Africa

and offering to accept the British flag. To previous letters, less plainly

couched. from the king, Jackson had returned the answer that his

instructions were not to enter Uganda, but that he would do so in case of

need. The letters that fell into Peters's hands were in reply to those from

Jackson. Peters did not hesitate to open the letters, and on reading them

he at once proceeded to Uganda, where, with the assistance of the French

Roman Catholic priests, he succeeded in inducing Mwanga to sign a loosely

worded treaty intended to place him under German protection. On hearing of

this Jackson at once set out for Uganda, but Peters did not wait for his

arrival, leaving for the south of Victoria Nyanza some days before Jackson

arrived at Mengo, Mwanga's capital. As Mwanga would not agree to Jackson's

proposals, Jackson returned to the coast, leaving a representative at Mengo

to protect the company's interests. Captain (afterwards Sir) F. D. Lugard,

who had recently entered the company's employment, was at once ordered to

proceed to Uganda. But in the meantime an event of great importance had

taken place, the conclusion of the agreement between Great Britain and

Germany with reference to their different spheres of influence in various

parts of Africa.

The Anglo-German agreement of the 1st of July 1890 has already been

referred to and its importance insisted upon. Here we have to deal with the

provisions in reference to East Africa. In return for the cession of

Heligoland, Lord Salisbury obtained from Germany the recognition of a

British protectorate over the dominions of the sultan of Zanzibar,

including the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, but excluding the strip leased

to Germany, which was subsequently ceded absolutely to Germany. Germany

further agreed to withdraw the protectorate declared over Witu and the

adjoining coast up to Kismayu in favour of Great Britain, and to recognize

as within the British sphere of influence the vast area bounded, on the

south by the frontier line laid down in the agreement of 1886, which was to

be extended along the first parallel of south latitude across Victoria

Nyanza to the frontiers of the Congo Free State, on the west by the Congo

Free State and the western watershed of the Nile, and on the north by a

line commencing on the coast at the north bank of the mouth of the river

Juba, then ascending that bank of the river until it reached the territory

at that time regarded as reserved to the influence of Italy13 in Gallaland

and Abyssinia, when it followed the frontier of the Italian sphere to the

confines of Egypt. To the south-west of the German sphere in East Africa

the boundary was formed by the eastern and northern shore of Lake Nyasa,

and round the western shore to the mouth of the Songwe river, from which

point it crossed the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau to the southern end of the

last-named lake,

Limits of German East Africa defined.

leaving the Stevenson Road on the British side of the boundary. The effect

of this treaty was to remove all serious causes of dispute about territory

between Germany and Great Britain in East Africa. It rendered quite

valueless Peters's treaty with Mwanga and his promenade along the Tana; it

freed Great Britain from any fear of German competition to the northwards,

and recognized that her influence extended to the western limits of the

Nile valley. But, on the other hand, Great Britain had to relinquish the

ambition of connecting her sphere of influence in the Nile valley with her

possessions in Central and South Africa. On this point Germany was quite

obdurate; and, as already stated, an attempt subsequently made (May 1894)

to secure this object by the lease of a strip of territory from the Congo

Free State was frustrated by German opposition.

Uganda having thus been assigned to the British sphere of influence by

the only European power in a position to contest its possession with her,

the subsequent history of that region, and of the country between the

Victoria Nyanza and the coast, must be traced in the articles on BRITISH

EAST AFRICA and UGANDA, but it may be well briefly to record here the

following facts:—The Imperial British East Africa Company, finding the

burden of administration too heavy for its financial resources, and not

receiving the assistance it felt itself entitled to receive from the

imperial authorities, intimated that it would be compelled to withdraw at

the end of the year 1892. Funds were raised to enable the company to

continue its administration until the end of March 1893, and a strong

public protest against evacuation compelled the government to determine in

favour of the retention of the country. In January 1893 Sir Gerald Portal

left the coast as a special commissioner to inquire into the ``best means

of dealing with the country, whether through Zanzibar or otherwise.'' On

the 31st of March the union jack was raised, and on the 29th of May a fresh

treaty was concluded with King Mwanga placing his country under British

protection. A formal protectorate was declared over Uganda proper on the

19th of June 1894, which was subsequently extended so as to include the

countries westwards towards the Congo Free State, eastwards to the British

East Africa protectorate and Abyssinia, and northwards to the Anglo-

Egyptian Sudan. The British East Africa protectorate was constituted in

June 1895, when the Imperial British East Africa Company relinquished all

its rights in exchange for a money payment, and the administration was

assumed by the imperial authorities. On the 1st of April 1902 the eastern

province of the Uganda protectorate was transferred to the British East

Africa protectorate, which thus secured control of the whole length of the

so-called Uganda railway, and at the same time obtained access to the

Victoria Nyanza.

Early in the 'eighties, as already seen, Italy had obtained her first

formal footing on the African coast at the Bay of Assab

Italy in East Africa.

(Aussa) on the Red Sea. In 1885 the troubles in which Egypt found herself

involved compelled the khedive and his advisers to loosen their hold on the

Red Sea littoral, and, with the tacit approval of Great Britain, Italy took

possession of Massawa and other ports on that coast. By 1888 Italian

influence had been extended from Ras Kasar on the north to the northern

frontier of the French colony of Obok on the south, a distance of some 650

m. The interior limits of Italian influence were but ill defined, and the

negus Johannes (King John) of Abyssinia viewed with anything but a

favourable eye the approach of the Italians towards the Abyssinian

highlands. In January 1887 an Italian force was almost annihilated at

Dogali, but the check only served to spur on the Italian government to

fresh efforts.

The Italians occupied Keren and Asmara in the highlands, and eventually,

in May 1889, concluded a treaty of peace and friendship with the negus

Menelek, who had seized the throne on the death of Johannes, killed in

battle with the dervishes in March of the same year. This agreement, known

as the treaty of Uccialli, settled the frontiers between Abyssinia and the

Italian sphere, and contained the following article:—

XVII. His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia consents to avail himself

of the Italian government for any negotiations which he may enter into with

the other powers or governments.

In Italy and by other European governments this article was generally

regarded as establishing an Italian protectorate over Abyssinia; but this

interpretation was never accepted by the emperor Menelek, and at no time

did Italy succeed in establishing any very effective control over

Abyssinian affairs. North of the Italian coast sphere the Red Sea littoral

was still under Egyptian rule, while immediately to the south a small

stretch of coast on the Gulf of Tajura constituted the sole French

possession on the East African mainland (see SOMALILAND.) Moreover, when

Egyptian claims to the Somali coast were withdrawn, Great Britain took the

opportunity to establish her influence on the northern Somali coast,

opposite Aden. Between the 1st of May 1884 and the 15th of March 1886 ten

treaties were concluded, placing under British influence the northern

Somali coast from Ras Jibuti on the west to Bandar Ziada on the east. In

the meantime Italy, not content with her acquisitions on the Red Sea, had

been concluding treaties with the Somali chiefs on the east coast. The

first treaty was made with the sultan of Obbia on the 8th of February 1889.

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