history]
AFRICA
Tana river, follows the course of that river or its affluents to the point of intersection of the equator and the 38th degree of east longitude, thence strikes direct to the point of intersection of the 1st degree of north latitude with the 37th degree of east longitude, where the line terminates.” The line of demarcation between the British and the German spheres of influence was to start from the mouth of the river Wanga or Umba, to pass round the eastern and northern side of Lake Jipe, cross the Lumi river, pass between the territories of Taveta and Chagga, skirt the northern base of the Kilimanjaro range, and thence be drawn direct to the point on the eastern side of Victoria Nyanza which is intersected by the 1st degree of south latitude. South of this line German influence was to prevail; north of the line was the British sphere. The Sultan’s dominions having been thus truncated, Germany associated herself with the recognition of the “ independence ” of Zanzibar in which France and Great Britain had joined in 1862. The effect of this agreement was to define the spheres of influence of the two countries as far as Victoria Kyanza, but it provided no limit to the westwards, and left the country north of the Tana river, in which Germany had already acquired some interests near the coast, open for fresh annexations. The conclusion of the agreement immediately stimulated the enterprise both of the German East Africa Association, to which Dr Peters’s earlier treaties had been transferred, and of the British capitalists to whom reference had been made in Lord Granville’s despatch. The German Association was incorporated by Imperial charter in March 1887, and the British capitalists formed themselves into the British East Africa Association, and on 24th May 1877 obtained, through the good offices of Sir William Mackinnon, a concession of the 10-miles strip of coast from the Umba river in the south to Kipini in the north. The Association was to have the entire administration of the territory for fifty years, and was to govern in the Sultan’s name, on certain conditions as to the payment of the customs dues. The British Association further sought to extend its rights in the sphere reserved to British influence by making treaties with the native chiefs behind the coast strip, and for this purpose various expeditions were sent into the interior. When they had obtained concessions over the country for some 200 miles inland the associated capitalists applied to the British Government for a charter, which was granted on 3rd September 1888, and the Association became the Imperial British East Africa Company (see Chartered Companies). The example set by the British company in obtaining a lease of the coast strip between the British sphere of influence and the sea was quickly followed by the German Association, which, on the 28th April 1888, concluded an agreement with the Sultan Khalifa, who had succeeded his brother Burghash, by which the Association leased the strip of Zanzibar territory between the German sphere and the sea. It was not, however, until August that the German officials took over the administration, and their want of tact and ignorance of native administration almost immediately provoked a rebellion, of so serious a character that it was not suppressed until the Imperial authorities had taken the matter in hand. Shortly after its suppression the administration was entrusted to an Imperial officer, and the Sultan’s rights on the mainland strip were bought outright by Germany for four millions of marks. Events of great importance had been happening, meanwhile, in the country to the west and north of the British f/ anda sphere of influence. The British company had sent caravans into the interior to survey the country, to make treaties with the native chiefs, and to report on the commercial and agricultural possibilities.
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One of these had gone up the Tana river. But another and a rival expedition was proceeding along the northern bank of this same river. Dr Carl Peters, whose energy cannot be denied, whatever may be thought of his methods, set out with an armed caravan up the Tana on the pretext of leading an expedition to the relief of Emin Pasha, who was then reported to be hemmed in by the dervishes at Wadelai. His expedition was not sanctioned by the German Government, which was at that moment receiving material assistance from Great Britain in the suppression of the Bushiri rebellion, and the British naval commander had orders to prevent his landing. But Peters succeeded in evading the British vessels and proceeded up the river, planting German flags and fighting the natives who opposed his progress. Early in 1890 he reached Kavirondo, and there found letters from Mwanga, King of Uganda, addressed to Mr F. J. Jackson, the leader of an expedition sent out by the British East Africa Company, imploring the Company’s representative to come to his assistance and offering to accept the British flag. To previous letters, less plainly couched, from the King, Mr 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 Mr 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 Mr Jackson at once set out for Uganda, but Peters did not wait for his arrival, leaving for the south of Yictoria Nyanza some days before Jackson arrived at Mengo, Mwanga’s capital. For the complicated story of European relations with Uganda, reference must be made to the article on the Uganda Protectorate. It must be sufficient to say here that, as Mwanga would not agree to Mr Jackson’s proposals, Mr Jackson returned to the coast, leaving Mr Gedge at Mengo to protect the Company’s interests. Captain 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 an agreement between Great Britain and Germany with reference to their different spheres of influence in various parts of Africa. The Anglo-German agreement of 1st July 1890 has already been referred to in connexion with German SouthWest Africa. It was, however, of much greater importance in reference to East Africa. In Ang.’oreturn for the cession of Heligoland, Lord ^^e^ent Salisbury obtained from Germany the reccgni- o/ 18S0 tion 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. Prince Bismarck 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 Yictoria 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 reserved to the influence of Italy in Gallaland and Abyssinia, when it
