French Imperialism in — The earliest centre of French interests in Africa was Egspi. hut, as has been pointed out above. France was excluded from Egypt by British action in In the meantime, however, France had been lay mg elsewhere the basis for the great French colonial dominions in Africa. Algeria was quered in the Orleanist period (1830-48). Set tlements were made at Gabun following 1640 which opened the way for the colonization of French Equatorial Africa. At the same time posts were located on the Ivory and Guinea coasts which prepared the way for the French expansion in the Senegal and Niger regions. Entry into Somaliland after 1864 put in French hands the key to the lower end of the Red Sea and to the Gulf of Aden. Tunis was made a protectorate in 1881, and Italy was thereby estranged from France and impelled to enter the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria. By the Anglo-French agreement of 1890 French possession of the Sahara district was confirmed and a protectorate allowed over Madagascar. which was transformed into a French colony in 1896. In the early °90's' the French ex tended their possessions in the Senegal. Niger and Kongo districts, and by the Anglo-Fiends agreement of 1899 France acquired the cen tral Sudan and was enabled thereby to connect Algeria and the Sahara with the French K.utigu In 1900 and 1902 Italy agreed to a French pro tectorate over Morocco in lieu of French con sent to Italian occupation of Tripoli, and in 1904 Great Britain gave her assent to the Mo roccan protectorate in return for a French will ingness to see a British protectorate proclaimed in Ejopt, but at this juncture Germany- took a hand and the dispute over Morocco threatened the peace of Europe for some seen rears.
Early in 1905 the Gtrman emperor landed as Tangier and hailed the sultan of Morocco as an independent prince, thereby ignoring or defying French interests in that country. France was not able to accept the challenge on acevunt of Russian weakness at the time and the dispute was temporarily settled by the Algeciras Ceti ference of 1906. But the French were unwilling to cease their political penetration and the Ger man economic interests pressed their govern ment for more vigorous action. A second seri ous crisis arising over the action of the Fiends and German authorities at Casablanca was set tled without hostilitits through referring the dispute tt The Hague. A more serious trists ao.se three sears later when, as a cuunterpoise t the Fri rich of Fes, a German force b. it d the port of Agadir. War was %•C.I) ate rte I !na d. unite statement from the Brit ish that Great Britain wood stand wrh France in the contrusersy Germans hacked down and agreed to the convention of November 1911, wherebv she gate France s free hand in Morocco in return for a cession of a pan of the French Kongo. Accordingly, France transformed Morocco into a French pro tectorate between 30 March and 28 Sept. 1912, and thereby rounded out her possession of the most of northwestern Africa. See FRA NCE —