272 



EAST AFRICA. 



and Major Wissman to reduce to submission the 

 Arab slave-traders in the south, and by obtain- 

 ing from the Reichstag an extraordinary credit 

 of 4,500,000 marks for these operations and a 

 subsidy of 350,000 marks a year to maintain a 

 line of mail steamers between German ports and 

 the east coast of Africa. 



The negotiations begun in Berlin were con- 

 cluded in London by Count von Hatzfeldt and 

 the Marquis of Salisbury, and the basis of an 

 agreement was placed on the table of the British 

 Parliament on June 13. The Germans urged 

 that the rear country between the limits, north 

 and south, agreed on in the arrangements of Nov. 

 1, 1886, and July 2, 1887, that is, between the 

 first and eleventh parallels of southern latitude, 

 as far as the eastern frontier of the Congo State, 

 naturally belonged to them as the Hinterland 

 of their possessions. The English Govern- 

 ment would not accept this principle as ap- 

 plying to the region where there were English 

 missions and stations on Lake Nyassa and at 

 the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and along 

 the Stevenson road, which connects the two. 

 German travelers reported that this road, de- 

 scribed by Prof. Drummond as having gradients 

 and cuttings, was originally only a path cut 

 through the woods, and that it had been neg- 

 lected and disused until it was again closed by 

 tropical vegetation. In the course of the negotia- 

 tions Germany conceded to the English the re- 

 gion that they coveted in the south, the product- 

 ive country between lakes Nyassa, Tanganyika, 

 and Bangweolo, concerning which a dispute 

 may arise with the Congo State, as south of 11 

 of south latitude there have been disputes with 

 Portugal. In the north the Germans made a 

 concession likewise, admitting the English claim 

 to the whole of the semi-civilized kingdom of 

 Uganda and to the valuable mountainous region 

 traversed by Henry M. Stanley, in which he made 

 treaties with the native chiefs. The English 

 representatives advanced the right of discovery 

 in support of a claim to Lake Tanganyika, and 

 Stanley and other colonial extremists urged the 

 importance of securing a continuous belt join- 

 ing the northern and southern spheres of Brit- 

 ish interest. This the Germans would not con- 

 sider, as they desired to have a common frontier 

 with the Congo State and a chance to extend 

 their commerce into the central parts of the con- 

 tinent, The priority of British influence in Zan- 

 zibar and the interests of British Indians were 

 acknowledged by acceding to a British protect- 

 orate over Zanzibar and the islands of the coast, 

 the Germans obtaining all the sovereign rights of 

 the sultan on the Zanzibar coast. The German 

 dependency of Wituland and the new protect- 

 orate on the Somali coast north of the British 

 sphere were transferred to Great Britain. The 

 Witu colony had already succumbed to the ag- 

 gressive commercial competition and intrigues 

 of the English. The rights to the islands of 

 Manda and Patta had been referred to arbitra- 

 tion. Yet, even if the decision should be against 

 tlirm, the German colonial people considered that 

 they possessed in the Tana river route the best, 

 if not the only practicable communication with 

 Uganda and Lake Nyassa. A boundary dis- 

 pute in Togoland was settled by a compromise. 

 In southwest Africa Germany made a material 



concession by admitting the British claim to- 

 Lake Ngami and Moremi's country, reserving a 

 strip for a competitive trade route to the upper 

 Zambesi region. In return for their complai- 

 sance on many points the Germans obtained the 

 cession of the island of Heligoland. (See GER- 

 MANY, in this volume.) The area added to Eng- 

 lish possessions through the new agreement \vas 

 computed at 500,000 square miles, making the 

 total sphere 650,000, exclusive of the upper Nile 

 region and the whole of the country north and 

 east of the Congo State and west and south of 

 the Italian protectorate in Abyssinia and Gal- 

 laland, from the first degree of south latitude 

 to the borders of Egypt, from which the danger- 

 ous commercial competition, as well as any pos- 

 sible territorial aspirations of the Germans was 

 effectually shut out. The French felt aggrieved 

 at the cession of Heligoland and objected to the 

 contiguity of the Germans to the territory of the 

 Congo Free State, in which they have a rever- 

 sionary interest. Against these arrangements 

 they could raise no protest on grounds of public 

 law ; but it was different in regard to the Brit- 

 ish protectorate over Zanzibar, the independence 

 of which was guaranteed by a compact between 

 the French and English governments in 1862, 

 and the French Government would not consent 

 to the protectorate until an agreement on colo- 

 nial matters was made with it. by which the Brit- 

 ish Government recognized the French protect- 

 orate in Madagascar and conceded to France a 

 Hinterland in the Western Soudan and upper 

 Niger region. The German sphere in east Af- 

 rica as enlarged by the new convention has an 

 area of 360,000 square miles. 



The agreement was signed at Berlin on July 

 - 1. With the view of securing that the arrange- 

 ment shall not be injurious to any commerce 

 from east to west or from north to south which 

 may spring up, it is agreed that between Nyassa 

 and the Congo State the passage for German 

 subjects and German goods shall be free and ex- 

 empt from all transit dues, and the same im- 

 munity will be secured to English passengers 

 and English goods between the northern end of 

 Lake Tanganyika and the British sphere of in- 

 fluence. It is further agreed between the two 

 powers that in all east African territories sub- 

 jected to their influence equal rights of settling 

 or of trading shall be conferred by the two pow- 

 ers respectively on the subjects of the other. 

 Freedom of navigation in all the lakes, rivers, 

 canals, and ports is secured to both flags under 

 the Congo act. The subjects of either power 

 may obtain trading and mineral concessions and 

 hold real property in the sphere of the other, 

 and freedom for all forms of worship and relig- 

 ious teaching is guaranteed to missionaries. 



In east Africa the sphere in which the ex- 

 ercise of influence is reserved to Germany is 

 bounded (see map in " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 

 1888, page 123): 



1. To the north by a line which, beginning 

 on the coast at the north bank of the mouth of 

 the river Umba, runs direct to Lake Jipe ; passes 

 thence along the eastern side and round the 

 northern side of the lake and crosses the river 

 Lume ; after which it passes midway between 

 the territories of Taveita and Chagga, "skirts the 

 northern base of the Kilimandjaro range, and 



