158 
AFRICA SINCE 188 S 
Xearl}^ half a centuiy ago two or three large mercantile firms 
of Hamburg and Bremen established trading stations on the 
west coast of Africa. Their jjrofits were very large, as, in ex- 
change for rum, trinkets, beads, and worthless arms, cocoanut oil, 
ivory, india-rubber, and other tropical products were obtained. 
This trade finally resulted in the starting of a regular line of 
steamers from Hamburg to the west coast, and also of one 
through the Suez canal to the east coast. Prince Bismarck real- 
ized that he had a most urgent problem to solve, either to re- 
strain German emigration, or, failing in that, to keep it under 
the control of the empire. America was closed; Asia was all 
taken ; his only opportunity was colonization in Africa. He 
ordered German ships of war to visit the African coast, and estab- 
lished consulates at different ports. Treaties were made with 
the natives for the purpose of acquiring colorable titles to large 
tracts of land, the German flag was raised, and the countr}’- de- 
clared to be under German protection. These settlements are 
merel}’’ stations, where two or three families of foreign merchants 
reside, and outstations of natives — middlemen, who carry on the 
trade between the natives of the interior and the foreigners on 
the coast. Germany also claims the hinterland or interior 
country behind the stations, although most of it had been re- 
garded by the English as under their flag. 
At the time of the uprising in Egypt against the rule of England 
and France, in 1882, France declined to act with England, but 
soon bitterly regretted her mistake, and to offset her loss in 
Pigypt she extended her dominion in northwest Africa and on 
the Gold Coast and the upper Niger, although most of these 
regions had been claimed ly' English traders. About the same 
time the Kongo Free State was founded and claimed the whole 
of the Kongo valley. This was opposed b}^ both France and 
Portugal, the one claiming the countiy north of the Kongo, the 
other that to the south. Thus in 1883 and 1884 it seemed that 
all the groat nations of Europe might come into conflict regarding 
their different claims in Africa. For the j^urpose of settling these 
questions and defining the rights of each country, Germany, 
France, Belgium. Portugal, and England held a conference at 
Berlin in 1884, to which the United States was invited, the only 
conference between the great powers, relating to foreign affairs, 
in which it has participated.. At this convention and by subse- 
quent agreements made between 1885 and 1895 the European 
powers fixed the boundaries of their several African possessions. 
