336 



FRANCE. 



upper Niger to the French territories on the Con- 

 go, embracing the rich states of the Western 

 and Central Soudan. It has been proposed to 

 continue the Trans-Saharan Railroad, long since 

 planned to connect Algeria through the Tuareg 

 country with Kuka, the capital of Bornu, on 

 Lake Tchad, southward to the Congo as well as 

 westward to Senegal. A few years ago French 

 influence in the Niger region was undisputed, 

 and consequently no strong efforts were made to 

 confirm and extend it. Factories that once ex- 

 isted were abandoned by reason of the barbarity 

 of the people and lack of trade. After the Brit- 

 ish, whose attention had been called to the com- 

 mercial possibilities of the Niger by the explo- 

 rations of Robert Flegel, the German traveler, 

 established themselves on the lower Niger and 

 the Benue, a French commercial company was 

 founded to dispute the field with the Royal Ni- 

 ger Company, and maintained itself for two/ 

 years. In 1882, after making a vain appeal for 

 assistance to the French Government, it sold its 

 factories to its rival. Since 1888 the French 

 Government has made strong efforts to perfect 

 its title to the upper Niger and the region in 

 the bend of the river. On April 6, 1800, Capt. 

 Archinard, commander-in-chief of the French 

 Soudan, occupied Segu-Sikoro, the capital of 

 Ahmadou, on the left bank of the upper Niger. 

 The French have had relations with Ahmadou 

 since 1866. He is the son of the prophet El 

 Hadj Omar, who founded the empire of Segu 

 and during his lifetime divided it among his 

 three sons. One of the provinces is south of 

 the Senegal in the Foutah Djalon, one north 

 of the river, and one on both sides of it. Ah- 

 madou overcame his brothers and reunited the 

 empire, but the Beleduju and other regions as- 

 serted their independence. Since the French 

 have extended their dominion to the upper Ni- 

 ger and connected it with a chain of occupied 

 posts to Senegal the Mohammedan Kingdom of 

 Ahmadou, was the only formidable obstacle to 

 the progress of French influence in the Soudan. 

 The sacred city was taken without losing a man. 

 The French were aided by the Bambaras, who 

 possessed the country forty years ago, and have 

 since been subjected to the yoke of Ahmadou. 

 The King's son Madani, and all his court fled, 

 leaving the royal treasure, which was found to 

 consist of English gold. There were other in- 

 dications that the English of Sierra Leone in- 

 trigued to supplant French influence. A Bam- 

 bara chief was installed as ruler when the Mus- 

 sulmans were subdued in a final encounter. In 

 September Ahmadu resumed the offensive and 

 attempted to besiege Kuniakari, but was repelled 

 with the loss of 380, and his army fled in confu- 

 sion toward Nioro. During the summer Capt. 

 Binger made treaties with all the chiefs in the 

 bend of the Niger, and by a treaty with Samory 

 sought to establish a connection with the French 

 possessions on the Gulf of Guinea. This design 

 the English authorities in Sierra Leone at- 

 tempted to frustate by sending a mission to Al- 

 many Samory. 



The Anglo-German agreement, handing over 

 Zanzibar to the English protectorate, gave M. 

 Ribot an opportunity to ask for the recognition 

 of a French sphere in Africa, for an English 

 protectorate could not be established without 



breach of a covenant entered into between 

 France and Great Britain on March 10, 

 guaranteeing the independence of the Sultan ol 

 Zanzibar. A verbal agreement of similar ten( 

 which the French Government had made in 

 spect to Madagascar had given ground to Great 

 Britain, and through its example to other power 

 to refuse to recognize the French protectora 

 over that island, and in consequence the consuls 

 and agents have never applied for exequaturs 

 through the intermediary of the French Resi- 

 dent-General, as required in the French treatj 

 with the Hovas Queen. The French minis 

 requested, as a condition of assenting to the pi 

 tectorate over Zanzibar and Pemba, that tl 

 British Government should formally acknowl- 

 edge the rights acquired by France over Mada- 

 gascar and recognize French claims to the Hin- 

 terland of Algeria and Senegambia. French pre- 

 tensions were put forward to the whole of the 

 Niger from the point where it turns eastward 

 and to a sphere of influence embracing the Lake 

 Tchad States and the whole of the Western and 

 Central Soudan, and extending southward to the 

 Mobangi tributary of the Congo. The English 

 claimed Sokoto and its vassal state, Gando, by 

 virtue of a treaty made by Joseph Thomson in 

 1885. This treaty only conferred commercial 

 privileges for a distance of 30 miles on either 

 side of the Benue and Niger, but while the dis- 

 cussion was going on it was supplemented by a 

 new treaty granting the British Niger Company 

 juisdictioh over all foreigners throughout the 

 two kingdoms. The British Government would 

 at first concede only the region above Borum, 

 but finally agreed to a line of demarkation be- 

 tween the French and English spheres starting 

 from Say, on the Niger, thus dividing Gando, 

 and ending at Baruwwa. on Lake Tchad, in the 

 country of Bornu, a little distance north of 

 Koka. An agreement to this effect was em- 

 bodied in declarations exchanged on Aug. 5, 

 1890, and the details of the line were left to com- 

 missioners to be appointed by the two Govern- 

 ments, it being understood that the whole of So- 

 koto is included in the British sphere. Bornu, 

 Wadai, and the other states of the Soudan are 

 left to be the future prize of whichever power 

 can first establish protectorates by treaty with 

 the native sovereigns. 



The contiguous territories of Gaboon and the 

 French Congo have a combined area of 297,900 

 square miles. The population of Gaboon is 186,- 

 500, and that of the Congo region is roughly es- 

 timated at 500,000. On the coast, along the 

 Ogowe and the road to the Congo, and on the 

 Congo are 27 stations. Besides the garrisons 

 there are about 300 whites in the country. Ivory, 

 palm oil, caoutchouc, and ebony are exported, 

 and trials are being made in planting coffee, to- 

 bacco, sugar-cane, and the vanilla orchid. The 

 total trade in 1887 amounted to 7,374,800 francs, 

 the bulk of it being in the hands of the Dutch. 

 The revenue of 743,884 francs was supplemented 

 by a grant of 2.805,377 francs from the French 

 treasury in 1888. In March, 1890, a dispatch 

 was received from the acting Governor of the 

 Congo State that a French post on the Ubangi 

 had been attacked and all the whites massacred 

 by cannibals. 



Madagascar has an estimated area of 228,500 



