Britain and the African background to the ultimatum of 1890

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Periodical article

Title:	Britain and the African background to the ultimatum of 1890
Author:	Birmingham, David
Year:	1996
Periodical:	Studia: revista semestral
Issue:	54-55
Pages:	21-32
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Southern Africa Great Britain Portugal
Subject:	colonial conquest
Abstract:	In the 1880s three powers aspired to gain control of the peoples and minerals of the Zambezi basin. Cecil Rhodes acted on behalf of South African financial interests and with some help from Irish members of the British parliament succeeded in excluding Portugal from the Shona plateau but not from the harbours and coastlands of Mozambique. Harry Johnson acted on behalf of British political interests and excluded both Portugal and South Africa from the western shore of Lake Nyasa where vociferous Scottish politicians defended the Protestant legacy of David Livingstone. In 1890 the British government found it expedient to advise Portugal that Portuguese claims to territory in the Zambezi basin would not be accepted. This ultimatum might be seen as the key diplomatic event determining the course of colonialism in the southeastern quadrant of central Africa. Sum. in English and Portuguese.