In 1886 the Sultan of Zanzibar confirmed the extra-territorial rights granted Americans under a treaty made with the Sultan of Muscat in 1833, which lasted until the British occupa tion and the Anglo-American convention of 1905.
In 1903 a most-favored nation commercial treaty was effected by the United States' repre sentative with Abyssinia.
The United States had shared in the most favored nation treaty arranged in relation to Moroccan affairs by the Madrid conference of 1880, and at the Algeciras conference in 1906, precipitated by German intervention, its repre sentatives signed the treaty °without assuming obligation or responsibility for its enforce ment," the Senate ratifying °without purpose to depart from the traditional American for eign policy.° See AMERICAN DIPLOMACY; TREATIES; UNITED STATES - DIPLOMACY OF THE.
Modern History — International Inter vention and Colonization.— Before 1875 the only European powers with considerable interest in Africa were Great Britain, France and Portugal, the first being pre dominant. After the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) the unified German nation desired to build up a colonial empire, France also sought compensation for her loss of European prestige by colonial expansion, while Italy, recently be come a united kingdom, likewise desired colonies. South America being protected by the Monroe Doctrine, Africa was the only field open to these conflicting ambitions. Great Britain and Portugal, seeing their influence threatened, determined to guard and if possible extend their possessions. Matters were brought to a head by Leopold II, King of Belgium, who con ceived the project of forming a great state in the recently discovered Kongo territory in cen tral Africa. On his initiative the °International African Association° was founded in 1876, with headquarters at Brussels, ostensibly to place the exploration and commercial development of Africa on an international footing. This *asso ciation° finally resulted in the Berlin Confer ence of 1884, by which the Kongo Free State was established under the sovereignty of the Belgian King, and the general spheres of influ ence of the other Great Powers were defined. Meantime Germany had established a footing in East Africa and Italy on the Red Sea, France had secured her conquest of Algeria and established a protectorate over Tunisia, and Great Britain had consolidated her influence in South Africa. The possessions of the powers were added to and the boundaries more or less definitely fixed in subsequent agreements, the most important of which are those of 1 July 1890 between Germany and England; of 5 Aug. 1890 betyveen France and England; of 11 June 1891 between Portugal and England; of 24 March and 15 April 1891 between England and Italy, and of 15 March 1894 between France and Germany. As a result of the Fashoda incident in 1898, England secured control of the Upper Nile valley; by the Boer war (1899 1902) she gained possession of the South Af rican Republic and Orange River Free State, which in 1910 were united with Natal and Cape of Good Hope Colony under the name of Union of South Africa, while by the conventions of 1899 and 1904 she strengthened her already dominant position in Egypt. The latter, how
ever, remained nominally under Turkish con trol until 18 Dec. 1914, when a British protec torate was declared. Belgium annexed the Kongo Free State in 1907-08; Italy annexed Tripoli 1911-12, and France declared a protec torate over Morocco 1912. In 1915 territory under British control in Africa included: North and South Nigeria and protectorate, Gold Coast and protectorate, Sierra Leone and protec torate, Gambia and protectorate in West Africa; Mauritius and dependencies; Seychelles Islands, Somaliland, East African protectorate, Uganda protectorate, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba in East Africa; Nyasaland, Union of South Africa, Rhodesia, Swaziland, Basutoland and Bechuanaland in South Africa; Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; the islands of Ascen sion and Saint Helena; in all an area of 3,514, 271 square miles, with a population of 52,311,544. Territory under French control included: Al geria and Algerian Sahara, Tunisia, Morocco, French Kongo, Madagascar, Mayotte and the Comoro Islands, Reunion Island, French Soma liland and French West Africa in which are comprised Senegal, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Senegal and Niger Terri tories and Mauretania; in all an area of 4,403, 401 square miles (including Morocco), with a population of 30,681,243. Territory under Ger man control before the European war included: Togo, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa, German East Africa; in all an area of 931,460 square miles, with a population of 14,890,000. German Southwest Africa was conquered by Great Britain 1915, Togo in 1914, Kamerun 1915. Territory under Portuguese control in cluded: Cape Verde Islands (1912), Guinea, Principe and Saint Thomas Islands, Angola, Mozambique; in all an area of 793,980 square miles, with a population of 8,245,032. Territory under Italian control included: Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Tripoli and Cyrenaica; in all an area of 591,230 square miles, with a population of 1,378,176. Territory under Spanish control included: Rio de Oro and Adrar, Spanish Guinea and islands of Fernando Po, Annabon, Corisco, Great Elobey and Little Elobey; in all an area of 84,814 square miles and a popula tion of 235,844. The Belgian Kongo has an area of 909,654 square miles, with a population of 15,000,000. Liberia (area 40,000 square miles, population 1,500,000-2,100,000) being under the supervision of the United States as regards finances, military organization, etc., Abyssinia (area 350,000 square miles, population about 8,000,000) is the only independent nation re maining in Africa. For further details see sep arate countries mentioned.