Government continued to insist on what they considered their ancient
rights, but to such unsubstantial claims Lord Salisbury 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
Zambezi as far west as Lake Bangweolo, and as
far north as the line joining the north shore of Lake
Nyasa 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 vivendi.
Meanwhile the Portuguese officials on the Shire Extended
53

British

continued to annoy British traders and explorers, and enterprise,
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 Shire
for the purpose of proceeding westwards to Lake
Bangweolo. - While proceeding along the Shire 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 Mweru, for the
British South Africa Company. The district coveted
undoubtedly lay within the cartographical limits of the

448

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 acquisition of the Katanga
territory went, the expeditions under Mr. Thomson and
Mr. Sharpe went for nothing.
A British
Mr. Rhodes not only sought after Katanga, but had
Commis-

sioner
appointed

J

b

the ambition of sweeping under
r

&

&

'

the sway of his
J

zamb^af11 Chartered Company the region worked by the Lakes
Company and all the territory north of the Zambezi.
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 incorporate 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 on the north of the Zambezi, returned
to his post in the spring of 1891, as Her Majesty's
Commissioner and Consul-General for British Central
Africa, and Administrator of what is now officially
designated the British Central Africa protectorate. To
enable Mr. Johnston to carry on his work of administration and development, the British South Africa
Company contributed ;£ 10,000 a year; the actual sum
contributed during three years far exceeded that.

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND SOUTH

AFRICA

449

The Commissioner acted as agent for the Company,
which claimed the whole of the territory outside of
Nyasaland proper, under which are included the districts
in the Lake Nyasa region, in which British missionaries
have been at work for many years, and which are under
direct Imperial administration. Mr. Johnston had with
him a small staff, including an engineer officer and a
practical botanist. He took up his headquarters at the
consulate at Zomba, to the north of Blantyre, and
on his arrival set himself at once to the establishment of an administration, 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 AngioPortuguese

11th June 1891, which settled all disputes as to agreement,
boundaries. By this agreement the whole of the region
to the north of the Zambezi, west of the Shire and
Lake Nyasa, to the Barotse country on both sides of
the Upper Zambezi—the precise western limit not
being defined—is included in the British sphere. Most
of Lake Bangweolo was included, and half of Lake
Mweru, the northern limit being a line joining the north
end of Lake Nyasa and the south shore of Lake
Tanganyika. This line was adjusted with Germany,
who succeeded in including within her sphere one of
the most fertile districts on Lake Nyasa. There was
left to Portugal a triangular block of land on the north
of the Zambezi, between Zumbo and the Lower Shire.
On the east of the Shire the Ruo River forms the
southern boundary of British territory, which included
2G

450

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

a block on the side of the river up to Nyasa. On
the west side the boundary came lower down. By
progress in this arrangement, something like 500,000 square miles
Northern

zambezia. were added to the British sphere, including some of the
best watered and most promising portions of Central
Africa.
Mr. Johnston naturally began his work of organisation 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
Power, 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 ; Captain Maguire,
a promising young officer, was killed. 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. But Her Majesty's Commissioner could not submit quietly to such a defeat.
While dealing effectively with other hostile and slaveraiding chiefs, it was not till the beginning of 1894
that he felt himself in a position to attack Makanjila's
Encounters stronghold. He had in the meantime been reinforced
slavers. by additional Sikhs from India and by two new gunboats
on the Lake. The Makanjila who had killed Captain
Maguire had himself been murdered by a relative, and
a new Makanjila reigned in his stead, having some
2000 men at his command. In the end of 1893 a n d

BRITISH

CENTRAL

AND SOUTH

AFRICA

451

beginning of 1894 the new Makanjila was completely
defeated, and in March 1894 he made his submission
to the British authorities ; so that one of the most
formidable obstacles to the development of Nyasaland
and the suppression of the slave-trade has been removed.
On the site of Makanjila's town a fort named after
Maguire has been erected.
Though much has thus been accomplished, and although the region on the south of the Lake is now fairly
under command, much remains to be done on the west of
the lake and in the rest of the sphere ere slave-raiding
chiefs and slave-dealing Arabs can be got rid of. 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 administration the British Central Africa protectorate, 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 Nyasa and the country beyond
into provinces and districts ; there are outlying posts
as far as Lake Mweru, on the borders of the Congo
Free State.
A considerable revenue is raised by

452

British

THE PARTITION

customs duties and taxation.

OF

AFRICA

The European

popu-

administra-

tion,

lation is about 240, mostly British subjects.

Moreover,

Nyasaianci.

traders are settling in the lower region, while Arabs
recognised as traders of repute have stations in various
parts of the British sphere. The total native population is about 4,000,000, though large areas have been
devastated by slave-raiding.
Blantyre, in the Shire
Highlands, has a population of about 40 Europeans
and 4000 natives. It has many good houses, and a
handsome church of brick, built entirely by native
labour. The Shire province, lying round the southern
shores of Lake Nyasa, is governed much after the
manner of a Crown colony. It is divided into twelve
districts, each with its staff of officials. There are postoffices and custom-houses, and a newspaper, and the
telegraph has been rapidly extended to the Zambezi, so
that Zomba and Blantyre are in telegraphic connection
with England. Good roads are being made in all directions, and steps are being taken to connect the Lower
Shire, past the rapids, by means of a railway with the
Lake. Coffee-planting has been greatly extended, and the
produce fetches the highest price in the foreign market.
Rice and wheat are grown successfully, while experiments
are also being made with sugar, tea, tobacco, and other
products, which there is every reason to believe will
prove successful.
Oats and barley thrive in the
uplands, while merino sheep and Natal ponies seem to
prosper. Natives come to Blantyre from all quarters
seeking work. The Shire itself has become a highway
of commerce. On this river, the Zambezi, and Lake
Nyasa, there are five gunboats ; there is also an armed

BRITISH CENTRAL AND SOUTH AFRICA

453

force of 200 Sikhs with 200 or 300 black police, with
English officers and Sikh non-commissioned officers.
There is besides an armament of artillery with mountain
guns.
At the Chinde mouth of the Zambezi, the
Portuguese Government has very liberally granted a
small piece of land called the British Concession, on
which goods may be landed and transhipped free of
duty.
There are six missionary societies at work, mainly
Scotch, who have been remarkably successful in many
ways ; they have shown great practical sense, and as
has been stated, have so far overcome the labour difficulty as to have erected a handsome church entirely
with free native labour. Everything seems to promise
that in the near future British Central Africa will be
flourishing and prosperous.
The Lakes Company,
however, did not finally become incorporated with the
British South Africa Company, but preferred to remain
independent, though the South Africa Company has
large interests in it and has acquired its land rights
and other concessions.
It has been already stated that when in England
in 1894 Mr. Rhodes arranged to take over the direct
administration of the Company's sphere north of the
Zambezi.
Mr. Joseph Thomson returned in shattered health Thomson
and Rhodes
in

in the end of 18 91 from his expedition to L a k e England.
Bangweolo. He traversed the plateau region between
Lakes Nyasa 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

454

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

for plantations and for cattle-rearing. Meantime Mr.
Rhodes, who visited England in the latter part of 1892,
floated a scheme for the construction of a line 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, notwithstanding difficulties which seem almost insuperable, to accomplish
this enterprise also, an enterprise which cannot but
contribute to the development of the Continent.

CHAPTER
AFRICAN

XXI

ISLANDS

Madagascar—Neighbouring islands—Islands off the West Coast.

FOR the sake of completeness reference may be briefly Madagascar,
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.
Both 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 lie Dauphin or France Orientale.
Fort
Dauphin, at the south end of the island, was founded in
1 6 4 4 ; 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.

456

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

In 1750 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 1768.
In 1773-86 the Hungarian Count Benyovski attempted
to establish French influence, but without success ;
equally unsuccessful was another attempt in the first
year of the nineteenth century. The island was taken
possession of by Great Britain in 1811. 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 maintain that Madagascar was a dependency of the latter,
he did not succeed. At the same time British influence has become strong in the island through the labours
of missionaries. The London Missionary Society, 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-Be, Nbssi-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 1883-85, the result being that a treaty was concluded
in October 1885, literally establishing a French Pro-

AFRICAN

ISLANDS

457

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. In 1894-95 France made a determined effort to strengthen her hold over the island and
secure complete control of all its interests. 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 Neighbour.,
France in 1840, while the Comoros, half-way between
Madagascar and the African Coast, were taken possession of in 1886. The island of Bourbon, afterwards
named Reunion, has belonged to France since 1764.
Mauritius was occupied by France in 1715, but was
taken by England in 181 o, and at the Treaty of Paris,
in 181 5, it remained British, with, as satellites, Rodri-

458

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

guez, the Amirantes, the Seychelles, and various scattered
small islands, while Reunion was restored,
islands off
On the other side of Africa it may be said that the
the West

coast.

J

Acores, Madeira, and the Cape Verde islands have
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 Po was
ceded to Spain by Portugal in 1778, as was the
island of Annobon. The islands of Principe and San
Thome have been Portuguese since the fifteenth
century. S t 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
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

T H E ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA
Extent and monotony of Africa—The tropical continent par excellence—
Its relation to the ocean—Monotony of outline—Configuration of the
surface—Lack of mountain ranges—High mean elevation—Temperature — Obstruction to river - navigation — Prevailing winds and
rainfall — Lakes and rivers — Results of peculiar geography of
Africa—Economical characteristics of tropical regions—North and
South Afiica—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?—Can the natives be
utilised ?—The rdle of the white man—Colonisation—North Africa—
White colonisation—South Africa, its value.

SUCH then in brief is the story of the "Scramble for Extent and
monotony

Africa" and its results. It will enable us to form of Africa,
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 leading 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

460

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 of a country like England or France or Italy or
even India, but that it is a great continent embracing
some 11,500,000 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
70 0 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 temperate 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 0
north and 40 0 south. The equinoctial line which
passes through its centre does not touch the
Euro-Asiatic continent. The Tropic of Cancer, which

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

461

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 1,000,000 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 Thetropi.
0

r

r

cal conti-

a very considerable portion is situated to the south of ezcei^^e
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 par excellence. Of its
total area some two-thirds, almost 8,000,000 square
miles, lie between the tropics, and have the sun vertical twice a year, while the rest of the Continent is
more or less sub-tropical; so that, so far as climate

462

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 intercourse 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 European 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 practically cease to be European,
its relation
But there are other geographical factors to be taken
ocean.
j n to account, which modify the general effects of latitude, 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

THE

ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

463

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 Monotony
J

r

J

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 magnificent natural harbours that mark the west coast of
Europe, including our own islands, nor with the richlybroken 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

of outline.

464

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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 disadvantageous^ 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 beneficent influences which contiguity to the sea brings
with it; and in the second place, it deprives the enterprising 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,
configuraPassing from the contour of the coast-line to the
tion of the

surface.

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

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THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

465

13,000 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, 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, Dunye-M'buro, not yet extinct.
Scattered over the region between this and Lakes
Nyasa and Bangweolo we find a few points rising to
over 5000 feet, but there is no other mountain range
till we meet the Drackensberg 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 13,700 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
2 H

466

Lack of

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

mountain

ranges.

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 drawback 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 sedimentary 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

467

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 High mean
*
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&

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J elevation.

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 wall 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 considerable 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

468

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.
^Pera"
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 jo° is almost coincident
with the north coast of Africa, and just comes inside
the south coast. The mean annual isotherm of 8o°
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 temperatures 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 i° 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,
Nyasa, 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

469

possible, and, if on the verge of the tropics, even
colonisation may be practicable ; though the last statement must be taken with caution. For, be it remembered, 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 Bechuanaland it is as much as 3 6°, and in South-West Africa
even 6o°. 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- Obstruction
to river-

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

47o

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 150
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 achievement 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
Prevailing winds have much to do with temperature,
winds and

rainfall.

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 wintls 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

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THE ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF

AFRICA

47i

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 continued 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 Ogove, 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 Benue down to the vicinity of
the Congo mouth, and probably including some of the
northern tributaries of the Congo, the rainfall is estimated 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 Benue on the north to the Zambesi on the
south 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.
Over 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

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

belt of varying breadth going east from the mouth of
the Senegal along the Central Sudan States and on to
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 of 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 1 o to 2 5 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 inadequate for industrial operations ; so that where Europeans
might settle, so far as temperature goes, the watersupply 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.
Lakes and
Closely related to the supply of water from above
rivers.

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, Mweru, Bangweolo, Nyasa—just on the eastern edge of the region
where the rainfall may be from 50 to 100 inches. On

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THE

ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

473

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
according 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 northeast 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 Benue, comes from the
central zone. These are the four great river-systems
of Africa and the Nile is the only one which, in any

474

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

part of its course, reaches beyond the tropics. The
Senegal and the Gambia, though tropical, are insignificant ; 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 Wadies 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
geography brevity and generality, the leading data which may be
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 Continent on the earth's surface, i.e. 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 distribution 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

475

supply of surface water, or hydrography of the Continent.
What, then, on the face of it, so to speak,
do we find as the first outcome of these various
influences ?
To begin with, in the great central region, the region Economical
of fairly abundant rainfall and of generally ample *stics <*
surface water-supply, we find on the whole spontaneous re § ion tropical exuberance of vegetation, and plentiful animal
life. Even here, especially in East Africa, there are, however, 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 Benu6, 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 io° north to 20 0 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 Zambezi, except the low-lying Manika
country, the district where there is a fairly abundant
extra - tropical rainfall, including Mashonaland, Matabeleland, parts of the Transvaal and Orange Free
State, and east and south Cape Colony, we find

476

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

grass-lands with trees, though not very evenly distributed, 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
Western Mediterranean coast-lands.
North and
Between the north of the central belt and the
Africa.
Mediterranean coast, and also over most of the northeast 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 something like 4,000,000 square miles—one-third of the
Continent. Gf 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
Zambezi. 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 ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

477

Thus, then, m Africa we have at least 2,000,000 Extent of
•i

r

1

1

1 1 1 1

desert lam

square miles of true desert, and probably about a
similar area of land at a stage above the desert, varying
from 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
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.
Indirectly also, no doubt, rainfall influences the DistribuJ

'

'

tionof

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

478

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

belong to, may actually promote the opening up of
the Continent, seeing that they attract the sportsman,
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 Zambezi.
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 accomplishing 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.
Minerals.
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

THE ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

479

Africa has been known from remote times ; that the
gold mines of Mashonaland and Manika, of which so
much has been recently 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 Zambezi, in the west as in the
east there can be little doubt North of the Zambezi,
in the Lake Nyasa 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 Zambezi, just in the
region where an active white population is most
wanted.
Still farther south, in Mashonaland, 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

4 8o

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

of lake Nyasa, to the west of the U p p e r Zambezi,
in Tibesti, in Abyssinia and Darfur, in the Victoria
N y a n z a region, and along t h e shores of Tunis, Algeria
and Morocco, this useful metal is found in remarkable
quantities. Copper also is found in the Transvaal, and
in great a b u n d a n c e on t h e south of t h e Orange River,
in D a m a r a l a n d , and in K a t a n g a , west of L a k e Bangweolo. 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 y e t we k n o w too little of Africa
to be able to say with a n y confidence w h a t are its
mineral riches.
A n d when t h e y are found, their
mercantile value will depend upon their accessibility,
communiT h i s suggests another i m p o r t a n t factor which must
cations.

.

.

.

.

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 highways 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 ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

481

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 waterway, 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 150 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 traderoutes in Central Africa. As for the Zambezi, if once
its fickle mouths are passed, steamers of moderate size
may go up, during part of the year, 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
Nyasa, 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
2 I

482

Modes of
conveyance,

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

m a y be said of the Congo if once the railway were
made. W h a t is more doubtful is whether the traffic
over the line will for a long time be sufficient to
make the railway pay.
E x c e p t in those parts where E u r o p e a n s have been
settled for some t i m e — t h a t is, on t h e north and south
b o r d e r s — t h e r e are no roads in Africa worthy of the
n a m e — n o n e on which a n y 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, and there
camels are also largely used.
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

THE ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

483

attempted to utilise the 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
in recent times have yet 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
Zambezi 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 The
&

&

& r /

y

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 interesting 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

natives.

484

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 lightbrown, 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, eastsouth-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 Bushmen 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

JANUARY TEMPERATURE.

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JULY TEMPERATURE.

MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL,

VEGETATION MAP.

arid,

the figures are the degrees of FahrenheiCs Scale,.

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Isotherms

from. thx. Report

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I.ona»TL. E S w a r a Stanford, 20 & 23 Cockspnr StXTmrnig C r o s s . S W

THE

ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

485

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—Will 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 without 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, Wadai, and neighbouring states
which are yet practically independent.
France has
overcome it in Tunis and Algeria; it is dormant in
E g y p t ; 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, Moslem or other, are fairly industrious,

486

Labour
supply.

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

and if once their enmity were overcome they might cooperate very effectively with Europeans.
For the future development of Africa, it is, however,
r
#

>

>

>

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 treatment, 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 introduce labour from India and the Malay Archipelago.
Densityof
There are many questions suggested by the consideration 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 ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

487

suppression of slave-raiding, the native population is
bound to increase. According to the estimate of one
of the most competent authorities, Mr. Ravenstein, the
total population of Africa does not exceed 130,000,000,
i.e. only about 10 to a square mile, though other
authorities estimate it at 200,000,000. But the Continent, comparatively poor as it is, is capable of sustaining 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 Ogovd 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 55. 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 Somaliland and running to the south of Victoria Nyanza,
Damaraland, and Namaqualand, the bulk of the Atlas
and the coast of Tripoli, only reach from 1 to 5 ; while

488

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, something 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 u p ; 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,
central
with special reference to the economical value of Africa ?
Africa.

r

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 continents 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 ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

489

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
£20,000,000 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.

49Q

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
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.
How are its
What, then, is wanted to develop the natural reto be de- sources of Africa, and utilise the capabilities of its soil ?
veloped ?

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 Tanganyika, Albert Nyanza, Victoria Nyanza, Nyasa ; 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 improved, if the impassable sections of the Congo and
the Niger, the Nile and the Zambezi, were bridged by
railways, 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. Until, however, the transport question of products in bulk has been solved, the central

THE ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

491

regions of Africa, though fertile, are practically useless.
But in the meantime experiments should be made all
over. We want to know what can be made of the vast
plateau region round the great lakes, and of the low
countries which they dominate. In the Lake Nyasa
region we may soon have some positive data to go
upon as a result of the enterprise being carried out
under Her Majesty's Commissioner, Mr. Johnston, for
that region is within reasonable touch of Europe by
means of the Zambezi. 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
expression of a belief that it has great capabilities.
It is here, however, that the importance of the con- can the
natives be

sideration already discussed becomes apparent; if utilised?
the way were quite clear, otherwise, if means of communication 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 atmosphere when the rotting soil is stirred ; the mere heat
of the tropics seems to incapacitate Europeans for

492

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

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
that there is no reason whatever to despair of the African
native ; that in time he may take to fairly regular habits
of industry.
Thereof
But what about the white man himself?
Apart
the white

man.

coionisa-

altogether from t h e question of h a r d manual daily
labour, can h e settle in Central Africa in a n y great
n u m b e r s ? T h e prevailing belief on t h e subject h a s
been already referred t o ; b u t even after obtaining all
t h e information possible from m e n who have h a d
experience in various parts of Africa, t h e d a t a which
we possess on t h e subject are e x t r e m e l y scanty. W e
find on t h e N y a s a - T a n g a n y i k a plateau missionaries
a n d traders living with their wives a n d children ; b u t
t h e e x p e r i m e n t h a s n o t been tried long enough t o
a d m i t of a n y conclusion being drawn.
Emin Pasha
lived in t h e Equatorial Province for twelve years, so
did Mackay, t h e missionary, in U g a n d a ; a n d there are
other isolated instances of t h e same kind. B u t what
is wanted is a t h o r o u g h investigation of t h e whole subject
of E u r o p e a n residence in tropical countries, based on
existing data, a n d on d a t a t o be collected in t h e future
from Central Africa.
W e know absolutely t h a t over

tion.

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,

THE ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF AFRICA

493

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
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 hesitate to go.
Now, briefly, as to the north and the south of the North
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 datetrees 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 domination, 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. With regard to the
countries along the Mediterranean border, certainly
much of the Tripoli coast region is not much better

494

white
colonisation.

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
from the point of view of commerce and colonisation.
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 :—
" I think it would be almost impossible for any
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. With 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. With 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 Alfagatherers—men, women, and children—support the
alternations of great cold and intense heat on the high

THE

ECONOMIC

VALUE

OF

AFRICA

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
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 E g y p t ; 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. It will afford some idea of the comparative 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 south
**

J

Africa, its

south of the Zambesi. Here we find that the western valuehalf, and the south away from the coast, has but a
scanty rainfall. The natural vegetable products are of

496

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

but poor account; even ivory is now obtained in comparatively 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
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 importance. 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 ostrichfarming. 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

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AFRICA

497

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. While the native
cannot, of course, be compared to the English mechanic
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
about ^"40,000,000 sterling—one-half exports.

2 K

CHAPTER

XXIII

CONCLUSION
Africa before and after the scramble—France's shaie—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—
Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference—Value of African commerce—
Europe's duty to the natives—What remains to be scrambled for—
Egypt and British supremacy—England's duty.
Africa before and
after the
scramble.

L E T US briefly inquire what has been the result of the
scramble of the last ten years ; what share has fallen to
the lot of each of the Powers engaged in the game ?
In the beginning of 1884, °f the 11,500,000 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, exclusive of Liberia, Morocco, Tripoli, and
Egypt, supposing the various international agreements
are held to be valid and the understanding as to " spheres
of influence " is respected, there is hardly a mile out of the
11,500,000 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 ten years there has been a mad rush, and nearly
the whole of the Continent has been gobbled up. Let

CONCLUSION

499

us see, then, how matters now stand; in Appendix I.
will be found the statistical results in tabular form.
France has emerged from the scramble with a bigger France's
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 territories of the British
Niger Company. With the exception 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. In the region between the
Mobangi and the Central Sudan States she has, by
the latest arrangements with Germany and the Congo
Free State, added a quarter of a million square miles
to her territory, and practically secured uninterrupted
communication between the Mediterranean and the
Congo. On the other side she has taken Madagascar
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 probably exceeds 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. Including the French

500

THE PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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
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 reared by 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. Indeed
the more precise is our knowledge of the conditions of
African soil and climate, the more we realise that they
are not quite so bad as they have been painted, and
that by some expenditure of capital and the application
of scientific methods, fairly profitable results may be
obtained even from unlikely regions. 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

CONCLUSION

501

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 Germany,
scramble, has only a very small fragment of her African
domain outside the Tropics—Namaqualand,—and much
of that is not far removed from 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 magnificent sanatorium in the lofty Cameroons
Mountains, and now stretches an arm as far north as
Lake Chad. Damaraland and Namaqualand probably
contain 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 considerable areas of desert or poor steppe
country, scantily watered, and demoralised by slaveraiding.
Still this is the most hopeful part of
German Africa. The coast is peopled with industrious
traders; several trade-routes come down from the
interior; experiments on a considerable scale have
proved that plantations of tropical products, are pos-

502

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

sible; and both cattle and sheep can be successfully
reared on certain areas.
Portugal.
Portugal has still left to her about 900,000 square
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
Italy.
includes a long stretch of the Red Sea coast from the
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
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.
Spain has a small block of 200,000 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, and the north coast of Morocco. In
Congo Free the heart of the Continent the Congo Free State, an
State.

Great
Britain.

appanage of the King of the Belgians, covers about
1,000,000 square miles. I\t 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 about 2,500,000 square miles ; and if one
dared to include Egypt, the British sphere would

CONCLUSION

5o3

equal 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
1,000,000 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, Matabeleland, and British
Central Africa, nearly 1,000,000 square miles, 600,000
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, Great
Britain has undoubtedly, by a long way, the advantage
over any other Power. Although the Zambezi 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

504

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

low-lying grounds ; but in the plateaux, in the highlands of Mashonaland for example, there seems every
reason to believe that colonisation in the true sense of
the term is possible. The whole region, at least,
is amply favourable to the most strenuous 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
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 Zambezi, between Lakes Nyasa 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
whole, exempt from the laws which govern other purely
tropical countries so far as European residence is concerned. But according to latest reports, by so competent 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.

CONCLUSION

505

It is tropical Africa, then, and that means the Tropical
r

'

'

Africa the

bulk of the Continent, which forms the great problem of sermat P 10 ^
the future to be faced by those European nations which
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.
Had Africa been in the same geographical position Limits to
European

as North America, or even Australia, the problem would coionisahave 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
some means of acclimatising Europeans in tropical
Africa. So far as our present knowledge goes, that
is impossible. Men and 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. With 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

506

can the

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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

native

African be pardoned for referring to it once again in this concluding
trained t>o

work?

chapter. It is often said that the African native never
will work unless forced to do so. Well, there are various
kinds of force ; slavery is not the only form of compulsion 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,

CONCLUSION

507

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 (before
they were cleared out by the Belgians) had greatly
changed the face of the country and elevated the condition of their retainers by sheer force of example.
Many Arabs had settled in the Middle and Upper
Congo region ; they had 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 were not slow to imitate
their masters, and several towns of comparatively
good houses had grown up, and large areas been
brought under cultivation. But lest it may be thought
that the slave-raiding, ivory-stealing Arab is an unfortunate 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 Shire river, to the
south of Lake Nyasa. 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

5o8

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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, designed by a Scotch missionary, was built entirely
by the natives with free labour.
He and his colleagues 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
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 Nyasa 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,
siave-raidThere is one thing upon which all the Powers, it is
ing and the

Brussels

.

hoped, are now happily agreed ; and that is, that slaveraiding and slave-export must be put down. If Africa
is ever to be governed and utilised, there is no doubt
that the slave-trade is doomed, and that on the East

CONCLUSION

509

Coast it will soon be as extinct as it is on the
West. Internal domestic slavery is another thing; it
will only vanish when one European nation will not
permit the district in which it is interested to be
denuded of labour in order to supply slaves to work
elsewhere, and when the advantage of free labour comes
home to the native, who must before then rise 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 120,000,000 of people
sunk in the lowest savagery. The Act passed by the
Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference of 1890-91, and Brussels
Anti-

signed by all the leading Powers, as well as those slavery
fa

J

t>

>

having an interest in Africa, has for its object the
suppression of slave-raiding, the control over arms, and
the stoppage of the importation of spirituous drinks.
The obligations imposed upon the Powers are very
serious, and if faithfully and unitedly carried out, would
soon accomplish the object of the Act. We give the
leading provisions of the Act as summarised by Mr. P.
L. M'Dermott in his excellent work on British East
Africa.
On the 17th of September of 1888 the Marquis of
Salisbury addressed a despatch to Lord Vivian, the
British Ambassador at Brussels, suggesting that his
Majesty the King of the Belgians should take the
initiative in inviting a Conference of the Powers at
Brussels to concert measures for the "gradual sup-

Conference.

5io

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

pression of the slave-trade on the continent of Africa,
and the immediate closing of all the external markets
which it still supplies." After a sketch of the present
state of the sea-borne slave-trade, the markets supplied
by it, and the difficulties encountered in clearing the
seas of the traffic, Lord Salisbury represented that,
while her Majesty's Government would cheerfully continue " to bear the burden of further measures to effect
the common object," they felt that the altered political
conditions of the African seaboard now called for united
action on the part of the Powers responsible for its
control, with a view to closing the foreign slave-markets
and discouraging the internal slave-hunts.
The Conference assembled at Brussels in November
1889, and continued its sittings till 2nd July 1890,
when a general Act was agreed to, embodying the conclusions of their deliberations. The Conference Powers,
" equally animated," in the words of the preamble, " by
the firm intention of putting an end to the crimes and
devastations engendered by the traffic in African slaves,
protecting effectively the aboriginal populations of Africa,
and ensuring for that vast continent the benefits of
peace and civilisation," declared that the most effective
means for counteracting the slave-trade in the interior
of Africa are the following :—
1. Progressive organisation of the administrative,
judicial, religious, and military services in the African
territories placed under the sovereignty or protectorate
of civilised nations.
2. The gradual establishment in the interior, by the
Powers to which the territories are subject, of strongly

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CONCLUSION

511

occupied stations in such a way as to make their
protective or repressive action effectively felt in the
territories devastated by slave-hunting.
3. The construction of roads, and in particular of
railways, connecting the advanced stations with the
coast, and permitting easy access to the inland waters,
and to such of the upper courses of the rivers and
streams as are broken by rapids and cataracts, in view
of substituting economical and rapid means of transport
for the present means of carriage by men.
4. Establishment of steamboats on the inland
navigable waters and on the lakes, supported by
fortified posts established on the banks.
5. Establishment of telegraphic lines, ensuring the
communication of the posts and stations with the coast
and with the administrative centres.
6. Organisation of expeditions and flying columns
to keep up the communication of the stations with each
other and with the coast, to support repressive action,
and to ensure the security of high-roads.
7. Restriction of the importation of fire-arms, at
least of modern pattern, and of ammunition, throughout
the entire extent of the territories infected by the
slave-trade.
The Powers were authorised by Article IV. to delegate their engagements under the Act to chartered companies, while themselves, however, remaining " directly
responsible for the engagements which they contract
by the present Act," and guaranteeing the execution
thereof. Great Britain had already for many years
watched the maritime slave-traffic with her cruisers at

512

value of
African

THE PARTITION

OF AFRICA

a considerable annual expense; but as Lord Salisbury
confessed in his despatch suggesting the conference, the
policing of the high seas and coastal waters had proved
but of little efficacy towards suppressing the slave-trade.
The primary object of the conference was to direct
measures of repression and extinction against the evil
at its sources in the interior, by the adoption of as
many of the means enumerated as were practicable.
Thus the duty imposed on Great Britain is to open up
her African sphere in such a way as to render slaveraiding 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
r

'

'

commerce. Qf Africa ? At present, Africa occupies a poor place
in the commerce of the world.
Its total exports
hardly exceed ^60,000,000 sterling.
India alone,
covering only 1,500,000 square miles, exports to the
value of ^90,000,000. Of the African ^60,000,000
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 of the 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.

CONCLUSION

513

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,
mdigo and tea, and tobacco, coffee, and sugar, are all
products adapted to various parts of Central 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 11,500,000,
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
present ?
Let those European Powers then, which have thrust Europe's
duty to

themselves upon the native, look upon it as both their the natives,
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
2 L

5H

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

be sure that roads and even railways will come in good
time. When we think of what has been accomplished
in ten 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
years. Without pretending to treat the African as the
equal of the white man in any way, let us, for our own
sakes and his, deal with him humanely ; let us give him
fairplay; let us not sink ourselves to his level of
brutality. There has been far too much blundering
and plundering in the European 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.

CONCLUSION

515

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
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 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 learri 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.
Since the first edition of this work, indeed within what remains to b

the last few months, what remained of Central Africa scrambled
'

to be scrambled for, has to all intents and purposes
been appropriated.
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 governments, 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

for.

516

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

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.
"' Germany and France have practically divided between
them what remains.
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 ?
Egypt and At present it is no doubt within the British sphere.
supremacy. Can it be doubted that if England cleared out, some
other Power would edge its way in ? The time
may come when all civilised nations will combine
for the common good of the race, and when mere
land-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 meantime 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.
It is natural that Englishmen should
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 such supremacy to keep Egypt, can any other
Power blame England for keeping it ? If France were
in England's position, is it likely she would lose her
hold over the country ? Do not let England be smitten
with the craven fear of being great, nor try to shirk the

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CONCLUSION

517

responsibilities which arise naturally from her dominant
position. She has done a good deal of knuckling down
to certain other Powers m her recent dealings with
Africa. It remains to be seen whether harm will come
of it.
One word of Chauvinism may be excused in con- England's
J
u

elusion. In the building up of our world-wide empire
we have no doubt done many things which we ought not
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 issues of
which cannot be foreseen, endeavour to " bear without
abuse the grand old name of" Englishman.

duty.

APPENDIX I.
THE PARTITION OF AFRICA, JANUARY 1895.
T H E following table has been compiled by Mr. E. G. Ravenstein,
F.R.G.S., who kindly allows it to be used here. The population
figures are necessarily in mpst cases only the roughest estimates :—
Area, Square
Miles.

British Africa:
Gambia
.
.
Sierra Leone
Gold Coast
Lagos and Yoruba
Niger Territories
British Guinea

.

.

Population.

4,120

60,000
480,000
1,800,000
3,000,000
24,380,000

27,730
52,990
21,100

.

Cape Colony (with Walvisch Bay)
Natal
.
.
.
.
Zulu and Tonga Lands
Basutoland
British Bechuanaland
Bechuanaland Protectorate
Matabili
and Mashona
Lands
.
.
.
.
British Central Africa
British South Africa .
Zanzibar and Pemba .
British East Africa, to 6° N.
and 300 E. .
Upper Nile Basin to io° N.
! Somali Land
Sokotra
.
.
.
.
British East Africa

375>*9o
481,130
225,690
16,740
11,540
10,290

54,610
117,860

; Inhabitants to
a Square Mile.
X

$

17
38
142

65

29,720,000

62

I,800,000

8
33
18

550,000
200,000
220,000
60,400
100,000 :

21
1.1

0.9

252,880
285,900
975,510

6,330,400

960

210,000

219

449,570

4,500,000

10

218,110
67,000'

1,858,000

1,380
737,020 J

10,000 1
6,778,000

400,000
3,000,000

200,000

-1.6
10

6T~

8.5
3
7
9

52o

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Area, Square
Miles.

British Africa—coni.—
Mauritius and Dependencies
St. Helena, Ascension, and
Tristan da Cunha .
TOTAL BRITISH AFRICA

.

French Africa :
Algeria
.
.
.
.
Tunis
.
.
.
.
Sahara (part of).
Senegambia
"Western Sudan (part of) .
Ivory Coast, etc.
Dahome
.
.
.
.
French Congo to io° N. .
Bagirmi
.
.
.
.
Tajura Bay (Obok and

Population.

1,090

395,000

130

4,300

32

2,194,880

43,227,700

20

3°9,58°

4,175,000
1,500,000
2,500,000
2,050,000
4,900,000
650,000
600,000
8,950,000
1,000,000

50,840
1,683,550
112,820
290,150
64,420
14,140

496,920
65,650

Inhabitants to
a Square Mile.

363

13.5
30
i-5
18
17

10
42

18

23

8,640

30,000

Madagascar and Dependencies
.
.
.
.
Comoros
.
.
.
.
Reunion
.
.
.
.

228,560
760
?
760

3,500,000
62,000
172,000

Total French Africa

3,326,790

30,089,000

14,370

292,750

200,000
111,000
21,000
30,000
3,610,000
1,500,000

826,730

5,472,000

30

533
0.7

3

Jibati)

.

.

.

.

.

Portuguese Africa :
Portuguese Guinea
Cape Verde Islands .
St. Thome and Principe
Kabinda (Congo)
Angola
.
.
.
.
Mozambique
Total Portuguese Africa

1,490
420

2,030

515,670

Spanish Africa:
Ceuta, etc. (Morocco)
Sahara (part of) .
Canaries .
Gulf of Guinea .
Total Spanish Africa .

884

16,000
100,000
292,000
35,000

153,834

443,000

German Africa:
Togoland .
Cameroons (Kamerun)
South-West Africa .
East Africa
Total German Africa .

19,660
i93,57o
320,540
351,040
884,810

800,000
4,570,000
200,000
2,800,000

150,100
2,820

8,370,000

3-4
*5
81
221

* 6 |
14

74
50
J
5
7
5
6.6

104
40

40
24
0.6

8
9-4

APPENDIX

I.

Area, Square
Miles.

Italian Africa :
Eritrea (with Kasala)
Somal and Galla Lands
Abyssinia
.
.
.
Part of Egyptian Sudan

521
Population.

84,950 1
277,330
155,920
30,680

800,000
3,600,000
300,000

10

548,880

5,150,000

8

Congo State (Belgian) .

905,090

16,300,000

18

Boer Republics

177,750

764,000

4

TOTAL EUROPEAN AFRICA .

9,Ol8,76o

112,545,700

12

Morocco
.
.
.
.
Tripoli, Barka, and Fezzan .
Egypt
The Madhi's Territories, to
io° N
The Eastern Sahara (Tibesti,
etc.)
Wadai and Kanem
Mosi and other unappropriated territories in the Western Sudan
' Liberia
Lakes (not included above) l

154,500
338,470
349,170

6,000,000
I,OOO, OOO
7,600,000

39
3
22

609,300

5,800,0O0

9

673,230,

60,000
2,730,000

0.1

.

Total Italian Africa

.

A L L AFRICA

100,000

155,650 j
51,970
70,480
11,621,530

450,000

Inhabitants to
a Square Mile.

2,800,000 .
1,000,000

139,535,700

5
2.5

18
19

12

l Viz. Lakes Victoria, Chad, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Albert, Albert Edward, and Mweru.

j

APPENDIX II.
LIST

OF

THE

MORE

IMPORTANT

WORKS

BEARING

ON

THE

SUBJECT OF THE PRESENT VOLUME, MOST OF WHICH HAVE
BEEN CONSULTED BY T H E AUTHOR.

I T has not been considered necessary to give a list of the large
number of Blue Books consulted, nor of the corresponding
official publications of the other European countries concerned in
the partition of Africa, as these are easily accessible to any one
interested in the subject. T h e same remark applies to the many
books of travel in Africa published during the past few years.
Many periodicals and society publications of various countries
have also been consulted, as well as numerous maps and atlases,
ancient and modern. As far as possible, the list is arranged
chronologically.
Herodotus. History of Herodotus by George Rawlinson, M.A., assisted
by Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B., and Sir J. G.
Wilkinson, F.R.S. 4 vols. Fourth edition. Maps and Illustrations.
Large 8vo. 1880.
Movers. Die Phoniker. 5 vols. 1841-56.
Rawlinson, Canon. History of Phoenicia. 1889.
Smith, Bosworth. Carthage and the Carthaginians. 1879.
Church, Professor. Carthage or the Empire of Africa. 1886.
Mutter, C. Geographi Grseci Minores. E codicibus recognovit, Prolegomenis Annotatione Indicibus instruxit. Tabulis seri incisis illustravit. 2 vols, and Atlas. 8vo. Paris, 1855-61.
Mutter, C. Claudii Ptolemsei Geographia. Vol. I. Part 1. Small 4to.
Paris, 1883.
Mer, A. Memoire sur le Periple d'Hannon. 8vo. Paris, 1885.
Saint-Martin, Vivien de. Le Nord de l'Afrique dans l'Antiquite Grecque
et Romaine. fitude Historique et Geographique. Maps. Royal
8vo. Paris, 1863.
Heeren, A. H. L. A Manual of Ancient History. 8vo. 1847.
Historical Researches into the Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of
the Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians. 8vo. 1850.

APPENDIX

II.

523

D^Avezac, M. Description et Histoire de I'Afrique ancienne, precedee
d'une Esquisse Generate de I'Afrique. Plates. 8vo. Paris, 1845.
Ebn Haukal, an Arabian Traveller of the Tenth Century. Oriental
Geography, translated by Sir W. Ouseley. Map. 4to. 1800.
Aboulfeda, Geographie de. Traduite de I'Arabe, et accompagnee de
Notes, et d'eclaircissements, par M. Reinaud. Maps. Vol. I. and
Vol. II. Part I. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1848.
Ebn-Khaldoun.
Histoire de I'Afrique sous la Dynastie des Aghlabites,
et de la Sicile sous la domination Musulmane. Texte Arabe accompagne d'une traduction Francaise et de Notes, par A. Noel des
Vergers. 8vo. Paris, 1841.
Ibn Batuta. Travels of [in Asia and Africa, 1324-25]. Oriental Translation Fund. t 4to. 1829.
Geographie d'Edrisi. Par Amedee Jaubert. Recueil de Voyages et de
Memoires publie par la Societe de Geographie. Vol. V. 4to. Paris,
1836.
Leo Africanus, John. (A More borne in Granada and brought up in
Barbaric) Geographical Historie of Africa ; before which out of the
best Ancient and Moderne Writers, is prefixed a generall description of
Africa, and also a particular Treatise of all the Maine Lands and Isles
undescribed by John Leo. Translated and collected by John Pory.
Map. 4to. 1600.
Estancelin, L. Recherches sur les Voyages et Decouvertes des Navigateurs Normands en Afrique, etc. 8vo. Paris, 1832.
Lelewel, J. Geographie du Moyen Age. 8vo. Bruxelles, 1852.
Santos, Joao dos. Ethiopia Oriental, e varia historia de covsas, notaueis
do Oriente. Small folio. Euora, 1609.
Santos, Joao dos. Ethiopia Oriental. i2mo. [Reprint.
Original
Edition, 1609.] Lisbon, 1891.
Barbosa, Duarte.
A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and
Malabar in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, by Duarte Barbosa,
a Portuguese. * Translated from an Early Spanish Manuscript in
the Barcelona Library, with Notes and a Preface, by the Hon.
Henry E. J. Stanley. (Hakluyt Soc. Publ., Vol. XXXV.) 8vo.
1866.
Barros, J. de. Da Asia de Joao de Barros e de Diogo de Couto
Nova edicao. Plates. 24 vols. i2mo. Lisboa, 1777-88.
Collecao de Monumentos ineditos para a Historia das Conquistas dos
Portuguezes em Africa, Asia, e America. Ser. L, Vol. VI. Decada
13 da Historia da India, composta por Antonio Boccaro. Parts I.
and II. 4to. 1876.
Vasco da Gama, The Three Voyages of. (Hakluyt Society Publ., Vol.
XLII.) 1869.
Alvarez, Father F. Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia,
1520-27. (Hakluyt Society Publ., Vol. XLIV.) 1881.
Santarem, le Vicomte de. Recherches sur la Priorite de la Decouverte
des Pays situes sur la Cote Occidentale d'Afrique, au-dela du Cap
Bojador, et sur les Progres de la Science Geographique apres les
Navigations des Portugais au XV e Siecle. 8vo. Paris, 1842.

524

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Cordeiro, L.
L'Hydrographie Africaine au XVI e Siecle, d'apres les
premieres Explorations Portugaises. 8vo. Lisbonne, 1878.
Figafetta, F. A Report of the Kingdom of Congo, newly translated from
the Italian. By Margarite Hutchinson. 8vo. 1881.
Varthema, Ludovico di. Travels in Egypt, Syria, Arabia-Deserta and
Arabia - Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, 1503 to 1508.
Translated from the Italian Edition of 1510, with a Preface by J.
Winter Jones, and edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by G.
Percy Badger. (Hakluyt Society Publ., Vol. XXXII.) Map. 8vo.
1863.
Wauters, A.J.
L'Afrique Centrale en 1522. Le Lac Sachaf d'apres
Martin Hylacomilus et Gerard Mercator. 8vo. Bruxelles, 1879.
Dapper. Description de I'Afrique contenant les Noms, la Situation, et
les Confins de toutes ses Parties, leurs Rivieres, leurs Villes, et leurs
Habitations, leurs Plantes et leurs Animaux; les Coutumes, la
Langue, les Richesses, la Religion et le Gouvernement de ses Peuples.
Maps and Plates. Folio. Amsterdam, 1686.
Beke, C. T. Memoire Justificatif en rehabilitation des Peres Pierre Paez
et Jerome Lobo, Missionnaires en Abyssinie, en ce qui concerne leurs
visites a la Source de l'Abai (le Nil), et a la Cataracte d'Alata. Map.
8vo. Paris, 1848.
Tellez, B. Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, containing the Geographical
Description of all the Kingdoms and Provinces of that Empire;
Travels in Arabia-Felix, and an Account of the Kingdoms of Cambate,
Gingiro, Alaba, and Dancali, beyond Ethiopia in Africk, etc. etc.
Maps. 4to. 1710.
Ldbat, Jean-Baptiste.
Nouvelle Relation de I'Afrique Occidentale.
5 vols. Maps and Illustrations. i2mo. Paris, 1728.
Relation historique de l'Ethiopie Occidentale. 5 vols. Maps and
Illustrations. i2mo. Paris, 1732.
Bosnian^ W. A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea.
Second Edition. 8vo. 1721.
Snelgrove, Capt. W. M. A New Account of some Paits of Guinea and
the Slave Trade. 8vo. London, 1734.
Smith, W.
A New Voyage to Guinea: describing the Customs,
Manners, Soil, Climate, . . . and whatever else is memorable among
the Inhabitants, etc. Plates. 8vo. 1745.
Cape Coast Castle. Letters of Advice and Instructions to the Governors,
Council, etc., of Cape Coast Castle, by the Committee of the Company
of Merchants trading to Africa, from 21st August 1751 to 10th November 1768. MS. Folio.
Letters from Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of Merchants
trading to Africa, from March 1767 to March 1769. MS. Folio.
Proyart \UAbbe\. Histoire de Loango, Kakongo, et autres Royaumes
d'Afrique; redigee d'apres les Memoires des Prefets Apostoliques de
la Mission francoise. Map. 121x10. Paris, 1776.
Wadstrom, C. B. An Essay on Colonisation, particularly applied to the
Western Coast of Africa, etc. Maps and Plate. 4to. 1794.
Historical and Philosophical Sketch of the Discoveries and Settlements

APPENDIX

II.

525

of the Europeans in Northern and Western Africa at the Close of the
Eighteenth Century. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1799.
Salt, Henry. Voyage to Abyssinia. 1814.
Walckenaer, C. A. Recherches Geographiques sur l'Interieur de l'Afrique
Septentrionale. 8vo. Paris, 1821.
Adams, Captain John. Remarks on the Country extending from Cape
Palmas to the River Congo; with an Account of the European Trade
with the West Coast of Africa. Maps. 8vo. 1823.
Bowdich, T. E. An Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in the
Interior of Angola and Mozambique. 8vo. 1824.
Neves, J. A. Das.
Consideracoes Politicas, e Commerciaes sobre os
descobrimentos, e possessoes dos Portuguezes na Africa, e na Asia.
i2mo. Lisbon, 1830.
Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in Africa, from the Earliest Ages to
the Present Time ; with Illustrations of the Geology, Mineralogy, and
Zoology. By Professor Jameson, James Wilson, and Hugh Murray.
Map and Plates. i6mo. Edinburgh and London, 1830.
Douville, J. B. Voyage au Congo et dans l'Interieur de l'Afrique Equinoxiale, 1828-30. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1832.
Botelho, S. X. Memoria Estatistica sobre os Dominios Portuguezes na
Africa Oriental. 8vo. Lisbon, 1835.
Russell, Bishop Michael. History of the Present Condition of the Barbary
States ; comprehending a View of their Civil Institutions, Antiquities,
Arts, Religion, Literature, Commerce, Agriculture, and Natural Productions. Map and Plates. i2mo. Edinburgh, 1835.
Addresses, Petitions, etc., from the Kings and Chiefs of Sudan (Africa),
and the Inhabitants of Sierra Leone, to his late Majesty King William
the Fourth, and his Excellency H. D. Campbell. 8vo. 1838.
M'Queen, J. Geographical Survey of Africa, its Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Productions, States, Population, etc. ; and a Letter on the
Slave Trade and the Improvement of Africa. Map. 8vo. 1840.
M* Queen, J. Supplement to the Geographical Survey of Africa, containing further details regarding Southern Africa. 8vo. 1840.
Facts Relative to the Suppression of the Slave Trade. [A collection of
papers in I vol.] 8vo.
Bandinel, J.
Some Account of the Trade in Slaves from Africa, as
connected with Europe and America. Large 8vo. 1842.
Sutherland [Lieut. - Colonel J.]
Original Matter contained in Lieut.Colonel Sutherland's Memoir on the Kaffers, Hottentots, and Bosjemans of South Africa, Heads 1st and 2nd. Commentaries and Notes
on the Text used in the Compilation of the Memoirs. 8vo. Cape
Town, 1847.
Africa, West. Papers respecting the Danish Possessions on the Coast of
Africa. Map. [Parly. Rep.] Folio. 1850.
Cruickshank, B. Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa. Vol. I.
8vo. 1853
Guillain, M. Documents sur l'Histoire, la Geographie et le Commerce
de l'Afrique Orientale. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris [1856].
Wilson, Rev. J. L. Western Africa. 8vo. 1856.

526

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Santarem, Viscount de. A Statement of Facts, proving the Right of the
Ciown of Portugal to the Territories situated on the Western Coast of
Africa. 8vo. 1856.
Bandeira, Vicomte de Sd Da.
Faits et Considerations relatives aux
Droits du Portugal sur les Territoiies de Molembo, de Cabinde, et
d'Ambriz. 8vo. Lisbonne, 1856.
M<-Leod,J. L. On the Resources of Eastern Africa. Folio. 1858.
Krapf, Rev. Dr. J. L.
Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours,
during an Eighteen Years' Residence in Eastern Africa.
8vo.
i860.
Beke> C. T. The Sources of the Nile, being a General Survey of the
Basin of that River and of its Head Streams, with the History of
Nilotic Discovery. Maps. 8vo. i860.
Codine, J. Memoire Geographique sur la mer des Indes. 8vo. Paris,
1868.
Beaumier, A. Premier etablissement des Israelites a Timbouktou. 8vo.
[1870.]
History of the Imams and Seyyids of 'Oman. (Hakluyt Society Publ.
Vol. XLIV.) 1871.
Berlioux, Etienne Felix. La Traite Orientale. Histoire des Chasses a
l'homme organisees en Afrique depuis quinze ans, pour les Marches
de l'Orient. Map. 8vo. Paris, 1870.
Burton, Sir R. The Lands of Cozembe. 1873.
SAINT-MARTIN, VIVIEN DE. Histoire de la Geographie et des decouvertes geographiques depuis les temps les plus recules jusqu'a nos
jours. Large 8vo. Atlas. Folio. Paris, 1873, 1874.
Brussels Geographical Conference. Minutes. Folio. 1876.
Noble, J.
South Africa, Past and Present: A Shoit History of the
European Settlements at the Cape. i2mo. 1877.
Cape of Good Hope. Ministerial Department of Native Affairs. Report
of W. Coates Palgrave, Esq., Special Commissioner to the Tribes
North of the Orange River, of his Mission to Damaraland and Great
Namaqualand in 1876. Map. 8vo. Cape Town, 1877.
Renter, E. Projet de Creation d'une Colonie Agricole Beige dans 1'Afrique
Centrale, ou Manuel du Colon Beige. i2mo. Bruxelles, 1877.
Retiter, E. Colonies Nationales dans l'Afrique Centrale sous la Protection
de Postes Militaries. 8vo. Bruxelles, 1878.
Brucker, J. Decouvreurs et Missionaires dans l'Afrique Centrale, au
XVI e et au XVII e Siecle. 8vo. Lyon, 1878.
[Hubbe-Schleiden, W.] Ethiopien.
Studien iiber West Afrika.
8vo.
Hamburg, 1879.
Major, R. H. Life of Prince Henry the Navigator. 1868.
Association Internationale Africaine. 8vo. Bruxelles : Etterbeek.
No. 1. Rapports sur les Marches de la Premiere Expedition. 1879.
No. 2. Journal et Notes de Voyage de la Piemiere Expedition. 1879.
Nos. 3 and 4. Extraits des Rapports des Voyageurs de l'Association.
1880.
Dutrieux, M. La Question Africaine au point de vue commercial. 8vo.
Bruxelles, 1880.

APPENDIX

IL

527

Hutchinson, E. The Lost Continent : its Rediscovery and Recovery.
8vo. [n. d.]
Hilbbe-Schleiden. Deutsche Colonisation. Hamburg, 1881.
Helme, M. Les Nouvelles Routes du Globe. Large 8vo. Paris, 1882.
Twiss, Sir T. An International Protectorate of the Congo River. 8vo.
1883.
Wallace, D. Mackenzie. Egypt and the Egyptian Question. London,
1883.
Moynier, G. La Question du Congo devant lTnstitut de Droit International. 8vo. Geneve, 1883.
In one volume pro and con.—
Portugal and the Congo : A Statement prepared by the African Committee of the Lisbon Geographical Society. Luciano Cordeiro,
Recording Secretary. Maps. 8vo. 1883.
Memorandum concerning the Portuguese Rights and Pretensions to
Sovereignty on the West Coast of Africa. Map. 8vo. 1883.
Corvo, J. de Andrade. Estudos sobre as Provincias Ultramarinas. Vols.
I.-IV. 8vo. Lisbon, 1883-87.
Robert, F. Afrika als Handelsgebiet. West-, Slid-, und Ost-Afrika.
Large 8vo. Wien, 1883.
Lindsay, W. S. Histoiy of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce.
In 4 vols. Vol. I. Map and Illustrations. Large 8vo. 1883.
Tissot, Charles. Ministere de l'Instruction Publique.
Exploration
scientifique de la Tunisie.
Geographie comparee de la Province
Romaine d'Afrique. Tome Premier. Geographie physique. Geographie historique. Chorographie. Maps, Plans and Plates. 4to.
Paris, 1884.
Ditto. Tome second. Chorographie. Reseau Routier. Ouvrage
publie d'apres le Manusciit de l'Auteur, avec des notes, des additions
et un Atlas par Salomon Reinach. 4to. Paris, 1888.
Tomlinson, T. The Congo Treaty. 8vo. 1884.
Jung, Karl Emit.
Deutsche Kolonien. 8vo. Leipzig, 1884.
Fabri, F. Bedarf Deutschland der Colonien ? 8vo. Gotha, 1884.
Roscher, W., and Jannasch, R. Kolonien, Kolonialpolitik und Auswanderung. 8vo. Leipzig, 1885.
Cicalek, Dr. T. Die Colonien des Deutschen Reiches. 8vo. Wien,
1885.
Faure, Charles. La Conference Africaine de Berlin. Map.
8vo.
Geneve, 1885.
Jtmg, K. E. Deutsche Kolonien mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der
Neuesten Deutschen Erwerbungen in West Afrika und Australien.
i2mo. Leipzig, 1885.
[Congo.] (No. 92.) Chambre des Representants, Seance du 10 Mars
1885. Declarations du 23 Fevrier 1885, relatives a la Reconnaissance de l'Association Internationale du Congo par la Belgique.
Folio.
Du Fief, J. La Question du Congo depuis son Origine jusqu'aujourd'hui. 8vo. Bruxelles, 1885.
Congo Conference. Report of the Secretary of State and Correspondence

528

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

in Relation to the Affairs of the Independent State of the Congo. 8vo.
Washington, 1886.
Die Deutsche Kolonialpolitik. Maps. 8vo. Leipzig, 1886.
Becker, J.
La Vie en Afrique ou trois Ans dans l'Afrique Centrale.
Tome I. Map and Illustrations. Large 8vo. Paris, 1887.
Blyden, Edward W. Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. With
an Introduction by the Hon. Samuel Lewis. 8vo. 1887.
Koschitzky, Max von. Deutsche Colonialgeschichte. Theil I.
8vo.
Leipzig, 1887.
Theal, G. MCall.
History of South Africa [1691-1795]. 8vo. 1888.
Banning, E. Le Partage Politique de FAfrique d'apres les Transactions
Internationales les plus recentes (1885 a 1888).
Map.
8vo.
Bruxelles, 1888.
Droogmans, H.
Notice sur FEtat Independant du Congo. 8vo.
Bruxelles, 1889.
Fabri, F. Fiinf Jahre Deutscher Kolonialpolitik. 8vo. Gotha, 1889.
[Frenck Colonies.] Les Colonies Francaises. Notices Illustrees. Senegal,
Guinea, Obock, Gaboon, French Congo, Madagascar, Comores. i7mo.
Paris.
Philebert, General. La Conquete Pacifique de I'Interieur Africain. Large
8vo. Paris, 1889.
Lavigerie [Cardinal], Cardinal Lavigerie and the African Slave Trade.
Edited by Richard F. Clarke, S.j. 8vo. 1889.
Frenzel, Carl.
Deutschlands Kolonien.
Zweite Aufl. . . . herausgegeben von G. Wende. 8vo. Hannover, 1889.
Demay, C. Histoire de la Colonisation Allemande.
i2mo.
Paris,
1890.
Maunoir, —. Discours prononce a la Seance Generale du Congres le
samedi 31 Mai 1890. Large 8vo. Paris, 1890.
Du Fief, J. Le Partage de l'Afrique. Bull. Soc. R. Beige de Geogr.,
1890. Brussels, 1890.
Possedimenti e Protettorati Europei in Africa, 1890. Second Edition.
Roma, 1890.
Schlichter, Henry. Ptolemy's Topography of Eastern Equatorial Africa.
"Proceedings," R.G.S., 1891.
Deschamps, L.
Histoire de la Question Coloniale en France. 8vo.
Paris, 1891.
Meinecke, G. Koloniales Jahrbuch. 8vo. Berlin [Annual], 1888-92.
Alts, H. A la Conquete du Tchad. Large 8vo. Paris, 1891.
Bliimcke, K. Der Aufstand in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Large 8vo. Berlin.
Gurich, G. Deutsch Slid west-Afrika. Mittheil. Geogr. Gesells. Hamburg, 1891-92. Heft I. 8vo. Hamburg, 1891.
Schinz, [Dr.] Hans. Deutsch-Sudwest-Afrika. Forschungsreisen durch
die deutschen Schutzgebiete Gross-Nama- und Hereroland nach dem
Kunene, dem Ngami-See und der Kalahari, 1884-87. Map and
Illustrations. Large 8vo. Oldenburg und Leipzig [1891].
Caron, E.
De Saint-Louis au port de Tombouktou.
Large 8vo.
Paris, 1891.
Volz, Dr. B. Unsere Kolonien. 8vo. Leipzig, 1891 t

APPENDIX

II

529

Sabatier, C. Touat, Sahara, et Soudan. 8vo. Paris, 1891.
Vignon, L. L'Expansion de la France. i2mo. Paris, 1891.
Binger, Captain. Esclavage, Islamisme, et Christianisme. 8vo. Paris,
1891.
Chanes, Benoist. Conquete Algerienne. 8vo. Paris, 1892.
Wingate, Major F. R. Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan. London,
1891.
Maxwell, J. R. The Negro Question, or Hints for the Physical Improvement of the Negro Race, with special reference to West Africa. 8vo.
1892.
White, A. S. The Development of Africa. Second Edition. Maps.
London, 1892.
Edwards; Miss A. B. Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers. Illustrations.
8vo. 1892.
Binger [Captain], Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee par le pays de Kong et
le Mossi (1887-89). Map and Illustrations.
Paris, 1892.
Malavialle, L.
Le Partage Politique de PAfrique en Decembre 1891.
8vo. Montpellier, 1892.
M'Dermott, P. L. British East Africa. London, 1893.
Selous, F. C. Travel and Adventure in South Central Africa. London,
1893.
Lugard, Captain F. D. The Rise of our East African Empire. Edinburgh, 1893.
Handbook to British East Africa. Prepared in the Intelligence Division
of the War Office. London, 1893.
Schirmer, Henri. Le Sahara. Paris, 1893.
Preville, A. de. Les Societes Africaines, leur origine, leur evolution, leur
avenir. Maps. Paris, 1894.
Lucas, C. P. A Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Vol. III.
West Africa. Maps. Oxford, 1894.
Ashe, Rev. R. P. Chronicles of Uganda. Portrait and Illustrations.
London, 1894.
Wills, W. A., and Collingridge, L. T. The Downfall of Lobengula : the
cause, history, and effect of the Matabeli War. Maps, Portraits, etc.
London, etc. [1894].
Rainaud, A. Quid de natura et fructibus Cyrenaicae Pentapolis antiqua
monumenta cum recentioribus collata nobis tradiderint. Paris,
1894.
Petit, E. Organisation des Colonies Francaises et des pays de protectorat.
Tome I. Organisation politique, administrative et financiere, garde
et defense des colonies. Paris, 1894.
Hertslel) Sir E. The Map of Africa by Treaty. Vol. I. Abyssinia to
Great Britain (Colonies). Nos. 1 to 102. With numerous Maps.
Vol. II. Great Britain and France to Zanzibar. Nos. 103 to 208.
With Appendix and Notes. London, 1894.
Peroz, Commandant.
Au Niger. Recits de Campagnes, 1891-1892.
Map. Paris, 1894.
Maistre, C. A travers PAfrique Centrale du Congo au Niger, 1892-1893.
Maps and Illustrations. Paris, 1895.
2 M

53o

THE

PARTITION

OF

AFRICA

Knight^ E. F. Rhodesia of To-day; a description of the present condition and the prospects of Matabeleland and Mashonaland. London,
1895.
Wilmot) Hon. A. The Story of the Expansion of Southern Africa.
London, 1895.
Danvers, F. C. The Portuguese in India ; being a History of the Rise
and Decline of their Eastern Empire. 2 vols. Maps, Plates, and
Portraits. London, 1894.

IN
A B U L F E D A , Arab geographer, information how obtained, 2 7
Abyssinia, imperfectly known to
Ancients, 22
invasion by British army,
in
Italian explorations in, 163
opposes Italian aggression
(1887), 392
Prester, John of, 50
Accra, English fort, 76
Danish fort, 77
Adda, a Danish fort, 77
Adrar, West
Coast, under
Spanish protection, 311
Adulis or Massawa, 23
Africa after division of Roman
Empire, 24
animal distribution in, 477
as early Teutonic settlement,
24
as known to Greeks, 13, 14
a torrid continent, 4 6 1 , 468
before and after scramble,
498, 515
Belgian, British,
French,
German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish shares
in partition of, 498-504
climate of, 4 6 1 , 467, 470

EX
Africa, coast contour, accurately
known 16th c e n t , 44
colonisation
(white)
and
limits of, in different areas,
492, 494-497, 5°5
commercial value and resources, 4 7 8 - 4 8 0 , 4884 9 1 , 493, 512, 513
communications with interior,
480, 481
density of the population in,
486-488
desert and scrub areas, extent of, 476, 477
East Coast to Mozambique,
known to the early Arabians, 10
economical characteristics of
tropical region, 475
Europe's duty to natives,
513-515
Europe's share in (1815), 88
explorers only in, for 60 years,
94
high mean elevation of, 464
information on interior still
scanty in
14th
cent.,
28
interest in, intensified 1850
onwards, 114

532

THE

PARTITiION

Africa, labour problem and
supply, 486, 4 9 1 , 506-508
lake and river peculiarities,
472-474, 480, 481
mineral resources of, 478-480
modes of transport in, 482
monotony of coast-line, 463
natives, various stocks and
distribution of, 483-485
North and South Africa compared, 493, 495-497
of the Ancients, 1-23
partition among European
Powers (1875), 112
physical geography of, 459466, 472-477
Portuguese conquest of East
Coast, 4 3 , 44
Portuguese discoveries in
interior, 4 5 , 54
Portuguese half-way house to
India, 59
position in 1884, 161
river obstructions, 469
sparse mountain ranges, 464466
temperature, 468
tropical, the great problem,
505, 514
value of trade in 1815, 94
winds and rainfall, 470
African civilisation, antiquity of, 1
American contrasted, 2
Australian contrasted, 3
Carthaginian, 6, 11, 12
Egyptian, 3-6
Grecian, 13-19
Phoenician, 6-8, 11
Roman, 19
African islands, various, 455African
kingdoms,
unstable
nature of, 50, 51, 52

OF

AFRICA

African Lakes, Burton, Speke,
and Baker's discoveries of,
107
early information of, from
traders and slaves, 22, 47,
48
positive knowledge of, quite
recent, 5
African Lakes Company, origin,
scope, and results, 158,
439, 44o ^
African mountains, 465
African rivers, 473
Agga, English fort, 76
Ahmadu, native chief, Upper
Senegal and Niger, 268
treaty with Captain Gallieni,
and results, 269, 270
Ait (Red Sea) purchased by a
French merchant (1835),
in
Alfonso V. and John II. carry
on Prince Henry's discoveries, s^
Algeria, cost to France, 96, 97
French conquest of (1830),
94, 96
in 1815, terror of Mediterranean traders, 88
prosperity under France, 96
railway connection with Senegambia, 97
value of, as colony, 96
Alima and Licona rivers, De
Brazza's journey to, 137,
139
Allampo, English fort, 76
Allen's expedition on Niger, 101
Almamy (Ibrahim Sory) treaty
with France, 271
Ambrizette, strip between, and
Congo, conceded to Portugal (1885), 90

EX
America, aborigines decimated
by European contact, 2
discovery of, and wonderful
progress in, 2
its future, 3
population of, 2
result, discovery of, on Africa,
40, 41
trade, rapid growth of, 3
Amru Ibn al Aaase invades
Egypt (640 A.D.), 25
Anamabo, English fort, 76
Andersson and Galton explore
Damaraland, 104
Andrade (see D'Andrade)
Angola, sovereignty claimed by
Portuguese, 43
Angra Pequefla declared British
(1867), 102
expedition to (1793), 80
German occupation of, 157,
182-192
Anhaya, Pedro de, takes Sofala
( I 5 0 5 ) , 43
Annexation in the air, 129
Annishan, English fort, 76
Antonio Gonsalvez brings home
gold and slaves, 2>7
Arabs, ancient traders and
mariners, 10
conquest begun in Egypt
(640 A.D.), 25
cross Sahara to
Sudan,
26
early commerce and geography of, 27
early E a s t Coast settlements
of, 11, 29
hold half Africa, 74
jealously guarded East African coast, 10
learning promoted by, 27
maps of, 27

533

Arabs, migration over Red Sea
southwards, 26
nomad migration into Wes
Africa, 28
occupation of Africa still proceeding, 25
overrun Egypt and North
Africa, 25
risings, 2 2 1 , 255, 256, 443
settlements of, 50
slave-raids, 113, 399, 508
supplant Portuguese on East
Coast, 81
Archinard
(Col.),
captures
Bissandugu and Sego, 273
Arguin, Bay of, fort begun by
Prince Henry, 38
first station on Gum Coast,

75
long headquarters of Portuguese, 38
Asiatic partition of Africa commenced, 26
Assab, ancient traffic to, 23
Italian occupation of, (1880),
152
Association Internationale du
Congo altered from Congo
Committee, 128
Aujila, trade route, 23
Australia, half-century growth
of, 3
Austria attempts settlement at
Delagoa Bay, 8^
Automolae, country of, 16
Axum, ancient trade centre, 22
BAGGARA Arabs rulers of Mahdi
territory, 399
Bagirmi, partly held by Zebehr
Pasha's old forces, 400
Baikie (Dr.), Niger Expedition,
101

534

THE

Baines

explores

PARTITION
Damaraland,

104

recognises riches of Matabeleland, 104, 407
Baker (Sir Samuel) discovers
Albert Nyanza (1864), 107
Ballay, Dr., M. Marche, and
D e Brazza explore Ogove
River (1875-78), 136
Bammako, founded and fortified, 269
Banana Point, Congo mouth,
reached by Stanley (1877),
132
Banddin (Count Behr) forms
new German Colonisation
Society, 234
scheme to annex Mossamedes, etc., 234
Bangweolo, Lake, where Livingstone dies (1873), 105
Barca, first Greek settlement, 13
Barmen (Damaraland), Germans settle at, 176
Barreto (Francisco), ascended
Zambezi, failed reaching
gold mines of Manika, 5 3
Dr. Paiva e Pona on, 54
Barros, statements of, 37, 38
Barth (Dr. H.), explorations of
Niger region, 101
Bartholomew Diaz, 39 (seeDzaz)
Basutoland, British annexation
of (1868), 405
under Cape (1871), 103
under Imperial rule (1883),
153
Beaconsfield (Lord), restricts
power
beyond
Walfish
Bay, 176, 177
shrinks from responsibility of
E a s t African protectorate,
159, 336

OF

AFRICA

Bechuanaland, area of, 403
British preparation thereto,
154, 162, 402
British protectorate (1885),
155
Crown Colony, 155, 403
surrendered to Britain (18841 8 8 5 ) , / 5 5 , 402
treaties with chiefs, 155
Beginning of a new era, 6 5
Behaim
(Martin),
German
geographer, accompanied
Diego Cam, 39
his map of Africa, 39, 45
Beira railway, 443
Belgium, Brussels Conference
(1876), 119-121
Congo
officials
defective,
133, 224
King Leopold's ambitions,
118 (see Leopold)
subscribes with others to International Association, 122
Benguela constituted, 43
Benin, Bight of, might have been
under British protection, 100
sailed through, 38
Benue, explorations of, 101
Berbers, origin of, 4
Berlin Conference, agreed to
(1884-1885), 147
creation Congo Free State,
211, 212

origin, purpose, and acts of,
208-210

ruled

effective

occupation,

210, 211

Bethencourt (Jean de) attacks
Canaries, 33
Binger
(Captain)
connects
U p p e r Niger posts with
Guinea coast, 2 7 1 , 272
various treaties of, 272

INDEX
Bismarck (Prince), and Chambers of Commerce, 169
appeals against Portuguese
Treaty, 147
constitutes
Cameroons
a
Crown Colony, 326
creates " Colonial Empire "
for Germany, 172
deceit as to Cameroons, 204
despatches on E a s t Africa,
341-344
his designs on East Africa,
237
his opinion of Portugal as
colonial power, 147
search for colonies, 170
sounds British Foreign Office on Namaqualand, 181
uses spirit traffic as excuse
for annexation, 151
Bissao, Portuguese fort, 76
Blantyre Highlands mission,
158
Boccaro, on treaty in Goa
archives, 55
Boers, covet Swaziland, 405
plan the taking Mashonaland, 407, 408
take part Zululand (New Republic, 1884), 405
Bolts (William) attempts an
Austrian
settlement
at
Delagoa Bay, 83
Bonifacius, Count of Africa, 24
Bonnier (Col.) occupies Timbuktu, 274
Brandenburg, West Coast settlement (1681), 68
given up, 69
Brava, an Arab trade centre, 29
under British protection, 106
Brazil, German emigration to,
166

535

Brazil, taken by Portugal, 60
Brazza (see under De Brazza)
Britain, advances south and
east, 153-160
arrangements with Germany
in East Africa, 262-264
blind to German colonisation, 189
bulk of explorers till 1875,107
Cape indignant at German
acquisition
of
Angra
Pequena, 184, 186
chance lost of sway from
Liberia to Gaboon, 100
evasive
replies
regarding
Damaraland, 187, 188
hesitates in East Africa, 341
jurisdiction limited to Walfish Bay (1878), 177
laxity of, towards D a m a r a and
Namaqualand, 175, 185
recognises Germany as a
colonial power, 190-192
refuses concessions in East
Africa, 106
British Central & South Africa,
4 0 1 - 4 5 4 ; see Zambezia
British Chartered Companies,
(early) of 1588, 1618,
1631, 1662, and 1672, not
fortunate, 64-68, 70
that of 1750 (African Company of Merchants), 77 ;
(see also under Companies)
British E a s t Africa, 335-390
Anglo-German
agreement
( 1 8 8 6 ) 3 4 6 , (1890) 355
British E a s t Africa Association, 347
complications through ignorance of geography, 346
delimitation British and German spheres in, 344-346

536

THE

PARTITION

British E a s t Africa, former position Britain at Zanzibar,
335, 336
Granville's despatches thereon, 337, 338
Imperial British East Africa
Company
(see
under
^ I.B.E.A.Co.),
347-352
initiation of Company, 337
Sultan Burghash's concessions to Mackinnon, 347
Sultan's territories defined,
343, 344
British South Africa Company,
administrative
powers
granted, 436
Anglo - Portuguese arrangement, 432
blunders magnified, 427
boundaries and administration of, 419, 436, 452
charter (1889), powers and
exceptional clauses, 418420, 424, 436, 438
collision with Portuguese, 429,
43i
Company
and
Downing
Street, 436
Company's resources, 437
difficulties of, 413, 4 2 3 ,
427
Fort Salisbury built (1890),
426
Lobengula's treaty, 410-412
Lobengula's warriors, 412
pioneers en route, 426
progress and prospects of,
428-437
railway to mouth of Pungwe,
433
Rhodes moving spirit of, 416418
take possession, 425-428

OF

AFRICA

British statesmen blind
to
Germany's colonial aspirations, 178-184
Brue, Sieur, voyage to Senegal,
69, 70
Brussels Conference of 1876,
Powers represented
at,
120-121 ; nations represented at (footnote), 121
Anti-Slavery
Conference
1890-91, 509
Buluwayo, 435
Burton and Speke, discover
Tanganyika and Victoria
Nyanza (1858), 107
Lake information
derived
from natives, 22, 47
Buxton (Sir Fowell) and Dares-Salaam road, 159
C A B I N D A , 76,

142

Cabot (Sebastian)
discovers
Newfoundland
(1497),
which
retards
African
exploration, 40
Cadamosto, voyages of, 37
information concerning Timbuktu, 37
Calabar missions, 101
Caillie, reached Timbuktu, 95
Cambier, Capt., founds Karema
(i88o),i23 ^
Cam (Diego), discovered the
Congo (1484), 39
took natives
to
Lisbon
(1485), 4 i
Camel, a modern introduction
into Africa, 13, 26
invaluable, 482
Cameron's
trans-continental
journey (i873;75)> n 6
Cameroons, administration and
explorations in, 326-327

INDEX
Cameroons,
Anglo-German
agreement, 324
ask British protection, 199
delimitations of, 324, 325
England vacates Ambas Bay,
326
English mission founded at
Victoria (1858), 102
Franco-German agreement,
325, 326
German
Crown
Colony
(1885), 326
German extension of, 303
German officers' want of tact,
323
Germany active in, and
annexes, 203, 323
prospects of, 328, 330
Canaries, Bethencourt begins
conquest (15th c e n t ) , 33
Cape Blanco doubled, 37
Cape Bojador rounded by Gil
Eannes, 37
Cape Coast Castle, fort and
depot for slaves, 76, 77
taken by English, 67
Cape Colony {infra), occupied
(1806), finally made over
to England (1815), 91
Cape Delgado to Magadoshu,
sway Imaums of Muscat, 93
Cape Guardafui, rounded, 17,18
Cape of Good Hope, boundaries
of Cape Colony in 1815,91
boundary stretched to Great
Fish River (1788), 79
burghers' trek, 79, 91
captured by English (1795),
79
colony expands, 153
cultivation advanced at, 79
dissatisfaction at German annexations, 193

537

Cape of Good H o p e —
doubled
by
Bartholomew
Diaz (1484), 3 9 ; by Vasco
da Gama (1497), 41
Dutch established at (1652X72'
Kaffir wars, 103
never settled on by Portuguese, 43
responsible
Government
granted, 153
Cape Verd doubled (1446), 37
Islands, Portuguese, fifteenth
century, 458
Caravan routes established, 26
Cardoso (Antonio) expedition
on Shire river, 444
Carthage, its trading stations, 8
nation of shopkeepers, 12
on West Coast, Africa, 1 1 , 1 7
• sparse relations with inner
Africa, 12, 13
Casamansa,
under
French
subjection, 97
Catalan map, 34
Cawston, George, 415
Central Africa a blank fifty
years ago, 5, 93
Central African Empire urged
by M'Queen, 101
Central Sudan, 2 8 9 ; States
take shape, 26
Cerne, a Carthaginian settlement, 17
Ceuta, siege of, 33
the first annexation by European Power, 36
Chad region, its importance,
297, 299 (see Lake Chad)
Chad States : Adamawa, Bagirmi,
Bornu,
Kanem,
Sokoto, Wadai, 26, 267,
278, 289, 290, 297, 298,
3 0 1 , 304, 400, 515

538

THE

PARTITJION

Chad States, division between
France and England, 299
France passes beyond the
Shari towards Bahr-elGhazal, 301, 302
German wedge towards Lake
Chad, 299, 300
position of three Powers
towards, 312
rearrangement with Germany, 301
Chaka, in Zululand, 51
Chartered
Companies
(see
Companies), infra
utility of, 284
Cintra (Pedro da) gets beyond
Sierra Leone, 38
Clarkson, Wilberforce, and
others form Anti-Slavery
Association, 83, 84
Colonial literature in Germany,
171

Colonies and mother country
beginning of this century,
86
Colonisation of Africa by Europeans restricted by physical conditions, 492-497
German Societies, 166, 169
Kersten (Otto) on, 108, 166
Marshal MacMahon's experiment on, 494
Playfair (Sir Lambert) on,
494
Swedish attempt at Cape, 79
Colquhoun (A. R.), Administrator British South Africa
Company, 430
decisive act in Manika, 431
Columbus in America, and vast
population since, 2
born twenty years before
Prince Henry died, 35

OF

AFRICA

Comite des Etudes du Haut
Congo, becomes a Belgian
enterprise, 130
flag of, adopted, 128
formed (1879), I 2 7
fund subscribed for, 128
merged into Association Internationale du Congo,
130, 134
objects of (Stanley), 127
Commenda, English fort at,
75
Commerce and commercial
value of Africa, 94, 488497
Companies (African), Trade and
Chartered, British and
Foreign [arranged according to dates of foundation] :—
Portuguese Trading Company (1460), 38
English Trading Company
to Morocco (patent, Queen
Elizabeth, 1585), 64
English Chartered African
Company (15 88), 64; (first
English chartered African
Society), 66
British African Company
(charter, James I., 1618),
6 J (pushed up Gambia)
Dutch West India Company
(charter, 1621), 65
British African
Company
(charter, Charles I., 1631),
67
British African Company
(charter,
Charles
II.,
1662), 67
Royal African Company
(charter,
Charles
II.,
1672), 68, 75

INDEX
Companies—
Brandenburg African Company (Frederick William
I., 1681), 68, 162
Chartered French Company
(date ?), 69
Royal
African
Company
succeeded by African Company of Merchants, Act of
Parliament (1750), JJ
Austrian African Company,
Delagoa
Bay
(charter,
Maria Theresa,
1775)?
S3, 162
Private English Company to
Sierra Leone for freed
slaves (1787), 78
Walfish Bay Copper Company ( i 8 6 0 ?), 176
Tati Gold Mining Company,
Matabeleland (1870), 407
International African Association (1876), 2 1 1 ; became Comite des Etudes
du H a u t Congo (1879),
1 2 5 , 2 1 1 ; and Association
Internationale du Congo
(1882), 125, 211
African Lakes Company, originally named " T h e Livingstone Central African
C o m p a n y " (1878), 158,
439
Paiva d'Andrade Concession
Company (1878), 421 ;
Societe Generate de Zambezia de Paris (1879), 421
(former
transferred
to
latter, see infra,
Mozambique Company)
United African Niger Company (1879), 148, 2 7 8 ;
name changed to t h e —

539

Companies—
National African Company,
Niger (1882), 278
French Niger Companies
(188-?), 278
German
Colonial
Society
( 1 8 8 4 ? ) , 2 3 4 ; Society of
German
Colonisation
(1884),
234
(amalgamated 1887), 252
British East Africa Association (1886), 374
Companhia Africana (188-?),
421 (rights transferred to
Mozambique
Company,
1888, infra)
Ophir
(Gold)
Company
(188-?), 422
German South - west Africa
Association (1885), 194,
318
(incorporated
by
Imperial Government)
Imperial British East Africa
Company (1885), 239-240,
337, 338, 347-350
German
Witu
Company,
under Imperial protection,
(1885), 242
German E a s t Africa Company
(1885),
236
("Schutzbrief")
Royal
Niger
Company
(1886), 282 (chartered)
Congo Railway Company (?),
228
German East Africa Plantation Company (1887), 252
" Plantagen - Gesellschaft "
West Africa (1887), 252,
329
German Togoland Company
(1888), 332
" T h e Exploring C o m p a n y "

54o

THE

PARTITION

Companies—
of Mashonaland (1888),
416, 418 ; Gold Fields of
South Africa Company,
(1888), 418 (their interests
amalgamated)
Central Search Association,
4 1 9 ; United Concessions
Company, 419 (interests
concentrated)
Mozambique
Company
(1888),
420
(acquired
rights of Paiva d'Andrade
concession, Societe Generale du Zambeze, Companhia Africana and Ophir
Company), 421
British South Africa Company (1889), 419, 4 2 3
(chartered and consolidating interests of four above
Societies, with powers of
administration besides)
African Association, Limited,
of Liverpool (1890), 288
(amalgamation of the Oil
Rivers merchants)
Anglo - German
Company,
South-west Africa (1892),
321
Anglo - German South - west
Africa Company (18 9 5), 3 2 2
Conclusions, 498-517
Confederation of South African
colonies, 157
Conference of Berlin, origin and
purpose of, 207-210, 509512
Conference rules as to occupation, 210
Congo,
Anglo - Portuguese
Treaty, 1 4 4 ; abandoned,
146

OF

AFRICA

Congo—
an old kingdom, discovered
by Diego Cam (1484),
39, 4 i
Blue Book concerning, 141
Committee, the, 127
first occupied by Portugal, 41
French approach to, 102,
134-137
invaded by Jaggas, 42
natives of, visit Lisbon, 41
population catholicised, 41
Portugal
ought to have
explored, 102
San Salvador the old capital,
4 1 , 42
Congo Free State, administration of, 219, 223
as Belgian colony and future,
225, 229
becomes purely a Belgian
undertaking, 219
Belgian officials indiscreet,
131, 220, 224
boundaries of F r e e State,
215-218
Chinamen introduced, 228
creation of Free State (Berlin Conference 1884), 211
crude ideas regarding, 131
endeavour to stretch north
boundary, 216, 217exploring activity in, 222
finances critical (1894), 223
France and Portugal on,
events in, 136-142
International
Conference
decided on, 147
leases Lake area from Britain,
381
Leopold, Sovereign of, 214
Leopoldville (capital Free
State) founded, 134

INDEX
Congo Free State, missions in,
224
much expected of, 218
opposed by Arab slavers, 221
Portugal's claims and interference, 140, 141
railway urged and proceeded
with, 134, 228
reversion of, promised to
France (articles), 212
trade in, and slow development of, 220, 225-228
traders disappointed, 219
what the State has accomplished, 229
willed to Belgium, 214
Congo River, first ascent by
Diego Cam (1484), 39>
4i
later navigated by Tuckey
(1812), 95, 102
long unknown beyond Yellala Falls, 102
Stanley traces and emerges
at mouth (1877), 132
Vivi reached by Congo State
officials (1879), 132, 1 3 4 ;
and by Stanley (1882), 135
Corvo (De Andrade), notes
Portuguese
mismanagement in East Africa, 56, 5 7
on African empires, 52
Cosa's map (1500), 46
Covilham (Pero de), his Red
Sea route to India, 40
search for Prester John, visiting Abyssinia, etc., 40
Crampel (M.), massacred in
journey from Mobangi to
Bagirmi, 290
Croft (J. A.), successful pioneer
on Niger, 276
Cuchoo, Portuguese fort, 76

54i

Cunha (Tristan da), captured
Socotra and Lamu, 43
Cyrenaica, first Greek settlement
in Africa (631 B.C.), 13
trade relations with interior
(Nasamones and Garamantes), 12, 13, 14
D A M A R A L A N D , British relations
thereto, 102,156, 162, 174
England withdraws, 177
German station at Barmen,
176
Palgrave's (C.) treaties, Cape
too late, 156, 176
visited by Galton and Andersson, 104
D'Andrade (Colonel Paiva),
activity of and concessions
to, in Zambezia, 421
sent to Cape, 431
Danish forts, West Coast, 68
sold to England, 68, 77, 99
Dar-es-Salaam road, 159
Darfur annexed by Egypt, n o
Browne's explorations, 93
took shape, 14th cent., 26
within British sphere of influence, 400
D e Andrade Corvo (see Corvo)
De Andrade (Mogueira), see
Mozambique^ 57
Debaize (Abbd), fatal mission
to Tanganyika, 125, 126
D e Brazza (P. Savorgnan de),
explores Kwilu-Niari river,
139
forms station of N t a m o or
Kintamo (Brazzaville), 138
founds Franceville, 138
makes treaties with chiefs
near River Congo, 138
on the Congo (1880), 137

542

THE

PARTITION

De Brazza pretends acting for
International Association,
though emissary of France,
138
returns to Paris (1882), 140
silent as to annexations to
Stanley, 138
steals a march on Stanley, 130
travels in Gaboon and Ogove
regions, 102, 136
Decken, see Von der Decken
Delagoa Bay, ceded to Captain
Owen (1823), 103
Marshal MacMahon in favour
of Portuguese, 104, 154
Delagoa Bay, rail from Transvaal to, 154
rival claims of Britain and
Portugal, 104
station founded by England,
104
to Zambezi unoccupied, 9 1 , 9 2
Dembea, Lake, 473
Dembra, see Dubreka
Denhardt's concession
from
Sultan Simbu (Witu), 241
Denmark joins in partition of
Africa, 68
possessions in 1815, 89
rights sold to England (1850),
68, 77, 99
Derby (Lord), memoranda, German advances, 189, 190
Desbordes takes Kita, 269
Diaz (Bartholomew) passed and
repassed Cape of Good
Hope (Cape of Storms), 39
Dieppe
merchants
establish
factories on West African
coast (1364), 32
Dinis Dias, doubles Cape Verd,
(1446), 37
Diego Cam (s.ee Cam), 39, 41

OF

AFRICA

Discovery as claim to possession, 49
Dixcove, English fort at, 75
Duarto de Mello, 43 (see Mello)
Dubreka River (West Africa),
Germany waives to France,
197, 201
Dutch, at the Cape, 72, 75
in Loanda, 66
lose supreme place, 78
purchase Goree, 65
West India Company founded
(1621), 65
trading voyage to Guinea,
first (1595), 65
E A N E S (see

Gonsalvez)

East Africa, Arab cities arise
in (740 A.D.), 26, 29
Arab settlements each under
independent
sheiks
or
sultans, 44
boundary between German
and Portuguese territory,
247
British Protectorate, Zanzibar
and Pemba, 389
development German sphere
in, 251
difficulties between England
and Germany, 250
dominated by the Portuguese
(1520), 44
found well settled by Vasco
da Gama (1497), 41
hesitation of British Government in, 341-343
limits of Germany and England defined, 246
Peters, Pfeil and Juhlke's
secret expedition to, 235
trade in
British
hands,
159

INDi EX
Economic value of Africa, 459497
Edrisi m a p of Africa based on
many sources, 27
Egypt, a Greek province, 16
and British supremacy, 516
extension to the Sudan and
Albert Nyanza, 93, i n ,
160
its Arabian connection, 4, 6
loses the Sudan, 160
part of Roman Empire, 19
subdued by Mohammedans,
25
under the Ptolemies, 16
Egyptian
Sudan,
annexed
(1875), i n
Baggara Arabs, real power in,
399
Mahdists still masters, 399
Egyptians, ancient dealings with
Ethiopia and Nile valley, 5
civilisation, origin obscure, 4
early R e d Sea expedition, 4
fleets under the Ptolemies, 7
ignorance of Central Africa,
6
indigenous to Africa ? 11
of Asiatic lineage, 4, 7
originally feeble navigators,
4, 7
Elephant, African, 478, 483
Indian, abortive experiments
with, 123
E l Mina Gold Coast settlement
of Portuguese (1482)5 39
taken by Dutch (1637), 66,
77
Emin Pasha, brought by Stanley
to E a s t Coast, 356
enters German service, 356
joins Gordon, 111
murdered by Arabs, 357

S43

Emin Pasha, old followers join
British East Africa Company, 365
Stanley's offers to, 357
England (see Britain), activity
of, in Lower Niger, 275
African possessions seventyfive years ago
limited
to few stations and coast
towns, 89, 93
begins slave-trade, 64
changes front to Germany,
33%, 339
Colonies and Mother Country
beginning of nineteenth
century, 86
dilatory in Cameroons, 199
duty of, 517
forestalled by Germany in
D a m a r a and Namaqualand, 174, 184, 186
influence of, increased by
Stanley, 126
mistress of Canada, Australia,
and Cape, 86
resumes
connection
with
Sierra Leone (1787), 78
supreme in India and Egypt,
86
English enterprise in Africa
begins (15 5 3), 61-64
Eratosthenes, the first scientific
geographer, 16
his map of Africa, 16, 17
Eritrea, name of the Italian
colony in Abyssinia, 394
Establishment of Portuguese
influence in Africa, 49
Ethiopia as known to the ancient
Egyptians, 5
Europe, Greeks and Romans
vague knowledge of, 5
in Prince Henry's time, 35

THE

PARTITION

European Powers, position of
and shares in Partition of
Africa beginning eighteenth
century, 74, 2 6 6 ; (1815)
8 5 - 9 4 ; (1875) 112, 1 1 3 ;
(1884) 161, 4 9 8 ; (1894)
498-504
Exploration of Africa, increased
interest in, 116
F A B R I , father of German colonisation, 171
Fernando Po and Annobon
ceded to Spain by Portugal
(1778), 458
Fezzan, 23 ; taken by Mohammedans (664 A.D.), 25
Fingo, a Danish fort, 77
First African Company, 38
First Portuguese establishments,
38
Flatters (Colonel) massacred
in his Saharan railway
expedition, 97, 151, 307
Flegel, Herr, on Niger, 149,
150, 168
Fort Dauphin, French colony
. in Madagascar, 93
Fort Royal, West Coast, 76
Forts in West Africa during
eighteenth century, 75
France, administration in West
Africa, 309, 310
and Liberia, 273
and Tunis, 151
aspirations partly realised, 307
claims on Grand Bassam and
Assinie, 100
colonies lost (1815), 85
commences trade with W e s t
Coast, 63, 69
early settlement in Senegal,
69, 267

OF

AFRICA

France,empire in Africa, 275,279
expedition to Lake Chad, 290
Gaboon settlement at (1842),
102

her position in 1884, 162
in Lower Niger, 278
means annexation under De
Brazza, 102, 129
object to reach Timbuktu, 69
Ogove, acquired, 102
on Congo region (1884), 102
on the Upper Niger, 267-271
protectorate left bank Upper
Niger, 269
pushes Nile wards, 384
steady advance of, in Senegal,
78, 97, 267
supreme Arguin to Gambia, 7 5
territory, Mediterranean to
Congo, 308
thwarts England in West
Africa, 150
treaties with King Ahmadu
and Samory, 269, 270
Francisco
Barreto
(see
Barretd)
Frederick William I. forms
Brandenburg colonies, 68
Frere (Sir Bartle), appointed
special envoy to Sultan of
Zanzibar (1872), to suppress slavery, n o
presses
jurisdiction
in
Damaraland, 176, 185
reports on Matabeleland, 406
Fulah (Fulbe or Fellatah) tribe,
268
adopt Islam, 28
French campaigns against
the, 267-271
religious outburst among, 30
Futa Jallon, French treaty with
Almamy tribe of, 271

INDEX
GABOON, French (established
in 1842), 102
Gades, the Tarshish of Scripture, 7
Gallieni (Captain), on Upper
Niger, 269
rail, Upper Senegal, 270
reaches Sego, 149
treaties with King Ahmadu
and Samory, 269, 270
Galton and Andersson explore
Damaraland, 104
Gama (see Vasco da Gama)
Gambia, closed in by France,
. 150
England careless of, 98
taken by French and restored to England, 70
Garamantes, furthest people
known to Carthaginians,
12, 14,

trade to, 23
Garci da Orta (see Ortd)
Gazaland, Gungunyana (King),
allegiance of, declined by
England, 432
Umzila, power of, in, 5 r
Genesis of map of Central
Africa, 47, 48
Genoa, a dominant maritime
state, 32
Genseric, leader of Vandal
colony to North Africa, 24
German East Africa, administration of, 252-255, 257
arrangements with England
on, 262-265
boundaries from Portuguese
territory, 247, 248
development sphere of, 251
difficulties between England
and Germany, 250
leases Sultan's strip, 253

545

German East Africa—
limits sphere of influence,
246
purchases Sultan's rights,
256
rebellion against, 255, 256
Tungi Bay incident, 248
Wissmann appointed Imperial
Commissioner, 255
German South - west Africa,
Anglo - German Company
in, 321, 322
boundaries defined, 316-318
its resources, 318-321
native chiefs refractory, 317
Ovampoland, abortive republic in, 315
rumours of abandonment, 321
Swakop Bay a seaport, 320
Germany, African Societies, formation, growth and work
of, 165-169
and British Foreign Offices,
173, 177
and Fernando Po, 200
attempts annexation St. Lucia
Bay, 195
Bismarck's actions, 147, 151,
169-171, 182, 188, 190
cautious advances of, 180
colonial aspirations of, 107,
117, 163, 164, 174
colonial literature of, 171
colonial societies of, 165-169,
172, 234, 252
colonies suggested, viz. Delagoa Bay, Formosa, N.
Borneo and Sulu Archipelago, 170
distrusts Stanley, 250
enters the field, 161-192
experimental methods in East
Africa, 260, 261

546

THE

PARTITION

Germany—
exploring activity of, 168,
259-265
first African venture, 68
footing in Zanzibar, 231, 336
forestalls England in East
Africa, 236, 238
Hanse towns treaty with
Zanzibar, 172
her position (1884), 161
in Cameroons and Gulf of
Guinea, 193-206
in East Africa, 230-265
irritation with England, 173
jubilant at annexations, 204
manoeuvres in Damaraland,
178, 181, 189
military methods of, 258
offered protection of Zanzibar
(1875), 231
precipitates scramble
for
Africa, 163, 206
proceedings prior to, and
acquisition of, Angra Pequena, 180-190
" Schutzbrief" ( = charter) to
Peters, 236
seeks British co-operation in
Namaqualand, 175
the Hamburg merchants, 171
trade, progress of, 171-173,
231, 252, 261, 318, 328
Gil Eannes, rounded Cape
Bojador, 37
Gladstone (W. E.) vacillates on
Colonial policy, 156, 183
Gold Coast, chequered career
British settlements on, 99
Goldie (Sir George), as founder
of Niger Company, 275,
Gomes Laureiro (see Latereiro)
Gonsalvez Eanes reaches Timbuktu (1487), 3$
!

OF

AFRICA

Gonsalvo da Silveira (see Sil
veird), 54
Gordon, in Egyptian service, 111
Goree purchased by Holland, 66
Goschenland founded by the
Boers, 402
Goths in North Africa, 24, 25
Gouveia (Manuel Antonio de
Souza) and Andrade sent
to Cape, 431
spasmodic military operations of, 423, 430, 431
Gra^co - Egyptian influence in
Abyssinia, 21
Grant (Colonel) and Speke traverse Uganda and White
Nile, 107
Granville's (Lord) despatches
on East Africa, 337, 338
evasive towards Germany, 187
Germany communicates with
reference to Nachtigal,
200

his compromise, 147
overtures to Portugal, 143145
outwitted by Bismarck in
Cameroons, 204
replies to Bismarck, 182, 187
Granville Sharp (see Sharp)
Greeks, their first settlements
in Africa, 13, 14
knowledge of Africa derived
from Phoenicians, 11
Griqualand (West) annexed to
Cape (1877), J 53, 405
Gross Friedrichsburg
built,
(1683), 68
Guardafui, Cape, rounded before
Ptolemy's time, 17
when passed by Egyptians, 18
Guinea Coast, doubled by Portuguese (1471), 38

INDEX
Guinea Coast, German factories
and missions on, 197, 198
trade of England started, 61
Portugese limits only recently
defined, 99
Gungunyana's treaties, 422
H A M B U R G merchants (1840)
trade to West Africa, 171
Hanno, West Coast voyage,
11

Harar, adopts Islam (fifteenth
century), 30
Egypt aims at Shoa through,
in
Hawkins (Sir John) initiates the
slave-trade, 64
Hecataeus, the earliest map of
Africa (500 B.C.), 14
Henry (see Prince Henry)
Herodotus, a tourist, 14
defective information of Nile
sources, 16
description of Nile valley
peoples, 15, 16
geographer, historian, and
traveller, 15
his map of Africa, 15
Nasamones
captured
by
pigmies, 15, 16
Hinterland (German phrase),
a recent invention, 12
Holland (see Dutch), supreme
on West Africa, 65
position in 181 5, 39
transferred Gold Coast rights
to Britain, 100
H o m e m (see Vasco Fernandez)
Homer's
acquaintance
with
Africa, 6, 7
I B N B A T U T A , African traveller
(fourteenth century), 27

547

Ibn Batuta visits Timbuktu and
Kuka, 27, 28
Ibn Haukal (tenth century), 27
Imaums of Muskat {supra, 82)
Imaums of Oman (see Sef bin
Sultan)
dominate East
Coast, 82, 105
Imperial British East Africa
Company, acquire U g a n d a
(1890), 355
administration of, 349, 352
area of, 348
charter (1888), 348, 349
coast strip, Govt, offers, 377
decide to abandon U g a n d a
(1891), 368, 369
delimitation
and
AngloGerman agreement, 344
expeditions of, 352, 357
founders and directors of
(footnote), 350
German relations to, 238
Government action towards,
respecting Uganda, 362
initiated as British
East
African Association, 347
Lugard (Captain) enters service of (1890), 363
occupy U g a n d a at Mwanga's
invitation, 357, 366
Peters attempts to outflank
the, 353, 354
railway proposed, 359 ; and
postponed, 378
relations with Italy, 396
restrictions and difficult task
of, 349, 3 5 i
stations and communications
of the, 357, 358
troubles of, 3 5 1 , 352, 366
work of, 350, 388
Imperialism and
Federation
(1815), 86, 87, 88

543

THE

PARTITION

India, goal of Portuguese, 34,
35 >
International African Association, or International Commission, 121
its character not long maintained, 121, 122
meeting (1879), 127
new phase of (becomes Belgian), 125
no delegates appointed by
England, 122
International
expeditions of
1 8 7 7 - 7 8 failures, 123,
124
International Navigation Commission on Congo and
Niger (1885), 208
Islamic invasion of Africa, 243 i , 113
Islands (see African
Islands)
Italy, captures Kassala, 394
colony of Eritrea constituted
(1890-1891), 393, 394
desires Tripoli, 152, 163,
391
East African positions defined
from British, 396
emigrants from, on West
Coast (fourteenth century),
33
explores Abyssinia, 163, 392
hovers round Socotra, 391
invades Somaliland, 395
occupies Assab, 152, 391
position in Africa, 397, 398
Red Sea possessions extended, 392
territory impinges East Africa
Company's, 395
took possession of Beilul and
Massawa (1885), 392
treaty with x\byssinia, 393

OF

AFRICA

Ivory trade developed, 26
JACQUIN, English fort, 76
Jaggas, wandering Negro tribe
invade Congo, 42
Jameson (Dr.), with pioneers in
Mashonaland, 430
Joan Fernandez visits interior,
West Coast (1445), ^7
John I I . as " L o r d of Guinea,"
38 (see Alfonso V.)
Johnston ( H . H.), Commissioner
in North Zambezia, 448
Kilimanjaro concessions of,
243, 337, 343
smooths difficulties and active
in Nyasaland, 449
Johnston (Keith), his and Joseph
Thomson's expedition in
East Africa, 122
Jub (river), German desire to
acquire footing in, 232
Juby station (Mackenzie), 312
Jung (Dr. Emil), his Deutsche
Kolonieri) 171
K A B B A R E G A defeated by Owen

and Colville, 2>1?>
KafTraria annexed (1865), 103
Kairwan founded (664 A.D.), 25
Kamaherero (Damara
chief)
accepts German protection
(1885), 317
British residency, 156
Kanem, origin of, 26
Karema,
first
International
station founded (1880),
123
now within German sphere,
124
Katanga, coveted by Rhodes,
447

*X
Katanga, taken possession of
by Congo Free State,
448
Thomson and Grant's expedition through Nyasaland
towards, 447
Keith Johnston (see Johnston^
Keith\
122
Kerckhoven (Van der) pushes
on to Lado, 216
opposed by Arab slavers,
221

Kersten, Otto, on colonisation
of East Africa, 108, 166
urged annexation by Germany from river Jub south,
231
Khama accepts British protection, 155, 403? 404
Kilimanjaro, Delimitation Committee on, 242, 243
part ought to have been
British, 343
snows seen by Rebmann, 107
Sultan's mission to, 240
swept into Germany's net,
342, 343
Kilwa (or Quiloa), Arab trading
centre, 29
chiefship of, 50
founded (960-1000), 29
Portuguese established there,
(1508), 43
King of Belgians, President
of Congo Committee and
International
African
Association,
128
(see
Leopold)
more in view than geography,
130, 131
Kirk (Sir John), activity to
Zanzibar interests, 109,
336, 342

549

Kirk (Sir John), forced to cede
Zanzibar to Germany, 237
humiliated, resignation of, 247
more powerful than Zanzibar
Sultan, 109, 237
residence and power at Zanzibar, 109, 158, 236
Knutsford (Lord) communications, as to British South
Africa Company, 4 2 3 , 4 2 4
writes Lobengula and " T h e
Exploring Company," 416
Kolobeng, Moffat at, 155
Kordofan (andDarfur),Browne's
travels in, 93
annexed by Egypt, 111
succumbed to Islam, (fourteenth century), 30
Krapf and Rebmann, 22
Kuruman, mission at, 155
LAGOS acquired by England,
100, 148
stretches and prospers, 100,
288
Laird
(Macgregor)
pushed
trade on Niger (1852),
101, 276
Lake Chad, French expedition
to, 274, 290
goal of three
European
Powers, 288-291, 312
region made known, 95
within sphere of Niger Company, 295-300
Lake data based on native information, 22, 47
Lakes (chief), Albert Edward
and Albert Nyanza, 472 ;
Bangweolo, 472 ; Chad,
4 7 3 ; Dembea, 473 ; Maravi (46) or Nyasa, 472 ;
Ngami, 1 0 4 ; Mweru, 51,

550

THE

PARTITION

472 ; Rudolph, 473 ; Tanganyika, 472 ; Victoria
Nyanza, 472
Lakes, equatorial, native rumours of, 48
Lamu captured by Portuguese,
43
Lander, Allen, and
others
traverse Niger region, 101
Langenburg (Prince), founds
new
German
Colonial
Society (1861), 234
Leo Africanus, traveller in
Africa (sixteenth century),
27
Leopold, King of Belgians, aims
and ambitions of, 118, 132
invested sovereign of Congo
State, 214
willed Congo Free State to
Belgium, 214, 215
Leopoldville founded, 134
Liberia, becoming cramped in
boundaries, 293
first settlement freed negroes
Cape Mesurado (1820), 99
France's claims, 273
republic founded (1847), 99
Licona River (see A lima)
Literature of subject, Append.
II., 522-530
Livingstone (David), his work,
and interest in African
exploration, 104, 105, 114
concludes Zambezi expedition (1863), 105
dies at Bangweolo, 105
Livonius (Vice-Admiral) urged
Zanzibar's protection by
Germany, 231
Lobengula, chief of Matabele
tribe, 406, 414
his father's power, 51

OF

AFRICA

Lobengula, his restive warriors,
412
his treaty, 410, 412
perplexed by gold-seekers, 415
power broken and death, 435
true to England, 408
Lok (John), Gold Coast voyages
(1554), 62
Lord of Guinea, title conferred
by Pope on John II., ^8
Lourenco
Marquez founded
(1867), 104
Liideritz (of Bremen) applies to
Bismarck, 180, 181
hoists German flag at Angra
Pequena, 182-184
sells rights to German Colonial Society, 318
Lugard (Captain) defeats Kaba
Rega (of Unyoro), 366
proceeds to Uganda, 363
reaches Albert Edward and
Albert Nyanza, 365
serves in Nyasaland, 443
treaty with King Mwanga,
364, 367
umpire in religious factions
(Uganda), 364, 365
under Imperial British East
Africa Company, 363
Lunda and Muato Yanvo, 51
M A C K E N Z I E (Donald), trading
station, Cape Juby, 312
Mackenzie (George S.), active
spirit in British East Africa
Company, 351
Mackenzie (John), missionary,
Deputy - Commissioner to
Bechuanaland, 402
Mackinnon (Sir William), concession to, 347
Dar-es-Salaam road, 159

INDEX
Mackinnon
(Sir
William),
Sultan Said Burghash's
offer to, 159, 2 3 1 , 335
M'Queen (J.), urged a " Central
African Empire," 101
Madagascar, Britain recognises
French protectorate, 457
Comoros, Mayotte, and NossiBe islands taken by France,
456, 457
English missions settled in,
456
Fort Dauphin founded (1644),
93, 455
France toys with, 170 years,
93, 455
France wars with (18831885), 456
French attempt footing in,
i n , 455
independent in 1815, 93
Portuguese foiled in, 455
St. Marie Island ceded to
France (1750), 456
taken by England (1811),
456
virtually French protectorate
(1885), 4 5 5 , 457
Madeira, on maps, 14th c e n t ,
33
Portuguese colony on (fifteenth century), 59, 458
Mafeking, mission at, 155
Magdoshu (founded 950 A.D.),
as Arab trading post, 29
under Portuguese, 43
Mahdi, territories of, 399
Mandigoes
(negroes) = Bambarras, etc., 268
Manika (see Mashona
and
Matabeleland\
abortive
Portuguese Companies in,
4 2 1 , 422

55i

Manika, gold mines, attention
early drawn to, 50
rail to mouth of Pungwe,
433
Manuel Antonio de Souza (see
Gouveia)
Maps of Africa (early) of—
Dapper (1686), 46
D'Anville, 46
Diego Ribeiro (1529), 46
Duarto Lopez (1591), 46
Edrisi (11 54 A.D.), 27
Eratosthenes, (200 B.C.), 16
Hecatasus (500 B.C.), 14
Herodotus (450 B.C.), 15
Juan de la Cossa (1500), 46
Martin Behaim (1492), 39,
45
Mercator (15 41), 46
Ortelius (1587), 46
Pigafetta (1591), 48
Portuguese, 47
Ptolemy (150 A.D.), 17, 18
Maps of Africa, as known to
Greeks (500 B.C.), 14
early Portuguese, based on
native report, 47
further explorations of Portuguese altered these, 45
genesis of the map of Africa,
45, 46, 47
lakes, rivers, and mountains
in, whence derived, 47
recent maps of Central Africa
exhibit doubtful features,
48
Maravi or Lake Nyasa figures
vaguely
in
Portuguese
maps (1546 and 1623), 46
Marche, M. (see Ballay)
Martin Behaim in Cam's ship
39
map of, 39, 45

THE

552

PARTITION

Mashonaland and Matabeleland, Germans and Boers
hanker after, 406, 407
British South Africa Company Charter (1889), 419
pioneer force to, 426, 427
Portugal claims, 55, 413
Rhodes strives for a South
African Empire, 417
rival syndicates in (Cawston,
Maund, and Rhodes), 415,
416, 418
ruins and mines prior to
Mohammedanism
and
Portuguese occupation, 10,
Sh 54, 479
Massawa (or Adulis, 23), important trade port, 392
Italy's footing in, 392, 397
occupied by Turks, 111
Portugal attempts possession
of

'

59

Massi Kessi, collision with
Portuguese at, 429
Masudi,
African
traveller
(tenth century), 27
Matabele (tribe) cross Limpopo
to Mashona (1845), I93
raids, 434
Matabeleland, Baines discovers
riches of, 104, 157, 407
British influence in, 157, 163
British supremacy secured,
409, 410
favourable accounts of, 406
nature and value of, 424
old empire of Monomotapa,
5o, 57, 58, 92
Portuguese crave for, 4 0 8 , 4 1 3
value of, 424
Mauch (see Baines)
Maund and Cawston, Lobengula's concessions to 415

OF

AFRICA

Mauritius, occupied by France
(1715 ), under England,
(1810), 457
Melinde, an Arab trading centre,
29, 43
chiefship of, 50
under the Portuguese, 43
Mello (Duarto de) founded the
fort of Mozambique (1507),
43
Mengos reached by Barreto,
54
Meroe, first mention of, 15
Missions to Lake Regions, 125,
126
Mizon (Lieutenant) attempts
to reach Lake Chad by
Niger, 290
Moero, see Mweru infra
Moffat (J. S.), and Lobengula's
treaty, 410, 412 ,
Mohammedanism (see
Islam
and Moslem), accessory of
slavery, commerce, and
semi-civilisation, 31
aggressive, fanatical character of, 28
conquests of, in Africa, 25-31
distributions of, in 14th, 17th,
18th, and 19th cents., 30
factor in African Partition,
25, 3 i
settled in Sudan end of 14th
c e n t , 26
Mohr in Matabeleland, 157
Molemba, Portugal claims, 142
Mombasa (or Mombaz), an Arab
settlement, 29
burned down, 44
captured by Arabs (1698), 82
chiefship of, 50
protected by Britain, 105
struggles with Muskat, 106

EX
Mombasa, under Portuguese
sway, 43
Monemoezi, reports concerning
kingdom of, 50
Monomotapa Empire, 50-54
averred Portuguese treaty
with (1630), 55, 92 ^
De Andrade Corvo's opinions
regarding, 52
extent of, 53
Portuguese government of,
abolished, 54
Morocco, 88, 494
claims of, to be ignored? 306
Moslem, invasion of Egypt by
Amru Ibn al Aasse, 25
occupied East Africa, 43
Mossamedes under Portugal, 43
Mozambique, Corvo on deplorable state of, 56, 57
fort founded (1507), 43
Mtesa (ruler of U g a n d a ) visited
by Speke and Grant, 107
Muato Cazembe, 5 1
Muato Yanvo, 5 1
Mungo Park, perished on Niger,
88
Muskat, Imaums of, extend
influence (1698-1807), 9 3 ,
105
struggles with Mombasa, 106
Mwanga (of Uganda) anarchy
under, 360, 366
Lugard with, 364-367
religious intrigues, 360, 366
treaty with, 364, 367
Mweru (or Moero) Lake, region
and Muato Cazembe, 5 1 ,
472
N A C H T I G A L , Dr.,

annexes

Cameroons, 200-202
annexes Togoland, 202

the

553

Nachtigal, Dr., on West Coast,
193, 194, 200-204
Namaqualand, early penetrated
(1761), 80, 102
joint demonstration suggested, 175 t
Rhenish mission in, 175
under Germany, 184-191
within British sphere, 162
Napoleon's
aim,
supremacy
beyond the seas, 85
Nasamones, trade
relations
with Cyrenaica, 14
captured by pigmies, 15
Natal attempt at English Colony
(1705-1706), 79, 80
independent Colony (1856),
103, 151
touched by Vasco da Gama
in voyage to India, 41
National
Committees,
as
branches of International
Association, formed, 122
did more explorations than
International Commission';
their work, 124
National scramble, 140
Native rights ignored in the
scramble, 404
Nero's expedition to the Nile
source (60 A.D.), 19
Newfoundland discovered by
Sebastian Cabot (1497),
and
retarded
African
Partition, 40
Niger, activity of English in
Lower, 148, 275, 281
British Company
formed,
148, 149, 278
British Company strengthens
hold on, 149, 162
British trade developed in,
100, 148

554

THE

PARTITION

Niger—
Chad region, its importance,
298 (see Chad States)
chimerical colonial projects
in the, 308
English pioneers, 276
explorationsin(i8i5-75), 101
freedom of navigation of, 284
French and British spheres
in (agreement), 295, 296
French attempt settlement
(seventeenth century), 100
French on, 269-272
Germans on, 149, 280
Lower Niger, French bought
out, 279
native states in Senegal and
Upper Niger, 267
obstacles to trade, 277
prior to the Berlin Conference, 148
region, small states, Islam
spreading, 88
region, west middle Niger, 296
RoyalNiger Co. powers of, 282
Thomson
forestalls
Herr
Flegel on, 281
virtually
abandoned
by
England, 101
Niger Coast Protectorate. See
Oil Rivers
Nile, early information derived
from traders, 22
Egyptians push southwards
on, 9 3 , i n , 160
Nero's expedition, 19
source discovered by Speke
and Grant, 107
vaguely known beyond Meroe
by Ancients, 21
North Africa conquered by
Arabs (711 A.D.), 25, 26
part of Roman Empire, 17

OF

AFRICA

N. Africa, under Turkish rule, 74
Nubia converted to Islam, 30
and Sudan free to 1820, 93
Nuno Tristam, 37
Nyasaland,
African
Lakes
Company, 158, 439, 440
Anglo-Portuguese agreement,
449 m m
Arab risings, 443, 450
boundaries of, and progress
in, 447-449 m
British
Administrator
(to
North Zambezia), 4 4 8 , 4 4 9
British enterprises in, 439
Buchanan (J.), declares Makolo territory British, 446
Johnston (H. H.) treaties
with natives, 446
Livingstone in, 104, 105
missions to and work in, 158,
162, 163, 439, 453
Portugal claims, 440-443
Portuguese
attempts
on,
(1888-1889), 444, 445
Salisbury (Lord), firm, 443
SerpaPinto, N. of Zambezi, 445
Stevenson road (Nyasa to
Tanganyika), 158, 439
Thomson
(Joseph)
and
Grant's expedition, 447
O B O C K (opposite Aden) occupied by France, 111, 150
Ogove, De Brazza travels in
region of, 102, 136, 137
reached by Portuguese, 38
taken possession of by France,
(1842), 102
Oil Rivers, originally a slavetrade centre, 100
British establish in, 78
missionaries on, 101
secured to England, 204

INDEX
Oil Rivers, separate protectorate
(1884), 287
Okahanja, residency at, 156
O'Neill, watchful of Nyasaland,
440, 444
Ophir, a gold-producing country
of the Ancients, 9
position conjectural, 9
supposed to be Mashonaland
and Manika, 9, 479
Orange Free State founded
(1854), 103, 152
Orange River crossed (1761
and 1791), 80
Orta (Garcia da), his vol.
" Colloquios," etc., statement in, 47
Ovampoland, attempted republic, West Africa, 314
Owen, Captain (naval officer),
before his time, 106
protects Soliman Ben Ali at
Mombasa, 105
surveys East African coast
and offered cession of Delagoa Bay (1823), 103, 104
PAIVA D'ANDRADE concession,

421
Paiva e Pona (see Pond)
Pamphlets on English Trading
Companies (1690), 70-72
Partition of Africa, by Asiatic
hordes, 26
delayed by the discovery of
America, 40
national scramble, 140, 515
only coast-line in Ptolemy's
time, 23
Phoenicians first to begin, 11
slow from 1815 to 1875, I J I
Suez Canal, a notable event
in, i n

555

Partition of Africa (scope of
chapters on) :—
Africa of the Ancients, 1-23
African islands, 455-458
beginning of rivalry, 59-73
Berlin Conference and Congo
Free State, 207-229
British advances south and
east, 153-160
British Central and South
Africa, 401-454
British East Africa, 335-390
conclusion, 498-517
economic value of Africa,
459*497
France and Portugal on
Congo, various French
and English enterprises,
136-152
German East Africa, 230265
German progress in West
Africa, 314-334
Germany enters the field,
161-192

Germany in Cameroons and
Gulf of Guinea, 193-206
Islamic invasion, 24-31
Italian sphere and Egyptian
Sudan, 391-400
Portugal in possession, 45-58
Portuguese
circumnavigations, 32-44
position in 1815, 85-94
preliminaries to partition,
II4-I35
sixty years of preparation,
95-H3
stagnation and slavery, 74-84
struggle for Niger, 266-313
Zambezia (see British Central and South Afrha)i
401-454

556

THE

PARTITiION

Pedro da Cintra (see Cintra\ 38
Pedro de Anhaya (see A?thaya)
Pennefather (Lieut.-Col. E.S.),
heads police
force to
Matabeleland, 425
Periplus of Erythrean Sea, a
sailing directory, East African Coast, 18
not known to Ptolemy, 20
Pero d'Evora, reaches Timbuktu (1487) 37, 38
Pero de Covilham (see Covilhani)
Peters (Karl), attempts to outflank British East Africa
Company, 353, 355
plans to new German Colonial Society, 234
secret expedition and treatymaking, 235, 336
Pfeil (Count Joachim), presses
occupation of East Africa,
232
joins Peters and Dr. Jiihlke
in secret expedition and
treaties, East Africa, 235
Phoenicians,
circumnavigate
Africa
(under
King
Necho), 8
earliest explorers, 11
first to begin Partition of
Africa, 11
knowledge of African coasts,
7

\ 8'

9

possibly obtained gold from
South-east Africa, 10
precursors in African trade
and colonisation, 7
their settlements decay, 17
Pigafetta, narrative of, based on
native information, 46,
48, 50
on Monomotapa kingdom, 50

OF

AFRICA

Pigmies probably remnants of
the aborigines, 7
Polybius, voyage, West Coast, 17
Pona (Dr. Paiva e) on Barreto's
Zambezi expedition, 54
Pope Martin V. confers African
sovereignty on Portugal,
37
Population, Ravenstein's estimate of, Appendix I., 519521
Portal (Sir Gerald) as Commissioner sent to U g a n d a
(1892), 371-374
Portugal, abortive government
of Monomotapa, 54, 55
activity close fifteenth century, 59
admits the British rights on
Zambezi, 440
and German East African
territories defined, 247
Anglo - Portuguese
Congo
treaty signed (1884), 144
approaches France re Congo,
146
arbitrary monopoly on West
Coast, 64
archives of, still inaccessible,
47
attempts to influence Abyssinia, 59
Britain proposes arrangement, 143, 144
circumnavigations, 33-44
claims Matabele and Mashonaland, 408, 413
claims S.W. Coast, temporarily conceded (1884), 89,
90
claim to Congo, 141-143
conferred
sovereignty
of
West, South, and South-

INDEX
Portugal—
East Africa, by Pope Martin
V., 37
Congo,
Anglo - Portuguese
treaty abandoned, 146, 147
discoveries of, in interior, 45
discovery as claim to possession, 49
dominion of, in East Africa,
nature of, 50, 56, 57
early maps on hearsay evidence, 48
England resents Portugal's
claims, 142, 413, 441
excursions of, in interior, this
century, 90
expeditions to Cazembe, 92
expelled from E. Coast, 81,82
exploring energy of, 35, 36
first crossed equator on West
Coast, 38
first of the European Powers
to begin and last to leave
off slavery, 37
forms Zambezi districts, and
gold companies, 4 2 1 , 422
hampers English expeditions,
65, 444, 445
in East Africa, (181 5), 89, 91
in possession, 45-58
in West Africa (1815), 89
jealous of rights to Molemba
and Gabinda, 142
keeps other nations at bay
by African forts, 60
mining rights ceded to, by
Monomotapa (1607), 55
monopolises Africa, 60, 62,
64, 140
Moors driven from, 33
never settled at Cape, 43
Nyasa claims scouted by
England, 440-443

557

Portugal, pioneer in African exploration, 36
power dwindles in
East
Africa, 58, 81
pseudo - dominion in East
Africa, 56
re-united with Spain, became
spiritless in Africa, 58
rushes up Zambezi, 444-445
siege of Ceuta (1415), 33
suggests International Conference re Congo, 147
trans-African Empire mooted
since 1885, 90
worsted, and precarious footing on East Coast, 82
Position of Europe toward?
Africa
(see
European
Powers)
Possession Island, expedition
to (1793), 80
" Prazos de Coroa " = Crown
farms, in Portuguese East
Africa, 422
Prince Henry (the Navigator)
at capture of Ceuta, 34, 36
died (1460), 38
expeditions of, 34, 37
fort at Arguin (1448), 38
Proposed creation of Congo Free
State, 132
Ptolemaic lakes and Mountains
of Moon on maps till our
time, 22
Ptolemies, Egyptian prosperity
under, 16
Ptolemy (Alexandrian astronomer) geography authoritative till after Portuguese
advent, 22
his information how obtained,
18, 20, 2 j
map of Africa, 17, 20, 21

558

THE

PARTITION

Ptolemy, no traveller, 18
two African lakes of, 45
Pungwe, railway to mouth of, 433
Punt, ancient Egyptian expedition to, 4
Q U E E N A N N E ' S Point,

76

Queen Elizabeth grants charter
for trade with Morocco, 64
Quetta, English fort, 76
Danish fort, yy
Quiloa (see Kilwa), 29
R A B A H , in Bagirmi and Bornu,
304, 305
Rebmann sights the snows of
Kilimanjaro (1848), 107
Red Sea (littoral), condition of
(1815-1875), 93, 109
dominated by Egypt, 111
France sought footing on
(1862), i n , 150
Rene Caillie, 88 ; visits Timbuktu, 95
Rhapta, ancient trade centre
near Zanzibar, 22
Rhodes (Cecil), active in Matabele and Mashonaland,
416-418, 448
on Bechuanaland, 402
schemes telegraph Cape to
Cairo, 428
Rhodesia == Mashonaland, 427
Rio d'Oro reached, 33, 37
Rivalry, beginning of, among
European powers, 59-73
Rivers (chief), Congo
discovered (1483), 39, 4 i
first ascent of the Zambezi
(1569), S3
Niger, Lower and Upper
explored (1815-1875), 101
Nile traced from Victoria
Nyanza (1861-1862), 106

OF

AFRICA

Rivers, Zaire or Congo traced
to mouth (1877), 132
Rohlfs (Dr. Gerhard), advocates
annexation of Zanzibar, 232
suspicious mission, 232
Roman, disruption of Empire,
how Africa affected, 24
enterprise, 17
sway in Africa, 19
Rosebery (Earl) and Government, decision towards
British East Africa Company and Uganda, 369
embarrassing position, 380
protest to Germany, 243, 343
Royal Geographical Society,
discuss International Commission, 122
establish African Exploration
Fund (1877^, I 2 2
SAGRES, Prince Henry established at, 36
Sahara and Sudan, earliest
trading relations with, 12
French railway projects in,
270, 307, 308
once teeming with life, 13
pressing onwards in, 274, 290
traversed by Englishmen, 95
under Mohammedan grip, 26
St. George del Mina and St.
Jorge da Mina (see Elmina)
St. Lucia, attempted German annexation of, 195 ; Dutch, yy
St. Paul de Loanda founded
m (1578), 43
Salisbury Fort (Mount H a m p den) built (1890), 426
Salisbury
(Lord),
attitude
towards Germany's East
African schemes, 242
despatches concerning South-

iX
East Africa and Portugal,
408, 4 4 1 , 442, 447
Samory, powerful king, Niger
regions, opposes French,
and treaty with, 2 6 1 , 268
San Salvador, capital of (Portuguese) Congo, its rise and
decline, 42
taken by Jaggas tribe, 42
Savorgnan de Brazza (see De
Brazza)
Sebastian Cabot (see Cabot)
Secondee, English fort at,
75
Sef bin Sultan (Imaum of Oman),
captures Mombasa, Zanzibar, etc., 82
Sego, Archinard (Col.), captures, 272
Gallieni at, 149
Selous, F . C , in Matabeleland,
157, 426
Sena abandoned by the Portuguese, 56
reached by Barreto, 5 3
under Portuguese rule, 43
Senegal reached (1446), 37
early French settlements in,
at first failed, 69
steady advance of the French
in, 69, 78, 98
Senegambia, its communication
with Algeria, 97
French influence extending
in, 97, 98
under Faidherbe, 97
Serpa Pinto, hostile march into
Nyasaland, 445, 446
Sey'id
Burghash
succeeded
Sey'id Majid at Zanzibar
(1870), 109
Sey'id Majid confirmed Sultan
of Zanzibar, 106

559

Sharp (Granville), his judicial
decision against slavery
(1772), 83
Shire, upper missions, 158
Shidaoe, English fort, 76
Shoshong, mission and British
protectorate, 155
Sierra Leone, British boundaries
of, increased, 99
English settlement of freed
slaves in, 78
European colony attempted,
(i7%7), 79
Hanno's fleet nears, 11
passed (1462), 38
reached (1448), 37
shut out from Hinterland,
150
Silveira (Gonsalvo da), a priest,
reached the Monomotapa
region (1560), 54
Simbu (Sultan of Witu), doubtful German treaties with,
241
Siwa, trade route from Thebes,
23
Slave-raids and Brussels Act,
209, 508-510
Slaves, and gold a lucrative
branch of Portuguese trade
in Africa, 61
Charles V. granted patent to
import slaves to West
Indies (1517), 61
development of, in fifteenth
century, 26
Dutch traffic in, 66
first consignment by Antonio Gonsalvez, 37
introduced into West Indies
by Spain (1508), 60
market for, opened at Lisbon
(about 1 520 ?), 61

560

THE

PARTITION

Slaves, numbers exported end
of eighteenth century, 8 1 ,
84
Slave-trade, America prohibits
importation (1807), 84
American, clandestinely continued (1850), 114
" Assiento" contract with
Spain (1713), 80
Bill to regulate it (1788), 84
British East Africa Company,
how affected by, 352
Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference, 509-512
declared illegal by England
(1807), 84
Denmark (1792) first to prohibit it, 84
feeling against in England,
83
growth of, in seventeenth century, 66, 266
in 181 5 only Spain and Portugal legally permitted the
traffic, 84
lingered in Angola (Brazil
to Cuba), 114
Livingstone depicts its horrors
in Mid-Africa, 11 5
middle of eighteenth century
and profits, 8 1 , 266
origin by Portugal, 37
Portugal's clause, 114
Portuguese Company formed
for traffic in, 38
regions devastated by, 115
when begun by England,
64
Socotra, Britain annexes (1886),
though in sphere (1875),
112, 160
captured by Tristan da Cunha,
( I 5 0 7 ) , 43

OF

AFRICA

Sofala abandoned by the Portuguese, 56
chiefship of, 50
taken by Portuguese, 43
Sokoto, origin of, 26
treaty with Niger Company
(through Thomson)( 188 5),
281
Soilman Ben Ali appeals for
help to Captain Owen, 105
Solomon (King), expeditions to
Ophir (1000 B.C.), 9
Somaliland, adopted Mohammedanism, 30
breed of donkeys in, 482
Britain and Italy hold parts
in, 392, 396
coast annexed by Italy, 397
likewise Gallaland, held by
natives, 93
South Africa, British advances
in, 153-159, 4 o i - 4 5 3
confederation
of
British
and Dutch in, abortive,
157
delimitation spheres, British
and German, in Southwest, 316
Portugal's claims in Southeast, 408, 413, 440
resources, South-west Africa,
318-321
the Boers restive in, 407
Transvaal and Bechuanaland,
402-404
various annexations in, 404
Souza, Manuel Antonio de
Souza, known as Gouveia
(see), 4 2 3 , 431
Spain, claims of, in North-west
Africa, 3 1 1 , 312
claims right on the river
Muni, 163

EX
Spain, introduces slaves in West
Indies (1508), 60
share in African Partition
limited, 502
Speke and Grant (Captains)
explore Uganda and discover source of White
Nile, 107
Spheres of influence, a new
phrase
in
diplomacy,
245

.

non-existent prior to Berlin
Congress, 179
tangled in West Africa, Upper
Niger and Chad regions,
288-291
Stanley ( H . M.) admits variance
in views of Congo Commission
and
International
Association, 130
and King of Belgians, 118,
126
enters Africa (1871), 105
enthusiasm stirred by, 116
his
discoveries
initiated
Partition of Africa, 113
his influence,
116,
117,
125
his progress ( 1 8 7 7 - 1 8 8 0 ) ,
i33» 134
letters to Captains Cambier
and Popelin, 129
on Congo (1877), 132
returns to Congo, 128
returns to Europe, 125
rouses missionary pioneers,
117, 125
stirs up final scramble for
Africa, 117
troubles of and completion of
Congo State, 135
Stellaland founded by the Boers,
402
2

561

Stewart's road between Nyasa
and Tanganyika, 158
Strauch (Colonel), his letter to
Stanley, 129, 131
Stanley's reply to, 131
Secretary of Congo Committee and International
African Association, 128
Struggle between France and
England, 85
Sudan, Central, under Islam, 30
Egyptian, 399-400
E n g l a n d losing caste in, 163
French, 269-275, 290, 297
Suez Canal opened (1869), J I 1
value of and rivalry for, 111
Sultan of Zanzibar, constrained
to delimitation of territory,
242-244
his position, 247
offers cession of Zanzibar to
England, 231
protests against the German
action, 240
territories of, assumed extent
of, 244, 245, 339
Swakop, a seaport, 320
Swaziland coveted by the Boers,
405
Swedes attempt colony at Cape,
79

Swinburne (Sir John), Mining
Company in Tati, 407
Syrian colonies (early) south
of Morocco, 8
Syrtes, trade to, 23
T A N G A N Y I K A (see

Lakes)

Tangier held by England, 7^
Tantumquerry, English fort, 76
Tarshish (see Gades), 7
Tati, Sir J. Swinburne's Mines
at, 157, 407, 418
O

562

THE

PARTITI

Taubman (see Goldie)
Tete abandoned by the Portuguese, 57
Teutonic settlement in Africa
(480 A.D.), 24, 25
Thebes,
limit
of
Homer's
African knowledge, 6
Thomson (Joseph), explores
East Africa with Keith
Johnston, 122
Niger ascent and treaties
with Sokoto, Gando, 281
visits Lake Bangweolo with
Mr. Grant, 447
with Rhodes back in England, 453
Timbuktu,
Cadamosto's
information thereon, 37
D e Barros's statement, 37, 38
entrepdt for trade, 269
French in (1893), 274
founded by the Tuarej in
12 th century, 26
goal of French, 149, 275,
288
population diminished, 270
reached by Caillie', 95
Togoland, boundaries of, 331
exploration and the development of, 330-332
German flag raised in (1884),
202, 314, 330
prospers under Germany, 331
Tongaland, treaty established
with (1887), 154
virtually British, 406
Towrson,
William,
trading
voyages of, to Gold Coast,
62, 63
Trade routes of early times, 23,
26
Trans-Saharan railway mooted,
I 5 i 5 307

V OF

AFRICA

Transvaal and Bechuanaland,
402
Transvaal, British failure in,
154,163
convention with
Portugal
rail to coast, 1 54
English occupation (18771881), 402
founded (1852), 103, 152
presses for outlet to sea, 405
toys with German protectorate, 163
unsettled state of, 163
Tripoli, Italian longing for, 152
Tristan da Cunha (see Cunha)
Tuckey's failure on Congo, 95
Tungi Bay incident, 248, 249
Tunis, French protectorate, 152
Turkey holds North Africa,
74, 88
ousts Portugal from East
Coast, 8 1 , 82
U G A N D A , Imperial British East
Africa Company to retire
from, 368
British occupation of, 360
British protectorate, 373
British supremacy in, 364
France and Germany protest
against Congo-British lease
of Lake area, 383, 386
Government actions towards,
362, 363, 369, 375
Imperial responsibility for,
346
King Mwanga's treaty with
Lugard for British East
Africa Company, 364, 367
Lugard (Captain) enters it
(1890), 364, 365
Portal (Sir G.), mission, 371
religious strife in, 366, 372

EX
Umzila (see Gazaland)
United
African
Company
(Niger) formed, 148, 150
Unyamweze versus Monemoezi,
So
Upingtonia, attempted republic, Ovampoland, 315
Utica, the earliest Phoenician
African colony, 7, 8
doubtful trade relations south
of Sahara, 23
Utility of chartered companies,
284
V A L U E of African commerce,
512, 513
Vandals, migration of, to North
Africa (480 A.D.), 24
Vasco da Gama doubled Cape
of Good Hope, 41
labours of (1497), 40, 41
up east coast, 41
Vasco
Fernandez
Homem
reached
Manika
disastrously, 54
Venice and Genoa at zenith
when Portuguese enterprise
began, 32, 35
Verd (see Cape Verd)
Vivi, limit of navigation on
Lower Congo, 134
first station Congo Committee, 134
Von der Decken conceived
German
occupation
of
E a s t Africa, 107, 108
explorations of (1860-65) 107
murdered on Juba, 108
W A D A I developed 14th cent.,
26
Wadelai, Major Owen plants
British flag, 374

563

Walfish Bay annexed to Cape
(1884), 102, 156
English jurisdiction confined
to, 177, 178
English use as place of call,
174
expedition to (1793), 80
thoughts of abandoning, 162
Warren (Sir C.) enters Bechuanaland (1884), 155, 403
treaty with Khama, 155, 403
W a r s of eighteenth century
adverse to African trade and
settlement, 78
Washington (U.S.) Colonisation Society laid foundation of Liberia (1820), 99
Weber (Ernst von), recommends
footing in Jub and Zanzibar, 2 3 1 , 232
Welle problem solved, 223
West Africa, Arab migration
into, 28
Britain careless (1863), 98,
199
British connections with, 198
British trade hampered by
French advances in, 294
English colonies on, 288
forts in eighteenth century, 7 5
French administration in,
309, 3 i o
German progress in, 314-334
international
arrangements
and frictions
regarding,
292-295
native chiefs beg British protection, 199
position great Powers in, 312
W h y d a h described eighteenth
century, 76
Wilkinson (William) on trade
and Company's feuds, 70-7 2

564

THE

PARTITI'ON

Willoughby (Sir J.), with pioneers to
Matabeleland,
426
W i n d h a m (Captain Thomas),
voyages to Barbary, 6 1 ,
62
Winneba, English fort, 76
Winton (Sir Francis), succeeds
Stanley as Governor of
Congo Free State (1884),
135, 211
Wissmann (Captain), Imperial
Commissioner,East Africa,
256
Witu, grasped by Germany,
2 4 1 , 242, 340
reverts to Zanzibar, 378 (see
SimbU) Sultan of)
YORUBA country, a British protectorate, 288
ZAMBEZI ascended by Barreto
(1566), 53 # #
Baines and Livingstone on,
104, 105
mouth of, probably reached
by early Egyptians, 18
Zambezia (see British
Central
and South Africa) ,401-454
various annexations, British
influence paramount (see
under
Bechuanaland,
British South Africa Company ^ Griqualand
TVest,
H. H. fohnston,
Rharna,
Mashona, Matabele,
and
Nyasa lands ^ etc.)

OF

AFRICA

Zanzibar, and Pemba British
protectorate (1890), 389
British influence supreme at,
109, 158, 163, 231
cession offered to Britain, 231
commercial treaty with, 244
delimitation of Sultan's territory (1885), 244, 344
dominions of the Sultan of,
237, 339, 34o
England offered Zanzibar and
refused, 2 3 1 , 335
German footing in, 2 3 1 , 336
overtures for German protection, 173
region,
Imaum's
quarrel,
changes thereon, 105, 106
rule of, to Tanganyika, 106
succumbed to Portuguese, 43
Sultan offers France protectorate of, n o
Sultan protests against Germany's acquisitions, 240
Sultan's rule confirmed by
Lord Canning, 106
supremacy, Sultans of, 82
territory allotted to, 244, 247
Zeila, Islam adopted in the
fifteenth century, 30
Zimbaye (or Zimbabwe) ruins
not those of Monopotama,
52
Zululand annexed (1887), 152
Zulus cross Limpopo (1845)
103
sweep Zambezi region, 58
Zumbo, Portuguese Zambezi district, 4 2 1 , 432

Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh.