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A History of the Colonization of Africa

by Harry Johnston

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Appendix I — Notable Events and Dates in the Modern History of African Colonization

B.C.
Foundation of the colony of Utica (Atiqa) on the N. African (Tunisian) coast by the Phœniciansabout 1100
Foundation of the colony of Carthage by the Phœniciansabout 822
Expedition of Dorians founds first Greek colony in Cyrenaica (modern Barka)about 631
Pharaoh Niku II of Egypt (son of Psammetik) sends out Phœnician Expedition from Red Sea which is said to have circumnavigated Africa in three yearsabout 600
Conquest of Egypt by the Persians under Cambysesabout 525
Hanno the Carthaginian explores the West Coast of Africa as far south as Sierra Leone and brings back chimpanzeesabout 520
Alexander of Macedon conquers Egypt from the Persians; and founds the city of Alexandria332
The Romans take Egypt under their protection168
The Romans definitely conquer and destroy Carthage and found the Roman province of Africa (consisting eventually of modern Tunis and part of Tripoli)146-5
Numidia (Algeria) annexed to the Roman Empire46
Egypt annexed to the Roman Empire30
Romans invade Fezzan (Phazania)19
A.C.
Mauretania (Morocco) annexed to the Roman Empire42
Jewish massacre of Greek inhabitants of Cyrenaica117
North Africa torn from the Roman Empire by the Vandals429
Recovered partially by the Byzantines531-4
Persian armies occupy Egypt616
Herodius recovers Egypt from the Persians626
The Muhammadan Invasion of Africa:
Amr-bin-al Asi conquers Egypt640-2
The Arabs invade Tripoli and Tunis, defeat the patrician Gregory and partially destroy Byzantine rule647-8
Oqba-bin-Nafa is appointed by the Khalif “governor of Ifrikiyah” (669), overruns Fezzan and South Tunis, and founds there the Muhammadan capital of Kairwan673
Oqba traverses N. Africa till he reaches the Atlantic Ocean681
Carthage taken by the Arabs (698); Tunisia finally conquered from the Berbers (705); Morocco and Algeria conquered about 708; Spain invaded by Arabs and Berbers711
First Islamic settlements founded on E. African coast about 720; Kilwa Sultanate founded960
Aghlabite (Berber) dynasty begins in Tunis in 800 (Morocco contemporaneously ruled by the Idrisites) and comes to an end909
Rise of the Fatimite dynasty over Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt (909), by whom Cairo (Al Kahira) is founded969
Great Arab invasion of North Africa (especially Tunis)about 1045
About 1050 commences the invasion of N. Africa from the Niger and the Moroccan Sahara by the Berber sect of the Murabitin (Al-moravides), who have conquered all N. Africa and Spain by1087
Timbuktu founded by the Tawareqabout 1100
The Third Great Berber dynasty of the Muahadim (Al-Mohade) arises in W. Algeria about 1150, conquers Morocco, Spain and Algeria, and finally Tunis (from which the Normans are driven away)1160
French and German Crusaders occupy eastern part of Nile Delta and garrison Cairo before they are driven out by “Saladin”1163-70
Hafs dynasty founded in Tunis1236
King Louis IX of France (“Saint Louis”) invades Egypt in 1248; is disastrously repulsed, captured and ransomed. Twenty-two years later he invades Tunis, where he dies of fever1270
Roman Carthage finally destroyed by the Moors, and Tunis made the capital of “Ifriqiyah”about 1271
The Portuguese take Ceuta from the Moors1415
The river Senegal reached by Portuguese exploring vessels sent out by Prince Henry1446
Diego Gomez reaches and names Sierra Leone1460
The Canary Islands, discovered by a Norman adventurer and ultimately sold to Portugal, are transferred by that power to Spain1479
Gold Coast, Niger Delta, Fernando Pô, Cameroons and Gaboon discovered by the Portuguese1471-80
River Congo discovered by the Portuguese1482-5
Bartolomeu Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope1488
Melilla (N. Morocco) captured by the Spaniards1490
Christianity introduced into the kingdom of Congo by the Portuguese1491
Vasco da Gama passing round the Cape of Good Hope discovers and names Natal (Christmas, 1497), reaches Sofala and Malindi (East Africa)1498
Sofala occupied and Portuguese East African Empire begun1505
Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese1500-6
The Emperor Charles V grants a charter to a Flemish merchant for the exclusive importation of negro slaves into Spanish America; Slave Trade thus definitely founded1517
The Turks conquer Egypt1517
Charles V intervenes in the affairs of Tunis (to restore Arab Hafside Sultan and drive out the Turkish corsair Khaïreddin Barbarossa)1535
Charles V sustains disastrous repulse at Algiers (from which dates gradual decay of Spanish power over North Africa)1541
Delagoa Bay first explored and temporarily settled by the Portuguese1544
First British trading ships leave London for the West African coast1553
Sir John Hawkins conveys the first cargo of negro slaves to America under the British flag1562
The Turks (having through corsairs founded the Regency of Algiers in 1519, that of Tripoli in 1551) once more take Tunis and make it a Turkish Pashalik1573
Portugal founds the colony of Angola1574
Dom Sebastião, King of Portugal, defeated and slain at the battle of Kasr-al-Kabir; and the Portuguese Empire over Morocco thenceforth crumbles1578
Turkey attempts to wrest from Portugal the Zanzibar Coast,
but is utterly defeated by the Portuguese Admiral
Thomé de Sousa Coutinho1584
Abu al Abbas al Mansur, the first “Sharifian” Emperor of Morocco, who was the victor over Dom Sebastião, sends an army across the Sahara and annexes Timbuktu and the Upper Niger to the Moorish dominions1590
The first Dutch trading ships appear on the West African Coast1595
The Dutch replace the Portuguese at Arguin (N. W. Coast of Africa) and Goree (Dakar) in 1621; and at Elmina (Gold Coast)1637
French traders from Dieppe found the Fort of St Louis at the mouth of the Senegal1637
Foundation of the French Compagnie de L’Orient for the purpose of colonizing Madagascar1642
The British East India Company takes the Island of St Helena from the Dutch1651
The Dutch take possession of the Cape of Good Hope1652
The dynasty of the Filali Sharifs acquires the possession of the whole Empire of Morocco and Upper Nigeria1658
A British African Company chartered by Charles II builds a fort at James Island, at the mouth of the Gambia1662
This same Company (afterwards the Royal African Company), taking advantage of the war declared against Holland, seizes and retains several Dutch forts on the Gold Coast1665-72
Denmark establishes forts on the Gold Coastabout 1672
Brandenburg (Prussia) builds the Fort of Grossfriedrichsburg on the Gold Coast1683
England, to whom Tangier had been ceded by Portugal in 1662, abandons it to the Sharifian Empire of Morocco1684
The rising Arab power of ’Oman had driven Portugal out of all her possessions north of Moçambique by1698
The present Husseinite dynasty of Beys (from 1706 to 1881 practically independent sovereigns) is founded in Tunis by a Turkish Agha—Hussein bin Ali Bey1706
Sieur André de Brüe, who went out to St Louis in 1697 as the Governor of the French Senegal Company, founds during the next 18 years the French colony of Senegal and returns to France1715
The French occupy the Island of Mauritius (Bourbon or “Réunion” not being occupied until 1764)1721
The Portuguese (having finally lost Mombasa in 1730) recognize the Maskat Imamate on the Zanzibar coast and decree the Bay of Lourenço Marquez on the south and Cape Delgado on the north to be the limits of their East African possessions1752
The Portuguese lose Mazagão, their last foothold in Morocco1769
Spain acquires Fernando Pô in the Gulf of Guinea1778
Sierra Leone ceded to the British by the natives1787
Spain loses Oran by a terrible earthquake, and with it her last hold over Algeria1791
Denmark forbids the Slave Trade to her subjects1792
Britain first seizes the Cape of Good Hope1795
Mungo Park discovers the river Niger at Segu1796
The London Missionary Society’s Agents land in Cape Colony and commence work amongst the Kafirs and Bushmen1799
Napoleon Buonaparte conquers Egypt, 1798; Nelson destroys French fleet at Abukir Bay same year; French evacuate Egypt1801
Britain finally occupies the Cape of Good Hope1806
Sierra Leone and Gambia organized as Crown Colonies1807
An Act of Parliament is passed abolishing the Slave Trade in the British dominions1807
British capture from the French Seychelles (1794), Mauritius and Réunion in 1810, and Tamatave and Island of St Marie (Madagascar) in1811
Muhammad Ali destroys the Mamluks in Egypt1811
First Kafir war in South Africa1811-12
Cape Colony definitely ceded by Holland to Great Britain1814
Island of Réunion (Bourbon) restored to France1814
Holland abolishes the Slave Trade in her dominions1814
France and Sweden abolish the Slave Trade1815
France reoccupies Island of St Marie de Madagascar (first taken in 1750)1817
Invasion of the Egyptian Sudan by Muhammad Ali’s forces (1820-22) and foundation of Khartum as its capital1823
A British Government Expedition under Oudney, Clapperton, and Denham discovers Lake Chad1823
Vice-Admiral W. F. W. Owen completes his great coast survey of Africa, in which for the first time in history the outline of the African Continent was correctly delineated1822-9
Governor Sir Charles Macarthy defeated and killed by the Ashanti in 1824; consequent first British war with Ashanti terminates victoriously1827
The Brothers Lander sent out by British Government trace the Niger from Busa to the sea and establish its outlet in the Gulf of Guinea1830
A French Expedition conquers Algiers1830
Portugal abolishes the Slave Trade1830
First British steamers (Macgregor Laird’s Expedition) navigate the Lower Niger (1832) and discover the Benué River1833
Slavery abolished in all British African possessions, including Cape Colony, by1834
Third Kafir War in South Africa1834
Turkey sends expedition to Tripoli to restore her direct authority1835
First “trekking” of the Boers away from British rule1836
Boer emigrants treacherously massacred by Dingane, King of the Zulus1837
The Sakalava of N.-West Madagascar place themselves under French protection, and France occupies the islands of Nossi Bé and Mayotta1840
Second Niger Expedition despatched from England1841
Muhammad Ali the Macedonian (once a Turkish officer of Bashi-bazuks) confirmed in the hereditary sovereignty of Egypt as Pasha and Wali1841
The last of the quasi-independent Karamanli Pashas of Tripoli seizes and garrisons the important Saharan towns of Ghadames and Ghat in 1840-41; but is himself removed by the Turks, who annex definitely to the Turkish Empire Tripoli and Barka1842
Natal becomes a British Colony1843
Gold Coast finally organized as a Crown Colony1843
French war with Morocco1844
Waghorn’s Overland Route finally established across Egypt1845
Independence of the Freed-slave State of Liberia recognized1847
Abd-al-Kader surrenders; Constantine (East Algeria) taken by the French1847
Foundation of the French Freed-slave settlement of Libreville in the Gaboon1848
Krapf and Rebmann discover the snowy Mountains of Kenya and Kilima-njaro1848
Slavery had been abolished throughout all the French possessions in Africa by1849
Denmark cedes her Gold Coast forts to England1850
Livingstone and Oswell discover the Central Zambezi1851
Independence of the Transvaal Republic recognized by Great Britain1852
Representative Government established in Cape Colony1853
General Faidherbe appointed Governor of Senegal in 1854; he breaks the Fula power in Senegal and greatly extends the French possessions by1856
A British Expedition is sent out in 1849 under Richardson, Oberweg, Vogel and Barth to explore North Central Africa: Oberweg navigates Lake Chad, ascends the river Shari and is killed in Wadai; Barth visits the Upper Benué, Timbuktu, etc., and returns to England1855
Livingstone makes his famous journey from Cape Colony to Angola and from Angola to the Indian Ocean, exploring the Zambezi from source to mouth, and returns to England1856
Burton and Speke discover Lake Tanganyika, and Speke reaches south end of the Victoria Nyanza1858
Livingstone and Kirk discover Lake Nyasa1859
Spanish War with Morocco1859-60
Zanzibar separated as an independent State from the Imamate of ’Oman1861
Lagos becomes a British Crown Colony1863
Speke and Grant establish the Victoria Nyanza Lake as the main source of the Nile, visit Uganda, and follow the Nile down to Cairo1860-4
(Sir) Samuel Baker discovers Lake Albert Nyanza1864
Second Government Expedition under Dr Baikie sent out to explore rivers Niger and Benué (1854); Dr Baikie made Consul for the Niger, founds Lokoja at Niger-Benué confluence and explores Benué (1857) and greatly extends British influence; but dies in 1863; Consulate abolished1866
Discovery of a diamond near the Orange River in Cape Colony1867
Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu and the Upper Luapula (Congo) R. discovered by Livingstone in 1867 and1868
Basutoland placed under British protection1868
British Army enters Abyssinia to release captives of King Theodore and wins victory of Magdala1868
Establishment of Triple Control over Tunisian finances1869
Opening of Suez Canal1869
Sir Samuel Baker appointed Governor of the Equatorial province, Egyptian Sudan1869
Dr Schweinfurth discovers the R. Wele-Mubangi, the great northern affluent of the Congo1870
Livingstone discovers the Lualaba or Upper Congo at Nyangwe; is met at Ujiji and relieved by Stanley1871
Insurrection against French in Eastern Algeria suppressed1871
Responsible Government introduced into Cape Colony1872
Sultan of Zanzibar signs treaty forced on him by England for abolition of the Slave Trade1873
Second Ashanti War: Sir Garnet Wolseley takes and burns Kumasi1873-4
Dr Livingstone dies1873
Cameron crosses Africa from Zanzibar to Benguela, mapping Tanganyika correctly for the first time1873-5
Stanley circumnavigates the Victoria Nyanza and traces the river Congo from Nyangwe to the Atlantic Ocean—the greatest journey in African Exploration1874-7
Transvaal annexed by Great Britain1877
The Dual Control of France and England imposed on Egyptian Government (1876); Ismail Pasha deposed1879
War between Great Britain and the Zulus1879
The International Association founded by the King of the Belgians, having developed a special branch, the “Comité d’Études du Haut Congo,” sends out H. M. Stanley to found what becomes six years later the “Congo Independent State”1879
De Brazza secures part of the Upper Congo for France1880
The Transvaal revolts against Great Britain and obtains recognition of its independence under British suzerainty1881
French force enters Tunis and imposes French protection on that country1881
French conquests reach the Upper Niger1881-2
Arabi’s revolt in Egypt (1881), abolition of Dual Control, bombardment of Alexandria and defeat of Arabi at Tel-el-Kebir by Lord Wolseley; British occupation of Egypt begins1882
Italy occupies Assab Bay on Red Sea coast and commences creation of colony of Eritrea1882
Occupation of Obok by France1883
The commencement of the African Scramble: Germany establishes her protectorate over South-West Africa, and over Togoland and the Cameroons in West Africa, France occupies Grand Bassam and Porto Novo (Ivory and Slave Coasts); Gordon is despatched to the Sudan (which revolted from Egypt in 1883); and the Berlin Conference on African questions is summoned1884
Death of General Gordon at Khartum and temporary loss of Egyptian Sudan1885
Recognition by all the powers of Congo Independent State1885
Bechuanaland taken under British protection1885
Germany founds her East African possessions in the interior of the Zanzibar Sultanate1885
Great Britain declares protectorate over Niger Coast and river Niger and grants Charter to Royal Niger Company: Joseph Thomson makes a Treaty for latter Company with the Sultan of Sokoto1885
Portugal extends her territory to the south bank of the Congo and to Kabinda1884-5
France concludes treaty with Madagascar which gives her predominant influence over that island (declares protectorate over Komoro Islands 1886)1885
The Anglo-Egyptian forces sustain severe defeats near Suakin at the hands of the Sudanese under Osman Digna: Suakin is retained, but Egyptian rule in the Nile valley is restricted to Wady Haifa. Italy occupies Masawa1885
Great discoveries of reef gold in the Transvaal; founding of Johannesburg1886
War breaks out in N. Nyasaland between British settlers and Arab slave traders1887
In Oil rivers (Niger Delta) Jaja, King of Opobo, is arrested and banished; access to interior markets is then obtained1887
French Senegambian possessions definitely extended to the Upper Niger1887
Imperial British East Africa Company receives Charter1888
Serious rebellion against the Germans breaks out in East Africa (is not finally subdued by von Wissmann till 1890)1888
British protectorate over N. Somaliland first organized1889
Italian protectorate established over East Somaliland: and treaty concluded with Menelik of Ethiopia by which Italy claimed to control foreign relations of Abyssinia1889
Charter given to British South African Company1889
British Central Africa declared to be under British protection: British flag hoisted on Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa1889
In 1887 Stanley conducts an expedition by way of the Congo to relieve Emin Pasha. He discovers the Edward Lake and Ruwenzori Mountains and reaches Zanzibar1889
Anglo-German Agreement concluded relative to East Africa: Zanzibar taken under British protection; Great Britain recognizes French protectorate over Madagascar and French Sphere of Influence between Algeria, the Niger, and Lake Chad; and France recognizes the British Control over Sokoto and the Lower Niger1890
Cecil Rhodes, managing director of the British South Africa Company, becomes premier of Cape Colony1890
French expeditions reach the river Shari from the Congo Basin and secure that river to French influence1890-1
Captain (afterwards Colonel Sir Frederick) Lugard establishes British predominance ever Uganda1891
A German force annihilated by Wa-hehe in south central part of German East Africa1891
Paul Crampel, the first explorer crossing from the Congo basin to, the Shari river, is killed by a subordinate chief under Rabah Zobeir on the borders of Dar Banda1891
Belgians establish posts in Schweinfurth’s Wele1892
Natal receives responsible government1893
France conquers and annexes Dahomé1893
Rabah Zobeir becomes Sultan of Bornu by conquest1893
First Matebele war; death of Lobengula; Buluwayo becomes the capital of Rhodesia1893
French occupy Jenne and Timbuktu on the Upper Niger1893-4
The Belgian forces under Baron Dhanis capture all the Arab towns on the Lualaba (Upper Congo) and destroy the Arab power in Congoland1892-4
Witboo Hottentot outbreak against Germans in Southwest Africa1894
Uganda declared a British protectorate; Charter of British East Africa Company withdrawn and British East Africa henceforth administered under British Commissioner1894-5
Arabs finally defeated and expelled from Nyasaland Protectorate1895
Major Mouzinho de Albuquerque captures the Zulu king Gungunyana and firmly establishes Portuguese dominion in South-east Africa1895
Captain Bottego establishes Italian post at Lugh on the Jub river1895
France conquers and annexes Madagascar1894-6
Jameson raid into Transvaal; Matebele revolt and second Matebele war1896
Italy sustains terrible defeat in North Abyssinia. Her protectorate over Abyssinia withdrawn and that country’s independence recognized1896
Anglo-Egyptian army reconquers Dongola1896
Conquest of Nupe by the Royal Niger Company1897
Zululand incorporated with Natal1897
Railway completed to Buluwayo1897
Emile Gentil reaches Shari river and Lake Chad from Congo, and establishes French protectorate over Bagirmi1897
Benin city and kingdom conquered by a British Naval Expedition (after a massacre of a pacific expedition under J. R. Phillips)1897
German East Africa declared a German colony1897
Revolt of Sudanese soldiers temporarily imperils British position in Uganda. Col. Sir J. R. L. Macdonald’s expedition reveals geography of region between Lake Rudolf and Nile; Sir Harry Johnston reorganizes the administration of Uganda protectorate and concludes a new treaty with kingdom of Buganda1897-98-1900
Anglo-French agreement signed with regard to Niger1898
Anglo-German agreement relative to Delagoa Bay and Other Portuguese possessions in Africa signed in1898
Samori, the last great warrior chief of Senegal-Niger, defeated and captured by the French1898
Serious rising against the British Sierra Leone protectorate1898
Railway opened from Lower Congo to Stanley pool1898
Khartum captured by Sir H. (since Viscount) Kitchener and Anglo-Egyptian influence established over the Sudan; Wadi Halfa-Dongola railway continued towards Khartum1898
Major Marchand, who is sent to Fashoda by French Government, is withdrawn thence on British protests1898
The British and French Governments conclude an appendix to the Niger Convention of 1898 which determines approximately the boundaries of British and French influence in the Eastern Sudan1899
Ashanti rising and final conquest of Ashanti1900
Northern Nigeria taken over for administration by the British Government1900
The Khalifa and nearly all his remaining generals perish in the battle of Omdubreikat (Kordofan) in November, 1899, and Osman Digna is captured near Suakin in January. Sir Reginald Wingate becomes Governor-General of Sudan1900
Rabah Zobeir, the Sudanese conqueror of Bornu, etc., dies in battle with the French1900
The Sadd or obstructive water vegetation of Mountain Nile is cut through by Major Malcolm Peake and navigation opened up between Khartum and Gondokoro (Uganda)1900-1
Railway from Wadi Halfa reaches Khartum1901
Sleeping sickness begins in Uganda in the autumn of1901
War breaks out in South Africa between Boer Republics and Great Britain (October 1899); Bloemfontein and Pretoria taken, 1900; Orange Free State and Transvaal annexed to British Empire, 1900; peace concluded1902
Fadl-Allah, son and successor of Rabah, dies after his defeat by the French on the frontiers of Bornu1902
Right Hon. Cecil Rhodes dies at Muizenburg near Cape Town, March1902
German occupation of Lake Chad districts1902
The final conquest of Northern Nigeria begins 1902. (Yola, Bauchi, Bornu) and finishes (Kano and Sokoto)1903
Uganda railway from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza open for through service in1903
Mr E. D. Morel commences his public denunciations of King Leopold’s misgovernment of the Congo State in 1902; (Sir) Roger Casement sent out to investigate and report1903-4
British-Somali War1902-4
Anglo-French Agreement, allotting Morocco to a French and Egypt to a British Sphere of Influence1904
King Leopold sends an international commission to the Congo basin to investigate truth of charges brought against his administration (1904); the commission reports1905
Mauretania (land between Senegal and Moroccan Sahara) taken under French administration1904-5
Lagos and Niger coast united as “Southern Nigeria”1904
Rhodesian “Cape to Cairo” railway reaches and bridges Zambezi at Victoria Falls1905
French conquest of Wadai, the great slave-raiding state of the Central Sudan, begins1904
Italian government takes on direct management of Italian Somaliland1905
German Emperor decides to pay state visit to Morocco at Tangiers and thereby calls in question the allotment of Morocco to France as a sphere of influence1905
The Congress of Algeciras meets in southern Spain to discuss the future of Morocco1906
Railway from Khartum-Berber to Port Sudan (Red Sea) opened1906
Grant of responsible.government to the Transvaal1906
In 1903 the Hottentots rebel against German authority in South-west Africa. In 1904 the Ova-herero (Damaras) join the rebellion, which is not finally crushed until1906-7
Responsible government granted to Orange River Colony (Orange Free State)1907
Diamonds found in German South-west Africa1908
Belgium annexes the Congo Independent State1908-9
In 1908 serious troubles break out in Western Morocco (Shawia country) obliging France to land a large force and occupy Casa Blanca and the neighbourhood; Mulai Hafid defeats his brother (Abd-el-Aziz) and becomes Sultan in his place; France and Germany come to a temporary arrangement which recognizes France’s “political interests” in Morocco1909
Union of South Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange State) proclaimed1909
Spaniards send an army of 50,000 men to conquer and occupy Rif country (North-east Morocco)1909-10
France conquers the Arab and Berber nomad tribes of Adrar (Mauretania)1909-10
France finally conquers Wadai1910
Rhodesian “Cape to Cairo” railway opened as far as Congolese frontier in Katanga1910
Viscount Kitchener becomes British Agent in Egypt1911
“Cape to Cairo” railway extended from Khartum to El Obeid (Kordofan)1911
The “Panther,” sent to Agadir on the south-west coast of Morocco by Germany, reopens the Morocco question; but the incident ends in a German recognition of a French protectorate over Morocco1911
Italy lands 80,000 men at Tripoli and eventually annexes all Tripoli and Barka1911-12
France cedes to Germany important territories which connect the Kamerun colony with the Mubangi river and the main Congo, making Germany a “Congo” power1911-12
Railway from Lagos to Kano (Hausaland) finished1912
Liberian Republic entrusts the management of its finances and interior police to officials appointed by United States President1911-12
France and Spain definitely settle their partition of Morocco; and France occupies all important Moroccan towns except Tangier1912

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