1893 Philip Map of Border Between British and Portuguese Central East Africa

This is an 1893 George Philip map of the border between British and Portuguese Central East Africa decided upon in the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891. Depicting the border as it was surveyed by the Anglo-Portuguese Delimination Commission in 1892, innumerable rivers, mountain peaks, and roads are identified. Green is used to highlight areas of trees and brush, while brown marks the spine of mountains that forms part of the newly designated border. Notes provide commentary on the terrain, water supply, vegetation, and animal life.

Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891

The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891 ended over twenty years of conflict and disagreement between British and Portuguese territorial claims in eastern central Africa. It fixed the boundaries between the British Central Africa Protectorate, Mashonaland and Matabeleland (both administered by the British South Africa Company), North-Western Rhodesia, and Portuguese Mozambique, as well as the border between North-Eastern Rhodesia and Portuguese Angola. Conflicts began in the mid-19th century, when the Portuguese began to advocate for territorial claims connecting their African colonial possessions on the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts, respectively. This territory was ‘occupied’ at the time by British missionaries and business interests. Several treaties attempting to end the disagreement were never ratified, and the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, which created the concept of effective occupation instead of claims of discovery or exploration, effectively halted Portuguese claims. Nonetheless, the Portuguese continued to advocate for their ‘rights’ to this land and sent expeditions inland from both coasts to sign treaties with the local tribes. The British, ever cognizant of the presence of Church of England missionaries in the region, particularly in the Shire Highlands, never accepted any of the Portuguese proposals, and finally issued the 1890 British Ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of all Portuguese troops from Mashonaland, Matabeleland, and all the land between the Shire River north of the Ruo River and Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), which included the disputed Shire Highlands. Eventually, after two further failed attempts, the British and the Portuguese signed the 1891 treaty, which fixed all the borders between British and Portuguese territories in central East Africa.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by George Philip and published by the Royal Geographical Society in the December 1893 edition of The Geographical Journal. One example is catalogued in the OCLC and it is part of the institutional collection at The British Library.