African Tribal Distribution

From LoveToKnow 1911

AFRICAN TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION Libyans (North Africa, excluding Egypt) Berbers, including Kabyles Mzab Shawia Tuareg LIB YO-Negroid Transitional Fula (West Sudan) Tibbu (Central Sudan) HA Mites (East Sudan and Horn of Africa) Beja, including Ababda Hadendoa Bisharin Beni-Amer Hamran HA Mites - continued (East Sudan and Horn of Africa) - continued Galla Somali Danakil (Afar) Ba-Hima, includingWa-Tussi Wa-Hha Wa-Rundi Wa-Ruanda HAMITO-SEMites Fellahin (Egypt) Abyssinians (with Negroid admixture) HAMITO-Negroid Transitional Masai Wa-Kuafi Negroid Tribes Central Sudan Eastern Fur Kargo Dago Kulfan Kunjara Kolaji Tegele Tumali Nuba Zandeh Tribes (Akin to Nilotics, but probably with Fula element) Azandeh (Niam Niam) Makaraka Mundu Mangbettu Ababwa Mege Abisanga Mabode probably Momfu - with Pygmy element Allied are Banziri Languassi Ndris Wia-Wia Togbo Awaka &c.

Negroes West African Tribes Tribes of Tshi and Ga speech, including Khabunke Balanta Bagnori Bagnum Felup, including - Ayamat Jola Jigush Vaca Joat Karon Banyum Banjar Fulum Bayot &c.

Bujagos Biafare Landuman Nalu Baga Sape Bulam Mendi Limba Gallina Timni Pessi Gola Kondo Bassa Kru Grebo Awekwom Agni Oshiu West Sudan Tukulor Wolof Serer Leybu Mandingo, includingKassonke Yallonke Soninke Bambara Vei Susu Solima Malinke Probably also - Mossi Borgu Tombo ,4 Gurma 3?m Gurunga ? ? ?

Dagomba 7E7:5 Mampursi ? as ' ?

Gonja o ??

&c. n,, Songhai Hausa Bagirmi Kanembu Kanuri Tama Maba Birkit Massalit Korunga Kabbaga &c.

Ashanti Safwi Denkera Bekwai Nkoranza Adansi Assin Wassaw Ahanta Fanti Agona Akwapim Akim Akwamu Kwao Ga Tribes of Ewe speech, including- Dahomi Eweawo Agotine Krepi Avenor Awuna Agbosomi Aflao Ataklu Krikor Geng Attakpami Aja Ewemi Appa Tribes of Yoruba speech, including- Yoruba Ibadan Ketu Egba Jebu Remo Ode Illorin Ijesa Ondo Mahin Bini Kakanda Wari Ibo Efik Andoni Kwa Ibibio Ekoi Inokun Akunakuna Munshi Ikwe Bantu Negroids - continued Western Central Ba-Nunu Ba-Loi Ba-Teke Wa-Pfuru Wa-Mbundu Wa-Mfumu Ba-Nsinik Ma -Wumba Ma -Yakalla &c.

Transitional From Central To Southern Bantu Amboela Ganguela Kioko Minungo Imbangala Ba-Achinji Golo Hollo &c.

Mbunda peoples including - Bihe Dembo Mbaka Ngola Bondo Ba-Ngala Songo Haku Lubolo Kisama &c.

Eastern Wa-Gunda Wa -Guru Wa-Galla Wa-Sambara Wa-Seguha Wa-Nguru Wa-Sagara Wa -Doe Wa-Khutu Wa-Saramo Wa-Hehe Wa-Bena Wa-Sanga WaSwahili (with Arab elements) Connected are - Wa-Kisi Wa-Mpoto Ba -Tonga Ba-Tumbuka -° Wa-Nyika Wa-Nyamwanga c'd A -Mambwe -0 Wa-Fipa z Wa-Rungu A -Wemba A -Chewa A -Maravi Ba-Senga Ba-Bisa A -Jawa (Yaos) Wa-Mwera Wa-Gindo Ma -Konde Ma -Wia Ma -Nganja Ma -Kua Southern Bantu (South and South-East Africa) Ba-Nyai Ma -Kalanga, including Mashona Ba-Ronga Be -Chuana, 'including - Ba-Tlapin Ba-Rolong Ba-Ratlou Ba-Taung Ba-Rapulana Ba-Seleka Ba-Hurutsi Ba-Tlaru Ba-Mangwato Ba-Tauana Ba-Ngwaketse Ba-Kuena &c.

HA Mito -Ba Nt U B Ushma N Transitional Hottentots, in cluding - S. W. Namaqua Africa Koranna Ama -Zulu, including - Ama -Swazi Ama -Tonga Matabele Angoni Ma -Gwangwara Ma -Huhu Ma -Viti Ma-Situ Ma -Henge &c.

Ama-Xosa, including - Ama-Gcaleka Ama - Hahabe Ama-Ngqika Ama-Tembu Ama-Pondo &c.

OvaHerero Ova -Mpo B [[Ushmen Tribes In Madagascar Mala Yo-Indonesians]] Hova Betsileo (slight Bantu admixture) Hova -Ba Nt U Transitional Malagasy, including - Bestimisaraka Antanosi Antambahoaka Antsihanaka Antaimoro Antanala Antaifasina Antaisara Antaisaka &c.

BA NT Unegroids Sakalava, including - Menabe Milaka Ronondra Mahafali &c.

(T. A. J.) Negroes - continued Central Negroes Eastern Negroes Bolo Yako Tangala Kali Mishi Doma Mosgu, including - Mandara Margi Logon Gamergu Keribina.

Yedina Kuri &c.

	BANTU NEGROIDS
Western	Central	Eastern
Ogowe	Luba-Lund y Group	Lacustrians
Ashira Ishogo Ashango Bakalai Nkomi Orungu Mpongwe Oshekiani Benga Ininga Galao Apingi Okanda Osaka Aduma Mbamba Umbete Bule Bane Yaunde Maka Bomone	Ba-Luba, including- Ba-Songe Wa-Rua Wa-Guha Katanga Ba-Shilange (with Ba-Kete ele- ment) Ba-Lunda Probably connected are- Manyema Ba-Kumu Wa-Regga Ba-Rotse, including- Ma-Mbunda Ma-Supia Ma-Shukulumbwe Ba-Tonga and probably Va-Lovale	Ba-Nyoro Ba -Toro Wa-Siba Wa-Sinja Wa-Kerewe Wa- Shashi Wa-Rundi Ba-Iro Ba -Ganda Ba-Soga Ba-Kavirondo, includ- ing - Awaware Awarimi Awakisii &c. Bantu of Recent Immigration Wa- Kikuyu
Kunabembe	Tribes of the Congo	Wa-Kamba
Fang (recent im-	Bend	Wa-Pokomo
migrants from the Congo group) &c. Ba- Kongo, in- cluding - Mushi -Kongo Mussorongo Kabinda Ka-Kongo Ba-Vili Ma -Yumbe Ba-Lumbo Ba-Sundi	Ba-Kussu Ba-Tetela Ba-Songo Mino Ba-Kuba Ba-Lolo Ba-Kuti Ba-Mbala Ba-Huana Ba-Yaka Ba-Pindi Ba-Kwese &c. Tribes of the Congo	Wa-Duruma Wa-Digo Wa-Giriama Wa-Taita Wa-Nyaturu Wa-Iramba Wa-Mbugwe Wa-Kaguru possible Wa-Gogo Masai Wa-Chaga element Older Bantu
Ba-Bwende	Bank	Wa-Nyamwezi,includ-
Ba-Lali Ba-Kunya	Wa-Genia Ba-Soko Ba-Poto Mobali Mogwandi connected Ba-Ngala with Zan- Ba-Bangi deh group Wa-Buma	ing - Wa-Sukuma Wa-Sumbwa Wa-Nyanyembe Wa-Jui Wa-Kimbu Wa-Kanongo Wa-Wende	? o b'? 2 y ? .o g ? ma Ho

Nilotics with affinity with Zandeh tribes Dor (Bongo) Pure Nilotics Shilluk Nuer Dinka Jur (Diur) Mittu jibbeh Madi Lendu Alur (Lur) Acholi Lango Abaka Golo Nilotics with affinity with Masai Latuka Bari Negro-Bantu Nilotic -Ba Nt U Transitional Transitional Bali Ba-Kwiri Ja-Luo Ba-Kossi Abo Ba-Ngwa Dualla Ba-Nyang Bassa Ngolo Ba-Noko Ba-Fo Ba-Puko Ba-Kundu B a -Koko Isubu Pygmy Tribes (Central Africa) Akka Ba-Mbute Ba-Bongo Ashango &c.

The origin and meaning of the name of the continent are discussed elsewhere (see Roman Africa). The word Africa was applied originally to the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Carthage, that part of the continent first known to the Romans, and it was subsequently extended with their increasing knowledge, till it came at last to include all that they knew of the continent. The Arabs still confine the name Ifrikia to the territory of Tunisia.

The valley of the lower Nile was the home in remotest antiquity of a civilized race. Egyptian culture had, however, remarkably little direct influence on the rest of the continent, a and Greek result due in large measure to the fact that Egypt is coloniza- shut off landwards by immense deserts. If ancient Egypt and Ethiopia b e excluded, the story of g YP P? (4� ) ? Y Africa is largely a record of the doings of its Asiatic and European conquerors and colonizers, Abyssinia being the only state which throughout historic times has maintained its independence. The countries bordering the Mediterranean were first exploited by the Phoenicians, whose earliest settlements were made before 1000 B.C. Carthage, founded about Boo B.C., speedily grew into a city without rival in the Mediterranean, and the Phoenicians, subduing the Berber tribes, who then as now formed the bulk of the population, became masters of all the habitable region of North Africa west of the Great Syrtis, and found in commerce a source of immense prosperity. Both Egyptians and Carthaginians made attempts to reach the unknown parts of the continent by sea. Herodotus relates that an expedition under Phoenician navigators, employed by Necho, king of Egypt, c. 600 B.C., circumnavigated Africa from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, a voyage stated to have been accomplished in three years. Apart from the reported circumnavigation of the continent, the west coast was well known to the Phoenicians as far as Cape Nun, and c. 520 B.C. Hanno, a Carthaginian, explored the coast as far, perhaps, as the Bight of Benin, certainly as far as Sierra Leone. A vague knowledge of the Niger regions was also possessed by the Phoenicians.

Meantime the first European colonists had planted themselves in Africa. At the point where the continent approaches nearest the Greek islands, Greeks founded the city of Cyrene (c. 631 B.C.). Cyrenaica became a flourishing colony, though being hemmed in on all sides by absolute desert it had little or no influence on inner Africa. The Greeks, however, exerted a powerful influence in Egypt. To Alexander the Great the city of Alexandria owes its foundation (332 B.C.), and under the Hellenistic dynasty of the Ptolemies attempts were made to penetrate southward, and in this way was obtained some knowledge of Abyssinia. Neither Cyrenaica nor Egypt was a serious rival to the Carthaginians, but all three powers were eventually supplanted by the Romans. After centuries of rivalry for supremacy' the struggle was ended by the fall of Carthage in 146 B.C. Within little more than a century from that date Egypt and Cyrene had become incorporated in the Roman empire. Under Rome the settled portions of the country were very prosperous, and a Latin strain was introduced into the land. Though Fezzan was occupied by them, the Romans elsewhere found the Sahara an impassable barrier. Nubia and Abyssinia were reached, but an expedition sent by the emperor Nero to discover the source of the Nile ended in failure. The utmost extent of geographical knowledge of the continent is shown in the writings of Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.), who knew of or guessed the existence of the great lake reservoirs of the Nile and had heard of the river Niger. Still Africa for the civilized world remained simply the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The continual struggle between Rome and the Berber tribes; the introduction of Christianity and the glories and sufferings of the Egyptian and African Churches; the invasion and conquest of the African provinces ' Commercial treaties between Carthage and Rome were made in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. The first armed conflict between the rival powers, begun in 264 B.C., was a contest for the possession of Sicily.

by the Vandals in the 5th century; the passing of the supreme power in the following century to the Byzantine empire - all these events are told fully elsewhere.

In the 7th century of the Christian era occurred an event destined to have a permanent influence on the whole continent. Invading first Egypt, an Arab host, fanatical believers North in the new faith of Mahommed, conquered the whole Africa country from the Red Sea to the Atlantic and carried the Crescent into Spain. Throughout North Africa Christianity well-nigh disappeared, save in Egypt (where the Coptic Church was suffered to exist), and Upper Nubia and Abyssinia, which were not subdued by the Moslems. In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries the Arabs in Africa were numerically weak; they held the countries they had conquered by the sword only, but in the 11th century there was a great Arab immigration, resulting in a large absorption of Berber blood. Even before this the Berbers had very generally adopted the speech and religion of their conquerors. Arab influence and the Mahommedan religion thus became indelibly stamped on northern Africa. Together they spread southward across the Sahara. They also became firmly established along the eastern sea-board, where Arabs, Persians and Indians planted flourishing colonies, such as Mombasa, Malindi and Sofala, playing a role, maritime and commercial, analogous to that filled in earlier centuries by the Carthaginians on the northern sea-board. Of these eastern cities and states both Europe and the Arabs of North Africa were long ignorant.

The first Arab invaders had recognized the authority of the caliphs of Bagdad, and the Aghlabite dynasty - founded by Aghlab, one of Haroun al Raschid's generals, at the close of the 8th century - ruled as vassals of the caliphate. However, early in the 10th century the Fatimite dynasty established itself in Egypt, where Cairo had been founded A.D. 968, and from there ruled as far west as the Atlantic. Later still arose other dynasties such as the Almoravides and Almohades. Eventually the Turks, who had conquered Constantinople in 1453, and had seized Egypt in 1517, established the regencies Turks. of Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli (between 1519 and 1551), Morocco remaining an independent Arabized Berber state under the Sharifan dynasty, which had its beginnings at the end of the 13th century. Under the earlier dynasties Arabian or Moorish culture had attained a high degree of excellence, while the spirit of adventure and the proselytizing zeal of the followers of Islam led to a considerable extension of the knowledge of the continent. This was rendered more easy by their use of the camel (first introduced into Africa by the Persian conquerors of Egypt), which enabled the Arabs to traverse the desert. In this way Senegambia and the middle Niger regions fell under the influence of the Arabs and Berbers, but it was not until 1591 that Timbuktu - a city founded in the 11th century - became Moslem. That city had been reached in 1352 by the great Arab traveller Ibn Batuta, to whose journey to Mombasa and Quiloa (Kilwa) was due the first accurate knowledge of those flourishing Moslem cities on the east African sea-boards. Except along this sea-board, which was colonized directly from Asia, Arab progress southward was stopped by the broad belt of dense forest which, stretching almost across the continent somewhat south of 10° N., barred their advance as effectually as had the Sahara that of their predecessors, and cut them off from knowledge of the Guinea coast and of all Africa beyond. One of the regions which came latest under Arab control was that of Nubia, where a Christian civilization and state existed up to the 14th century.

For a time the Moslem conquests in South Europe had virtually made of the Mediterranean an Arab lake, but the expulsion in the 11th century of the Saracens from Sicily and southern Italy by the Normans was followed by descents of the conquerors on Tunisia and Tripoli. Somewhat later a busy trade with the African coast-lands, and especially with Egypt, was developed by Venice, Pisa, Genoa and other cities of North Italy. By the end of the 15th century Spain had completely thrown off the Moslem yoke, but even while the Moors were still in Granada, Portugal was strong enough to carry the war into Africa.

In 1415 a Portuguese force captured the citadel of Ceuta on the Moorish coast. From that time onward Portugal repeatedly Spain and interfered in the affairs of Morocco, while Spain ac- Portugal glared many ports in Algeria and Tunisia. Portugal, however, suffered a crushing defeat in 1578 at al Kasr Barbary al Kebir, the Moors being led by Abd el Malek I. of the then recently established Sharifan dynasty. By that time the Spaniards had lost almost all their African possessions. The Barbary states, primarily from the example of the Moors expelled from Spain, degenerated into mere communities of pirates, and under Turkish influence civilization and commerce declined. The story of these states from the beginning of the ,6th century to the third decade of the 9th century is largely made up of piratical exploits on the one hand and of ineffectual reprisals on the other. In Algiers, Tunis and other cities were thousands of Christian slaves.

But with the battle of Ceuta Africa had ceased to belong solely to the Mediterranean world. Among those who fought there was one, Prince Henry " the Navigator," son of King John I. who was fired with the ambition to acquire for Portugal the unknown parts of Africa. Under his inspiration and direction was begun that series of Rise of voyages of exploration which resulted in the circum navigation of Africa and the establishment of Portu guese sovereignty over large areas of the coast-lands. Cape Bojador was doubled in 1434, Cape Verde in 1445, and by 1480 the whole Guinea coast was known. In 1482 Diogo Cam or Cao discovered the mouth of the Congo, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama, after having rounded the Cape, sailed up the east coast, touched at Sofala and Malindi, and went thence to India. Over all the countries discovered by their navigators Portugal claimed sovereign rights, but these were not exercised in the extreme south of the continent. The Guinea coast, as the first discovered and the nearest to Europe, was first exploited. Numerous forts and trading stations were established, the earliest being Sao Jorge da Mina (Elmina), begun in 1482. The chief commodities dealt in were slaves, gold, ivory and spices. The discovery of America (1492) was followed by a great development of the slave trade, which, before the Portuguese era, had been an overland trade almost exclusively confined to Mahommedan Africa. The lucrative nature of this trade and the large quantities of alluvial gold obtained by the Portuguese drew other nations to the Guinea coast. English mariners went thither as early as 1553, and they were followed by Spaniards, Dutch, French, Danish and other adventurers. Much of Senegambia was made known as a result of quests during the 16th century for the " hills of gold " in Bambuk and the fabled wealth of Timbuktu, but the middle Niger was not reached. The supremacy along the coast passed in the 17th century from Portugal to Holland and from Holland in the 18th and 19th centuries to France and England. The whole coast from Senegal to Lagos was dotted with forts and " factories " of rival powers, and this international patchwork persists though all the hinterland has become either French or British territory.

Southward from the mouth of the Congo' to the inhospitable region of Damaraland, the Portuguese, from 1491 onward, acquired influence over the Bantu-Negro inhabitants, and in the early part of the 16th century through their efforts Christianity was largely adopted in the native kingdom of Congo. An irruption of cannibals from the interior later in the same century broke the power of this semi-Christian state, and Portuguese activity was transferred to a great extent farther south, Sao Paulo de Loanda being founded in 1576. The sovereignty of Portugal over this coast region, except for the mouth of the Congo, has been once only challenged by a European power, and that was in 1640-1648, when the Dutch held the seaports.

Neglecting the comparatively poor and thinly inhabited regions of South Africa, the Portuguese no sooner discovered 1 This river was called by the Portuguese the Zaire. They appear to have made no attempt to trace its course beyond the rapids which stop navigation from the sea.

than they coveted the flourishing cities held by Arabized peoples between Sofala and Cape Guardafui. By 1520 all these Moslem sultanates had been seized by Portugal, Mozambique The being chosen as the chief city of her East African possessions. Nor was Portuguese activity confined to thecoast-lands. The lower and middle Zambezi valley was explored (16th and 17th centuries), and here the Portuguese found semi-civilized Bantu-Negro tribes, who had been for many years in contact with the coast Arabs. Strenuous efforts were made to obtain possession of the country (modern Rhodesia) known to them as the kingdom or empire of Monomotapa, where gold had been worked by the natives from about the 12th century A.D., and whence the Arabs, whom the Portuguese dispossessed, were still obtaining supplies in the 16th century. Several expeditions were despatched inland from 1569 onward and considerable quantities of gold were obtained. Portugal's hold on the interior, never very effective, weakened during the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century ceased with the abandonment of the forts in the Manica district.

At the period of her greatest power Portugal exercised a strong influence in Abyssinia also. In the ruler of Abyssinia (to whose dominions a Portuguese traveller had penetrated before Vasco da Gama's memorable voyage) the Portuguese imagined they had found the legendary Christian king, Prester John, and when the complete overthrow of the native dynasty and the Christian religion was imminent by the victories of Mahommedan invaders, the exploits of a band of 4 00 Portuguese under Christopher da Gama during 1541-1543 turned the scale in favour of Abyssinia and had thus an enduring result on the future of NorthEast Africa. After da Gama's time Portuguese Jesuits resorted to Abyssinia. While they failed in their efforts to convert the Abyssinians to Roman Catholicism they acquired an extensive knowledge of the country. Pedro Paez in 1615, and, ten years later, Jeronimo Lobo, both visited the sources of the Blue Nile. In 1663 the Portuguese, who had outstayed their welcome, were expelled from the Abyssinian dominions. At this time Portuguese influence on the Zanzibar coast was waning before the power of the Arabs of Muscat, and by 1730 no point on the east coast north of Cape Delgado was held by Portugal.

It has been seen that Portugal took no steps to acquire the southern part of the continent. To the Portuguese the Cape of Good Hope was simply a landmark on the road to English India, and mariners of other nations who followed in their wake used Table Bay only as a convenient spot at Table wherein to refit on their voyage to the East. By the beginning of the 17th century the bay was much resorted to for this purpose, chiefly by English and Dutch vessels. In 1620, with the object of forestalling the Dutch, two officers of the East India Company, on their own initiative, took possession of Table Bay in the name of King James, fearing otherwise that English ships would be " frustrated of watering but by license." Their action was not approved in London and the proclamation they issued remained without effect. The Netherlands profited by the apathy of the English. On the advice of sailors who had been shipwrecked in Table Bay the Netherlands East India Company, in 1651, sent out a fleet of three small vessels under Jan van Riebeek which reached Table Bay on the 6th of April 1652, when, 164 years after its discovery, the first permanent white settlement was made in South Africa. The Portuguese, whose power in Africa was already waning, were not in a position to interfere with the Dutch plans, and England was content to seize the island of St Helena as her half-way house to the East? In its inception the settlement at the Cape was not intended to become an African colony, but was regarded as the most westerly outpost of the Dutch East Indies. Nevertheless, despite the paucity of ports and the absence of navigable rivers, the Dutch colonists, freed from any apprehension of European trouble by the friendship between Great Britain and Holland, and leavened by Huguenot blood, gradually spread northward, 2 France acquired, as stations for her ships on the voyage to and from India, settlements in Madagascar and the neighbouring islands. The first settlement was made in 1642.

stamping their language, law and religion indelibly upon South Africa. This process, however, was exceedingly slow. During the ,8th century there is little to record in the history of Africa. The nations of Europe, engaged in the later half of the century in almost constant warfare, and struggling for Waning and supremacy in America and the East, to a large extent revival of lost their interest in the continent. Only on the west interest coast was there keen rivalry, and here the motive was in Africa. the securance of trade rather than territorial acquisitions. In this century the slave trade reached its highest development, the trade in gold, ivory, gum and spices being small in comparison. In the interior of the continent - Portugal's energy being expended - no interest was shown, the nations with establishments on the coast " taking no further notice of the inhabitants or their land than to obtain at the easiest rate what they procure with as little trouble as possible, or to carry them off for slaves to their plantations in America" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 3rd ed., 1797). Even the scanty knowledge acquired by the ancients and the Arabs was in the main forgotten or disbelieved. It was the period when Geographers, in Afric maps, With savage pictures filled their gaps, And o'er unhabitable downs Placed elephants for want of towns.

(Poetry, a Rhapsody. By Jonathan Swift.) The prevailing ignorance may be gauged by the statement in the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica that " the Gambia and Senegal rivers are only branches of the Niger." But the closing years of the 18th century, which witnessed the partial awakening of the public conscience of Europe to the iniquities of the slave trade, were also notable for the revival of interest in inner Africa. A society, the African Association,' was formed in London in 1788 for the exploration of the interior of the continent. The era of great discoveries had begun a little earlier in the famous journey (1770-1772) of James Bruce through Abyssinia and Sennar, during which he determined the course of the Blue Nile. But it was through the agents of the African Association that knowledge was gained of the Niger regions. The Niger itself was first reached by Mungo Park, who travelled by way of the Gambia, in 1795. Park, on a second journey in 1805, passed Timbuktu and descended the Niger to Bussa, where he lost his life, having just failed to solve the question as to where the river reached the ocean. (This problem was ultimately solved by Richard Lander and his brother in 1830.) The first scientific explorer of South-East Africa, Dr Francisco de Lacerda, a Portuguese, also lost his life in that country. Lacerda travelled up the Zambezi to Tete, going thence towards Lake Mweru, near which he died in 1798. The first recorded crossing of Africa was accomplished between the years 1802 and 1811 by two half-caste Portuguese traders, Pedro Baptista and A. Jose, who passed from Angola eastward to the Zambezi.

Although the Napoleonic wars distracted the attention of Europe from exploratory work in Africa, those wars nevertheless Effects exercised great influence on the future of the con of the tinent, both in Egypt and South Africa. The occupa- Napoleonic tion of Egypt (1798-1803) first by France and then wars - by Great Britain resulted in an effort by Turkey to Britain regain direct control over that country, 2 followed in seizes the g y?

Cape. 1811 by the establishment under Mehemet Ali of an almost independent state, and the extension of Egyptian rule over the eastern Sudan (from 1820 onward). In South Africa the struggle with Napoleon caused Great Britain to take possession of the Dutch settlements at the Cape, and in 1814 Cape Colony, which had been continuously occupied by British troops since 1806, was formally ceded to the British crown.

The close of the European conflicts with the battle of Waterloo was followed by vigorous efforts on the part of the British government to become better acquainted with Africa, and to substitute colonization and legitimate trade for the slave traffic, declared ' The Association, in 1831, was merged in the Royal Geographical Society.

z The Mainelukes, whom the Turks had overthrown in the 16th century, had regained practically independent power.

illegal for British subjects in 1807 and abolished by all other European powers by 1836. To West Africa Britain devoted much attention. The slave trade abolitionists had already, in 1788, formed a settlement at Sierra Leone, on the Guinea coast, for freed slaves, and from this establishment grew the colony of Sierra Leone, long notorious, by reason of its deadly climate, as " The White Man's Grave." 3 Farther east the establishments on the Gold Coast began to take a part in the politics of the interior, and the first British mission to Kumasi, despatched in 1817, led to the assumption of a protectorate over the maritime tribes heretofore governed by the Ashanti.

An expedition sent in 1816 to explore the Congo from its mouth did not succeed in getting beyond the rapids which bar the way to the interior, but in the central Sudan much better results were obtained. In 1823 three English travellers, Walter Oudney, Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton, reached Lake Chad from Tripoli - the first white men to reach that lake. The partial exploration of Bornu and the Hausa states by Clapperton, which followed, revealed the existence of large and flourishing cities and a semi-civilized people in a region hitherto unknown. The discovery in 1830 of the mouth of the Niger by Clapperton's servant Lander, already mentioned, had been preceded by the journeys of Major A. G. Laing (1826) and Rene Caillie (1827) to Timbuktu, and was followed (1832-1833) by the partial ascent of the Benue affluent of the Niger by MacGregor Laird. In 1841 a disastrous attempt was made to plant a white colony on the lower Niger, an expedition (largely philanthropic and antislavery in its inception) which ended in utter failure. Nevertheless from that time British traders remained on the lower Niger, their continued presence leading ultimately to the acquisition of political rights over the delta and the Hausa states by Great Britain.' Another endeavour by the British government to open up commercial relations with the Niger countries resulted in the addition of a vast amount of information concerning the countries between Timbuktu and Lake Chad, owing to the labours of Heinrich Barth (1850-1855), originally a subordinate, but the only surviving member of the expedition sent out.

Meantime considerable changes had been made in other parts of the continent, the most notable being - the occupation of Algiers by France in 1830, an end being thereby put to the piratical proceedings of the Barbary states; the continued expansion southward of Egyptian authority with the consequent additions to the knowledge of the Nile; and the establishment of independent states (Orange Free State and the Transvaal) by Dutch farmers (Boers) dissatisfied with British rule in Cape Colony. Natal, so named by Vasco da Gama, had been made a British colony (1843), the attempt of the Boers to acquire it being frustrated. The city of Zanzibar, on the island of that name, founded in 183 2 by Seyyid Said of Muscat, rapidly attained importance, and Arabs began to penetrate to the great lakes of East Africa,' concerning which little more was known (and less believed) than in the time of Ptolemy. Accounts of a vast inland sea, and the discovery in 1848-1849, by the missionaries Ludwig Krapf and J. Rebmann, of the snow-clad mountains of Kilimanjaro and Kenya, stimulated in Europe the desire for further knowledge.

At this period, the middle of the 19th century, Protestant missions were carrying on active propaganda on the Guinea coast, in South Africa and in the Zanzibar dominions. Their work, largely beneficent, was being conducted The era in regions and among peoples little known and in refit, e ofgxplorers. many instances missionaries turned explorers and became pioneers of trade and empire. One of the first to attempt to fill up the remaining blank spaces in the map was David Livingstone, who had been engaged since 1840 in missionary work north of the Orange. In 1849 Livingstone crossed the Kalahari Desert from south to north and reached Lake Ngami.

In imitation of the British example, an American society founded in 1822 the negro colony (now republic) of Liberia.

' The first territorial acquisition made by Great Britain in this region was in 1851, when Lagos Island was annexed.

As early as 1848 an Arab from Zanzibar journeying across the continent had arrived at Benguella.

and between 1851 and 1856 he traversed the continent from west to east, making known the great waterways of the upper Zambezi. During these journeyings Livingstone discovered, November 1855, the famous Victoria Falls, so named after the queen of England. In 1858-1864 the lower Zambezi, the Shire and Lake Nyasa were explored by Livingstone, Nyasa having been first reached by the confidential slave of Antonio da Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader established at Bihe in Angola, who crossed Africa during 1853-1856 from Benguella to the mouth of the Rovuma. While Livingstone circumnavigated Nyasa, the more northerly lake, Tanganyika, had been visited (1858) by Richard Burton and J. H. Speke, and the last named had sighted Victoria Nyanza. Returning to East Africa with J. A. Grant, Speke reached, in 1862, the river which flowed from [[Victoria (disambiguation)|Victoria ]], and following it (in the main) down to Egypt, had the distinction of being the first man to read the riddle of the Nile. In 1864 another Nile explorer, Samuel Baker, discovered the Albert Nyanza, the chief western reservoir of the river. In 1866 Livingstone began his last great journey, in which he made known Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu and discovered the Lualaba (the upper part of the Congo), but died (1873) before he had been able to demonstrate its ultimate course, believing indeed that the Lualaba belonged to the Nile system. Livingstone's lonely death in the heart of Africa evoked a keener desire than ever to complete the work he left undone. H. M. Stanley, who had in 1871 succeeded in finding and succouring Livingstone, started again for Zanzibar in 1874, and in the most memorable of all exploring expeditions in Africa circumnavigated Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika, and, striking farther inland to the Lualaba, followed that river down to the Atlantic Ocean - reached in August 1877 - and proved it to be the Congo. Stanley had been preceded, in 1874, at Nyangwe, Livingstone's farthest point on the Lualaba, by Lovett Cameron, who was, however, unable farther to explore its course, making his way to the west coast by a route south of the Congo.

While the great mystery of Central Africa was being solved explorers were also active in other parts of the continent. Southern Morocco, the Sahara and the Sudan were traversed in many directions between 1860 and 1875 by Gerhard Rohlfs, Georg Schweinfurth and Gustav Nachtigal. These travellers not only added considerably to geographical knowledge, but obtained invaluable information concerning the people, languages and natural history of the countries in which they sojourned.' Among the discoveries of Schweinfurth was one that confirmed the Greek legends of the existence beyond Egypt of a pygmy race. But the first discoverer of the dwarf races of Central Africa was Paul du Chaillu, who found them in the Ogowe district of the west coast in 1865, five years before Schweinfurth's first meeting with the Pygmies; du Chaillu having previously, as the result of journeys in the Gabun country between 1855 and 1859, made popular in Europe the knowledge of the existence of the gorilla, perhaps the gigantic ape seen by Hanno the Carthaginian, and whose existence, up to the middle of the 19th century, was thought to be as legendary as that of the Pygmies of Aristotle.

In South Africa the filling up of the map also proceeded apace. The finding, in 1869, of rich diamond fields in the valley of the Vaal river, near its confluence with the Orange, caused a rush of emigrants to that district, and led to conflicts between the Dutch and British authorities and the extension of British authority northward. In 1871 the ruins of the great Zimbabwe in Mashonaland, the chief fortress and distributing centre of the race which in medieval times worked the goldfields of SouthEast Africa, were explored by Karl Mauch. In the following year F. C. Selous began his journeys over South Central Africa, which continued for more than twenty years and extended over every part of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. (F. R. C.) V. Partition Among European Powers In the last quarter of the 19th century the map of Africa was transformed. After the discovery of the Congo the story of 'Another great traveller of this stamp was Wilhelm D unker, who spent the greater part of the period 1875-1886 in the east central Sudan.

exploration takes second place; the continent becomes the theatre of European expansion. Lines of partition, drawn often through trackless wildernesses, marked out the possessions of Germany, France, Great Britain and other powers. Railways penetrated the interior, vast areas were opened up to civilized occupation, and from ancient Egypt to the Zambezi the continent was startled into new life.

Before 1875 the only powers with any considerable interest in Africa were Britain, Portugal and France. Between 1815 and 1850, as has been shown above, the British government devoted much energy, not always informed by knowledge, to western and southern Africa. In both directions Great Britain had met with much discouragement; on the west coast, disease, death, decaying trade and useless conflicts with savage foes had been the normal experience; in the south recalcitrant Boers and hostile Kaffirs caused almost endless trouble. The visions once entertained of vigorous negro communities at once civilized and Christian faded away; to the hot fit of philanthropy succeeded the cold fit of indifference and a disinclination to bear the burden of empire. The low-water mark of British interest in South Africa was reached in 1854 when independence was forced on the Orange River Boers, while in 1865 the mind of the nation was fairly reflected by the unanimous resolution of a representative House of Commons committee: 2 " that all further extension of territory or assumption of government, or new treaty offering any protection to native tribes, would be inexpedient." For nearly twenty years the spirit of that resolution paralysed British action in Africa, although many circumstances - the absence of any serious European rival, the inevitable border disputes with uncivilized races, and the activity of missionary and trader - conspired to make British influence dominant in large areas of the continent over which the government exercised no definite authority. The freedom with which blood and treasure were spent to enforce respect for the British flag or to succour British subjects in distress, as in the Abyssinian campaign of 1867-68 and the Ashanti war of 1873, tended further to enhance the reputation of Great Britain among African races, while, as an inevitable result of the possession of India, British officials exercised considerable power at the court of Zanzibar, which indeed owed its separate existence to a decision of Lord Canning, the governor-general of India, in 1861 recognizing the division of the Arabian and African dominions of the imam of Muscat.

It has been said that Great Britain was without serious rival. On the Gold Coast she had bought the Danish forts in 1850 and acquired the Dutch, 1871-1872, in exchange for establishments in Sumatra. But Portugal still held, both in the east and west of Africa, considerable stretches of the tropical coast-lands, and it was in 1875 that she obtained, as a result of the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon, possession of the whole of Delagoa Bay, to the southern part of which England also laid claim by virtue of a treaty of cession concluded with native chiefs in 1823. The only other European power which at the period under consideration had considerable possessions in Africa was France. Besides Algeria, France had settlements on the Senegal, where in 1854 the appointment of General Faidherbe as governor marked the beginning of a policy of expansion; she had also various posts on the upper Guinea coast, had taken the estuary of the Gabun as a station for her navy, and had acquired (1862) Obok at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

In North Africa the Turks had (in 1835) assumed direct control of Tripoli, while Morocco had fallen into a state of decay though retaining its independence. The most remarkable change was in Egypt, where the Khedive Ismail had introduced a somewhat fantastic imitation of European civilization. In addition Ismail had conquered Darfur, annexed Harrar and the Somali ports on the Gulf of Aden, was extending his power southward to the equatorial lakes, and even contemplated reaching the Indian Ocean. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, had a great influence on the future of Africa, as it again made Egypt the highway to the East, to the detriment of the Cape route. 2 Specially appointed to consider West African affairs.

Any estimate of the area of African territory held by European nations in 1875 is necessarily but approximate, and varies chiefly The dlvi- as the compiler of statistics rejects or accepts the vague claims of Portugal to sovereignty over the hinterland of her coast possessions. At that period in 1875. other European nations - with the occasional exception of Great Britain - were indifferent to Portugal's pretensions, and her estimate of her African empire as covering over 700,000 sq. m. was not challenged.' But the area under effective control of Portugal at that time did not exceed 40,000 sq. m. Great Britain then held some 250,000 sq. m., France about 170,000 sq. m. and Spain l000 sq. m. The area of the independent Dutch republics (the Transvaal and Orange Free State) was some 150,000 sq. m., so that the total area of Africa ruled by Europeans did not exceed 1,271,000 sq. m.; roughly one-tenth of the continent. This estimate, as it admits the full extent of Portuguese claims and does not include Madagascar, in reality considerably overstates the case.

Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan, Tunisia and Tripoli were subject in differing ways to the overlordship of the sultan of Turkey, and with these may be ranked, in the scale of organized governments, the three principal independent states, Morocco, Abyssinia and Zanzibar, as also the negro republic of Liberia. There remained, apart from the Sahara, roughly one half of Africa, lying mostly within the tropics, inhabited by a multitude of tribes and peoples living under various forms of government and subject to frequent changes in respect of political organization. In this region were the negro states of Ashanti, Dahomey and Benin on the west coast, the Mahommedan sultanates of the central Sudan, and a number of negro kingdoms in the east central and south central regions. Of these Uganda on the north-west shores of Victoria Nyanza, Cazembe and Muata Hianvo (or Yanvo) may be mentioned. The two lastnamed kingdoms occupied respectively the south-eastern and south-western parts of the Congo basin. In all this vast region the Negro and Negro-Bantu races predominated, for the most part untouched by Mahommedanism or Christian influences. They lacked political cohesion, and possessed neither the means nor the inclination to extend their influence beyond their own borders. The exploitation of Africa continued to be entirely the work of alien races.

The causes which led to the partition of Africa may now be considered. They are to be found in the economic and political state of western Europe at the time. Germany, strong and united as the result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, was seeking new outlets for her energies - new markets for her growing industries, and with the markets, colonies. Yet the idea of colonial expansion was of slow growth in Germany, and when Prince Bismarck at length acted Africa was the only field left to exploit, South America being protected from interference by the known determination of the United States to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, while Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain already held most of the other regions of the world where colonization was possible. For different reasons the war of 1870 was also the starting-point for France in the building up of a new colonial empire. In her endeavour to regain the position lost in that war France had to look beyond Europe. To the two causes mentioned must be added others. Great Britain and Portugal, when they found their interests threatened, bestirred themselves, while Italy also conceived it necessary to become an African power. Great Britain awoke to the need for action too late to secure predominance in all the regions where formerly hers was the only European influence. She had to contend not only with the economic forces which urged her rivals to action, but had also to combat the jealous opposition of almost every European nation to the further growth of British power. Italy alone acted throughout in cordial co-operation with Great Britain.

It was not, however, the action of any of the great powers 1 See the tables in Behm and Wagner's BevOlkerung der Erde (Gotha, 1872).

of Europe which precipitated the struggle. This was brought about by the ambitious projects of Leopold II., king of the Belgians. The discoveries of Livingstone, Stanley and others had aroused especial interest among two classes of men in western Europe, one the manufacturing and trading class, which saw in Central Africa possibilities of commercial development, the other the philanthropic and missionary class, which beheld in the newly discovered lands millions of savages to Christianize and civilize. The possibility of utilizing both these classes in the creation of a vast state, of which he should be the chief, formed itself in the mind of Leopold II. even before Stanley had navigated the Congo. The king's action was immediate; it proved successful; but no sooner was the nature of his project understood in Europe than it provoked the rivalry of France and Germany, and thus the international struggle was begun.

At this point it is expedient, in the light of subsequent events, to set forth the designs then entertained by the European powers that participated in the struggle for Africa. Portugal was striving to retain as large a share as possible of her shadowy empire, and particularly to establish her claims to the Zambezi region, so as to secure a belt of territory across Africa from Mozambique to Angola. Great Britain, once aroused to the imminence of danger, put forth vigorous efforts in East Africa and on the Niger, but her most ambitious dream was the establishment of an unbroken line of British possessions and spheres of influence from south to - north of the continent, from Cape Colony to Egypt. Germany's ambition can be easily described. It was to secure as much as possible, so as to make up for lost opportunities. Italy coveted Tripoli, but that province could not be seized without risking war. For the rest Italy's territorial ambitions were confined to North-East Africa, where she hoped to acquire a dominating influence over Abyssinia. French ambitions, apart from Madagascar, were confined to the northern and central portions of the continent. To extend her possessions on the Mediterranean littoral, and to connect them with her colonies in West Africa, the western Sudan, and on the Congo, by establishing her influence over the vast intermediate regions, was France's first ambition. But the defeat of the Italians in Abyssinia and the impending downfall of the khalifa's power in the valley of the upper Nile suggested a still more daring project to the French government - none other than the establishment of French Madeir Is. e Canary Is.

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Rio d Oro cUi Sierra Leone L?eet, British Scale, i p Spanish Guine Cabinda yptian Sudan Walfish Bay French German Portuguese r Italian. Spanish Belgian Congo Turkish Independent influence over a broad belt of territory stretching across the continent from west to east, from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Aden. The fact that France possessed a small part of the Red Sea coast gave point to this design. But these conflicting ambitions could not all be realized, and Germany succeeded in preventing Great Britain obtaining a continuous band of British territory from south to north,while Great Britain, by excluding France from the upper Nile valley, dispelled the French dream of an empire from west to east.

King Leopold's ambitions have already been indicated. The part of the continent to which from the first he directed his energies was the equatorial region. In September 1876 he took what may be described as the first definite step in the modern partition of the continent. He summoned to a conference at Brussels representatives of Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Russia, to deliberate on the best methods to be adopted for the exploration and civilization of Africa, and the opening up of the interior of the continent to commerce and industry. The conference was entirely unofficial. The delegates who attended neither represented nor pledged their respective governments. Their deliberations lasted three days and resulted in the foundation of " The International African Association," with its headquarters at Brussels. It was further resolved to establish national committees in the various countries represented, which should collect funds and appoint delegates to the International Association. The central idea appears to have been to put the exploration and development of Africa upon an international footing. But it quickly became apparent that this was an unattainable ideal. The national committees were soon working independently of the International Association, and the Association itself passed through a succession of stages until it became purely Belgian in character, and at last developed into the Congo Free State, under the personal sovereignty of King Leopold. At first the Association devoted itself to sending expeditions to the great central lakes from the east coast; but failure, more or less complete, attended its efforts in this direction, and it was not until the return of Stanley, in January 1878, from his great journey down the Congo, that its ruling spirit, King Leopold, definitely turned his thoughts towards the Congo. In June of that year, Stanley visited the king at Brussels, and in the following November a private conference was held, and a committee was appointed for the investigation of the upper Congo.

Stanley's remarkable discovery had stirred ambition in other capitals than Brussels. France had always taken a keen interest The in West Africa, and in the years 1875 to 1878 Savorgnan de Brazza had carried out a successful exploration of the Ogowe river to the south of the Gabun. De Brazza and lawlessness and the cruel barter of slaves shall be overcome." The irony of human aspirations was never perhaps more plainly demonstrated than in the contrast between the ideal thus set before themselves by those who employed Stanley, and the actual results of their intervention in Africa. Stanley founded his first station at Vivi, between the mouth of the Congo and the rapids that obstruct its course where it breaks over the western edge of the central continental plateau. Above the rapids he established a station on Stanley Pool and named it Leopoldville, founding other stations on the main stream in the direction of the falls that bear his name.

Meanwhile de Brazza was far from idle. He had returned to Africa at the beginning of 1880, and while the agents of King Leopold were making treaties and founding stations along the southern bank of the river, de Brazza and other French agents were equally busy on the northern bank. De Brazza was sent out to Africa by the French committee of the International African Association, which provided him with the funds for the expedition. His avowed object was to explore the region between the Gabun and Lake Chad. But his real object was to anticipate Stanley on the Congo. The international character of the association founded by King Leopold was never more than a polite fiction, and the rivalry between the French and the Belgians on the Congo was soon open, if not avowed. In October 1880 de Brazza made a solemn treaty with a chief on the north bank of the Congo, who claimed that his authority extended over a large area, including territory on the southern bank of the river. As soon as this chief had accepted French protection, de Brazza crossed over to the south of the river, and founded a station close to the present site of Leopoldville. The discovery by Stanley of the French station annoyed King Leopold's agent, and he promptly challenged the rights of the chief who purported to have placed the country under French protection, and himself founded a Belgian station close to the site selected by de Brazza. In the result, the French station was withdrawn to the northern side of Stanley Pool, where it is now known as Brazzaville.

The activity of French and Belgian agents on the Congo had not passed unnoticed in Lisbon, and the Portuguese government saw that no time was to be lost if the claims it had never ceased to put forward on the west coast were not to go by default. At varying periods during the 19th century Portugal had put forward claims to the whole of the West African coast, between 5° 12' and 8° south. North of the Congo mouth she claimed the territories of Kabinda and Molemba, alleging that they had been in her possession since 1484. Great Britain had never, however, admitted this claim, and south of the Congo had declined to recognize Portuguese possessions as extending north of Ambriz. In 1856 orders were given to British cruisers to prevent by force any attempt to extend Portuguese dominion north of that place. But the Portuguese had been persistent in urging their claims, and in 1882 negotiations were again opened with the British government for recognition of Portuguese rights over both banks of the Congo on the coast, and for some distance inland. Into the details of the negotiations, which were conducted for Great Britain by the 2nd Earl Granville, who was then secretary for foreign affairs, it is unnecessary to enter; they resulted in the signing on the 26th of February 1884 of a treaty, by which Great Britain recognized the sovereignty of the king of Portugal " over that part of the west coast of Africa, situated between 8° and 5° 12' south latitude," and inland as far as Noki, on the south bank of the Congo, below Vivi. The navigation of the Congo was to be controlled by an Anglo-Portuguese commission. The publication of this treaty evoked immediate protests, not only on the continent but in Great Britain. In face of the disapproval aroused by the treaty, Lord Granville found himself unable to ratify it. The protests had not been confined to France and the king of the Belgians. Germany had not yet acquired formal footing in Africa, but she was crouching for the spring prior to taking her part in the scramble, and Prince Bismarck had expressed, in vigorous language, the objections entertained by Germany to the Anglo-Portuguese treaty.

determined that the Ogowe did not offer that great waterway into the interior of which he was in search, and he returned to Europe without having heard of the discoveries of Stanley farther south. Naturally, however, Stanley's discoveries were keenly followed in France. In Portugal, too, the discovery of the Congo, with its magnificent unbroken waterway of more than a thousand miles into the heart of the continent, served to revive the languid energies of the Portuguese, who promptly began to furbish up claims whose age was in inverse ratio to their validity. Claims, annexations and occupations were in the air, and when in January 1879 Stanley left Europe as the accredited agent of King Leopold and the Congo committee, the strictest secrecy was observed as to his real aims and intentions. The expedition was, it was alleged, proceeding up the Congo to assist the Belgian expedition which had entered from the east coast, and Stanley himself went first to Zanzibar. But in August 1879 Stanley found himself again at Banana Point, at the mouth of the Congo, with, as he himself has written, " the novel mission of sowing along its banks civilized settlements to peacefully conquer and subdue it, to remould it in harmony with modern ideas into national states, within whose limits the European merchant shall go hand in hand with the dark African trader, and justice and law and order shall prevail, and murder For some time before 1884 there had been growing up a general conviction that it would be desirable for the powers who were interesting themselves in Africa to come to some agreement as to " the rules of the game," and to define their respective interests so far as that was practicable. Lord Granville's illfated treaty brought this sentiment to a head, and it was agreed to hold an international conference on African affairs. But before discussing the Berlin conference of 1884-1885, it will be well to see what was the position, on the eve of the conference, in other parts of the African continent. In the southern section of Africa, south of the Zambezi, important events had been happening. In 1876 Great Britain had concluded an agreement with the Orange Free State for an adjustment of influence frontiers, the result of which was to leave the Kimberley consoli- diamond fields in British territory, in exchange for dated in a payment of £90,000 to the Orange Free State. On South the 12th of April 1877 Sir Theophilus She stone had Africa. P 7 7 P Shepston a proclamation declaring the Transvaal - the South African Republic, as it was officially designated - to be British territory (see Transvaal). In December 1880 war broke out and lasted until March 1881, when a treaty of peace was signed. This treaty of peace was followed by a convention, signed in August of the same year, under which complete selfgovernment was guaranteed to the inhabitants of the Transvaal, subject to the suzerainty of Great Britain, upon certain terms and conditions and subject to certain reservations and limitations. No sooner was the convention signed than it became the object of the Boers to obtain a modification of the conditions and limitations imposed, and in February 1884 a fresh convention was signed, amending the convention of 1881. Article IV. of the new convention provided that " The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any state or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen." The precise effect of the two conventions has been the occasion for interminable discussions, but as the subject is now one of merely academic interest, it is sufficient to say that when the Berlin conference held its first meeting in 1884 the Transvaal was practically independent, so far as its internal administration was concerned, while its foreign relations were subject to the control just quoted.

But although the Transvaal had thus, between the years 1875 and 1884, become and ceased to be British territory, British influence in other parts of Africa south of the Zambezi had been steadily extended. To the west of the Orange Free State, Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape in 1880, while to the east the territories beyond the Kei river were included in Cape Colony between 1877 and 1884, so that in the latter year, with the exception of Pondoland, the whole of South-East Africa was in one form or another under British control. North of [[Natal (disambiguation)|Natal, ]] was not actually annexed until 1887, although since 1879, when the military power of the Zulus was broken up, British influence had been admittedly supreme. In December 1884 St Lucia Bay - upon which Germany was casting covetous eyes - had been taken possession of in virtue of its cession to Great Britain by the Zulu king in 1843, and three years later an agreement of non-cession to foreign powers made by Great Britain with the regent and paramount chief of Tongaland completed the chain of British possessions on the coast of South Africa, from the mouth of the Orange river on the west to Kosi Bay and the Portuguese frontier on the east. In the interior of South Africa the year 1884 witnessed the beginning of that final stage of the British advance towards the north which was to extend British influence from the Cape to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. The activity of the Germans on the west, and of the Boer republic on the east, had brought home to both the imperial and colonial authorities the impossibility of relying on vague traditional claims. In May 1884 treaties were made with native chiefs by which the whole of the country north of Cape Colony, west of the Transvaal, south of 22° S. and east of 20° E., was placed under British protection, though a protectorate was not formally declared until the following January.

Meanwhile some very interesting events had been taking place on the west coast, north of the Orange river and south of the Portuguese province of Mossamedes. It must be sufficient here to touch very briefly on the events that preceded the foundation of the colony of German South-West Africa. For many years before 1884 German missionaries had settled among the Damaras (Herero) and Namaquas, often combining small trading operations with their missionary work. From time to time trouble arose between the missionaries and the native chiefs, and appeals were made to the German government for protection.

The German government in its turn begged the British government to say whether it assumed responsibility g Y for the protection of Europeans in Damaraland and Namaqualand. The position of the British government was intelligible, if not very intelligent. It did not desire to see any other European power in these countries, and it did not want to assume the responsibility and incur the expense of protecting the few Europeans settled there. Sir Bartle Frere, when governor of the Cape (1877-1880), had foreseen that this attitude portended trouble, and had urged that the whole of the unoccupied coastline, up to the Portuguese frontier, should be declared under British protection. But he preached to deaf ears, and it was as something of a concession to him that in March 1878 the British flag was hoisted at Walfish Bay, and a small part of the adjacent land declared to be British. The fact appears to be that British statesmen failed to understand the change that had come over Germany. They believed that Prince Bismarck would never give his sanction to the creation of a colonial empire, and, to the German inquiries as to what rights Great Britain claimed in Damaraland and Namaqualand, procrastinating replies were sent. Meanwhile the various colonial societies established in Germany had effected a revolution in public opinion, and, more important still, they had convinced the great chancellor. Accordingly when, in November 1882, F. A. E. Luderitz, a Bremen merchant, informed the German government of his intention to establish a factory on the coast between the Orange river and the Little Fish river, and asked if he might rely on the protection of his government in case of need, he met with no discouragement from Prince Bismarck. In February 1883 the German ambassador in London informed Lord Granville of Liideritz's design, and asked "whether Her Majesty's government exercise any authority in that locality." It was intimated that if Her Majesty's government did not, the German government would extend to Luderitz's factory " the same measure of protection which they give to their subjects in remote parts of the world, but without having the least design to establish any footing in South Africa." An inconclusive reply was sent, and on the 9th"of April Luderitz's agent landed at Angra Pequena, and after a short delay concluded a treaty with the local chief, by which some 215 square miles around Angra Pequena were ceded to Luderitz. In England and at the Cape irritation at the news was mingled with incredulity, and it was fully anticipated that Luderitz would be disavowed by his government. But for this belief it can scarcely be doubted that the rest of the unoccupied coast-line would have been promptly declared under British protection. Still Prince Bismarck was slow to act. In November the German ambassador again inquired if Great Britain made any claim over this coast, and Lord Granville replied that Her Majesty exercised sovereignty only over certain parts of the coast, as at Walfish Bay, and suggested that arrangements might be made by which Germany might assist in the settlement of Angra Pequena. By this time Luderitz had extended his acquisitions southwards to the Orange river, which had been declared by the British government to be the northern frontier of Cape Colony. Both at the Cape and in England it was now realized that Germany had broken away from her former purely continental policy, and, when too late, the Cape parliament showed great eagerness to acquire the territory which had lain so long at its very doors, to be had for the taking. It is not necessary to follow the course of the subsequent negotiations. On the 15th of August 1884 an official note was addressed by the German consul at Capetown to the high commissioner, intimating that the German emperor had by proclamation taken " the territory belonging to Mr A. Luderitz on the west coast of Africa under the direct protection of His Majesty." This proclamation covered the coast-line from the north bank of the Orange river to 26° S. latitude, and 20 geographical miles inland, including " the islands belonging thereto by the law of nations." On the 8th of September 1884 the German government intimated to Her Majesty's government " that the west coast of Africa from 26° S. latitude to Cape Frio, excepting Walfish Bay, had been placed under the protection of the German emperor." Thus, before the end of the year 1884, the foundations of Germany's colonial empire had been laid in South-West Africa.

In April of that year Prince Bismarck intimated to the British government, through the German charg�'affaires in London, that " the imperial consul-general, Dr Nachtigal, has been commissioned by my government to visit the west coast of Africa in the course of the next few months, Africa. in order to complete the information now in the possession of the Foreign Office at Berlin, on the state of German commerce on that coast. With this object Dr Nachtigal will shortly embark at Lisbon, on board the gunboat ` Mdwe.' He will put himself into communication with the authorities in the British possessions on the said coast, and is authorized to conduct, on behalf of the imperial government, negotiations connected with certain questions. I venture," the official communication proceeds, " in accordance with my instructions, to beg your excellency to be so good as to cause the authorities in the British possessions in West Africa to be furnished with suitable recommendations." Although at the date of this communication it must have been apparent, from what was happening in South Africa, that Germany was prepared to enter on a policy of colonial expansion, and although the wording of the letter was studiously vague, it does not seem to have occurred to the British government that the real object of Gustav Nachtigal's journey was to make other annexations on the west coast. Yet such was indeed his mission. German traders and missionaries had been particularly active of late years on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. German factories were dotted all along the coast in districts under British protection, under French protection and under the definite protection of no European power at all. It was to these latter places that Nachtigal turned his attention. The net result of his operations was that on the 5th of July 1884 a treaty was signed with the king of Togo, placing his country under German protection, and that just one week later a German protectorate was proclaimed over the Cameroon district. Before either of these events had occurred Great Britain had become alive to the fact that she could no longer dally with the subject, if she desired to consolidate her possessions in West Africa. The British government had again and again refused to accord native chiefs the protection they demanded. The Cameroon chiefs had several times asked for British protection, and always in vain. But at last it became apparent, even to the official mind, that rapid changes were being effected in Africa, and on the 16th of May Edward Hyde Hewett, British consul, received instructions to return to the west coast and to make arrangements for extending British protection over certain regions. He arrived too late to save either Togoland or Cameroon, in the latter case arriving five days after King Bell and the other chiefs on the river had signed treaties with Nachtigal. But the British consul was in time to secure the delta of the river Niger and the Oil Rivers District, extending from Rio del Rey to the Lagos frontier, where for a long period British traders had held almost a monopoly of the trade.

Meanwhile France, too, had been busy treaty-making. While the British government still remained under the spell of the French and fatal resolution of 1865, the French government was British strenuously endeavouring to extend France's influence rivalry in in West Africa, in the countries lying behind the coast west line. During the year 1884 no fewer than forty-two Africa. months. In this fashion France was pushing on towards Timbuktu, in steady pursuance of the policy which resulted in surrounding all the old British possessions in West Africa with a continuous band of French territory. There was, however, one region on the west coast where, notwithstanding the lethargy of the British government, British interests were being vigorously pushed, protected and consolidated. This was on the lower Niger, and the leading spirit in the enterprise was Mr Goldie Taubman (afterwards Sir George Taubman Goldie). In 1877 Sir George Goldie visited the Niger and conceived the idea of establishing a settled government in that region. Through his efforts the various trading firms on the lower Niger formed themselves in 1879 into the " United African Company," and the foundations were laid of something like settled administration. An application was made to the British government for a charter in 1881, and the capital of the company increased to a million sterling. Henceforth the company was known as the " National African Company," and it was acknowledged that its object was not only to develop the trade of the lower Niger, but to extend its operations to the middle reaches of the river, and to open up direct relations with the great Fula empire of Sokoto and the smaller states associated with Sokoto under a somewhat loosely defined suzerainty. The great development of trade which followed the combination of British interests carried out under Goldie's skilful guidance did not pass unnoticed in France, and, encouraged by Gambetta, French traders made a bold bid for a position on the river. Two French companies, with ample capital, were formed, and various stations were established on the lower Niger. Goldie realized at once the seriousness of the situation, and lost no time in declaring commercial war on the newcomers. His bold tactics were entirely successful, and a few days before the meeting of the Berlin conference he had the satisfaction of announcing that he had bought out the whole of the French interests on the river, and that Great Britain alone possessed any interests on the lower Niger.

To complete the survey of the political situation in Africa at the time the plenipotentiaries met at Berlin, it is necessary to refer briefly to the course of events in North and East The posi- Africa since 1875. In 1881 a French army entered tion in Tunisia, and compelled the bey to sign a treaty placing Tunisia that country under French protection. The sultan of and Egypt. Turkey formally protested against this invasion of Ottoman rights, but the great powers took no action, and France was left in undisturbed possession of her newly acquired territory. In Egypt the extravagance of Ismail Pasha had led to ': he establishment in 1879, in the interests of European bondholders, of a Dual Control exercised by France and Great Britain. France had, however, in 1882 refused to take part in the suppression of a revolt under Arabi Pasha, which England accomplished. unaided. As a consequence the Dual Control had been abolished in January 1883, since when Great Britain, with an army quartered in the country, had assumed a predominant position in Egyptian affairs (see Egypt). In East Africa, north of the Portuguese possessions, where the sultan of Zanzibar was the most considerable native potentate, Germany was secretly preparing the foundations of her present colony of German East Africa. But no overt act had warned Europe of what was impending. The story of the foundation of German East Africa is one of the romances of the continent. Early in 1884 the Society for German Colonization was founded, with the avowed object of furthering the newly awakened colonial aspirations of the German people.' It was a society inspired and controlled by young men, and on the 4th of November 1884, eleven days before the conference assembled at Berlin, three young Germans arrived as deck passengers at Zanzibar. They were disguised as mechanics, but were in fact Dr Karl Peters, the president of the Colonization Society, Joachim Count Pfeil, and Dr Juhlke, and their stock-in-trade consisted of a number I In 1887 this society united with the German Colonial Society, an organization founded in 1882. The united society took the title of the German Colonial Company.

HISTORYI

treaties were concluded with native chiefs, an even larger number having been concluded in the previous twelve of German flags and a supply of blank treaty forms. They proposed to land on the mainland opposite Zanzibar, and to conclude treaties in the back country with native chiefs placing their territories under German pro- flag raised tection. The enterprise was frowned upon by the German government; but, encouraged by German Africa. residents at Zanzibar, the three young pioneers crossed to the mainland, and on the 19th of November, while the diplomatists assembled at Berlin were solemnly discussing the rules which were to govern the game of partition, the first " treaty " was signed at Mbuzini, and the German flag raised for the first time in East Africa.

Italy had also obtained a footing on the African continent before the meeting of the Berlin conference. The Rubattino Steamship Company as far back as 1870 had bought the port of Assab as a coaling station, but it was not until 1882 that it was declared an Italian colony. This was followed by the conclusion of a treaty with the sultan of Assab, chief of the Danakil, signed on the 15th of March 1883, and subsequently approved by the king of Shoa, whereby Italy obtained the cession of part of Ablis (Aussa) on the Red Sea, Italy undertaking to protect with her fleet the Danakil littoral.

One other event must be recorded as happening before the meeting of the Berlin conference. The king of the Belgians had been driven to the conclusion that, if his African enterprise was to obtain any measure of permanent success, its international status must be recognized. To this end negotiations were opened with various governments. The first government to " recognize the flag of the International Association of the Congo as the flag of a friendly government " was that of the United States, its declaration to that effect bearing date the 22nd of April 1884. There were, however, difficulties in the way of obtaining the recognition of the European powers, and in order to obtain that of France, King Leopold, on the 23rd of April 1884, while labouring under the feelings of annoyance which had been aroused by the Anglo-Portuguese treaty concluded by Lord Granville in February, authorized Colonel Strauch, president of the International Association, to engage to give France " the right of preference if, through unforeseen circumstances, the Association were compelled to sell its possessions." France's formal recognition of the Association as a government was, however, delayed by the discussion of boundary questions until the following February, and in the meantime Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Holland and Spain had all recognized the Association; though Germany alone had done so - on the 8th of November - before the assembling of the conference.

The conference assembled at Berlin on the 15th of November 1884, and after protracted deliberations the " General Act of the Berlin Conference " was signed by the representa tives of all the powers attending the conference, on the 26th of February 1885. The powers represented ence of were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, must be effective. It is also noteworthy that the first reference in an international act to the obligations attaching to " spheres of influence " is contained in the Berlin Act.

It will be remembered that when the conference assembled, the International Association of the Congo had only been recognized as a sovereign state by the United States and Germany. But King Leopold and his agents had taken full advantage of the opportunity which the conference afforded, and before the General Act was signed the Association had been recognized by all the signatory powers, with the not very important exception of Turkey, and the fact communicated to the conference by Colonel Strauch. It was not, however, until two months later, in April 1885, that King Leopold, with the sanction of the Belgian legislature, formally assumed the headship of the new state; and on the 1st of August in the same year His Majesty notified the powers that from that date the " Independent State of the Congo " declared that " it shall be perpetually neutral " in conformity with the provisions of the Berlin Act. Thus was finally constituted the Congo Free State, under the sovereignty of King Leopold, though the boundaries claimed for it at that time were considerably modified by subsequent agreements.

From 1885 the scramble among the powers went on with renewed vigour, and in the fifteen years that remained of the century the work of partition, so far as international agreements were concerned, was practically completed. To attempt to follow the process of acquisition year by year would involve a constant shifting of attention from one part of the continent to another, inasmuch as the scramble was proceeding simultaneously all over Africa. It will therefore be the most convenient plan to deal with the continent in sections. Before doing so, however, the international agreements which determined in the main the limits of the possessions of the various powers may be set forth. They are: I. The agreement of the 1st of July 1890 between Great Britain and Germany defining their spheres of influence in East, West and South-West Africa. This agreement was the most comprehensive of all the " deals " in African territory, and included in return for the recognition of a British protectorate over Zanzibar the cession of Heligoland to Germany.

II. The Anglo-French declaration of the 5th of August 1890, which recognized a French protectorate over Madagascar, French influence in the Sahara, and British influence between the Niger and Lake Chad.

III. The Anglo-Portuguese treaty of the 11 th of June 1891, whereby the Portuguese possessions on the west and east coasts were separated by a broad belt of British territory, extending north to Lake Tanganyika.

IV. The Franco-German convention of the 15th of March 1894, by which the Central Sudan was left to France (this region by an Anglo-German agreement of the 15th of November 1893 having been recognized as in the German sphere). By this convention France was able to effect a territorial junction of her possessions in North and West Africa with those in the Congo region.

V. Protocols of the 24th of March and the 15th of April 1891, for the demarcation of the Anglo-Italian spheres in East Africa.

VI. The Anglo-French convention of the 14th of June 1898, for the delimitation of the possessions of the two countries west of Lake Chad, with the supplementary declaration of the 21st of March 1899 whereby France recognized the upper Nile valley as in the British sphere of influence.

Coming now to a more detailed consideration of the operations of the powers, the growth of the Congo Free State, which occupied, geographically, a central position, may serve as The the starting-point for the story of the partition after growth of the Berlin conference. In the notification to the powers of the 1st of August 1885, the boundaries of the Free State were set out in considerable detail. The limits thus determined resulted partly from agreements made with France, Germany and Portugal, and partly from treaties with native chiefs. The state acquired the north bank of the Congo from Spain, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Norway, and Turkey, to name them in the alphabetical order adopted in the preamble to the French text of the General Act. Ratifications were deposited by all the signatory powers with the exception of the United States. It is unnecessary to examine in detail the results of the labours of the conference. The General Act dealt with six specific subjects: (1) freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, (2) the slave trade, (3) neutrality of territories in the basin of the Congo, (4) navigation of the Congo, (5) navigation of the Niger, (6) rules for future occupation on the coasts of the African continent. It will be seen that the act dealt with other matters than the political partition of Africa; but, so far as they concern the present purpose, the results effected by the Berlin Act may be summed up as follows. The signatory powers undertook that any fresh act of taking possession on any portion of the African coast must be notified by the power taking possession, or assuming a protectorate, to the other signatory powers. It was further provided that any such occupation to be valid its mouth to a point in the unnavigable reaches, and in the interior the major part of the Congo basin. In the north-east the northern limit was 4° N. up to 30° E., which formed the eastern boundary of the state. The south-eastern frontier claimed by King Leopold extended to Lakes Tanganyika, Mweru and Bangweulu, but it was not until some years later that it was recognized and defined by the agreement of May 1894 with Great Britain. The international character of King Leopold's enterprise had not long been maintained, and his recognition as sovereign of the Free State confirmed the distinctive character which the Association had assumed, even before that event.

In April 1887 France was informed that the right of preemption accorded to her in 1884 had not been intended by King Leopold to prejudice Belgium's right to acquire the Congo State, and in reply the French minister at Brussels took note of the explanation, " in so far as this interpretation is not contrary to pre-existing international engagements." By his will, dated the 2nd of August 1889, King Leopold made Belgium formally heir to the sovereign rights of the Congo Free State. In 1895 an annexation bill was introduced into the Belgian parliament, but at that time Belgium had no desire to assume responsibility for the Congo State, and the bill was withdrawn. In 1901, by the terms of a loan granted in 1890, Belgium had again an opportunity of annexing the Congo State, but a bill in favour of annexation was opposed by the government and was withdrawn after King Leopold had declared that the time was not ripe for the transfer. Concessionaire companies and a Domaine de la Couronne had been created in the state, from which the sovereign derived considerable revenues - facts which helped to explain the altered attitude of Leopold II. The agitation in Great Britain and America against the Congo system of government, and the admissions of an official commission of inquiry concerning its maladministration, strengthened, however, the movement in favour of transfer. Nevertheless in June 1906 the king again declared himself opposed to immediate annexation. But under pressure of public opinion the Congo government concluded, 28th of November 1907, a new annexation treaty. As it stipulated for the continued existence of the crown domain the treaty provoked vehement opposition. Leopold II. was forced to yield, and an additional act was signed, 5th of March 1908, providing for the suppression of the domain in return for financial subsidies. The treaty, as amended, was approved by the Belgian parliament in the session of 1908. Thus the Congo state, after an existence of 24 years as an independent power, became a Belgian colony. (See Congo Free State.) The area of the Free State, vast as it was, did not suffice to satisfy the ambition of its sovereign. King Leopold maintained that the Free State enjoyed equally with any other state the right to extend its frontiers. His ambition involved the state in the struggle between Great Britain and France for the upper Nile. To understand the situation it is necessary to remember the condition of the Egyptian Sudan at that time. The mandi, Mahommed Ahmed, had preached a holy war against the Egyptians, and, after the capture of Khartum and the death of General C. G. Gordon, the Sudan was abandoned to the dervishes. The Egyptian frontier was withdrawn to Wadi Halfa, and the vast provinces of Kordofan, Darfur and the Bahr-el-Ghazal were given over to dervish tyranny and misrule. It was obvious that Egypt would sooner or later seek to recover her position in the Sudan, as the command of the upper Nile was recognized as essential to her continued prosperity. But the international position of the abandoned provinces was by no means clear. The British government, by the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, had secured the assent of Germany to the statement that the British sphere of influence in East Africa was bounded on the west by the Congo Free State and by " the western watershed of the basin of the upper Nile "; but this claim was not recognized either by France or by the Congo Free State. From her base on the Congo, France was busily engaged pushing forward along the northern tributaries of the great river. On the 27th of April 1887 an agreement was signed with the Congo Free State by which the right bank of the Ubangi river was secured to French influence, and the left bank to the Congo Free State. The desire of France to secure a footing in the upper Nile valley was partly due, as has been seen, to her anxiety to extend a French zone across Africa, but it was also and to a large extent attributable to the belief, widely entertained The in France, that by establishing herself on the upper Nile France could regain the position in Egyptian affairs which she had sacrificed in 1882. With these strong inducements France set steadily to work to consolidate her position on the tributary streams of the upper Congo basin, preparatory to crossing into the valley of the upper Nile. Meanwhile a similar advance was being made from the Congo Free State northwards and eastwards. King Leopold had two objects in view - to obtain control of the rich province of the Bahr-elGhazal and to secure an outlet on the Nile. Stations were established on the Welle river, and in February 1891 Captain van Kerckhoven left Leopoldville for the upper Welle with the most powerful expedition which had, up to that time, been organized by the Free State. After some heavy fighting the expedition reached the Nile in September 1892, and opened up communications with the remains of the old Egyptian garrison at Wadelai. Other expeditions under Belgian officers penetrated into the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and it was apparent that King Leopold proposed to rely on effective occupation as an answer to any claims which might be advanced by either Great Britain or France. The news of what was happening in this remote region of Africa filtered through to Europe very slowly, but King Leopold was warned on several occasions that Great Britain would not recognize any claims by the Congo Free State on the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The difficulty was, however, that neither from Egypt, whence the road was barred by the khalif a (the successor of the mandi), nor from Uganda, which was far too remote from the coast to se ive as the base of a large expedition, could a British force be despatched to take effective occupation of the upper Nile valley. There was, therefore, danger lest the French should succeed in establishing themselves on the upper Nile before the preparations which were being made in Egypt for " smashing " the khalifa were completed.

In these circumstances Lord Rosebery, who was then British foreign minister, began, and his successor, the 1st earl of Kimberley, completed, negotiations with King Leopold The which resulted in the conclusion of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1 2 th May 1894. By this agreement King Leopold recognized the British sphere of influence of1894. as laid down in the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, and Great Britain granted a lease to King Leopold of certain territories in the western basin of the upper Nile, extending on the Nile from a point on Lake Albert to Fashoda, and westwards to the Congo-Nile watershed. The practical effect of this agree - ment was to give the Congo Free State a lease, during its sovereign's lifetime, of the old Bahr-el-Ghazal province, and to secure after His Majesty's death as much of that territory as lay west of the 30th meridian, together with access to a port on Lake Albert, to his successor. At the same time the Congo Free State leased to Great Britain a strip of territory, 152 m. in breadth, between the north end of Lake Tanganyika and the south end of Lake Albert Edward. This agreement was hailed as a notable triumph for British diplomacy. But the triumph was short-lived. By the agreement of July 1890 with Germany, Great Britain had been reluctantly compelled to abandon her hopes of through communication between the British spheres in the northern and southern parts of the continent, and to consent to the boundary of German East Africa marching with the eastern frontier of the Congo Free State. Germany frankly avowed that she did not wish to have a powerful neighbour interposed between herself and the Congo Free State. It was obvious that the new agreement would effect precisely what Germany had declined to agree to in 1890. Accordingly Germany protested in such vigorous terms that, on the 22nd of June 1894, the offending article was withdrawn by an exchange of notes between Great Britain and the Congo Free State. Opinion in France was equally excited by the new agreement. It was obvious that the lease to the Congo Free State was intended to exclude France from the Nile by placing the Congo Free State as a barrier across her path. Pressure was brought to bear on King Leopold, from Paris, to renounce the rights acquired under the agreement, and on the 14th of August 1894 King Leopold signed an agreement with France by which, in exchange for France's acknowledgment of the Mbomu river as his northern frontier, His Majesty renounced all occupation and all exercise of political influence west of 30 E., and north of a line drawn from that meridian to the Nile along 5° 30 N.

This left the way still open for France to the Nile, and in June 1896 Captain J. Marchand left France with secret instructions to lead an expedition into the Nile valley. On the 1st of March in the following year he left Brazzaville, and began a journey which all but plunged Great Britain and France into war. The difficulties which Captain Marchand had to overcome were mainly those connected with transport. In October 1897 the expedition reached the banks of the Sue, the waters of which eventually flow into the Nile. Here a post was established and the " Faidherbe," a steamer which had been carried across the Congo-Nile watershed in sections, was put together and launched. On the 1st of May 1898 Marchand started on the final stage of his journey, and reached Fashoda on the 10th of July, having established a chain of posts en route. At Fashoda the French flag was at once raised, and a " treaty " made with the local chief. Meanwhile other expeditions had been concentrating on Fashoda - a mud-flat situated in a swamp, round which for many months raged the angry passions of y g g y p two great peoples. French expeditions, with a certain amount of assistance from the emperor Menelek of Abyssinia, had been striving to reach the Nile from the east, so as to join hands with Marchand and complete the line of posts into the Abyssinian frontier. In this, however, they were unsuccessful. No better success attended the expedition under Colonel (afterwards Sir) Ronald Macdonald, R.E., sent by the British government from Uganda to anticipate the French in the occupation of the upper Nile. It was from the north that claimants arrived to dispute with the French their right to Fashoda, and all that the occupation of that dismal post implied. In 1896 an Anglo-Egyptian army, under the direction of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener, had begun to advance southwards for the reconquest of the Egyptian Sudan. On the 2nd of September 1898 Khartum was captured, and the khalif a's army dispersed. It was then that news reached the AngloEgyptian commander, from native sources, that there were white men flying a strange flag at Fashoda. The sirdar at once proceeded in a steamer up the Nile, and courteously but firmly requested Captain Marchand to remove the French flag. On his refusal the Egyptian flag was raised close to the French flag, and the dispute was referred to Europe for adjustment between the British and French governments. A critical situation ensued. Neither government was inclined to give way, and for a time war seemed imminent. Happily Lord Salisbury was able to announce, on the 4th of November, that France was willing to recognize the British claims, and the incident was finally closed on the 21st of March 1899, when an Anglo-French declaration was signed, by the terms of which France withdrew from the Nile valley and accepted a boundary line which satisfied her earlier ambition by uniting the whole of her territories in North, West and Central Africa into a homogeneous whole, while effectually preventing the realization of her dream of a transcontinental empire from west to east. By this declaration it was agreed that the dividing line between the British and French spheres, north of the Congo Free State, should follow the Congo-Nile water-parting up to its intersection with the 11th parallel of north latitude, from which point it was to be " drawn as far as the 15th parallel in such a manner as to separate in principle the kingdom of Wadai from what constituted in 1882 the province of Darfur," but in no case was it to be drawn west of the 21st degree of east longitude, or east of the 23rd degree. From the 15th parallel the line was continued north and north-west to the intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with 16° E. French influence was to prevail west of this line, British influence to the east. Wadai was thus definitely assigned to France.

When, by the declaration of the 21st of March 1899, France renounced all territorial ambitions in the upper Nile basin, King Leopold revived his claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province under the terms of the lease granted by P g ?' the Bahr- Article 2 of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894. el-Ghazal. This step he was encouraged to take by the assertion of Lord Salisbury, in his capacity as secretary of state for foreign affairs during the negotiations with France concerning Fashoda, that the lease to King Leopold was still in full force. But the assertion was made simply as a declaration of British right to dispose of the territory, and the sovereign of the Congo State found that there was no disposition in Great Britain to allow the Bahr-el-Ghazal to fall into his hands. Long and fruitless negotiations ensued. The king at length (1904) sought to force a settlement by sending armed forces into the province. Diplomatic representations having failed to secure the withdrawal of these forces, the Sudan government issued a proclamation which had the effect of cutting off the Congo stations from communication with the Nile, and finally King Leopold consented to an agreement, signed in London on the 9th of May 1906, whereby the 1894 lease was formally annulled. The Bahr-el-Ghazal thenceforth became undisputedly an integral part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. King Leopold had, however, by virtue of the 1894 agreement administered the comparatively small portion of the leased area in which his presence was not resented by France. This territory, including part of the west bank of the Nile and known as the Lado Enclave, the 1906 agreement allowed King Leopold to " continue during his reign to occupy." Provision was made that within six months of the termination of His Majesty's reign the enclave should be handed over to the Sudan government (see Congo Free State). In this manner ended the long struggle for supremacy on the upper Nile, Great Britain securing the withdrawal of all European rivals.

The course of events in the southern half of the continent may now be traced. By the convention of the 14th of February 1885, in which Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the Congo Free State, and by a further convention - concluded with France in 1886, Portugal secured African recognition of her claim to the territory known as the Kabinda enclave, lying north of the Congo, but not to the northern bank of the river. By the same convention of 1885 Portugal's claim to the southern bank of the river as far as Noki (the limit of navigation from the sea) had been admitted. Thus Portuguese possessions on the west coast extended from the Congo to the mouth of the Kunene river. In the interior the boundary with the Free State was settled as far as the Kwango river, but disputes arose as to the right to the country of Lunda, otherwise known as the territory of the Muato Yanvo. On the 25th of May 1891 a treaty was signed at Lisbon, by which this large territory was divided between Portugal and the Free State. The interior limits of the Portuguese possessions in Africa south of the equator gave rise, however, to much more serious discussions than were involved in the dispute as to the Muato Yanvo's kingdom. Portugal, as has been stated, claimed all the territories between Angola and Mozambique, and she succeeded in inducing both France and Germany, in 1886, to recognize the king of Portugal's " right to exercise his sovereign and civilizing influence in the territories which separate the Portuguese possessions of Angola and Mozambique." The publication of the treaties containing this declaration, together with a map showing Portuguese claims extending over the whole of the Zambezi valley, and over Matabeleland to the south and the greater part of Lake Nyasa to the north, immediately provoked a formal protest from the British government. On the 13th of August 1887 the British charge d'affaires at Lisbon transmitted to the Portuguese minister for foreign affairs a memorandum from Lord Salisbury, in which the latter formally protested " against any claims not founded on occupation," and contended that the doctrine of effective occupation had been admitted in principle by all the parties to the Act of Berlin. Lord Salisbury further stated that " Her Majesty's government cannot recognize Portuguese sovereignty in territory not occupied by her in sufficient strength to enable her to maintain order, protect foreigners and control the natives." To this Portugal replied that the doctrine of effective occupation was expressly confined by the Berlin Act to the African coast, but at the same time expeditions were hastily despatched up the Zambezi and some of its tributaries to discover traces of former Portuguese occupation. Matabeleland and the districts of Lake Nyasa were specially mentioned in the British protest as countries in which Her Majesty's government took a special interest. As a matter of fact the extension of British influence northwards to the Zambezi had engaged the attention of the British authorities ever since the appearance of Germany in South-West Africa and the declaration of a British protectorate over Bechuanaland. There were rumours of German activity in Matabeleland, and of a Boer trek north of the Limpopo. Hunters and explorers had reported in eulogistic terms on the rich goldfields and healthy plateau lands of Matabeleland and Mashonaland, over both of which countries a powerful chief, Lobengula, claimed authority. There were many suitors for Lobengula's favours; but on the nth of February 1888 he signed a treaty with J. S. Moffat, the assistant commissioner in Bechuanaland, the effect of which was to place all his territory under British protection. Both the Portuguese and the Transvaal Boers were chagrined at this extension of British influence. A number of Boers attempted unsuccessfully to trek into the country, and Portugal opposed her ancient claims to the new treaty. She contended that Lobengula's authority did not extend over Mashonaland, which she claimed as part of the Portuguese province of Sofala.

Meanwhile preparations were being actively made by British capitalists for the exploitation of the mineral and other resources of Lobengula's territories. Two rival syndicates obtained, or claimed to have obtained, concessions from Lobengula; but in the summer of 1889 Cecil Rhodes succeeded in amalgamating the conflicting interests, and on the 29th of October of that year the British government granted a charter to the British South Africa Company (see Rhodesia). The first article of the charter declared that " the principal field of the operations " of the company " shall be the region of South Africa lying immediately to the north of British Bechuanaland, and to the north and west of the South African Republic, and to the west of the Portuguese dominions." No time was lost in making preparations for effective occupation. On the advice of F. C. Selous it was determined to despatch an expedition to eastern Mashonaland by a new route, which would avoid the Matabele country. This plan was carried out in the summer of 1890, and, thanks to the rapidity with which the column moved and Selous's intimate knowledge of the country, the British flag was, on the 11th of September, hoisted at a spot on the Makubusi river, where the town of Salisbury now stands, and the country taken possession of in the name of Queen Victoria. Disputes with the Portuguese ensued, and there were several frontier incidents which for a time embittered the relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, north of the Zambezi, the Portuguese were making desperate but futile attempts to repair the neglect 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 Africa. 5 J Salisbury, after brushing aside the