ABSTRACT
Until the last quarter of 1884 Britain remained the unchallenged arbitor of the fate of Zanzibar. At that moment the British had a last opportunity, due to a private initiative, to anticipate the yet unrealized German threat to Barghash’s state. A young explorer, Harry Johnston, then leading an expedition on Kilimanjaro backed by various British societies, signed agreements, of the usual dubious value, with African leaders of the region. These agreements, he informed certain officials, could serve as the basis for a British establishment in the interior. There was some Foreign Office interest in the scheme, leading to Kirk being queried as to his opinion concerning such a major change in existing British policy. The Zanzibar consul did not judge it desirable to alter the system he had presided over since the beginning of Barghash’s reign, informing his questioners that Johnston’s inland territory, the inherent value of which he doubted, was worthless without the inclusion of a coastal port providing free access to it. But, said Kirk, any move to secure a holding along the coast was a violation of the Anglo-French declaration of 1862 guaranteeing the independence of Zanzibar, a step probably leading to a ‘general scramble’ among interested nations — he mentioned France and Germany — for the sultan’s dominions. [1] Kirk did recognize, however, that the increasing European interest in East Africa made incursions into regions hitherto normally recognized as subject to Zanzibar inevitable, suggesting therefore that
the private British holders of the Kilimanjaro concession build up their local position before any rivals arrived to dispute their claims.
