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Rh of August 1884 an official note was addressed by the German consul at Capetown to the high commissioner, intimating that the German emperor had by proclamation taken “the territory belonging to Mr A. Lüderitz on the west coast of Africa under the direct protection of His Majesty.” This proclamation covered the coast-line from the north bank of the Orange river to 26° S. latitude, and 20 geographical miles inland, including “the islands belonging thereto by the law of nations.” On the 8th of September 1884 the German government intimated to Her Majesty’s government “that the west coast of Africa from 26° S. latitude to Cape Frio, excepting Walfish Bay, had been placed under the protection of the German emperor.” Thus, before the end of the year 1884, the foundations of Germany’s colonial empire had been laid in South-West Africa.

In April of that year Prince Bismarck intimated to the British government, through the German charge d’affaires in London, that “the imperial consul-general, Dr Nachtigal, has been commissioned by my government to visit the west coast of Africa in the course of the next few months,

in order to complete the information now in the possession of the Foreign Office at Berlin, on the state of German commerce on that coast. With this object Dr Nachtigal will shortly embark at Lisbon, on board the gunboat ‘Möwe.’ He will put himself into communication with the authorities in the British possessions on the said coast, and is authorized to conduct, on behalf of the imperial government, negotiations connected with certain questions. I venture,” the official communication proceeds, “in accordance with my instructions, to beg your excellency to be so good as to cause the authorities in the British possessions in West Africa to be furnished with suitable recommendations.” Although at the date of this communication it must have been apparent, from what was happening in South Africa, that Germany was prepared to enter on a policy of colonial expansion, and although the wording of the letter was studiously vague, it does not seem to have occurred to the British government that the real object of Gustav Nachtigal’s journey was to make other annexations on the west coast. Yet such was indeed his mission. German traders and missionaries had been particularly active of late years on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. German factories were dotted all along the coast in districts under British protection, under French protection and under the definite protection of no European power at all. It was to these latter places that Nachtigal turned his attention. The net result of his operations was that on the 5th of July 1884 a treaty was signed with the king of Togo, placing his country under German protection, and that just one week later a German protectorate was proclaimed over the Cameroon district. Before either of these events had occurred Great Britain had become alive to the fact that she could no longer dally with the subject, if she desired to consolidate her possessions in West Africa. The British government had again and again refused to accord native chiefs the protection they demanded. The Cameroon chiefs had several times asked for British protection, and always in vain. But at last it became apparent, even to the official mind, that rapid changes were being effected in Africa, and on the 16th of May Edward Hyde Hewett, British consul, received instructions to return to the west coast and to make arrangements for extending British protection over certain regions. He arrived too late to save either Togoland or Cameroon, in the latter case arriving five days after King Bell and the other chiefs on the river had signed treaties with Nachtigal. But the British consul was in time to secure the delta of the river Niger and the Oil Rivers District, extending from Rio del Rey to the Lagos frontier, where for a long period British traders had held almost a monopoly of the trade.

Meanwhile France, too, had been busy treaty-making. While the British government still remained under the spell of the fatal resolution of 1865, the French government was strenuously endeavouring to extend France’s influence in West Africa, in the countries lying behind the coast-line. During the year 1884 no fewer than forty-two treaties were concluded with native chiefs, an even larger number having been concluded in the previous twelve months. In this fashion France was pushing on towards Timbuktu, in steady pursuance of the policy which resulted in surrounding all the old British possessions in West Africa with a continuous band of French territory. There was, however, one region on the west coast where, notwithstanding the lethargy of the British government, British interests were being vigorously pushed, protected and consolidated. This was on the lower Niger, and the leading spirit in the enterprise was Mr Goldie Taubman (afterwards Sir George Taubman Goldie). In 1877 Sir George Goldie visited the Niger and conceived the idea of establishing a settled government in that region. Through his efforts the various trading firms on the lower Niger formed themselves in 1879 into the “United African Company,” and the foundations were laid of something like settled administration. An application was made to the British government for a charter in 1881, and the capital of the company increased to a million sterling. Henceforth the company was known as the “National African Company,” and it was acknowledged that its object was not only to develop the trade of the lower Niger, but to extend its operations to the middle reaches of the river, and to open up direct relations with the great Fula empire of Sokoto and the smaller states associated with Sokoto under a somewhat loosely defined suzerainty. The great development of trade which followed the combination of British interests carried out under Goldie’s skilful guidance did not pass unnoticed in France, and, encouraged by Gambetta, French traders made a bold bid for a position on the river. Two French companies, with ample capital, were formed, and various stations were established on the lower Niger. Goldie realized at once the seriousness of the situation, and lost no time in declaring commercial war on the newcomers. His bold tactics were entirely successful, and a few days before the meeting of the Berlin conference he had the satisfaction of announcing that he had bought out the whole of the French interests on the river, and that Great Britain alone possessed any interests on the lower Niger.

To complete the survey of the political situation in Africa at the time the plenipotentiaries met at Berlin, it is necessary to  refer briefly to the course of events in North and East  Africa since 1875. In 1881 a French army entered Tunisia, and compelled the bey to sign a treaty placing that country under French protection. The sultan of Turkey formally protested against this invasion of Ottoman rights, but the  great powers took no action, and France was left in undisturbed  possession of her newly acquired territory. In Egypt the extravagance of Ismail Pasha had led to the establishment in  1879, in the interests of European bondholders, of a Dual  Control exercised by France and Great Britain. France had, however, in 1882 refused to take part in the suppression  of a revolt under Arabi Pasha, which England accomplished  unaided. As a consequence the Dual Control had been abolished in January 1883, since when Great Britain, with an army  quartered in the country, had assumed a predominant position  in Egyptian affairs (see .) In East Africa, north of  the Portuguese possessions, where the sultan of Zanzibar was  the most considerable native potentate, Germany was secretly  preparing the foundations of her present colony of German East  Africa. But no overt act had warned Europe of what was impending. The story of the foundation of German East Africa is one of the romances of the continent. Early in 1884 the Society for German Colonization was founded, with the avowed  object of furthering the newly awakened colonial aspirations  of the German people. It was a society inspired and controlled by young men, and on the 4th of November 1884,  eleven days before the conference assembled at Berlin, three  young Germans arrived as deck passengers at Zanzibar. They were disguised as mechanics, but were in fact Dr Karl Peters,  the president of the Colonization Society, Joachim Count  Pfeil, and Dr Juhlke, and their stock-in-trade consisted of  a number