The Sierra Leone Company, faced with bankruptcy because of the outlawing of the slave trade in British colonies, petitions the British government for purchase and transfer of its property to the Crown; Parliament approves the transfer on July 29, and it will take effect on January 1, 1808.

Middle Africa (1864–1875 CE): Portuguese Ambitions, German Commercial Expansion, and Fernando Pó’s Multicultural Society

Between 1864 and 1875 CE, Middle Africa—comprising modern Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola including its Cabinda enclave—experiences renewed European ambitions, the onset of systematic German commercial activity, and significant demographic and cultural developments in Spanish-controlled Fernando Pó.

Portuguese Aspirations for a Trans-African Territory

In the early 1870s, Portugal formulates plans to create a continuous territorial belt connecting Angola on the Atlantic coast to Mozambique on the Indian Ocean coast. An advisory commission attached to Portugal’s Ministry of the Navy and Colonies promotes this ambitious trans-African expedition, reflecting Lisbon’s strategic aspirations to control a contiguous zone across central Africa. Despite government enthusiasm and initial funding, these ambitions remain unfulfilled. Portugal finds itself unable to effectively assert control over the expansive and difficult-to-navigate African interior, where local polities maintain significant autonomy and power.

Portuguese Expansion Renewed and Lisbon Geographical Society

By the mid-1870s, renewed expansionist efforts emerge within Portugal, driven significantly by the influential Lisbon Geographical Society, established in 1875. Composed of industrialists, scholars, colonial officials, and military officers, this society stimulates public and governmental interest in Portugal’s African territories, fostering colonial enthusiasm at home.

Responding to these growing interests, the Portuguese government allocates substantial financial resources toward public works in African colonies and initiates a minor revival of missionary activities. Although concrete territorial gains remain limited, these developments set the stage for intensified Portuguese efforts in subsequent decades.

German Commercial Expansion in Kamerun

In 1868, the German trading company C. Woermann from Hamburg establishes the first German trading post in the Duala area (modern-day Douala, Cameroon), located at the Kamerun River delta (today the Wouri River delta). Johannes Thormählen, Woermann’s agent in Gabon, expands operations to this region, and in 1874 collaborates with another merchant, Wilhelm Jantzen, Woermann’s agent in Liberia, to form their own commercial enterprise, Jantzen & Thormählen.

These pioneering commercial ventures rapidly develop into larger operations, obtaining extensive acreage from local chiefs and introducing systematic plantation agriculture, notably banana cultivation. Additionally, both Woermann and Jantzen & Thormählen soon expand into shipping, deploying their own sailing ships and steamers and establishing scheduled passenger and freight services connecting Hamburg directly to Duala. These enterprises mark the beginning of German economic and commercial penetration into Central Africa, laying important groundwork for subsequent colonial claims.

Multicultural Evolution of Fernando Pó

The Spanish-controlled island colony of Fernando Pó (modern-day Bioko, Equatorial Guinea) sees significant social and demographic transformations. By this era, the plantations on Fernando Pó are predominantly managed by a prosperous black Creole elite, later known as the Fernandinos. These elites trace their roots back to approximately two thousand settlers from Sierra Leone and freed slaves who had been settled by the British during their period of control (1827–1843).

Following the British departure, limited but steady immigration continues from West Africa, the West Indies, and other regions, augmenting the local population. Freed Angolan slaves, Portuguese-African Creoles, Nigerians, Liberians, and other West African immigrants also settle on Fernando Pó, integrating into the emerging multicultural society. Moreover, the demographic mix is further enriched by arrivals of Cubans, Filipinos, Catalans, Jews, and various Spaniards—including political exiles deported by Spain for criminal or political reasons, and small numbers of government-sponsored settlers.

This diverse demographic mosaic contributes significantly to the unique cultural and social dynamics on Fernando Pó, distinguishing it from other colonial holdings in the region and laying the groundwork for its future social complexity.

Legacy of the Era

The period 1864–1875 marks a crucial juncture in Middle Africa, characterized by ambitious Portuguese colonial initiatives, burgeoning German commercial activity, and the multicultural expansion of Fernando Pó. These developments significantly influence subsequent patterns of European intervention and African resistance, shaping the economic, social, and political landscape of the region in the decades that follow.

Middle Africa (1876–1887 CE): Portuguese Claims, European Partition, and Intensified Slave Trade

Between 1876 and 1887 CE, Middle Africa—covering modern Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola (including its Cabinda enclave)—experiences intensified European colonial ambitions, extensive disruptions from slave-trading activities, and the early stages of partitioning by European powers.

Portuguese Claims and the Berlin Conference

In 1883, aware of competing French and Belgian activities along the lower Congo River, Portugal occupies Cabinda and Massabi, asserting longstanding territorial claims north of the Congo River and annexing areas of the former Kongo Kingdom. Portugal seeks international recognition by negotiating a treaty with Britain in 1884, but this agreement is rejected by other European powers, especially France and Belgium.

Portugal's appeals for an international conference initially find little support. However, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck seizes upon this idea, aiming to diminish French and British colonial dominance. Consequently, the pivotal Berlin Conference (1884–1885) convenes, profoundly impacting Central African geopolitics. At the conference, Belgium’s King Leopold II gains recognition for his privately controlled International Association of the Congo, subsequently establishing the Congo Free State. This territory, officially neutral and open to free trade, is in reality subjected to Leopold’s brutal exploitation in the following decades.

German Establishment in Kamerun

Germany formalizes its presence in Central Africa during this era. In 1884, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, influenced by merchant Adolph Woermann, dispatches the gunboat SMS Möwe to protect German trading interests at Douala, laying foundations for the colony of Kamerun. Prominent German firms—including Woermann and Jantzen & Thormählen—establish expansive trading networks and plantations, notably cultivating bananas and other export crops. The administration supports commercial interests by suppressing local uprisings, as Germany aspires to link Kamerun to its East African territories through the Congo region.

French Expansion in Gabon and the Congo

French explorers, notably Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, significantly expand French influence during this period. Brazza, guided by Gabonese bearers, explores the upper reaches of the Congo River, securing treaties and establishing strategic posts. In 1880, Brazza negotiates a treaty with King Makoko of the Bateke, formally establishing the French Congo colony in 1882, with Franceville founded as an important regional center. By 1885, France officially occupies Gabon, though full administrative control will be delayed until the early twentieth century.

Devastating Slave Trade in the Central African Interior

The late nineteenth century witnesses intensified slave-raiding activities in the present-day Central African Republic and surrounding regions. Slave traders from the Sahara, the Nile Basin, and Arab-led expeditions disrupt local societies severely. The Bobangi people, controlling slave trade along the upper Congo and Ubangi rivers, dominate commerce, selling captives primarily to the Americas. The widespread use of the Bangi language emerges to facilitate interethnic commerce throughout the Congo Basin.

Slave raiders from the Sudanese states of Wadai and Darfur, along with Khartoum-based armies under leaders like Rabih al-Zubayr, decimate populations such as the Banda people. Raids, warfare, and forced migrations profoundly disrupt indigenous societies, with extensive population losses caused directly by slavery and related conflicts.

Azande Expansion and Fragmentation

The Azande people, emerging from the merging of the Bandia and Vungara peoples, continue their territorial expansion across the southeastern savannas of present-day Central African Republic and neighboring regions. Succession struggles among Azande rulers drive defeated contenders to establish new kingdoms, facilitating their spread northward and eastward. By the late nineteenth century, Azande territories become fragmented by slave raids from the north, and soon thereafter, colonial boundaries established by Belgium, France, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan permanently divide Azande society.

Luba Instability and Chokwe Expansion

By the late nineteenth century, the Luba Kingdom experiences severe internal instability due to continual dynastic conflicts. The absence of stable succession mechanisms weakens the Luba monarchy significantly, facilitating invasions by the aggressive and militarily superior Chokwe people. Armed with firearms and driven by the lucrative trade in slaves, ivory, wax, and later rubber, Chokwe warriors conquer and occupy extensive Luba territories, spreading turmoil across the central savannas.

The Chokwe quickly absorb conquered populations, integrating them into their existing social structure, thereby rapidly expanding their influence. However, by the end of the century, the Chokwe will be pushed back by resilient Lunda forces.

Multicultural Development in Fernando Pó

On Spanish-controlled Fernando Pó (now Bioko), significant administrative and social changes take place. Following recommendations to move settlements to higher elevations to reduce tropical disease exposure, by 1884 major plantations and administrative functions have relocated to Basile, several hundred meters above sea level. This move greatly improves survival rates for Europeans and other settlers. The island continues to host a vibrant, multicultural community of Creoles, Africans, and exiled Europeans, enhancing its distinctive cultural landscape.

Lasting Consequences of the Era

Between 1876 and 1887, the foundations of European colonial empires in Central Africa are decisively laid, accompanied by severe disruptions from intensified slave raiding and interethnic warfare. European competition and the outcomes of the Berlin Conference reshape the geopolitical landscape profoundly, setting the stage for the colonial era that will dominate the region well into the twentieth century.

Arthur Havelock, Sierra Leone’s Governor and British consul to Liberia from February 1881, demands that Liberia cede disputed territory to the British colony.

The area in question is known as the Gallinas territory, an area lying between the Sewa River and the Mano River, and the vague border between Sierra Leone and Liberia has been unsettled for years.

On March 20, 1882, Havelock leads a flotilla of four British gunboats to the Liberian capital Monrovia, issuing a demand that Liberia cede all territories up to the Mafa River to Great Britain, and pay an indemnity of eighty-five hundred pounds to British merchant traders for injuries inflicted in 1871 by tribes inhabiting the area of the British claim.

A treaty is signed, but its ratification is refused by the Liberian Senate, and Havelock and his gunboats return to Monrovia in September this year, demanding immediate acknowledgment of the British claims, and ratification of the treaty.

The senate refuses once more, and although Havelock's diplomacy prevents a bloody conflict, ...

...Portugese, British and French traders have since the eighteeenth century established small stations on the coast called Rivières du Sud by the French.

The Portugese had established trading stations at Rio Pongo and Rio Nunez, mostly for the purchase of enslaved Africans captured inland and brought to the coast.

British suppression of the slave trade and Portuguese imperial decline had seen these posts abandoned by the 1820s,  with British and French traders moving in.

The French admiral Bouët-Willaumez had made a number of treaties with coastal communities in the area (usually under the threat of force), and ensured Marseille-based trade houses exclusive access to the palm oil trade by the 1840s.

Used for making soap, the palm oil trade is with Jola merchants who establish markets in the interior, and transport it to the coastal stations.

The French colonial governor of Senegal Louis Faidherbe in the 1850s had formalized the colonial structure that had been christened Rivières du Sud.

In 1854, Guinea ports had been placed under control of Naval administration and split from new colonial administration in Saint-Louis, Senegal under the name Gorée and Dependencies.

Previously, they had fallen under the naval 'supreme commander in Gabon' of the Establissements francais de la Cote de l'Or et du Gabon.

By 1859, Faidherbe's campaigns of conquest on the riverine coast south of Gorée had seen the region annexed to the colonial administration, under the arrondissement of Gorée.

The Rivières du Sud now referred to the entire region from Sine-Salmon to the border of British Sierra Leone.

In 1865 the fort at Boké had been built in the Rio Nunez area, expanding from the main French-controlled town of Conakry.

Shortly after this, Bayol had been taken as a 'protectorate' as well.

The Rio Pongo area, nominally held by Germany, had been traded to France for their 'rights' to Porto-Seguro and Petit Popo on the Togolese coast.

The British formally recognize French control of the area, and the administrative division collecting these possessions is created under the name Rivières du Sud in 1882.

The Anglo-French Convention of 1882, signed on June 28, 1882 between the United Kingdom and France, confirms the territorial boundaries between Guinea and Sierra Leone around Conakry and Freetown.

However, it will never be fully ratified by the French Chamber of Deputies although is officially recognized by the British Foreign Office.

British troops from Sierra Leone march into the disputed territory several months later.

Liberia, despite the support of the United States, realizes that resisting the British claim is futile, and signs the treaty in London on November 22, 1885.

The border will finally be settled in 1903 by a mixed commission from both countries.

Middle Africa (1888–1899 CE): Colonial Consolidation, Economic Exploitation, and Indigenous Resistance

Between 1888 and 1899 CE, Middle Africa—including the modern territories of Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola (with its Cabinda enclave)—experiences intensified European colonial consolidation, ruthless economic exploitation, and significant indigenous resistance.

Portuguese Consolidation in Angola and Cabinda

Portugal solidifies its territorial claims in Angola and Cabinda through treaties with neighboring colonial powers. Borders with the French Congo and the Belgian Congo are established through agreements in 1886 and 1894, respectively. By the century’s end, Portugal’s territorial ambitions are largely recognized internationally, though genuine administrative control over interior regions remains weak.

Despite increased Portuguese presence, indigenous groups such as the Ovimbundu, Chokwe, and Imbangala continue to dominate regional trade networks, especially along the profitable southern trade route connecting the Bié Plateau to Benguela. The economic strength and political autonomy of these groups, however, diminish significantly under increasing colonial pressure.

Efforts to encourage Portuguese immigration largely fail due to Angola’s harsh climate and lack of economic incentives. By 1900, Angola’s white population is still under ten thousand, concentrated mainly in coastal cities such as Luanda and Benguela, where they engage primarily in commerce and trade. African peoples remain over ninety-nine percent of the population despite suffering severe demographic disruption due to decades of warfare and exploitation.

French Occupation of Ubangi-Shari

France establishes firm colonial control over the territory of Ubangi-Shari (present-day Central African Republic). French expeditions, beginning with the founding of the Bangi outpost in 1889, intensify in the early 1890s, culminating in the creation of the Upper Ubangi colony in 1894. Disputes with Leopold II’s Congo Free State over territorial boundaries—particularly around the Ubangi-Bomu region—lead to tensions that are only resolved by the end of the decade when the Upper Ubangi colony is reintegrated into French Congo in 1899.

Brutal Exploitation in the Congo Free State

In the Congo Free State, under King Leopold II of Belgium, ruthless exploitation becomes institutionalized. Leopold's agents and their African auxiliaries, the capitas, systematically employ coercive force to meet escalating quotas for rubber and ivory extraction. Indigenous resistance against these brutal practices provokes violent suppression and countless revolts. Leopold abandons the nominally “free-trade” principles initially proclaimed at the Berlin Conference by instituting monopolistic control over rubber and ivory resources, transforming the Congo Free State into a notorious zone of forced labor and human rights abuses.

Resistance and Conquest in Chad and Cameroon

In the region of modern Chad, the French encounter significant military resistance from the forces of Sudanese warlord Rabih Fadlallah (Rabih az-Zubayr), whose slave raids devastate local states, including Kanem-Borno, Bagirmi, and Wadai. After protracted conflicts throughout the 1890s, French military expeditions begin to close in on Rabih’s strongholds.

In Kamerun (Cameroon), the German Empire intensifies its colonial expansion, encountering staunch resistance from local African populations. German trading companies—such as Woermann—impose harsh forced labor practices to establish lucrative plantations growing bananas, cocoa, and rubber. The indigenous resistance provoked by these practices leads to continuous conflict, yet the Germans steadily entrench their colonial control.

Development and Exploitation in the Gulf of Guinea Islands

On the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, economic developments profoundly alter local conditions. On São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese plantation owners (roças) significantly expand the cultivation of coffee and cocoa, exploiting the islands' fertile volcanic soils. By the early 1900s, São Tomé emerges as the world’s largest cocoa producer. Despite Portugal’s official abolition of slavery in 1876, severe abuses continue under a coercive paid labor system, effectively perpetuating conditions akin to slavery.

On Fernando Pó (Bioko), harsh living conditions persist despite relocation of settlements to healthier, higher elevations. British explorer Mary Kingsley, visiting the island in 1893, describes Fernando Pó as “a more uncomfortable form of execution” for its appointed Spanish officials. Nonetheless, the island’s diverse population—including freed African slaves, Creoles, and exiled Europeans—continues to grow, supporting vibrant plantation economies dominated by elite African and mixed-race populations known as Fernandinos.

Lasting Impacts of Colonial Consolidation

This period sees European colonial powers strengthening their territorial and economic grip on Middle Africa, accompanied by severe exploitation of indigenous peoples and resources. The political fragmentation and human suffering resulting from European colonialism create long-term social and economic legacies, laying foundations for continued resistance, anti-colonial struggles, and enduring social divisions in the decades ahead.

The British in Sierra Leone interact mostly with the Krios in Freetown, who do most of the trading with the indigenous peoples of the interior.

In addition, educated Krios hold numerous positions in the colonial government, giving them status and good-paying positions.

Following the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, the UK had decided that it needed to establish more dominion over the inland areas, to satisfy what was described by the European powers as "effective occupation" of territories.

In 1896 it annexes these areas, declaring them the Sierra Leone Protectorate.

With this change, the British begins to expand their administration in the region, recruiting British citizens to posts, and pushing Krios out of positions in government and even the desirable residential areas in Freetown.

In addition, the British annexation of the Protectorate interferes with the sovereignty of indigenous chiefs.

They designate chiefs as units of local government, rather than dealing with them individually as had been previous practice.

They do not maintain relationships even with longtime allies, such as Bai Bureh, chief of Kasseh, a community on the Small Scarcies River.

He will later be unfairly portrayed as a prime instigator of the Hut Tax war in 1898.

Colonel Frederic Cardew, military governor of the Protectorate, in 1898 establishes a new tax on dwellings and demands that the chiefs use their peoples to maintain roads.

The taxes are often higher than the value of the dwellings, and twenty-four chiefs sign a petition to Cardew, stating how destructive this is; their people cannot afford to take time off from their subsistence agriculture.

They resist payment of taxes.

Tensions over the new colonial requirements, and the administration's suspicions about the chiefs lead to the Hut Tax war of 1898, also called the Temne-Mende War.

The British fire first.

The Northern front of majority Temne people is led by Bai Bureh.

The Southern front, consisting mostly of Mende people, enters conflict somewhat later and for different reasons.

For several months, Bureh's fighters have the advantage over the vastly more powerful British forces, but the British troops and Bureh's warriors suffer hundreds of fatalities.

Bai Bureh finally surrenders on November 11, 1898, to end the destruction of his people's territory and dwellings.

Although the British government recommends leniency, Cardew insists on sending the chief and two allies into exile in the Gold Coast;  his government hangs ninety-six of the chief's warriors.

Bai Bureh will be allowed to return in 1905, when he resumes his chieftaincy of Kasseh.