history]
AFRICA
channel to its confluence with the Lunte, whence it strikes directly to the north-eastern point of the frontier of the Transvaal, and follows the eastern frontier of that territory and the frontier of Swaziland to the river Maputa. The delimitation of this frontier was not accomplished without considerable difficulty and a recourse to arbitration. Some parts of the boundary north •of the Zambezi were not delimited until the closing months of the 19th century. The western boundary between the British and Portuguese spheres of influence was only vaguely indicated, and had not been’ settled in 1900 by the Anglo-Portuguese Commission; 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. Before the conclusion of the treaty of June 1891 with Portugal, the British Government had made certain arrangements for the administration of the large tlie Central area nortl1 Zambezi reserved to British Africa. influence. On the 1st of February Mr H. H. 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 April 1891, extended so as to cover the whole of the British sphere of influence north of the Zambezi, with the exception of Nyasaland, the Company agreeing to appoint Mr Johnston political Administrator of its territories north of the Zambezi, now known as Northern Bhodesia, and to contribute <£10,000 a year towards the cost of administration, to be applied by Mr Johnston at his discretion either in Nyasaland or in the Company’s sphere. On the 14th of May a formal protectorate was declared over Nyasaland, including the Shire highlands and a wide belt of territory from the Anglo-German frontier on the north end of Lake Nyasa along the western shore of the lake. The name was subsequently changed to the British Central Africa Protectorate (q.v.). The arrangement as to the joint administration of the Protectorate and the Company’s sphere lasted for some three years, and at the end of that time the Company appointed a separate administration for Northern Rhodesia, and the subsidy was withdrawn. At the date of the assembling of the Berlin Conference the German Government had notified that the coast-line German on south-west of the continent, from the SouthOrange river to Cape Frio, had been placed under West German protection. On the 13th April 1885 Africa. 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 important agreement the north bank of the Orange river up to the point of its intersection by the 20th degree of east longitude was made the southern boundary of the German sphere of influence. The eastern boundary followed the 20th degree of east longitude to its intersection by the 22nd parallel of south latitude, then ran eastwards along that parallel to the point of its intersection by the 21st degree of east longitude. From
153 that point it ran northwards along the last-named meridian to the point of its intersection by the 18th parallel of south latitude, thence eastwards along that parallel to the river Chobe, and along the main channel of that river to its junction with the Zambezi, where it terminated. The northern frontier marched with the southern boundary of Portuguese West Africa. The object of deflecting the eastern boundary near its northern termination was to give Germany access by her own territory to the upper waters of the Zambezi, and it was declared that, this strip of territory was at no part to be less than twenty English miles in width. To complete the survey of the political partition of Africa south of the Zambezi, it is necessary briefly to refer to the events connected with the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. British In October 1886 the British Government made Africa an agreement with the New Republic, a small community of Boer farmers who had set up a Government of their own, defining the' frontier between the New Republic and Zululand; but less than a year later—in September 1887—the New Republic was incorporated in the South African Republic. In a convention of JulyAugust 1890 the British Government and the Government of the South African Republic confirmed the independence of Swaziland, and on the 8th November 1893 another convention was signed with the same object; but on the 19th December 1894 the British Government agreed to the South African Republic exercising “ all rights and powers of protection, legislation, jurisdiction, and administration over Swaziland and the inhabitants thereof,” subject to certain conditions and provisions, and to the non-incorporation of Swaziland in the Republic. Subsequently, on the 23rd April 1895, Tongaland was declared by proclamation to be added to the dominions of Queen Victoria, and in December 1897 Zululand and Tongaland, or Amatongaland, were incorporated with the colony of Natal. The history of the events that led up to the last Boer war cannot be recounted here (see Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony), but in October 1899 the South African Republic and the Orange Free State addressed an ultimatum to Great Britain and invaded Natal and Cape Colony. As a result of the military operations that followed, the Orange Free State was, on 28th May 1900, proclaimed by Lord Roberts a British colony under the name “ Orange River Colony,” and the South African Republic was on the 25th October 1900 incorporated in the British Empire as the “Transvaal Colony.” On the east coast the two great rivals were Germany and Great Britain. Germany on the 30th December 1896, and Great Britain on the 11th June 1891, Qerm formally recognized the Rovuma river as the and Great northern boundary of the Portuguese sphere of Britain in influence on that coast; but it was to the north Eastm of that river, over the vast area of East or East Afr,caCentral Africa in which the Sultan of Zanzibar claimed to exercise suzerainty, that the struggle between the two rival Powers was most acute. The independence of the Sultans of Zanzibar had been recognized by the Governments of Great Britain and France in 1862, and the Sultan’s authority extended almost uninterruptedly along the coast of the mainland, from Cape Delgado in the south to Warshekh on the north—a stretch of coast more than a thousand miles long—though to the north the Sultan’s authority was confined to certain ports. In Zanzibar itself, where Sir John Kirk, Livingstone’s companion, was British consul-general, British influence was, when the Berlin Conference met, practically supreme, though German traders had established themselves on S. I. — 20
