Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891

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The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Portugal which fixed the boundaries between the British Central Africa Protectorate, (now Malawi) and the territories administered by the British South Africa Company in Mashonaland and Matabeleland (now parts of Zimbabwe) and North-Western Rhodesia (now part of Zambia) and Portuguese Mozambique, and also between the British South Africa Company administered territories of North-Eastern Rhodesia (now in Zambia), and Portuguese Angola.

This treaty brought to an end over 20 years of increasing disagreement over conflicting territorial claims in the eastern part of Central Africa, where Portugal had long-standing claims based on prior discovery and exploration but where British citizens set up missions and embryonic trading concerns in the

Lord Salisbury, which was also under pressure from missionaries in the Shire Highlands, and also Cecil Rhodes, who founded the British South Africa Company in 1888 with the aim of controlling as much of south-central Africa as it could. For these reasons, and in response to a minor armed conflict in the Shire Highlands, Lord Salisbury issued the 1890 British Ultimatum which required Portugal to evacuate the areas in dispute. Lord Salisbury refused the Portuguese request for arbitration and, after an abortive attempt to fix the boundaries of their respective territories in 1890, the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 was accepted by Portugal under duress.[1]

Origins of the Anglo-Portuguese conflict

At the start of the 19th century, effective Portuguese governance in Africa south of the equator was limited, in Portuguese Mozambique to the

Angra Pequena, now known as Lüderitz, in Namibia in 1883. Although there was no Portuguese presence there, Portugal had claimed it on the basis of discovery.[4]

During the 1850s, the areas south of Lake Nyasa (now

African Lakes Company was established by businessmen with links to the Presbyterian missions. Their aim was to set up a trading company that would work in close co-operation with the missions to combat the slave trade by introducing legitimate trade and to develop European influence in the area. A small mission and trading settlement was established at Blantyre in 1876.[5]

Portugal attempted to secure its position in Africa through the expeditions of Alexandre de Serpa Pinto first to the eastern Zambezi in 1869, then to the Congo and upper Zambezi from Angola in 1876 and lastly in 1877–79 crossing Africa from Angola, with the intention of claiming the area between Mozambique and Angola.[6] In addition to these expeditions, Portugal attempted bi-lateral negotiations with Britain and in 1879, as part of talks on a treaty on freedom of navigation on the Congo and Zambezi rivers and the development of trade in those river basins, the Portuguese government made a formal claim to the area south and east of the Ruo River (which forms the present south-eastern border of Malawi).[7] The 1879 treaty was never ratified, and in 1882 Portugal occupied the lower Shire River valley as far as the Ruo and again asked the British government to accept this territorial claim.[8] Further bi-lateral negotiations, led to a draft treaty in February 1884, which would have included British recognition of Portuguese sovereignty over the mouth of the Congo in exchange for freedom of navigation on the Congo and Zambezi rivers but the opening of the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 ended these discussions, which could have led to British recognition of Portuguese sovereignty stretching across the continent.[9] Portugal's efforts to establish this corridor of influence between Angola and Mozambique were hampered by one of the articles in the General Act of the Berlin Conference requiring effective occupation of areas claimed rather than historical claims based on discovery or claims based on exploration as used by Portugal.[10]

To establish further Portuguese claims, Serpa Pinto was appointed as its consul in Zanzibar in 1884, with a mission to explore the region between Lake Nyasa and the coast from the Zambezi to the

Rovuma River and secure the allegiance if the chiefs in that area.[11] His expedition reached Lake Nyasa and the Shire Highlands, but failed make any treaties of protection with the chiefs in territories west of the lake.[12] At the northwest end of Lake Nyasa around Karonga, the African Lakes Company made, or claimed to have made, treaties with local chiefs between 1884 and 1886. Its ambition was to become a Chartered company and control the route from the Lake along the Shire River. Any ambition it may have had to control the Shire Highlands was given up in 1886, following protests from local missionaries that it could not police this area effectively.[13]

Background to the 1890 British Ultimatum

Despite the outcome of the Berlin Conference, the idea of a trans-African Portuguese zone was not abandoned. In 1885, the Portuguese Foreign Minister prepared what became known as the

Foreign Minister, Barros Gomez proposed to the British government that it was willing to abandon its claim to a zone linking Angola and Mozambique in exchange for recognition of its claim to the Shire Highlands. This time, it was the British government that rejected the proposal, firstly because of the opposition of those supporting the Scottish missions, and secondly, because the Chinde River entrance to the Zambezi had been discovered in April 1889. As the Zambezi could now be directly entered by ocean-going shops, it and its tributary the Shire River could be regarded as an international waterway giving access to the Shire Highlands.[17]

North of the Zambezi, the Portuguese claims, were opposed both by the African Lakes Company and the missionaries. To the south, the main opposition to Portuguese claims came from

Henry Hamilton Johnston as British consul to Mozambique and the Interior, and instructed him to report on the extent of Portuguese rule in the Zambezi and Shire valleys. He was also to make conditional treaties with local rulers outside Portuguese control. These conditional treaties did not establish a British protectorate, but prevented the rulers from accepting protection from another state.[19]

In 1888, the Portuguese government instructed its representatives in Mozambique to make treaties of protection with the

Makololo chiefs. The Makololo had been brought into the area by David Livingstone as part of his Zambezi expedition, and remained on the Shire north and west of the Ruo river when it ended in 1864. They claimed to be outside Portuguese control, and asked for British assistance to remain independent.[21] Serpa Pinto met Johnston in August 1889 east of the Ruo, when Johnston advised him not to cross the river into the Shire Highlands.[22]

However, it is likely that members of the British community in the Shire Highlands encouraged the Makololo to attack Serpa Pinto's camp, which led to a minor battle between Pinto's Portuguese troops and the Makololo on 8 November 1889 near the Shire river.

John Buchanan, accused Portugal of ignoring British interests in this area and declared a British protectorate over the Shire Highlands in December 1889, despite contrary instructions.[24] Shortly after this, Johnston himself declared a further protectorate over the area to the west of Lake Nyasa, also contrary to his instructions, although both protectorates were later endorsed by the Foreign Office.[25] These actions formed the background to an Anglo-Portuguese Crisis in which a British refusal of arbitration was followed by the 1890 British Ultimatum.[26]

The 1890 British Ultimatum

The Ultimatum refers to a memorandum sent to the Portuguese Government by

Lord Salisbury on 11 January 1890 in which he demanded the withdrawal of the Portuguese troops from Mashonaland and Matabeleland (now Zimbabwe) and the area between the Shire river north of the Ruo and Lake Nyasa (including all the Shire Highlands), where Portuguese and British interests in Africa overlapped. It meant that Britain was now claiming sovereignty over territories, some of which had been claimed by Portugal for centuries. There was no dispute regarding the borders of Angola, as neither country had effectively occupied any part of the sparsely populated border area.[27]

The Ultimatum caused violent anti-British sentiments in Portugal and demonstrations leading to riots. The Portuguese Republicans used it as an excuse to attack the government, and riots eventually led to a Republican coup d'état in

Royal Charter to Rhodes' British South Africa Company in October 1889, before it received news of Serpa Pinto's skirmish with the Makololo. This allowed the company to claim Mashonaland and also Manicaland and the Zambezi valley above Zumbo. Only Portugal had any claim to effective occupation of any part of the latter two areas.[29]

The 1891 Treaty

Although the Ultimatum required Portugal to cease from activity in the disputed areas, there was no similar restriction on further British occupation there. Agents for Rhodes were active in Mashonaland and Manicaland and in what is now eastern Zambia, and John Buchanan asserted British rule in more of the Shire Highlands. There were armed clashes between Rhodes' men and Portuguese troops who were already in occupation in Manicaland in 1890 and 1891, which only ceased when areas that had been allocated to Portugal in the unratified 1890 treaty were reassigned to Rhodes' British South Africa Company in the 1891 treaty, with Portugal being given more land in the Zambezi valley in compensation for this loss.[30]

The General Act of the Berlin Conference required disputes to go to arbitration and issuing the Ultimatum was a breach of this rule. After the Ultimatum Portugal asked for arbitration, but because the 1875 Delagoa Bay arbitration had been in favour of Portugal, Lord Salisbury refused and demanded a bi-lateral treaty. Talks started in Lisbon in April 1890, and in May the Portuguese delegation proposed joint administration of the disputed area between Angola and Mozambique. The British government refused this, and drafted a treaty that imposed boundaries that were generally favourable to Britain.[31]

These proposals were included in an agreement over Portuguese African borders signed on 20 August 1890 but never ratified by the Portuguese Parliament. When the treaty was presented to that parliament on 30 August, it led to a wave of protests and the downfall of the Portuguese government. Not only was it never ratified by the Portuguese Parliament, but Cecil Rhodes, whose plans of expansion it affected, also opposed this treaty. A new treaty was negotiated which gave Portugal more territory in the Zambezi valley than the 1890 treaty, but what is now the Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe passed from Portuguese to British control. This treaty, which also fixed the borders of Angola, was signed in Lisbon on 11 June 1891, and in addition to defining boundaries allowed freedom of navigation on the Zambezi and Shire rivers and allowed Britain to lease land for a port at Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi.[32]

The other boundaries of the Central Africa Protectorate were also agreed around this time. The northern border was fixed at the Songwe River as part of an Anglo-German Convention in 1890. Its western border with

Royal Charter until 1924.[33]

1897 Boundary Arbitration

Differing interpretations of the treaty language by the governments of the UK and Portugal revived a dispute over the boundary through the

Zambezi and Save rivers. The boundary dispute was arbitrated by Paolo Onorato Vigliani, an assistant to the King of Italy. The arbitration was completed on 30 January 1897, finally establishing the international boundary between the British colony of Southern Rhodesia and Portugal's Mozambique colony.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ M. Newitt, A History of Mozambique (1995), pp. 325–6, 330–2, 341–7, 353–4.
  2. ISBN 0-521-29894-6
    .
  3. ^ M Newitt, (1969). The Portuguese on the Zambezi: An Historical Interpretation of the Prazo system, pp. 67–8, 80–2.
  4. ^ H. Livermore (1992), Consul Crawfurd and the Anglo-Portuguese Crisis of 1890, pp. 181–2.
  5. ^ J G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, pp.77–9.
  6. ^ C E Nowell, (1947). Portugal and the Partition of Africa, pp. 6–8.
  7. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, p. 330.
  8. ^ J McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, p. 51.
  9. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 331–2.
  10. ^ Teresa Pinto Coelho, (2006). Lord Salisbury's 1890 Ultimatum to Portugal and Anglo-Portuguese Relations, p. 2. http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/files/windsor/6_pintocoelho.pdf
  11. ^ C E Nowell, (1947). Portugal and the Partition of Africa, p. 10.
  12. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 276–7, 325–6.
  13. ^ J McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, pp. 48–52.
  14. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 341–3.
  15. ^ Teresa Pinto Coelho, (2006). Lord Salisbury's 1890 Ultimatum to Portugal and Anglo-Portuguese Relations, pp. 2–3.
  16. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 343–4.
  17. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 337, 345–6.
  18. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, p. 341.
  19. ^ J G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, pp. 83–5.
  20. ^ J McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, pp. 52–3.
  21. ^ a b M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 282, 346.
  22. ^ J G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, pp. 85–6.
  23. ^ J McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, pp. 53, 55.
  24. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 346–7.
  25. ^ R I Rotberg, (1965). The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873–1964, p.15.
  26. ^ F Axelson, (1967). Portugal and the Scramble for Africa, pp. 233–6.
  27. ^ Teresa Pinto Coelho, (2006). Lord Salisbury's 1890 Ultimatum to Portugal and Anglo-Portuguese Relations, p. 1.
  28. ^ Teresa Pinto Coelho, (2006). Lord Salisbury's 1890 Ultimatum to Portugal and Anglo-Portuguese Relations, pp. 4–5.
  29. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, p. 347.
  30. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 353–4.
  31. ^ M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 347, 352–3.
  32. ^ Teresa Pinto Coelho, (2006). Lord Salisbury's 1890 Ultimatum to Portugal and Anglo-Portuguese Relations, pp. 6–7.
  33. ^ J G Pike, (1969). Malawi: A Political and Economic History, pp. 86–7.
  34. ^ "Arbitration between Great Britain and Portugal as regards questions relative to the delimitation of their spheres of influence in East Africa (Manica plateau)". Reports of International Arbitral Awards, Volume XXVIII pp. 283-322, 30 January 1897. [1]

Sources

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