could regain the position in Egyptian affairs which she had
sacrificed in 1882. With these strong inducements France set
steadily to work to consolidate her position on the tributary
streams of the upper Congo basin, preparatory to crossing into
the valley of the upper Nile. Meanwhile a similar advance
was being made from the Congo Free State northwards and
eastwards. King Leopold had two objects in view---to obtain
control of the rich province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and to
secure an outlet on the Nile. Stations were established on
the Welle river, and in February 1891 Captain van Kerckhoven
left Leopoldville for the upper Welle with the most powerful
expedition which had, up to that time, been organized by the
Free State. After some heavy fighting the expedition reached
the Nile in September 1892, and opened up communications
with the remains of the old Egyptian garrison at Wadelai.
Other expeditions under Belgian officers penetrated into
the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and it was apparent that King Leopold
proposed to rely on effective occupation as an answer to any
claims which might be advanced by either Great Britain or
France. The news of what was happening in this remote region
Of Africa filtered through to Europe very slowly, but King
Leopold was warned on several occasions that Great Britain
would not recognize any claims by the Congo Free State on the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. The difficulty was, however, that neither from
Egypt, whence the road was barred by the khalifa (the successor
of the mahdi), nor from Uganda, which was far too remote from
the coast to serve as the base of a large expedition, could
a British force be despatched to take effective occupation
of the upper Nile valley. There was, therefore, danger
lest the French should succeed in establishing themselves
on the upper Nile before the preparations which were being
made in Egypt for ``smashing'' the khalifa were completed.
In these circumstances Lord Rosebery, who was then British
foreign minister, began, and his successor, the 1st earl of
The Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894.
Kimberley, completed, negotiations with King Leopold which
resulted in the conclusion of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of
12th May 1894. By this agreement King Leopold recognized the
British sphere of influence as laid down in the Anglo-German
agreement of July 1890, and Great Britain granted a lease
to King Leopold of certain territories in the western basin
of the upper Nile, extending on the Nile from a point on
Lake Albert to Fashoda, and westwards to the Congo-Nile
watershed. The practical effect of this agreement was to
give the Congo Free State a lease, during its sovereign's
lifetime, of the old Bahr-el-Ghazal province, and to secure
after His Majesty's death as much of that territory as lay
west of the 30th meridian, together with access to a port on
Lake Albert, to his successor. At the same time the Congo
Free State leased to Great Britain a strip of territory,
15 1/2 m. in breadth, between the north end of Lake Tanganyika
and the south end of Lake Albert Edward. This agreement
was hailed as a notable triumph for British diplomacy. But
the triumph was short-lived. By the agreement of July 1890
with Germany, Great Britain had been reluctantly compelled
to abandon her hopes of through communication between the
British spheres in the northern and southern parts of the
continent, and to Consent to the boundary of German East
Africa marching with the eastern frontier of the Congo Free
State. Germany frankly avowed that she did not wish to have a
powerful neighbour interposed between herself and the Congo Free
State. It was obvious that the new agreement would effect
precisely what Germany had declined to agree to in 1890.
Accordingly Germany protested in such vigorous terms that, on
the 22nd of June 1894, the offending article was withdrawn by
an exchange of notes between Great Britain and the Congo Free
State. Opinion in France was equally excited by the new
agreement. It was obvious that the lease to the Congo Free
State was intended to exclude France from the Nile by placing
the Congo Free State as a barrier across her path. Pressure
was brought to bear on King Leopold, from Paris, to renounce the
rights acquired under the agreement, and on the 14th of August
1894 King Leopold signed an agreement with France by which, in
exchange for France's acknowledgment of the Mbomu river as his
northern frontier, His Majesty renounced all occupation and all
exercise of political influence west of 30 deg. E., and north of
a line drawn from that meridian to the Nile along 5 deg. 30' N.
This left the way still open for France to the Nile,
and in June 1896 Captain J. Marchand left France with
secret instructions to lead an expedition into the Nile
valley. On the 1st of March in the following year he left
Brazzaville, and began a journey which all but plunged Great
Britain and France into war. The difficulties which Captain
Marchand had to overcome were mainly those connected with
transport. In October 1897 the expedition reached the banks
of the Sue, the waters of which eventually flow into the
Nile. Here a post was established and the ``Faidherbe,'' a
steamer which had been carried across the Congo-Nile watershed
in sections, was put together and launched. On the 1st of
May 1898 Marchand started on the final stage of his journey,
and reached Fashoda on the 10th of July, having established
a chain of posts en route. At Fashoda the French flag
was at once raised, and a ``treaty'' made with the local
chief. Meanwhile other expeditions had been concentrating on
The French at Fashoda.
Fashoda--a mud-flat situated in a swamp, round which for many
months raged the angry passions of two great peoples. French
expeditions, with a certain amount of assistance from the
emperor Menelek of Abyssinia, had been striving to reach the
Nile from the east, so as to join hands with Marchand and
complete the line of posts into the Abyssinian frontier. In
this, however, they were unsuccessful. No better success
attended the expedition under Colonel (afterwards Sir) Ronald
Macdonald, R.E., sent by the British government from Uganda
to anticipate the French in the occupation of the upper Nile.
It was from the north that claimants arrived to dispute with
the French their right to Fashoda, and all that the occupation
of that dismal post implied. In 1896 an Anglo-Egyptian
army, under the direction of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord)
Kitchener, had begun to advance southwards for the reconquest
of the Egyptian Sudan. On the 2nd of September 1898 Khartum
was captured, and the khalifa's army dispersed. It was then
that news reached the Anglo-Egyptian commander, from native
sources, that there were white men flying a strange flag at
Fashoda. The sirdar at once proceeded in a steamer up the
Nile, and courteously but firmly requested Captain Marchand
to remove the French flag. On his refusal the Egyptian flag
was raised close to the French flag, and the dispute was
referred to Europe for adjustment between the British and
French governments. A critical situation ensued. Neither
government was inclined to give way, and for a time war seemed
imminent. Happily Lord Salisbury was able to announce, on
the 4th of November, that France was willing to recognize
the British claims, and the incident was finally closed on
the 21st of March 1899, when an Anglo-French declaration was
signed, by the terms of which France withdrew from the Nile
valley and accepted a boundary line which satisfied her
earlier ambition by uniting the whole of her territories in
North, West and Central Africa into a homogeneous whole,
while effectually preventing the realization of her dream
of a transcontinental empire from west to east. By this
declaration it was agreed that the dividing line between
the British and French spheres, north of the Congo Free
State, should follow the Congo-Nile water-parting up to its
intersection with the 11th parallel of north latitude, from
which point it was to be ``drawn as far as the 15th parallel
in such a manner as to separate in principle the kingdom of
Wadai from what constituted in 1882 the province of Darfur,''
but in no case was it to be drawn west of the 21st degree of
east longitude, or east of the 23rd degree. From the 15th
parallel the line was continued north and north-west to the
intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with 16 deg. E. French
influence was to prevail west of this line, British influence
to the east. Wadai was thus definitely assigned to France.
When, by the declaration of the 21st of March 1899, France
renounced all territorial ambitions in the upper Nile basin, King
Fate of the Bar-el-Ghazal.
Leopold revived his claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province
under the terms of the lease granted by Article 2 of the
Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894. This step he was encouraged
to take by the assertion of Lord Salisbury, in his capacity as
secretary of state for foreign affairs during the negotiations
with France concerning Fashoda, that the lease to King Leopold
was still in full force. But the assertion was made simply
as a declaration of British right to dispose of the territory,
and the sovereign of the Congo State found that there was no
disposition in Great Britain to allow the Bahr-el-Ghazal to fall
into his hands. Long and fruitless negotiations ensued. The
king at length (1904) sought to force a settlement by sending
armed forces into the province. Diplomatic representations
having failed to secure the withdrawal of these forces, the
Sudan government issued a proclamation which had the effect
of cutting off the Congo stations from communication with the
Nile, and finally King Leopold consented to an agreement,
signed in London on the 9th of May 1906, whereby the 1894
lease was formally annulled. The Bahr-el-Ghazal thenceforth
became undisputedly an integral part of the Anglo-Egyptian
Sudan. King Leopold had, however, by virtue of the 1894
agreement administered the comparatively small portion of
the leased area in which his presence was not resented by
France. This territory, including part of the west bank of
the Nile and known as the Lado Enclave, the 1906 agreement
allowed King Leopold to ``continue during his reign to occupy.''
Provision was made that within six months of the termination
of His Majesty's reign the enclave should be handed over to
the Sudan government (see CONGO FREE STATE.) In this manner
ended the long struggle for supremacy on the upper Nile,
Great Britain securing the withdrawal of all European rivals.
The course of events in the southern half of the continent
may now be traced. By the convention of the 14th of February
Portugal's trans-African schemes.
1885, in which Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the
Congo Free State, and by a further convention concluded with
France in 1886, Portugal secured recognition of her claim to
the territory known as the Kabinda enclave, lying north of the
Congo, but not to the northern bank of the river. By the same
convention of 1885 Portugal's claim to the southern bank of
the river as far as Noki (the limit of navigation from the
sea) had been admitted. Thus Portuguese possessions on the
west coast extended from the Congo to the mouth of the Kunene
river. In the interior the boundary with the Free State
was settled as far as the Kwango river, but disputes arose
as to the right to the country of Lunda, otherwise known as
the territory of the Muato Yanvo. On the 25th of May 1891
a treaty was signed at Lisbon, by which this large territory
