Africa

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 deg. 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

Fate of the Bar-el-Ghazal.

Leopold revived his claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province under the terms

of the lease granted by Article 2 of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894.

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

Portugal's trans-African schemes.

1885, in which Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the Congo Free State,

and by a further convention concluded with France in 1886, Portugal secured

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 or

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 werespecially 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

Rhodesia secured for Great Britain.

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 11th 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

Anglo-Portuguese disputes in Central Africa.

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

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

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

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

the Portuguese claims founded on doubtful discoveries three centuries old,

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