Africa

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

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

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

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

the Portuguese claims founded on doubtful discoveries three centuries old,

stated the British case in a few sentences:—

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

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

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

districts surrounding and adjoining the lake. Many British settlements have

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

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

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

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

neither authority nor influence beyond the confluence of the Shire and

Zambezi, where her interior custom-house, now withdrawn, was placed by the

terms of the Mozambique Tariff of 1877.

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

Portuguese expedition was being organized under the command of Major Serpa

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

addressed to the Portuguese government, the foreign minister stated that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

objections to a protectorate entertained by the British government; but

Johnston's instructions were not to proclaim a protectorate unless

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

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

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

overtook the Portuguese expedition and warned its leader that any attempt

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

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

Pinto returned to Mozambique for instructions, and in his absence

Lieutenant Coutinho crossed the river, attacked the Makololo chiefs and

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

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

under British protection, and his action was subsequently confirmed by

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

the news of these events reaching Europe the British government addressed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

east longitude. The publication of the convention aroused deep resentment

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

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

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

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

vivendi, by which they engaged to recognize the territorial limits

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

of the present agreement

British and Portuguese spheres defined.

to the termination thereof neither Power will make treaties, accept

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zambezi. It contained many other provisions relating to trade and

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

and exports crossing Portuguese territories on the east coast to the

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

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

and telegraphs. The territorial readjustment effected was slightly more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the frontier of the Congo State.

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

British government had made certain arrangements for the administration of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

protectorate was declared over Nyasaland, including the Shire highlands and

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

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

Protectorate, for which designation was substituted in 1907 the more

appropriate title of Nyasaland Protectorate.

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

government had notified that the coast-line on the

Germany's share of South Africa.

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

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

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

with the rights of state sovereignty, including mining royalties and

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

years the Germans vigorously pursued the business of treaty-making with the

native chiefs in the interior; and when, in July 1890, the British and

German governments came to an agreement as to the limits of their

respective spheres of influence in various parts of Africa, the boundaries

of German South-West Africa were fixed in their present position. By

Article III. of this agreement the north bank of the Orange river up to the

point of its intersection by the 20th degree of east longitude was made the

southern boundary of the German sphere of influence. The eastern boundary

followed the 20th degree of east longitude to its intersection by the 22nd

parallelof south latitude, then ran eastwards along that parallel to the

point of its intersection by the 21st degree of east longitude. From that

point it ran northwards along the last-named meridian to the point of its

intersection by the 18th parallel of south latitude, thence eastwards along

that parallel to the river Chobe or Kwando, and along the main channel of

that river to its junction with the Zambezi, where it terminated. The

northern frontier marched with the southern boundary of Portuguese West

Africa. The object of deflecting the eastern boundary near its northern

termination was to give Germany access by her own territory to the upper

waters of the Zambezi, and it was declared that this strip of territory was

at no part to be less than 20 English miles in width.

To complete the survey of the political partition of Africa south of the

Zambezi, it is necessary briefly to refer to the events

Fate of the Dutch Republics.

connected with the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. In

October 1885 the British government made an agreement with the New

Republic, a small community of Boer farmers who had in 1884-85 seized part

of Zululand and set up a government of their own, defining the frontier

between the New Republic and Zululand; but in July 1888 the New Republic

was incorporated in the South African Republic. In a convention of July-

August 1890 the British government and the government of the South African

Republic confirmed the independence of Swaziland, and on the 8th of

November 1893 another convention was signed with the same object; but on

the 19th of December 1894 the British government agreed to the South

African Republic exercising ``all rights and powers of protection,

legislation, jurisdiction and administration over Swaziland and the

inhabitants thereof,'' subject to certain conditions and provisions, and to

the non-incorporation of Swaziland in the Republic. In the previous

September Pondoland had been annexed to Cape Colony; on the 23rd of April

1895 Tongaland was declared by proclamation to be added to the dominions of

Queen Victoria, and in December 1897 Zululand and Tongaland, or

Amatongaland, were incorporated with the colony of Natal. The history of

the events that led up to the Boer War of 1899-1902 cannot be recounted

here (see TRANSVAAL, History), but in October 1899 the South African

Republic and the Orange Free State addressed an ultimatum to Great Britain

and invaded Natal and Cape Colony. As a result of the military operations

that followed, the Orange Free State was, on the 28th of May 1900,

proclaimed by Lord Roberts a British colony under the name ``Orange River

Colony,'' and the South African Republic was on the 25th of October 1900

incorporated in the British empire as the ``Transvaal Colony.'' In January

1903 the districts of Vryheid (formerly the New Republic), Utrecht and part

of the Wakkerstroom district, a tract of territory comprising in all about

7000 sq. m., were transferred from the Transvaal colony to Natal. In 1907

both the Transvaal and Orange River Colony were granted responsible

government.

On the east coast the two great rivals were Germany and Great Britain.

Germany on the 30th of December 1886, and Great

Anglo-German rivalry in East Africa.

Britain on the 11th of June 1891, formally recognized the Rovuma river as

the northern boundary of the Portuguese sphere of influence on that coast;

but it was to the north of that river, over the vast area of East or East

Central Africa in which the sultan of Zanzibar claimed to exercise

suzerainty, that the struggle between the two rival powers was most acute.

The independence of the sultans of Zanzibar had been recognized by the

governments of Great Britain and France in 1862, and the sultan's authority

extended almost uninterruptedly along the coast of the mainland, from Cape

Delgado in the south to Warsheik on the north—a stretch of coast more than

a thousand miles long—though to the north the sultan's authority was

confined to certain ports. In Zanzibar itself, where Sir John Kirk,

Livingstone's companion in his second expedition, was British consul-

general, British influence was, when the Berlin conference met, practically

supreme, though German traders had established themselves on the island and

created considerable commercial interests. Away from the coasts the limits

and extent of the sultan's authority were far from being clearly defined.

The sultanhimself claimed that it extended as far as Lake Tanganyika, but

the claim did not rest on any very solid ground of effective occupation.

The little-known region of the Great Lakes had for some time attracted the

attention of the men who were directing the colonial movement in Germany;

and, as has been stated, a small band of pioneers actually landed on the

mainland opposite Zanzibar in November 1884, and made their first

``treaty'' with the chief of Mbuzini on the 19th of that month Pushing up

the Wami river the three adventurers reached the Usagara country, and

concluded more ``treaties,'' the net result being that when, in the middle

of December, Karl Peters returned to the coast he brought back with him

documents which were claimed to concede some 60,000 sq. m. of country to

the German Colonization Society. Peters hurried back to Berlin, and on the

17th of February 1885 the German emperor issued a ``Charter of Protection''

by which His Majesty accepted the suzerainty of the newly-acquired

territory, and ``placed under our Imperial protection the territories in

question.'' The conclusion of these treaties was, on the 6th of March,

notified to the British government and to the sultan of Zanzibar.

Immediately on receipt of the notification the sultan telegraphed an

energetic protest to Berlin, alleging that the places placed under German

protection had belonged to the sultanate of Zanzibar from the time of his

fathers. The German consul-general refused to admit the sultan's claims,

and meanwhile agents of the German society were energetically pursuing the

task of treaty-making. The sultan (Seyyid Bargash) despatched a small force

to the disputed territory, which was subsequently withdrawn, and in May

sent a more imposing expedition under the command of General Lloyd Mathews,

the commander-in-chief of the Zanzibar army, to the Kilimanjaro district,

in order to anticipate the action of German agents. Meanwhile Lord

Granville, then at the British Foreign Office, had

Lord Granville's complaisance towards Germany.

taken up an extremely friendly attitude towards the German claims. Before

these events the sultan of Zanzibar had, on more than one occasion,

practically invited Great Britain to assume a protectorate over his

dominions. But the invitations had been declined. Egyptian affairs were, in

the year 1885, causing considerable anxiety to the British government, and

the fact was not without influence on the attitude of the British foreign

secretary. On the 25th of May 1885, in a despatch to the British ambassador

at Berlin, Lord Granville instructed Sir E. Malet to communicate the views

of the British cabinet to Prince Bismarck:—

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

colonization in the neighbourhood of Zanzibar is absolutely correct. Her

Majesty's Government, on the contrary, view with favour these schemes, the

realization of which will entail the civilization 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.

In the same despatch Lord Granville instructed Sir E. Malet to intimate

to the German government that some prominent capitalists had originated a

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19