Africa

stated the British case in a few sentences:—

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

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

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

districts surrounding and adjoining the lake. Many British settlements have

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

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

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

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

neither authority nor influence beyond the confluence of the Shire and

Zambezi, where her interior custom-house, now withdrawn, was placed by the

terms of the Mozambique Tariff of 1877.

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

Portuguese expedition was being organized under the command of Major Serpa

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

addressed to the Portuguese government, the foreign minister stated that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

objections to a protectorate entertained by the British government; but

Johnston's instructions were not to proclaim a protectorate unless

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

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

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

overtook the Portuguese expedition and warned its leader that any attempt

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

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

Pinto returned to Mozambique for instructions, and in his absence

Lieutenant Coutinho crossed the river, attacked the Makololo chiefs and

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

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

under British protection, and his action was subsequently confirmed by

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

the news of these events reaching Europe the British government addressed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

east longitude. The publication of the convention aroused deep resentment

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

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

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

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

vivendi, by which they engaged to recognize the territorial limits

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

of the present agreement

British and Portuguese spheres defined.

to the termination thereof neither Power will make treaties, accept

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zambezi. It contained many other provisions relating to trade and

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

and exports crossing Portuguese territories on the east coast to the

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

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

and telegraphs. The territorial readjustment effected was slightly more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the frontier of the Congo State.

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

British government had made certain arrangements for the administration of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

protectorate was declared over Nyasaland, including the Shire highlands and

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

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

Protectorate, for which designation was substituted in 1907 the more

appropriate title of Nyasaland Protectorate.

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

government had notified that the coast-line on the

Germany's share of South Africa.

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

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

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

with the rights of state sovereignty, including mining royalties and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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