British-Egyptian expeditions (1885–1889)
110-568: Ethiopian campaigns (1885–1889) Italian campaigns (1890–1894) British-Egyptian reconquest (1896–1899) The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1887 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century. Led by Henry Morton Stanley , its goal was ostensibly the relief of Emin Pasha , the besieged Egyptian governor of Equatoria (part of modern-day South Sudan ), who
220-660: A German fleet forced him to accept the German intrusion. The British-German agreement of 29 October 1886 acknowledged the Sultan's rule over a 10-mile-strip along the coast from Portuguese Mozambique up to the Tana River and some towns on the Somali coast. This agreement, however, was only short-lived as it cut the German areas of influence off the sea. Bargash did not live to see the 1888 agreement come into force which signed off
330-443: A banquet was held, during which an inebriated Emin fell out of a second-storey window he mistook for a balcony, and from which he did not recover until the end of January 1890. In the meantime, the rest of the expedition had dispersed; Stanley went to Zanzibar and then to Cairo, where he wrote the 900 pages of In Darkest Africa in just 50 days. The Zanzibari carriers were paid off or (in the case of prisoners) returned to their masters,
440-663: A child slave, and Jameson's diary also shows that he was well informed of cannibal customs and had even seen remainders of a cannibal meal before, making his line of defense doubtful. After the dispatch of a number of letters down-Congo, the expedition returned to Fort Bodo, taking a different route that proved no better for food supply, and it reached the Fort on 20 December, now reduced to 412 men, of whom 124 were too ill to carry any loads. On 16 January 1889, near Lake Albert, Stanley received letters from Emin and Jephson, who had been made prisoner by Emin's officers for several months, while at
550-703: A curse pronounced in the Holy City of the Prophet . But his sister did not pardon him before he had set free the innocent Chalîfe." Sayyid Barghash had a treaty with the British to help stop the Zanzibar slave trade , but he was not always scrupulous in his commitment. In the late-1860s, he was suspected of taking money from the slave traders to allow them to continue the practice, and he maintained this double deal for some years; HMS Daphne liberated 2000 slaves in
660-438: A fortified camp. Meanwhile, at Stanley Falls, Tippu Tib attempted to acquire carriers, but he believed that Stanley had broken his part of their agreement by leaving ammunition behind, and Barttelot came to Yambuya with only an indefinite promise that carriers would arrive in several weeks. Stanley, however, insisted on speed, and left for Lake Albert on 28 June, originally expecting to take two months. The Advance Column, however,
770-492: A heated argument, Stanley determined to leave shortly, and the expedition departed Kavalli's for the coast on 10 April. The trip to the coast passed first south, along the western flank of the Ruwenzoris , and Stairs attempted to ascend to a summit, reaching 10,677 ft before having to turn around. They then passed by Lake Edward and Lake George , then across to the southernmost point of Lake Victoria , passing through
880-652: A long time. Finally, on 17 August at Banalya, 90 miles upstream from Yambuya, Stanley found Bonny, the sole European left in charge of the column, along with a handful of starving carriers. Barttelot had been shot in a dispute, Jameson was at Bangala dying of a fever, Troup had been invalided home, and Herbert Ward had gone back down the Congo a second time to telegraph the Relief Committee in London for further instructions (the column had not heard from Stanley in over
990-644: A military diversion as Italy had requested. Lord Salisbury then ordered the Sirdar , Brigadier Herbert Kitchener to make preparations for an advance up the Nile . As Governor-General of Suakin from 1886 to 1888, Kitchener had held off the Mahdist forces under Osman Digna from the Red Sea coast, but he had never commanded a large army in battle. Kitchener took a methodical, unhurried approach to recovering Sudan. In
1100-503: A number of publications made after the expedition, Stanley asserted that the singular purpose of the effort was to offer relief to Emin Pasha. The advantages of the Congo route were about five hundred miles shorter land journey, and less opportunities for deserting. It also quieted the fears of the French and Germans that, behind this professedly humanitarian quest, we might have annexation projects. However, Stanley's other writings point to
1210-424: A particle remained, each man taking his piece away down to the river to wash it. The most extraordinary thing was that the girl never uttered a sound, nor struggled, until she fell. Until the last moment, I could not believe that they were in earnest... that it was anything save a ruse to get money out of me.... When I went home I tried to make some small sketches of the scene while still fresh in my memory, not that it
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#17327726065941320-480: A relief expedition. Stanley declared himself ready "at a moment's notice" to go. Mackinnon then approached James Frederick Hutton , a business acquaintance also involved in colonial activities, and together they organized the "Emin Pasha Relief Committee", mostly consisting of Mackinnon's friends, among them Francis de Winton . Their first meeting took place on 19 December 1886. The Committee raised
1430-510: A second relief expedition under Frederick John Jackson . After waiting fruitlessly for news of the Jackson expedition, Stanley left on 17 September, with a party now reduced to some 700 by a combination of death and desertion. As the expedition approached the coast, they encountered parties of Germans and other signs of German activity in the interior, and were met by commissioner Wissmann on 4 December and escorted into Bagamoyo . That evening
1540-652: A secondary goal — territorial annexation. In his account of the expedition, he implied that his meeting with the Sultan of Zanzibar was in regards to British interests in East Africa . These interests were threatened not only by the Mahdists, but also by German imperial ambitions in the region; Germany would not recognize British suzerainty over Zanzibar (and its continental holdings) until 1890 . I have settled several little commissions at Zanzibar satisfactorily. One
1650-523: A slave-trader, and the second agreement regarded the provisions of carriers for the expedition. In addition to transporting stores, the carriers were now also expected to bring out some 75 tons of ivory stored in Equatoria. Stanley posted letters to Emin predicting his arrival on Lake Albert around August. The expedition left Zanzibar on 25 February and, rounding the Cape of Good Hope , arrived at Banana at
1760-523: A total of about £32,000. Stanley was officially still in the employment of Leopold II of Belgium , by whom he had been employed in carving out Leopold's ' Congo Free State '. As a compromise for letting Stanley go, it was arranged in a meeting in Brussels between Stanley and the king, that the expedition would take a longer route up the Congo River , contrary to plans for a shorter route inland from
1870-469: A year). The original purpose of the rear column – to wait for the additional carriers from Tippu Tib – had not been accomplished, since without the ammunition supplied by the expedition, Tippu Tib had nothing with which to recruit. After several side trips, Barttelot decided to send Troup and the others on the sick list down the Congo, and 11 June 1888, after the arrival of a group of Manyema bringing Barttelot's total to 560, set off in search of Stanley. But
1980-402: Is ever likely to fade from it. No one here seemed to be in the least astonished at it." According to the testimony of Jameson's colleague William Bonny, Jameson must have stayed around to watch while the girl was cooked and consumed, since the last of his six sketches (which he had shown Bonny) "represents the feast." The "six handkerchiefs" Jameson had paid were indeed valuable enough to purchase
2090-478: Is non-military—that is to say, its purpose is not to fight, destroy, or waste; its purpose is to save, to relieve distress, to carry comfort. Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer, a gallant fellow deserving of a strong effort of relief, but I decline to believe, and I have not been able to gather from any one in England an impression, that his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him, would overbalance
2200-458: Is not worth bankruptcy and extremely oppressive taxation." He felt it was necessary to avoid "being driven into premature action by the small but influential section of public opinion which persistently and strenuously advocated the cause of immediate reconquest." As late as 15 November 1895 he had been assured by the British government that it had no plans to invade Sudan. By 1896, however, it
2310-509: The Advance . On 18 April they received a letter from Emin, who had heard about the expedition a year earlier, and had come down the lake in March after hearing rumors of Stanley's arrival. Jephson was sent on ahead to the lake with the Advance , took the boat up to Mswa , and met Emin on 27 April 1888. Emin brought his steamer to the south end of the lake, and met Stanley there on the 29th, who
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#17327726065942420-663: The Baptist Mission and the Livingstone Inland Mission , whose protests were overridden, as well as the Florida , which was still under construction and so used as a barge. Even these were insufficient, so many of the stores were left at Leopoldville and more at Bolobo . At this point, Stanley also announced the division of the expedition: a "rear column" would encamp at Yambuya on the Aruwimi, while
2530-708: The German Government through an imperial letter of protection. Few weeks later in April 1885, the German Dehnhardt brothers concluded a contract with the Sultan of Witu (former ruler of Pate ) on the Kenya Coast near Lamu which was also put under official German protection. Bargash tried to send troops against the Witu ruler who in his view anyhow was supposed to be his subject when the appearance of
2640-564: The Khedive Ismail 's derelict railway from the 1870s. In another economy measure, Kitchener borrowed steam engines from South Africa to work on the line. Kitchener's workforce were soldiers and convicts, and he worked them very hard, sleeping just four hours each night, and doing physical labour himself. As the railway progressed in the extreme conditions of the desert, the number of deaths among his men increased, and Kitchener blamed his subordinates for them. The Sudan Military Railway
2750-723: The Ottoman-Egyptian administration of Sudan collapsed. Equatoria , the extreme southern province of the Sudan, was nearly cut off from the outside world, as it was located on the upper reaches of the Nile near Lake Albert . Emin Pasha was a German Jewish -born Ottoman doctor and naturalist who had been appointed Governor of Equatoria by Charles George Gordon , the British general who himself had attempted to relieve Khartoum. Emin, able to send and receive letters via Buganda and Zanzibar , had been informed in February 1886 that
2860-471: The "Advance Column" pressed on to Equatoria. The voyage up the Congo started 1 May and was generally uneventful. At Bangala Station , Barttelot and Tippu Tib continued up to Stanley Falls in the Henry Reed , while Stanley took the Aruwimi to Yambuya. The inhabitants of Yambuya refused permission to reside in their village, so Stanley attacked and drove the villagers away, turning the deserted village into
2970-500: The British and Egyptian side there were fewer than fifty dead and several hundred wounded. The Khalifa retreated into the city of Omdurman but could not rally his followers to defend it. Instead they scattered across the plains to the west and escaped. Kitchener entered the city, which formally surrendered without further fighting, and the Khalifa escaped before he could be captured. British gunboats bombarded Omdurman before and during
3080-564: The Egyptian army advanced. At dawn on 7 June, two Egyptian columns attacked the village from north and south, killing 800 Mahdist soldiers, with others plunging naked into the Nile to make their escape. This left the road to Dongola clear, but despite advice to move rapidly and take it, Kitchener adhered to his usual cautious and carefully prepared approach. Kitchener took time to build up supplies at Kosheh , and brought his gunboats south through
3190-410: The Egyptian army were branded by their British officers, to help identify deserters and those discharged seeking to re-enlist. Kitchener placed great importance on transport and communications. Reliance on river transport, and the vagaries of the Nile flooding , had reduced Garnet Wolseley 's Nile Expedition to failure in 1885, and Kitchener was determined not to let that happen again. This required
3300-473: The Egyptian force, and unnerved by several days of bombardment by the gunboats, withdrew. The town was occupied, as were Merowe and Korti . Total Egyptian losses for the capture of Dongola were one killed and 25 wounded. Kitchener was promoted to Major-General. The fall of Dongola was a shock to the Khalifa and his followers in Omdurman , as it immediately placed their capital under threat. They thought it
3410-502: The Egyptian government would abandon Equatoria. In July, he was encouraged by missionary Alexander Mackay to invite the British government to annex Equatoria itself. The government was not interested in such a doubtful venture, but the British public came to see Emin as a second General Gordon, in mortal danger from the Mahdists. Scottish businessman and philanthropist William Mackinnon had been involved in various colonial ventures, and by November he had approached Stanley about leading
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3520-596: The Emin Pasha Expedition), ostensibly gaining British protection for a number of African chiefs. Amongst these were a number that have long been identified as possible frauds. A good example is treaty number 56, supposedly agreed upon between Stanley and the people of "Mazamboni, Katto, and Kalenge ". These people had signed over to Stanley "the Sovereign Right and Right of Government over our country for ever in consideration of value received and for
3630-524: The French to advance some claim of their own on part of Sudan. The French government had in fact just dispatched Jean-Baptiste Marchand up the Congo River with the stated aim of reaching Fashoda on the White Nile and claiming it for France. This encouraged the British to attempt the full-scale defeat of the Mahdist State and the restoration of Anglo-Egyptian rule, rather than just providing
3740-532: The Indian Ocean over many years, mainly near Zanzibar. In June 1873 John Kirk was acting British Consul and received simultaneous and contradictory instructions from London, one to issue an ultimatum to the Sultan under threat of blockade that the slave trade must be unequivocally stopped and the slave market closed, and the other not to actually enforce a blockade which might be taken as an act of war pushing Zanzibar towards French protection. Kirk only showed
3850-577: The Italians since 1893. The Italians ceded control on Christmas Day . For the remainder of the year Kitchener extended the railway line forward from Abu Hamad, built up his forces in Berber, and fortified the north bank of the confluence with the Atbarah River . Meanwhile, the Khalifa strengthened the defences of Omdurman and Metemma and prepared an attack on the Egyptian positions while the river
3960-461: The Ja'alin defend Metemma from the Khalifa's army, which arrived on 30 June and stormed the town, killing wad Saad and driving his surviving followers away. For Kitchener, much of 1897 was taken up extending the railway to Abu Hamed. The town was taken on 7 August and the railway reached it on 31 October. Even before this river strongpoint was secured, Kitchener ordered his gunboats to proceed upriver past
4070-433: The Ja'alin to the Mahdist state had weakened as the Egyptian army advanced, and they were particularly unwilling to have a large army quartered with them. Their chief, Abdallah wad Saad, therefore wrote to Kitchener on 24 June, pledging the loyalty of his people to Egypt and asking for men and weapons to assist them against the Khalifa. Kitchener sent 1,100 Remington rifles and ammunition, but they did not arrive in time to help
4180-494: The Khalifa of Sudan. After Adwa the Italian government appealed to Britain to create some kind of military diversion to prevent Mahdist forces from attacking their isolated garrison at Kassala , and on 12 March the British cabinet authorised an advance on Dongola for this purpose. Salisbury was also at pains to reassure the French government that Britain intended to proceed no further than Dongola, so as to forestall any move by
4290-531: The Khalifa attempted to lay a mine in the river to prevent the Egyptian boats from bombarding Omdurman, but this resulted in the mine-laying ship Ismailia being blown up with its own mine. The final advance on Omdurman began on 28 August 1898. The defeat of the Khalifah's forces at Omdurman marked the effective end of the Mahdist State, though not the end of campaigning. Over 11,000 Mahdist fighters died at Omdurman, and another 16,000 were seriously wounded. On
4400-583: The Khalifah and 5,000 followers southwest of Kosti . In the ensuing battle the Khalifah was killed along with about 1,000 of his men. Osman Digna was captured, but escaped again. (see also Battle of Umm Diwaykarat ) Al Ubayyid was not taken until December 1899, by which it had already been abandoned. In December 1899 Wingate succeeded Kitchener as Sirdar and Governor-General of Sudan when Kitchener departed for South Africa. The newly established Anglo-Egyptian government in Khartoum did not attempt to reconquer
4510-642: The Kordofan Army prompted the Mahdist commander in Berber , Zeki Osman, to abandon the town on 24 August, and it was occupied by the Egyptians on 5 September. The overland route from Berber to Suakin was now reopened, meaning that the Egyptian army could be reinforced and resupplied by river, by rail and by sea. As the Red Sea area returned its loyalty to Egypt, an Egyptian force also marched from Suakin to retake Kassala , which had been temporarily occupied by
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4620-526: The Mahdist forces in the capital and the northern approaches, down the Nile to Berber . Aware that Kitchener had a substantial river force which had by now passed up the second cataract into the Dongola Reach , the Khalifa sought to prevent it steaming further upriver by blocking the sixth cataract at the Shabluka gorge, which was the last river obstacle before Omdurman. To this end forts were built at
4730-403: The Mahdists in 1899. Equatoria was incorporated as part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan , nominally under British administration, though it remained isolated and underdeveloped well into the 20th century. From 1898 to 1900, a devastating sleeping sickness epidemic spread into territories that are now Democratic Republic of the Congo , western Uganda and south of Sudan . Native cattle traveling with
4840-406: The Nile, finally began to advance up the Nile towards Kerma, at the third cataract, where Wad Bishara had established a forward position. Instead of defending it however he moved his forces across the river so that as the Egyptian gunboats came upstream he was able to concentrate heavy fire on them. On 19 September the gunboats made several runs at the Mahdist positions, firing at their trenches, but
4950-637: The Sudanese and Egyptians were transported back to Egypt, some later returning to work for the IBEAC. Emin took service with the Germans in February, and the other Europeans returned to England. Stanley returned to Europe in May 1890 to tremendous public acclaim; both he and his officers received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and speaking engagements. In June alone his newly published book sold 150,000 copies. But
5060-427: The adulation was to be short-lived. By autumn, as the true cost of the expedition became known, and as the families of Barttelot and Jameson reacted to Stanley's accusations of incompetence in the rear column, criticism and condemnation became widespread. Samuel Baker called the story of the rear column "the most horrible and indecent exposure that I have ever heard of seen in print". Stanley's own use of violence during
5170-645: The age of fifteen) as secretary of Barghash's party. However, with the help of an English gunboat the insurrection of Barghash was soon brought to an end, and Barghash was sent into exile in Bombay for two years. After the death of Majid, Barghash became Sultan. Ruote wrote in 1886: It is a well-known fact in Zanzibar that Barghash, as soon as he had ascended the throne in 1870, suddenly and without any cause cast our second youngest brother Chalîfe into prison. The poor fellow had to languish there for three long years in
5280-530: The battle, damaging part of the city walls and the tomb of the Mahdi , although destruction was not very widespread. There is some controversy about the conduct of Kitchener and his troops during and immediately following the battle. In February 1899, Kitchener responded to criticisms by categorically denying that he had ordered or permitted the Mahdist wounded in the battlefield to be massacred by his troops; that Omdurman had been looted; and that civilian fugitives in
5390-463: The building of new railways to support his invasion forces. The first phase of railway building followed the initial campaign up the Nile to the supply base at Akasha and then on southward towards Kerma . This bypassed the second cataract of the Nile and thereby ensured that supplies could reach Dongola all year round, whether the Nile was in flood or not. The railway extended as far as Akasha on 26 June and as far as Kosheh on 4 August 1896. A dockyard
5500-526: The city had been deliberately fired on. There is no evidence for the last accusation, but some foundation for the others. In The River War , Winston Churchill was critical of Kitchener's conduct, and in private correspondence he said that 'the victory at Omdurman was disgraced by the inhuman slaughter of the wounded and that Kitchener was responsible for this.' The Mahdi's tomb , the largest building in Omdurman, had already been looted when Kitchener gave
5610-550: The command of Wad Bishara , consisting of 900 jihadiyya , 800 Baqqara Arabs, 2,800 spearmen, 450 camel and 650 horse cavalry. Kitchener was unable to advance on Dongola immediately after the Battle of Farka because not long afterwards, cholera broke out in the Egyptian camp, and killed over 900 men in July and early August 1896. With the summer of 1896 marked by disease and severe weather, Kitchener's columns, supported by gunboats on
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#17327726065945720-432: The dungeon, in heavy iron fetters weighed with chains! And why? No one could say. It may have been feared that Chalîfe, being next in succession to the throne, might plot the same treacherous plans as Barghash himself had once tried against Madjid According to Ruete, Barghash did not release Khalifah before one of their sisters prepared to set out for a pilgrimage for Mecca , and "he did not want to bring down upon himself
5830-584: The eastern African coast. In return, Leopold would provide his Free State steamers for the transportation of the expedition up the river, from Stanley Pool (now Pool Malebo ) as far as the mouth of the Aruwimi River . By 1 January 1887, Stanley was back in London preparing the expedition to widespread public acclaim. Stanley himself was intent that the expedition be one of humanitarian assistance rather than of military conquest. He declared: The expedition
5940-450: The eve of the 1896 invasion the manumission status and precise recruitment conditions of many Sudanese soldiers in the Egyptian army was unclear. Egyptian conscripts were required to serve six years in the army, whereas Sudanese soldiers enlisted before 1903 were signed up for life, or until medically unfit to serve. While no official requirement existed for the practice, it is clear that in many instances at least, new Sudanese recruits into
6050-488: The exception of a few hundred men from the North Staffordshire Regiment and some Maxim gunners . The use of British troops was kept to a minimum and Sudanese troops were used wherever possible, partly because they were cheaper, and partly because they could survive the extreme conditions of campaigning in Sudan which Europeans often could not. To maximise the number of Sudanese troops deployed for
6160-598: The expedition also revived old criticisms that he was a "sham explorer" as well as doubts over the supposed humanitarian value of European exploration in Africa. In the end, the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition came to be the last expedition of its type; future African expeditions would be government-run in pursuit of military or political goals, or conducted purely for science. An Anglo-Egyptian force under Lord Kitchener managed to reconquer Sudan from
6270-403: The expedition may have introduced the parasite into previously-unaffected regions. However, not all authors agree. It has been suggested that stories of the expedition — in particular, the disastrous plight of the "rear column" — inspired Joseph Conrad in his 1899 novella Heart of Darkness . Critic Adam Hochschild suggests that the character of Kurtz , the isolated and insane Congo trader,
6380-460: The expedition was looking down on Lake Albert . However, Emin was not there, and the locals had not seen a European in many years. Stanley decided to return to the village of Ibwiri on the plateau above the lake, where they built Fort Bodo. Stairs went back to Ipoto to collect men and equipment, and returned 12 February. A second trip went back to Ugarrowwa's to collect more equipment. Meanwhile, on 2 April Stanley returned to Lake Albert, this time with
6490-598: The expedition, loading the Madura , and negotiating. Stanley acted as a representative of Mackinnon in convincing the Sultan of Zanzibar to grant a concession for what later became the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC), and made two agreements with Tippu Tib . The first included appointing him as Governor of Stanley Falls , an arrangement much criticized in Europe as a deal with
6600-409: The families of Emin's Egyptian employees back along the just-pioneered route, along with a large store of ivory accumulated in Equatoria, while Stanley, Emin, and Emin's soldiers would proceed eastward to Zanzibar. Coincidentally, public doubts over the plan centered around whether it could be achieved; the possibility that Emin might not want to leave seems not to have been considered. The expedition
6710-617: The far western territory of Darfur , which the Egyptians had held only briefly between 1875 and the surrender of Slatin Pasha in 1883. Instead, they recognised the rule of the last Keira Sultan, Ali Dinar , grandson of Muhammad al-Fadl, and did not establish control over Darfur until 1913. (see also Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition ) Osman Digna was not recaptured until 1900. Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar Sayyid Barghash bin Said al-Busaidi (1836 – 26 March 1888) ( Arabic : برغش بن سعيد البوسعيدي ), an Afro-Omani Sultan and
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#17327726065946820-406: The fire returned was too intense for them to maintain their position safely. Kitchener therefore ordered them to simply steam on, past the Mahdist position, towards Dongola. Seeing them proceed, Wad Bishara withdrew his forces to Dongola. On 20 September the gunboats exchanged fire with the town's defenders and on 23 Kitchener's main force reached the town. Wad Bishara, seeing the overwhelming size of
6930-578: The first instruction to Barghash, who capitulated within two weeks signing a further treaty with Britain prohibiting slave trade in his kingdom, and immediately closing the great slave market. Towards the end of his reign Barghash had to witness the disintegration of his inherited empire. In 1884 the German adventurer Carl Peters made African chiefs on the Tanganyika mainland sign documents which declared their areas to be under German "protection ". In February 1885 these acquisitions were ratified by
7040-430: The first year his objective was to recover Dongola ; in the second, to construct a new railway from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad ; in the third, to retake Khartoum . The Egyptian army mobilised and by 4 June 1896 Kitchener had assembled a force of 9,000 men, consisting of ten infantry battalions , fifteen cavalry and camel corps squadrons , and three artillery batteries. All the soldiers were Sudanese or Egyptian, with
7150-573: The fourth cataract. With help from the local Shayqiyya , the attempt began on 4 August, but the current was so strong that the gunboat El Teb could not be hauled over the rapids, and capsized. However the Metemma made the passage safely on 13 August, the Tamai on 14, and on 19 and 20 August the new gunboats Zafir , Fateh and Nasir also passed the cataract. The sudden advance of the river force and uncertainty about whether he would be reinforced by
7260-663: The invasion, the Sudanese garrison was withdrawn from Suakin on the Red Sea and replaced with Indian soldiers. The Indians arrived in Suakin on 30 May, releasing the Xth Egyptian and Sudanese battalions for the Dongola expedition. The Egyptian army in the 1880s was consciously trying to distance itself from the times of Muhammad Ali , when Sudanese men had been captured, enslaved, shipped to Egypt and enlisted . Nevertheless, on
7370-565: The kingdoms of Ankole and Karagwe . Stanley made "treaties" with the various rulers; although it is most likely that these were not regarded as such by the locals, they were later used to establish IBEAC claims in the area. Lake Victoria was seen on 15 August, and the expedition reached Mackay's missionary station at Usambiro on 28 August. At this point they began to learn of the complicated changing situation in East Africa, with European colonial powers scrambling to stake their claims, and
7480-795: The last thirty miles as the railway had not yet caught up with the front line. Skirmishes took place in the early Spring, as the Mahdist forces made an attempt in March to outflank Kitchener by crossing the Atbara, but they were outmaneuvered; the Egyptians steamed upstream and raided Shendi . Eventually, at dawn on 8 April, the Anglo-Egyptians mounted a full frontal assault on the forces of Osman Digna with three infantry brigades, holding one in reserve. Fighting lasted less than an hour and concluded with 81 Anglo-Egyptian soldiers killed and 478 wounded, to over 3,000 Mahdist troops dead. The Khalifa's forces then withdrew to Omdurman, abandoning Metemma and
7590-511: The line on 1 January 1897, but little progress made until the line to Kerma was completed in May, when work began in earnest. By 23 July, 103 miles had been laid, but the project was continually under attack from Mahdists based in Abu Hamad. Kitchener ordered General Archibald Hunter to advance from Merawi and eliminate the threat. Hunter's forces travelled 146 miles in eight days and took Abu Hamad on 7 August 1897. Work could then proceed, and
7700-459: The line was extended towards Atbara , Kitchener was able to transport three heavily armed gunboats in sections to be reassembled at Abadieh, enabling him to patrol and reconnoitre the river up to the sixth cataract. The Egyptian army moved swiftly to the border at Wadi Halfa and began moving south on 18 March to take Akasha, a village which was to be the base for the expedition. Akasha was deserted when they entered on 20 March and Kitchener devoted
7810-480: The lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation of immense tracts of country which an expedition strictly military would naturally cause. The expedition is a mere powerful caravan, armed with rifles for the purpose of insuring the safe conduct of the ammunition to Emin Pasha, and for the more certain protection of his people during the retreat home. But it also has means of purchasing the friendship of tribes and chiefs, of buying food and paying its way liberally. In
7920-591: The march soon disintegrated into chaos, with large-scale desertion and multiple trips to try to bring up stores; then on 19 July Barttelot was shot while trying to interfere with a Manyema festival. Jameson decided to go down to Bangala to bring up extra loads and left on 9 August, shortly before Stanley's arrival. Stanley was incensed at the state of the rear column, blaming them for lack of motion despite his previous orders that they wait for him at Yambuya. From surviving officers Stanley also heard stories of Barttelot's brutality and of another officer, James Sligo Jameson, who
8030-466: The matter had been placed before His Highness, but the Sultan's signature was difficult to obtain. The records at the National Archives at Kew , London, offer an even deeper insight and show that annexation was a purpose he had been aware of for the expedition. This is because there are a number of treaties curated there (and gathered by Stanley himself from what is present day Uganda during
8140-468: The mouth of the Congo on 18 March. Their arrival was somewhat unexpected, because a telegraph cable had broken and local officials had received no instructions. Chartered steamers brought the expedition to Matadi , where the carriers took over, bringing some 800 loads of stores and ammunition to Leopoldville on the Stanley Pool . Progress was slow, since the rainy season was at its height, and food
8250-427: The next two months to building up his forces and supplies ready for the next advance. Apart from occasional skirmishing, the first serious contact with Mahdist forces took place in early June at the village of Farka . The village was a Mahdist strongpoint some way upriver from Akasha; its commanders, Hammuda and Osman Azraq , led around 3,000 soldiers and had evidently decided to hold his ground rather than withdraw as
8360-532: The northern end of the gorge, and the paddle-steamer Bordein carried guns and supplies upriver. Kitchener did not advance on Omdurman after taking Dongola, and by May 1897 the Khalifa's forces from Kordofan had increased the size of his forces to the point where he felt able to take a more offensive stance. He therefore decided to advance the Kordofan army down the river to Metemma, in Ja'alin country. The loyalty of
8470-697: The officers who were to accompany him to Africa: Stanley departed London on 21 January 1887 and arrived in Cairo on 27 January. Egyptian objections to the Congo route were overridden by a telegram from Lord Salisbury , and the expedition was permitted to march under the Egyptian flag. Stanley also met with Mason Bey , Schweinfurth , and Junker , who had more up-to-date information about Equatoria. Stanley left Cairo on 3 February, joined up with expedition members during stops in Suez and Aden , and arrived in Zanzibar on 22 February. The next three days were spent packing for
8580-489: The order for it to be blown up. Kitchener ordered that the Mahdi's remains be dumped in the Nile. He considered and discussed keeping his skull, either as some kind of trophy or as a medical exhibit at the Royal College of Surgeons. Eventually however the head was buried, although anecdotes about its having been turned into an inkpot or a drinking vessel continue to circulate even today. A force under Colonel Parsons
8690-492: The protection he has accorded us and our Neighbours against KabbaRega and his Warasura". The expedition was planned to go to Cairo , then to Zanzibar to hire porters , then south of Africa, around the Cape to the mouth of the Congo, up the Congo by Leopold's steamers, branching off at the Aruwimi River . Stanley intended to establish a camp on the Aruwimi, then go east overland through unknown territory to reach Lake Albert and Equatoria. He then expected that Emin would send
8800-458: The railway eventually reached Abu Hamad on 31 October. (see also Battle of Abu Hamed ) There were major problems in undertaking a major construction project in a waterless desert, but Kitchener had the good fortune to locate two sources and had wells dug to provide the water needed. To keep within the tight budget limits set by Lord Cromer, Kitchener ordered that the first section of the railway should be built from reused materials scavenged from
8910-519: The same time the Mahdists had been capturing additional stations of Equatoria. Since Stanley's arrival, numerous rumours had gone around about Emin's intentions and the likely fate of the soldiers, and in August of the previous year matters had come to a head; a number of officers rebelled, deposed Emin as governor, and kept him and Jephson under a sort of house arrest in Dufile until November. Even so, Emin
9020-428: The second cataract of the Nile ready for an assault on Dongola. The Egyptian river navy consisted of the gunboats Tamai , El Teb , Metemma and Abu Klea as well as the steamers Kaibar , Dal and Akasha . They had been used to patrol the river between Wadi Halfa and Aswan , and were now pressed into service as part of the invasion force. They had to wait however for the Nile to flood before they could navigate over
9130-431: The second cataract, and in 1896 the flood was unusually late, meaning that the first boat could not pass until 14 August. Each of the seven boats had to be physically hauled up over the cataract by two thousand men, at the rate of one boat per day. To this force were added the three new gunboats brought round the cataract by rail and assembled on the river at Kosheh. Dongola was defended by a substantial Mahdist force under
9240-678: The sixth cataract so that the Egyptian army could pass unmolested. Preparations then continued for an advance on Omdurman. The railway was extended southwards and additional reinforcements arrived. By mid-August 1898 Kitchener had at his command 25,800 troops, composed of the British Division under Major-General Gatacre, with two British infantry brigades; and the Egyptian Division with four Egyptian brigades under Major General Hunter. The gunboat Zafir , proceeding upriver, foundered and sank opposite Metemma on 28 August. Meanwhile,
9350-399: The son of Said bin Sultan , was the second Sultan of Zanzibar . He ruled Zanzibar from 7 October 1870 to 26 March 1888. Barghash was born around 1836–1838 to Omani sultan, Said bin Sultan and an Ethiopian concubine. He was described as having sharp and charming character. He succeeded his elder half-brother Majid in 1871, having openly and adamantly contested his rule, and at one point
9460-455: The two Ethiopian flags that had been raised there after the Mahdist evacuation were left flying pending instructions from Cairo. Despite the easy recovery of these key towns there remained a great deal of fear and confusion in the countryside across the Jezirah , where bands of Mahdist supporters continued to roam, pillaging and killing for several months after the fall of Omdurman. Once control
9570-530: Was a considerable body of opinion in Britain in favour of retaking Sudan after 1885, largely to "avenge Gordon ". However, Lord Cromer , the British consul-general in Egypt , had been the architect of the British withdrawal after the Mahdist uprising. He remained sure that Egypt needed to recover its financial position before any invasion could be contemplated. "Sudan is worth a good deal to Egypt," he said, "but it
9680-711: Was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Egypt in 1884–1885 during the Mahdist War . The British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of the Egyptian Army from Sudan , and the defeat at Khartoum left only Suakin and Equatoria under Egyptian control after 1885. The conquest of 1896–1899 defeated and destroyed the Mahdist State and re-established Anglo-Egyptian rule, which remained until Sudan became independent in 1956. There
9790-407: Was all a joke ..., but presently a man appeared, leading a young girl of about ten years old at the hand, and I then witnessed the most horribly sickening sight I am ever likely to see in my life. He plunged a knife quickly into her breast twice, and she fell on her face, turning over on her side. Three men then ran forward, and began to cut up the body of the girl; finally her head was cut off, and not
9900-403: Was alleged to have purchased a young female slave and given her to cannibals so he could record her being killed and eaten. In his posthumously published diary, Jameson admitted that he had indeed paid for the girl and watched as she was butchered, but claimed that he considered the whole affair a joke and had not expected her to actually be killed. I sent my boy for six handkerchiefs, thinking it
10010-509: Was arrested for treason and exiled to India and Bombay . Upon becoming sultan his reign became successful and is credited with building much of the infrastructure of Stone Town, including piped water, public baths, a police force, roads, parks, hospitals and large administrative buildings such as the (Bait el-Ajaib) House of Wonders. He was perhaps the last Sultan to maintain a measure of true independence from European control. He consulted with European "advisors" who had immense influence, but he
10120-507: Was clear to Prime Minister Salisbury that the interests of other powers in Sudan could not be contained by diplomacy alone – France , Italy and Germany all had designs on the region that could only be contained by re-establishing Anglo-Egyptian rule. The catastrophic defeat of the Italians by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia at the Battle of Adwa in March 1896 also raised the possibility of an anti-European alliance between Menelik and
10230-479: Was constructed and three entirely new gunboats, larger than the Egyptian river boats already deployed, were brought in sections by rail, and then assembled on the river. Each carried one 12-pounder forward-firing gun, two 6-pounders midships and four Maxim guns . At the end of August 1896 storms washed away a 12-mile section of the railway as preparations were being made to advance on Dongola. Kitchener personally supervised 5,000 men who worked night and day to ensure it
10340-561: Was established in the Jazirah and eastern Sudan, the recovery of Kordofan remained a major military challenge. On 12 July 1898 Marchand had reached Fashoda and raised the French flag. Kitchener hurried south from Khartoum with his five gunboats, and reached Fashoda on 18 September. Careful diplomacy on both men's part ensured that French claims were not pressed and Anglo-Egyptian control was reasserted. (see also Fashoda Incident ) On 24 November 1899 Colonel Sir Reginald Wingate cornered
10450-474: Was initially celebrated for its ambition in crossing "Darkest Africa". However, soon after Stanley returned to Europe , it gained notoriety for the deaths of so many of its members and reports of brutality. It was the last large-scale private expedition undertaken as part of the Scramble for Africa . With the capture of Khartoum by the Mahdists (followers of Islamic religious leader Muhammad Ahmad ) in 1885,
10560-445: Was later described as the deadliest weapon ever used against Mahdism. The 230 miles of railway reduced the journey time between Wadi Halfa and Abu Hamad from 18 days by camel and steamer to 24 hours by train, all year round, regardless of the season and the flooding of the Nile. He also had 630 miles of telegraph cable laid, and 19 telegraph offices built along the railway, which were soon handling up to 277 messages per day. Later, when
10670-598: Was likely that Kitchener would attack by striking across the desert from Korti to Metemma, as the Nile Expedition had done in 1885. The Khalifa therefore directed Osman Azraq to hold Abu Klea and Wad Bishara to hold Metemma with a force of Ja'alin . He also ordered Osman Digna in eastern Sudan and his commanders in Kordofan and other regions to bring their forces in to Omdurman, strengthening its defences with some 150,000 additional fighters. This concentrated
10780-474: Was low and the gunboats could neither retreat below the fifth cataract nor advance above the sixth. To be sure he had the necessary strength to defeat the Mahdist forces in their heartland, Kitchener brought up reinforcements from the British Army , and a brigade under Major General William F. Gatacre arrived in Sudan at the end of January 1898. The Warwicks, Lincolns and Cameron Highlanders had to march
10890-568: Was modeled on Barttelot, who "went mad, began hitting, whipping, and killing people, and was finally murdered". Harold Bloom also connected the portrayal of Kurtz with the figures of Stanley and Tippu Tib. The fate of the rear column is the subject of Simon Gray 's 1978 play The Rear Column , which features Barttelot, Jameson, Ward, Bonny, Troup and Stanley as characters. [REDACTED] Media related to Emin Pasha Relief Expedition at Wikimedia Commons Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899
11000-480: Was rebuilt in a week. After Dongola was taken, this line was extended south to Kerma. Building the 225-mile-long railway from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad was a much more ambitious undertaking. General opinion held the construction of such a railway to be impossible, but Kitchener commissioned Percy Girouard , who had worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway to undertake the project. Work began on
11110-469: Was sent from Kassala to Al Qadarif which was retaken from Mahdist forces on 22 September. A flotilla of two boats under General Hunter was sent up the Blue Nile on 19 September to plant flags and establish garrisons wherever seemed expedient. They planted the Egyptian and British flags at Er Roseires on 30 September, and at Sennar on the return journey. Gallabat was reoccupied on 7 December, although
11220-459: Was short – a problem that was to be persistent throughout the expedition (the area along the route rarely had spare food for 1,000 hardworking men, as it was a subsistence economy ). On 21 April, the expedition arrived at Leopoldville. King Leopold had promised a flotilla of river steamers, but only one worked: the Stanley . Stanley requisitioned two ( Peace and Henry Reed ) from missionaries of
11330-416: Was still reluctant to abandon the province. By 17 February all the surviving members of the expedition, and Emin with a group of about 65 loyal soldiers, met at Stanley's camp above Lake Albert, and during the subsequent weeks several hundred more of Emin's followers, many of them the families of the soldiers, assembled there. Emin still had not expressed a firm intention to leave Equatoria, and 5 April, after
11440-606: Was still the central figure they wrestled to control. He crossed wits with diplomats from Britain, America, Germany, France and Portugal and was often able to play one country off against another. It was his son, Khalid bin Barghash , who while vying for the succession, was the loser in the Shortest War. In 1859 a dispute broke out between the brothers Sayyid Majid , the second Sultan of Zanzibar , and Barghash. Their sister Sayyida Salme bint Said (later Emily Ruete ) acted (at
11550-487: Was surprised to find the figure of Emin to have "not a trace on it of ill-health or anxiety", and celebrated with three bottles of champagne that had been carried all the way up the Congo. Emin provided Stanley with food and other supplies, thus rescuing the rescuers. At this point things became difficult. Emin was primarily interested in ammunition and other supplies, and a communications route, all of which would assist him in remaining in Equatoria, while Stanley's main goal
11660-514: Was the largest and best-equipped to go to Africa; a 28-foot steel boat named the Advance was designed to be divided into 12 sections for carrying over land, and Hiram Maxim presented the expedition with one of his recently invented Maxim guns , which was the first to be brought to Africa. Merely 'exhibiting' the gun was thought to be a scare, which would spare the expedition problems with hostile natives. The Relief Committee received 400 applications by hopeful participants. From these, Stanley chose
11770-541: Was threatened by Mahdist forces. Stanley set out to traverse the continent with a force of nearly 700 men, navigating up the Congo River and then through the Ituri rainforest to reach East Africa . The arduous journey caused Stanley to split the expedition into two columns; the advance column eventually reached Emin Pasha in July 1888. A series of mutinies, disagreements, and miscommunications forced Stanley and Emin to withdraw from Equatoria in early 1889. The expedition
11880-528: Was to bring Emin out. A month of discussion produced no agreement, and on 24 May Stanley went back to Fort Bodo, arriving there 8 June and meeting Stairs, who had returned from Ugarrowwa's with just fourteen surviving men. On the way Stanley saw the Ruwenzori Mountains for the first time (although Parke and Jephson had seen them on 20 April). On 16 June, Stanley left the fort in search of the rear column; no word of or from them had been received in
11990-448: Was to get the Sultan to sign the concessions which Mackinnon tried to obtain a long time ago. As the Germans have magnificent territory east of Zanzibar, it was but fair that England should have some portion for the protection she has accorded to Zanzibar since 1841 ... The concession that we wished to obtain embraced a portion of East African coast, of which Mombasa and Melindi were the principal towns. For eight years, to my knowledge,
12100-630: Was unprepared for the extreme difficulties of travel through the Ituri rainforest and did not reach the lake until December. Only 169 of the 389 who set out from Yambuya were still alive. The trees of the forest were so tall and dense that little light reached the floor, food was scarcely to be found, and the local Pygmies took the expedition for an Arab raiding party, shooting at them with poisoned arrows . The expedition stopped at two Arab settlements, Ugarrowwa's and Ipoto, in each case leaving more of their equipment behind in exchange for food. The forest eventually gave way to grassland, and on 13 December
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