SCIENCE.-SUPPLEMENT. 



FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1887. 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL 

 AFRICA. 



The development of Central Africa is unparal- 

 leled in the history of discoveries. In 1877 its 

 interior was totally unknown, and in 1884 we see 

 the powers of Europe and the United States of 

 America meeting in a conference to settle the 

 affairs of this district, and acknowledging the 

 young Kongo Free State. 



In September, 1876, the Association Interna- 

 tionale Africaine, for promoting the exploration of 

 Central Africa and opening it to commerce, was 

 founded under the auspices of Leopold II., king 

 of Belgium. The original intention of this as- 

 sociation was to establish stations in eastern 

 Africa, and to use them as a basis for further ex- 

 plorations in Central Africa ; but when the news 

 of Stanley's discovery of the Kongo route, and his 

 reports of the wealth of the interior, reached Eu- 

 rope, the base of operations was at once trans- 

 ferred to West Africa. The Comit6 d'etudes du 

 Haut-Congo was founded at Brussels in Novem- 

 ber, 1878, and Stanley was appointed leader of its 

 enterprises and expeditions. 



Stanley reached the Kongo in 1879, and at once 

 proceeded to establish the station of Vivi at the 

 farthest point accessible to steamers. In January, 

 1880, this work was finished, and he started on 

 his way up the river. The route from Vivi to 

 Isangila is extremely difficult, the river being 

 impassable on account of the numerous cataracts 

 and rapids, and the land being intersected by deep 

 gorges and valleys. Though a single traveller 

 can accomplish the distance from Vivi to Isangila 

 in six days, it took Stanley eleven months to get 

 his stores and the sectional steamboat to that 

 place. Steep declivities had to be graded and 

 rocks to be blasted before he was able to carry 

 his bulky luggage to Isangila, which place was 

 reached in December, 1880. From here he pro- 

 ceeded on the river to Manjanga, where the third 

 station was established in May, 1881. In July, 

 Stanley Pool was reached. 



Meanwhile Savorgnan de Brazza had started 

 from the Ogove, reached Stanley Pool, and in- 

 duced Makoko, the chief of the Bateke, to accept 

 the French protectorate. Though Stanley's inten- 

 tions were thus forestalled by the enterprising 



Frencli officer, he did not hesitate to establish his 

 fourth station, Leopoldville, on the left bank of 

 the Kongo, in order to save this section from the 

 encroachment of the French. In December, 1881, 

 the first steamer floated on the upper Kongo, and 

 no further obstacle lay between Stanley Pool and 

 Stanley Falls. In 1882, Stanley established the 

 station of Mswata, opposite Brazza's purchases, 

 and visited Lake Leopold. In order to prevent 

 the French laying hold on the lower Kongo, he 

 sent, in 1882 and 1883, several expeditions into 

 the district north of the lower Kongo, where 

 stations were established and land purchased. In 

 1883 the steamer proceeded to Stanley Falls, and 

 the stations of Aruvimi and Stanley Falls were or- 

 ganized. Meanwhile the Comite d'6tudes du Haut- 

 Congo had assumed the name of the ' Association 

 Internationale du Congo,' and at the same time 

 diplomatic negotiations began in order to obtain 

 the recognition of its possessions by the European 

 powers. 



When the results of Stanley's activity became 

 known, France and Portugal claimed large tracts 

 of land in which the association had established 

 its factories. Brazza claimed the left bank of the 

 river from the mouth of the Kuango to Stanley 

 Pool as belonging to Makoko's territory, and 

 Portugal maintained its old claim to the coast as 

 far north as latitude 5° 12' south. The first to 

 recognize the possessions of the Kongo association 

 were the United States, which made a treaty with 

 the association in April, 1887. As all commercial 

 nations were interested in preventing a single 

 power from getting control of the mouth of the 

 Kongo and the rich countries of Central Africa, a 

 conference was held in. Berlin, the result of which 

 was the recognition of the association as the 

 'Kongo Free State.' The negotiations for deter- 

 mining the boundaries of the state were not in- 

 cluded in the programme of the conference, but 

 were settled between the single states and the as- 

 sociation. In February, 1885, a treaty with France 

 was made at Paris, and the new state recognized 

 by France. According to the stipulations of the 

 treaty, France received the right bank of the 

 Kongo from Stanley Pool to Manjanga, and the 

 coast as far south as the mouth of the Chiioango. 

 On the other hand, France relinquished its claim 

 on the left bank of the Kongo. In the same 

 month an understanding with Portugal was 

 reached. Portugal received the south bank of 

 the mouth of the Kongo, while the association 



