In April of that year Prince Bismarck intimated to the British government, through the German charge d'affaires in London,
Nachtigal's mission to West Africa.
that ``the imperial consul-general, Dr Nachtigal, has been commissioned by my government to visit the west coast of Africa in the course of the next few months, in order to complete the information now in the possession of the Foreign Office at Berlin, on the state of German commerce on that coast. With this object Dr Nachtigal will shortly embark at Lisbon, on board the gunboat `Mowe.' He will put himself into communication with the authorities in the British possessions on the said coast, and is authorized to conduct, on behalf of the imperial government, negotiations connected with certain questions. I venture,'' the official communication proceeds, ``in accordance with my instructions, to beg your excellency to be so good as to cause the authorities in the British possessions in West Africa to be furnished with suitable recommendations.'' Although at the date of this communication it must have been apparent, from what was happening in South Africa, that Germany was prepared to enter on a policy of colonial expansion, and although the wording of the letter was studiously vague, it does not seem to have occurred to the British government that the real object of Gustav Nachtigal's journey was to make other annexations on the west coast. Yet such was indeed his mission. German traders and missionaries had been particularly active of late years on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. German factories were dotted all along the coast in districts under British protection, under French protection and under the definite protection of no European power at all. It was to these latter places that Nachtigal turned his attention. The net result of his operations was that on the 5th of July 1884 a treaty was signed with the king of Togo, placing his country under German protection, and that just one week later a German protectorate was proclaimed over the Cameroon district. Before either of these events had occurred Great Britain had become alive to the fact that she could no longer dally with the subject, if she desired to consolidate her possessions in West Africa. The British government had again and again refused to accord native chiefs the protection they demanded. The Cameroon chiefs had several times asked for British protection, and always in vain. But at last it became apparent, even to the official mind, that rapid changes were being effected in Africa, and on the 16th of May Edward Hyde Hewett, British consul, received instructions to return to the west coast and to make arrangements for extending British protection over certain regions. He arrived too late to save either Togoland or Cameroon, in the latter case arriving five days after King Bell and the other chiefs on the river had signed treaties with Nachtigal. But the British consul was in time to secure the delta of the river Niger and the Oil Rivers District, extending from Rio del Rey to the Lagos frontier, where for a long period British traders had held almost a monopoly of the trade.
Meanwhile France, too, had been busy treaty-making. While the British government still remained under the spell of the
French and British rivalry in West Africa.
fatal resolution of 1865, the French government was strenuously endeavouring to extend France's influence in West Africa, in the countries lying behind the coastline. During the year 1884 no fewer than forty-two treaties were concluded with native chiefs, an even larger number having been concluded in the previous twelve months. In this fashion France was pushing on towards Timbuktu, in steady pursuance of the policy which resulted in surrounding all the old British possessions in West Africa with a continuous band of French territory. There was, however, one region on the west coast where, notwithstanding the lethargy of the British government, British interests were being vigorously pushed, protected and consolidated. This was on the lower Niger, and the leading spirit in the enterprise was Mr Goldie Taubman (afterwards Sir George Taubman Goldie). In 1877 Sir George Goldie visited the Niger and conceived the idea of establishing a settled government in that region. Through his efforts the various trading firms on the lower Niger formed themselves in 1879 into the ``United African Company,'' and the foundations were laid of something like settled administration. An application was made to the British government for a charter in 1881, and the capital of the company increased to a million sterling. Henceforth the company was known as the ``National African Company,'' and it was acknowledged that its object was not only to develop the trade of the lower Niger, but to extend its operations to the middle reaches of the river, and to open up direct relations with the great Fula empire of Sokoto and the smaller states associated with Sokoto under a somewhat loosely defined suzerainty. The great development of trade which followed the combination of British interests carried out under Goldie's skilful guidance did not pass unnoticed in France, and, encouraged by Gambetta, French traders made a bold bid for a position on the river. Two French companies, with ample capital, were formed, and various stations were established on the lower Niger. Goldie realized at once the seriousness of the situation, and lost no time in declaring commercial war on the newcomers. His bold tactics were entirely successful, and a few days before the meeting of the Berlin conference he had the satisfaction of announcing that he had bought out the whole of the French interests on the river, and that Great Britain alone possessed any interests on the lower Niger.
To complete the survey of the political situation in Africa at the time the plenipotentiaries met at Berlin, it is necessary to
The position in Tunisia and Egypt.
refer briefly to the course of events in North and East Africa since 1875. In 1881 a French army entered Tunisia, and compelled the bey to sign a treaty placing that country under French protection. The sultan of Turkey formally protested against this invasion of Ottoman rights, but the great powers took no action, and France was left in undisturbed possession of her newly acquired territory. In Egypt the extravagance of Ismail Pasha had led to the establishment in 1879, in the interests of European bondholders, of a Dual Control exercised by France and Great Britain. France had, however, in 1882 refused to take part in the suppression of a revolt under Arabi Pasha, which England accomplished unaided. As a consequence the Dual Control had been abolished in January 1883, since when Great Britain, with an army quartered in the country, had assumed a predominant position in Egyptian affairs (see EGYPT.) In East Africa, north of the Portuguese possessions, where the sultan of Zanzibar was the most considerable native potentate, Germany was secretly preparing the foundations of her present colony of German East Africa. But no overt act had warned Europe of what was impending. The story of the foundation of German East Africa is one of the romances of the continent. Early in 1884 the Society for German Colonization was founded, with the avowed object of furthering the newly awakened colonial aspirations of the German people.12 It was a society inspired and controlled by young men, and on the 4th of November 1884, eleven days before the conference assembled at Berlin, three young Germans arrived as deck passengers at Zanzibar. They were disguised as mechanics, but were in fact Dr Karl Peters, the president of the Colonization Society, Joachim Count Pfeil, and Dr Juhlke, and their stock-in-trade consisted of a number of German flags and a supply of blank treaty forms. They proposed to land on the mainland opposite Zanzibar, and
The German flag raised in East Africa.
to conclude treaties in the back country with native chiefs placing their territories under German protection. The enterprise was frowned upon by the German government; but, encouraged by German residents at Zanzibar, the three young pioneers crossed to the mainland, and on the 19th of November, while the diplomatists assembled at Berlin were solemnly discussing the rules which were to govern the game of partition, the first ``treaty'' was signed at Mbuzini, and the German flag raised for the first time in East Africa.
Italy had also obtained a footing on the African continent before the meeting of the Berlin conference. The Rubattino Steamship Company as far back as 1870 had bought the port of Assab as a coaling station, but it was not until 1882 that it was declared an Italian colony. This was followed by the conclusion of a treaty with the sultan of Assab, chief of the Danakil, signed on the 15th of March 1883, and subsequently approved by the king of Shoa, whereby Italy obtained the cession of part of Ablis (Aussa) on the Red Sea, Italy undertaking to protect with her fleet the Danakil littoral.
One other event must be recorded as happening before the meeting of the Berlin conference. The king of the Belgians had
Recognition of the International Association.
been driven to the conclusion that, if his African enterprise was to obtain any measure of permanent success, its international status must be recognized. To this end negotiations were opened with various governments. The first government to ``recognize the flag of the International Association of the Congo as the flag of a friendly government'' was that of the United States, its declaration to that effect bearing date the 22nd of April 1884. There were, however, difficulties in the way of obtaining the recognition of the European powers, and in order to obtain that of France, King Leopold, on the 23rd of April 1884, while labouring under the feelings of annoyance which had been aroused by the Anglo-Portuguese treaty concluded by Lord Granville in February, authorized Colonel Strauch, president of the International Association, to engage to give France ``the right of preference if, through unforeseen circumstances, the Association were compelled to sell its possessions.'' France's formal recognition of the Association as a government was, however, delayed by the discussion of boundary questions until the following February, and in the meantime Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Holland and Spain had all recognized the Association; though Germany alone had done so—on the 8th of November—before the assembling of the conference.
The conference assembled at Berlin on the 15th of November 1884, and after protracted deliberations the ``General Act of
The Berlin Conference of 1884-85.
the Berlin Conference'' was signed by the representatives of all the powers attending the conference, on the 26th of February 1885. The powers represented were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Norway, and Turkey, to name them in the alphabetical order adopted in the preamble to the French text of the General Act. Ratifications were deposited by all the signatory powers with the exception of the United States. It is unnecessary to examine in detail the results of the labours of the conference. The General Act dealt with six specific subjects: (1) freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, (2) the slave trade, (3) neutrality of territories in the basin of the Congo, (4) navigation of the Congo, (5) navigation of the Niger, (6) rules for future occupation on the coasts of the African continent. It will be seen that the act dealt with other matters than the political partition of Africa; but, so far as they concern the present purpose, the results effected by the Berlin Act may be summed up as follows. The signatory powers undertook that any fresh act of taking possession on any portion of the African coast must be notified by the power taking possession, or assuming a protectorate, to the other signatory powers. It was further provided that any such occupation to be valid must be effective. It is also noteworthy that the first reference in an international act to the obligations attaching to ``spheres of influence'' is contained in the Berlin Act.
It will be remembered that when the conference assembled, the International Association of the Congo had only been
Constitution of the Congo State.
recognized as a sovereign state by the United States and Germany. But King Leopold and his agents had taken full advantage of the opportunity which the conference afforded, and before the General Act was signed the Association had been recognized by all the signatory powers, with the not very important exception of Turkey, and the fact communicated to the conference by Colonel Strauch. It was not, however, until two months later, in April 1885, that King Leopold, with the sanction of the Belgian legislature, formally assumed the headship of the new state; and on the 1st of August in the same year His Majesty notified the powers that from that date the ``Independent State of the Congo'' declared that ``it shall be perpetually neutral'' in conformity with the provisions of the Berlin Act. Thus was finally constituted the Congo Free State, under the sovereignty of King Leopold, though the boundaries claimed for it at that time were considerably modified by subsequent agreements.
From 1885 the scramble among the powers went on with renewed vigour, and in the fifteen years that remained of the
The chief partition treaties.
century the work of partition, so far as international agreements were concerned, was practically completed. To attempt to follow the process of acquisition year by year would involve a constant shifting of attention from one part of the continent to another, inasmuch as the scramble was proceeding simultaneously all over Africa. It will therefore be the most convenient plan to deal with the continent in sections. Before doing so, however, the international agreements which determined in the main the limits of the possessions of the various powers may be set forth. They are:— I. The agreement of the 1st of July 1890 between Great Britain and Germany defining their spheres of influence in East, West and South-West Africa. This agreement was the most comprehensive of all the ``deals'' in African territory, and included in return for the recognition of a British protectorate over Zanzibar the cession of Heligoland to Germany.
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.
The Anglo-Portuguese treaty of the 11th of June 1891, whereby the Portuguese possessions on the west and east coasts were separated by a broad belt of British territory, extending north to Lake Tanganyika.
The Franco-German convention of the 15th of March 1894, by which the Central Sudan was left to France (this region by an Anglo-German agreement of the 15th of November 1893 having been recognized as in the German sphere). By this convention France was able to effect a territorial )unction of her possessions in North and West Africa with those in the Congo region.
Protocols of the 24th of March and the 15th of April 1891, for the demarcation of the Anglo-Italian spheres in East Africa.
The Anglo-French convention of the 14th of June 1898, for the delimitation of the possessions of the two countries west of Lake Chad, with the supplementary declaration of the 21st of March 1899 whereby France recognized the upper Nile valley as in the British sphere of influence.
Coming now to a more detailed consideration of the operations of the powers, the growth of the Congo Free State, which
The growth of the Congo State.
occupied, geographically, a central position, may serve as the starting-point for the story of the partition after the Berlin conference. In the notification to the powers of the 1st of August 1885, the boundaries of the Free State were set out in considerable detail. The limits thus determined resulted partly from agreements made with France, Germany and Portugal, and partly from treaties with native chiefs. The state acquired the north bank of the Congo from its mouth to a point in the unnavigable reaches, and in the interior the major part of the Congo basin. In the north-east the northern limit was 4 deg. N. up to 30 deg. E., which formed the eastern boundary of, the state. The south-eastern frontier claimed by King Leopold extended to Lakes Tanganyika, Mweru and Bangweulu, but it was not until some years later that it was recognized and defined by the agreement of May 1894 with Great Britain. The international character of King Leopold's enterprise had not long been maintained, and his recognition as sovereign of the Free State confirmed the distinctive character which the Association had assumed, even before that event.