#HistoryKeThread: The Making of Kenya In Berlin
In October of 1886, European powers Britain and Germany sat down in Berlin to sign the Anglo-German Agreement. A subsequent ratification was done in 1890 and became known as the Heligoland treaty.
In October of 1886, European powers Britain and Germany sat down in Berlin to sign the Anglo-German Agreement. A subsequent ratification was done in 1890 and became known as the Heligoland treaty.
Ahead of this Berlin meeting, the Germans had signed up a number of treaties with various inland communities around Mt. Kilimanjaro, and even as far as Witu (Lamu mainland), whose fort is seen in the background of this photo.
These were areas that were generally considered to be under the Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Barghash, whom they ignored.
When the Witu leader Ahmed Abdullah Simba threatened to cut off his ties with Zanzibar, Barghash threatened to send troops so Witu could recognize Zanzibar’s supremacy.
In response, the Germans sent five warships towards Zanzibar. If Barghash refused to recognize the treaties that Germany had signed with local communities, the Germans warned, then they would flatten the island (Zanzibar).
But the British were also busy claiming various territories in the same area. It was then decided by the European powers that in order to avoid future conflict, that it was necessary to share amongst them the various territories and sign an agreement to this effect.
This was what led to the Anglo-German agreements of 1886 and 1890.
The latter treaty recognized the territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar as consisting of a mainland coastal strip ten miles inland stretching from Cape Delgado in the south to Kipini...
The latter treaty recognized the territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar as consisting of a mainland coastal strip ten miles inland stretching from Cape Delgado in the south to Kipini...
...in the Tana Delta, together with the islands of the Lamu Archipelago, Pemba, Zanzibar and Mafia, and the northern towns of Kismayu, Brava, Merca, Mogadishu and Warsheikh.
The vast interior that lay behind this strip was divided between Germany and Britain. A straight line was drawn Lake Victoria to the coast. As a parting gesture, the Brits redrew the line so that it skirted the northern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro...
..., granting Africa's tallest mountain as a gift to the German emperor.
Thus Mount Kilimanjaro wasn’t hived off from Kenya, per se, as these were territories whose borders were being etched for the first time. The Germans also agreed to withdraw from Witu.
Thus Mount Kilimanjaro wasn’t hived off from Kenya, per se, as these were territories whose borders were being etched for the first time. The Germans also agreed to withdraw from Witu.
Isn’t it interesting that the borders etched in our constitution as our own, and which define the sovereign territory of Kenya, were in fact created in Berlin?
