BOUNDARY: In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.

Ambrose Bierce: Devil's Dictionary

THE CONGO / ZAMBIA BORDERby Roger Daniel (c) 2008

In April 1965, Education Minister John Mwanakatwe visited his Mweru constituency.

Travelling with him was Alex Shapi, both were UNIP members from the outset. As

they crossed Lunchinda River and entered the small town of Chipungu near Lake

Mweru, another car sped towards them on the wrong side of the road. Mwanakatwe

was lucky, by a hair's breadth he avoided a head-on collision. The driver of the other

vehicle even had the audacity to shout abuse at them. Still shaking, they pulled off

the road and entered a bar. The place was somehow off-key: Girls with chikwembe

head dress and colourful wrap garments guzzled Simba beer and swayed their hips

to luring Kwasa-Kwasa music, the barman counted bunches of Congolese Francs,

and the wall was decorated with a huge poster featuring Moise Tshombe. They were

still trying to get this scene into focus as they were held at gunpoint by Katangese

gendarmes. The politicians tried to explain who they were but the gendarmes spoke

neither Chibemba nor English. Mwanakatwe and Shapi were arrested for illegally

entering the Congo.

The following day a Congolese official who spoke Chibemba released them and

apologised for the ill treatment, but he did not agree that they were on Zambian soil.

Not only politicians are prone to walk where angels fear to tread. Barely one year

later the geologists Dr. Premoli and Dr. Bratley had been working on an exploration

project near the coast of Lake Tanganyika between Moliro and Nsumbu Bay.

Together with 22 of their Zambian helpers they were arrested by Katangese

gendarmes. As they tried to explain that they were on Zambian territory, their maps

were confiscated.

1. Early History

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Although small for African standards, Lake Mweru is bigger than any lake in Europe.

It is mainly fed by Luapula River flowing in from the South, and Kalungwishi River

coming from the East. The only outlet is Luvua River in the North-West draining into

the Congo basin. The eastern shore is a hilly wilderness, gently rising towards

marshy lake Mweru Wantipu. There is a national park but it is rarely visited by

tourists. The road from Mansa to Nchelenge is good, but driving from there via

Kaputa to Lake Tanganyika is going from bad to worse. Only the adventurous

traveller is not deterred by the challenging infrastructure of this area in the middle of

nowhere.

Surprisingly this remote lake area used to be hub of ancient transcontinental trade

routes. For centuries Swahilis from the East African cost had long-distance trading

connections reaching as far as the Atlantic Ocean. Goods were carried across the

continent, but the crucial area of commerce was controlled by powerful kings who

ruled over a vast empire extending over what is now Eastern Angola, Katanga and

Luapula Province in Zambia.

To appreciate the impact the border made on the local people, a good knowledge of

the cross-border ethnic networks and cultural areas prior to the partition is needed.

Conclusive evidence is still to be supplied, but there are strong indications that a

prominent branch of Bantu culture developed in the southern Congo some 2000

years ago. The Baluba established their kingdom as early as 900 AD. The extended

royal family was – and to this day is – recognised as intermediaries between their

people and the world of ancestors and gods. The Luba pattern of divine kingship,

beliefs, centralised rule, royal duties, ceremonies, regalia, hierarchy, and popular

customs bear a striking resemblance to kingdoms and chiefdoms from southern

Uganda right down to Lesotho. Although the remote past of their oral histories usually

merges into mythology, clues about their origins often refer to grasslands and lush

forests typical for the headwaters of the Congo.

As the first Europeans appeared on the scene, Katanga was dominated by the Luba

in the North and the Lunda in the South. The Lunda-Kingdom became an organized

state in the 16th century. Both people are ethnically related and they share a common

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language which is also widely spoken in the North of Zambia. The heartland of the

Luba-Kingdom is the region around Lualaba River. Historians often refer to both

kingdoms as the Lunda-Luba Empire.

The Lunda Kings were holding the title Mwata Yamvo. In the 17th century, Kazembe,

a Lunda military leader, conquered the region west of the Luapula River. He

established the Eastern Lunda Kingdom and built his capital near the southern end of

Lake Mweru. The rulers of that dynasty hold the title of Mwata Kazembe. They owed

allegiance to Mwata Yamvo. The Lualaba River was the boundary between the two

Lunda Kingdoms. Mwata Kazembe was and still is the title of the ruler of the Eastern

Lunda. For the purpose of this article, all Eastern Lunda kings will be referred to as

'Kazembe', regardless of their actual name.

The Lunda kings achieved stability throughout the region for a long time. Instead of

suppressing and humiliating subjected rivals, they integrated them into the hierarchy

of their empire. They had to pay tribute, but enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy.

(see Map 1: Central African Powers before 1850)

Under the wise rule of the Kazembes, Lake Mweru became the main terminal of the

transcontinental trade. Merchants from faraway Bagamoyo, Tete and Nyassa came

with their caravans and traded their merchandise for ivory, copper and slaves. And

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caravans coming from the Atlantic coast ended there, too. All parties involved

benefited from the arrangement: The flourishing trade was profitable for the Lunda

kings and reinforced their power. In turn they protected the transport routes and

facilitated safe enterprise at their markets.

Commercial exchange in the Bantu regions of the African interior dates back to the

beginnings of settled agricultural life. It was mainly dealing with food stuff and pottery

at local markets, as is typical for subsistence-based economies. The earliest long-

distance trade must have developed with salt-winning and later with iron. In the vast

region between Lake Victoria and the Limpopo, the African iron age began in the first

millenium AD. Although the trade routes between Monomatapa (Zimbabwe) and

Kilwa Island in the Indian Ocean are well documented, there is no archaeological

evidence indicating any ancient iron routes. Nevertheless, they must have existed

since iron hoes play a vital role in the agricultural Bantu societies.

Maritime trade between Arabia and the East African coast was of long antiquity.

About 100 AD, a Greek from Alexandria compiled the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,

a comprehensive manual about trade winds, harbours and business along the East

African coast from the Horn of Africa down to modern Sofala. Arab merchants also

ventured across the Indian Ocean between southern Arabia and Malabar. Notably

Oman had traded Gold, ivory, leopard skins, amber, ostrich feathers and rhino horn

in exchange for Persian rugs, Chinese porcelain, silk and tea, spices from India,

cotton and perfume from Egypt. The city states along the coast and on the islands

were wealthy. They impressed and disconcerted Vasco da Gama on his epic voyage

to India. "The houses of Kilwa are high like those of Spain. In this land there are rich

merchants, and there is much gold and silver and amber and pearls. They wear

clothes of fine cotton and of silk and many fine things, and they are black men."

Portuguese vandalism systematically ruined the splendour of these cities, but they

failed to reconstruct them and resume untrammelled trading intercourse with the

lands around the seaboard of the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese established a

garrison at Kilwa Island, but it was closed a few years later. Another garrison was

maintained in Malindi, it was moved to Fort Jesus in Mombasa, the last Portuguese

stronghold. Maritime trade slowly declined and the cities fell into decay. In 1698 the

Omanis took Fort Jesus, and the Portuguese retreated to Mozambique.

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1698 Zanzibar became part of the Sultanate Oman which by now controlled the East

African Coast as far south as Cape Delgado. In 1832 Sultan Seyyid Said moved his

capital from Muscat to Zanzibar. However, the coastal cities never recovered from

the Portuguese occupation. As Captain W.F.W. Owen of the Royal Navy visited Kilwa

in 1821, he wrote: "A miserable village, scarcely visited or known, occupies its site,

and the wretched Arab hovels of the present day are blended among the ruins of the

once respectable and opulent city of former years…" That was the situation as the

Omanis moved their capital to Zanzibar.

The sudden increase of Omani involvement in East Africa is understandable only by

reference to the international economy of the time. The early 19th century

experienced a rapidly growing demand for ivory in Europe and America where they

carved it into combs, piano keys and billiard balls. In India, too, it was highly priced

because African ivory is soft and easy to carve, in contrast to hard and brittle Asian

ivory.

At the same time the East African slave traffic boomed. Ironically it coincided with the

abolition of slave trade by the United Kingdom. Zanzibar and Pemba required slave

labour for their clove and coconut plantations, and the French had an enormous

demand for slaves in their large sugar plantations on the Mascarene Islands. To

meet the demand for slaves and ivory, the Swahilis established their own trading

stations in the interior. Until then the Swahilis never travelled far inland. Before

trading connections between the interior and the coast had been maintained by

certain African peoples who were specialised in caravan trade.

The term Swahili needs some clarification. For well over thousand years Arab

merchant fleets regularly visited the East African Coast. They came to trade, not to

loot. Quite a few of the merchants had settled along the coast, established trading

stations, learned the local language, married local women, and gave an Arab

inflexion to the culture of the coast. Early European travellers and writers often

referred to them as 'Arabs', but that is misleading. These 'Arabs' were constantly

absorbed by the indigenous population and constantly reinforced from Arabia and the

Persian Gulf. Out of these intermarriages evolved the Swahili culture which is an

African culture with some distinct Arab elements, such as the Muslim religion and the

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Arabic alphabet. Their language, also called Swahili, is a Bantu language with a large

proportion of the vocabulary derived from the Arabic language. As the Swahilis

extended their activities deep into the mainland, they established trading posts all

over East Africa, the Congo and the North of Zambia. These stations figured

prominently in the continent-spanning trade, and they play a role in the history of the

Congo-Zambia border. In the course of their trading activities, the Swahilis spread

their language all over East Africa and deep into the Congo and Katanga where it

became the lingua franca. Even in Zambia remained some Swahili-speaking pockets,

notably in the Mporokoso-Chiengi District and near Ndola.

As the Swahilis began to establish their inner-African trading network about 200

years ago, the Portuguese also aspired to profit from the overland trade between

Angola and Mozambique. The Portuguese brought several expeditions on their way

with the expressed intention of exploring and eventually controlling what they called

the vagem à contracosta (crossing the continent from coast to coast).

In 1798 a Portuguese expedition under the command of Dr. Francisco de Lacerda

set off from Tete in Mozambique. They entered present-day Zambia near Chipata,

followed Luangwa valley, climbed Muchinga escarpment and crossed Chambeshi

River south of Kasama. From there they proceeded via Mporokoso towards Lake

Mweru. They came as far as Lucenda near Lake Mweru where Lacerda died shortly

after his arrival. Father Francisco Joao Pinto was the second in command. He

managed to have an audience with Kazembe. The latter was suspicious of the

Portuguese and their motives. He made the expedition to return to Mozambique.

In 1806 Pedro João Baptista and Amaro José went on a transcontinental journey,

starting from Cassange in Angola. They were Pombeiros, native slave traders who

bought slaves from local chiefs in the interior, took them to Luanda or Lobito and sold

them to Portuguese traders. They got as far as Lake Mweru. The Kazembe was at

war with his Luba neighbours. He detained the pombeiros for 4 years before he

allowed them to proceed. They arrived in Tete, Mozambique, in 1811. Three years

later they returned with 600 porter loads of merchandise to Cassange, again

overland. Baptista wrote a journal in which he described the Kazembe Kingdom.

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In 1831 Major Jos Monteiro and Captain Antonio Gamitto visited the Kazembe. They

came from Tete. Gamitto wrote a detailed report about their reception at Kazembe's

court, the Musumba. He concluded: "We certainly never expected to find so much

ceremonial, pomp and ostentation in the potentate of a region so remote from the

seacoast, and in a nation which appears so barbarous and savage."

Whatever gave the Portuguese their feeling of superiority, their attempts to control

the trade route from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean were always rebuffed by the

Lundas. During his stay at Kazembe's, Gamitto wrote a letter to the governor of

Angola. It was carried by runners and delivered seven years later. Without having

achieved anything, Monteiro and Gamitto had to return to Tete.

(see Map 2: Trade Routes and Powers after 1850)

By the second half of the 19th century, Swahili trading pioneers had pushed their way

far inland. The main route ran from Bagamoyo, a harbour just opposite Zanzibar, to

Tabora on the central plateau of what is now Tanzania, where the Swahilis had

opened a thriving trading post. Tabora was the capital of the Nyamwezi, basically an

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agricultural people but well known throughout East Africa as travellers and porters.

They were the traditional trading partners and reliable allies of the Swahilis. From

Tabora one route branched off north-west to the Kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro.

Another route struck south-west via Mbala to the Lunda Kingdom. It was operated by

Yaos who had an old tradition of long-distance trading in southern Tanzania, northern

Zambia and Malawi. And then there was the continuation of the great central route

from Tabora westward to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika. Here the Swahilis had

established another trading station. From the nearby harbour Kigoma they crossed

the lake and settled on the opposite bank. As their trading prospered, they

penetrated deeper west and south. The famous Swahili merchant Tippu Tib (1837-

1905) claimed East Congo for the Sultan of Zanzibar and efficiently ruled this vast

trading empire. He accomplished the feat to be the greatest slaver of his time, be

loyal to the Sultan of Zanzibar and maintain good relations with the Europeans. As

the Congo became an estate of King Leopold, he fought the Belgians, but a few

years later he became their governor for Eastern Congo. And Tippu Tib opened up a

new route through his territory to Kazembe's Lunda Kingdom and Katanga where his

agents bartered for slaves, copper and ivory.

Mwata Kazembe jealously guarded the trade monopoly in his realm. As a Swahili

from Tabora tried to deal directly with the Wasanga chief, Kazembe interfered in no

uncertain manner. In 1850 Msiri, a son of that Swahili trader, set off with a well armed

expedition force. With his superior fire power he defeated Kazembe and occupied

both Lunda kingdoms. He installed himself as ruler and made Bunkeya (Katanga) his

capital. Kazembe was allowed to remain in his capital but his power was broken. For

the next 40 years Msiri was the unchallengeable sovereign of what is now Katanga.

Being a gifted strategist and a fearless fighter, Msiri subdued the surrounding tribes

and ruled over a huge empire which became known as the Yeke Kingdom. He

extended his influence as far as Angola, consolidating his power by marriages. His

harem included some 500 wives, mainly daughters of chiefs. His favourite was Maria

de Fonseca, the daughter of a Portuguese merchant from Angola.

The Swahilis and their overlord, the Sultan of Zanzibar, were now in full control of the

trade route from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. As the saying went: "When

Zanzibar whistles, Africa dances."

In 1868 David Livingstone arrived at Lake Mweru. He came as an explorer believing

that Luapula River was the source of the Nile. It was Mwata Kazembe who explained

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to him the river system of Bangweulu, Luapula, Mweru and the Congo basin. For the

next twenty years a few European hunters and adventurers came to Lake Mweru, but

their visits were of no consequence.

Meanwhile Cecil Rhodes had cast an eye on mineral-rich Katanga. The days of the

concession hunters began, and Alfred Sharpe was one of them. He was an agent for

Sir Harry Johnston the British Consul in Nyasaland. In 1890 Sharpe succeeded in

striking a deal with the Tabwa chief Nsame who claimed to be the paramount chief of

the Bembas. Chitimukulu, the genuine paramount chief, never signed any treaty!

Anyway, Sharpe went further west and negotiated with Mwata Kazembe. They

reached a similar agreement, i.e. the right to exploit minerals and carry out business

in exchange for protection. Kazembe regarded himself still as the rightful ruler of

Garangeza, as Katanga was called in those days. When signing Sharpe's

concession, he was under the impression that Sharpe would not proceed to Bunkeya

and thereby recognise Msiri. As he found out that Sharpe intended to proceed,

Kazembe must have felt cheated. He encouraged Sharpe's porters to abscond, and

quite a few of them did. Ever since Kazembe's feelings towards the agreement were

rather ambiguous.

As Sharpe finally reached the court of Msiri at Bunkeya, he had been deserted by

most of his porters. The small remainder of his party was utterly exhausted, and

almost no supplies like gunpowder and cloth were left as gifts to Msiri. All he could

offer were promises and the draft of an agreement. Sharpe explained the terms, but

Msiri was suspicious. He asked the British missionary Charles Swan for a translation

of the full text. Swan translated true to the letter. As Msiri learned the real meaning of

that agreement he became furious and told Sharpe to leave the Kingdom. Sharpe

wanted to go south where he hoped to meet the explorer Joseph Thomson who also

had been sent by Johnston to get the much wanted concession. But Msiri forced

Sharpe to take the same route as he had come. He would not have met Thomson

anyway. Unknown to Sharpe, Thomson's expedition had contracted small pox on

their way, and the Lamba chief did not let him pass through his territory. Thomson

had to return to Nyasaland, and Sharpe went north to Lake Mweru.

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Swan has often been blamed for "the loss of Katanga". But what he had done was

what is expected of a translator - making a truthful translation of the text instead of

sugar-coating it.

At Msiri's court the real hazards had only just begun. They struggled back at the peak

of the rainy season. Being well informed on the utter failure of Sharpe's mission, the

chiefs and village headmen were uncooperative; some of them were downright

hostile. Kazembe gave the tattered party a rather frosty reception.

Cecil Rhodes was not the only contender; the Belgians had also set their mind on

winning Katanga. Sharpe sent a letter to Johnston, assuring him that a well equipped

expedition could obtain the Katanga concession, if necessary by force. He went on to

state that two Belgian expeditions had also failed and that there were not any danger

from that side. Before Johnston could read that letter, the Belgian flag had already

been hoisted in Bunyeka. The Belgian King had sent out a formidable expedition led

by the British army officer Captain William Grant Stairs. In the course of this

campaign Msiri was shot by a Belgian officer.

Before Sharpe returned to Nyasaland, he left his second in command, Captain

Richard Crawshay, as administrator at Chiengi, on the north-eastern corner of Lake

Mweru.

Some years later Sharpe would succeed Harry Johnston as British Commissioner of

British Central Africa.

2. The Making of a Border

At the Berlin Conference (1884/85) the African continent had been divided between

the colonial powers. None of the government representatives negotiating the borders

had ever set foot on what should become Zambia or the Congo. White settlers had

not yet arrived in the border area, and reports of early travellers were inaccurate. The

African people living there were not even aware of becoming inhabitants of an estate

owned by a private company. Only years later it would dawn on them that they were

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crossing an international border when visiting relatives who lived just a few miles

away. Village elders were not sure whether they owed allegiance to a chartered

company or their traditional paramount chief who by now was the vassal of a king

who had never been in African.

It soon became apparent that the nebulous spheres of interest staked in 1884

needed clarification. In 1894 the following border treaty was signed between the

Congo Free State under King Leopold of Belgium and the British Crown of Queen

Victoria, represented by Sir Harry Johnston:

"The frontier between the Independent Congo Free State and the British sphere to

the North of the Zambezi shall follow a line running direct from the extremity of Cape

Akalunga on Lake Tanganyika, situated at the Northernmost point of Cameron Bay at

about 8° 15' South Latitude, to the right bank of the River Luapula, where this river

issues from Lake Moero. This line shall then be drawn directly to the entrance of the

river into the lake, being however deflected towards the South of the lake so as to

give the Island of Kilwa to Great Britain. It shall then follow the thalweg of the Luapula

up to its issue from Lake Bangweolo. Thence it shall run southwards along the

meridian of Longitude of the point where the river leaves the lake to the watershed

between the Congo and the Zambezi, which it shall follow until it reaches the

Portuguese frontier."

For the purpose of this article, the boundary will be divided into five distinct sections:

- The Indefinite Boundary, i.e. the straight line running from the Congo-

Tanzania-Zambia tripoint to the point where Luvua River discharges from Lake

Mweru;

- Lake Mweru;

- Luapula River;

- The Meridian Border, i.e. the straight line between Luapula River and the

watershed;

- The Watershed Border, stretching from Mkushi River to the Angolan frontier.

The total length of the boundary between Zambia and the Congo is approx. 2,140

kilometres.

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2.1 The Indeterminate Boundary

(See Map 3: Boundary between the Lakes)

The treaty stipulates that the border runs as a straight line from Cape Akalunga to the

northern tip of Lake Mweru. At first glance it seems to be a straight-forward definition.

However, it soon turned out that nobody knew for sure where Cape Akalunga was

situated, or if it does exist at all. For the next hundred years the border between Lake

Tanganyika and Lake Mweru was classified as indeterminate.

The boundary begins at the extreme North-West of Zambia, at the Congo-Tanzania-

Zambia tripoint which is assumed on the median line of Lake Tanganyika somewhere

northeast of Cape Akalunga. In 1911 – 1914 an Anglo-Belgian commission was

given the task to demarcate the border. The British and the Belgian teams surveyed

the course of the border independently. The maps drawn by the Belgians indicated

Cape Kipimbi as the border at the shore, thus positioning the tripoint at 8° 17' S,

whereas on the British map the boundary reached the shore at the northern tip of

Cape Pungu, which places the tripoint at 8° 12' S. With the onset of the Great War

the survey was suspended. It was resumed in 1933, but the strip between the lakes

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was never marked on the ground. Whether one was on Zambian or on Congolese

territory remained open to interpretation, and often arms had the final say.

During colonial times some half-hearted attempts were made to settle the border

issue, but since no significant resources were involved, negotiations were

conveniently postponed. Eventually it became one of the problems inherited by the

independent states of Zambia and DR (Democratic Republic of) Congo. Ever since

the bizarre encounter of Education Minister John Mwanakatwe in Chipungu, the

Zambian Government became wary of the problem. Kaunda and Mobutu held

extensive consultations on the matter, and they appointed a Special Joint Committee

to settle the border dispute once and for all. A physical demarcation has not been

carried out to-date, due to unrests in the Congo as well as lack of funds, but after

fifteen years of consultations an agreement was reached and in 1989 a Delimitation

Treaty was signed. In essence, the treaty arranges the exchange of some pieces of

territory.

On Lake Tanganyika, the Mulilo Enclave, i.e. Mount Kapimbi area, was ceded to DR

Congo. It is considered sacred area because of an ancient shrine where Chief Mulilo

and his people worshipped their ancestors.

Mount Kapimbi is part of a range of hills rising along the south-western shore of Lake

Tanganyika. Proceeding from there along the border in a south-westerly direction,

the hills gently slope into the rather flat catchment area of Lake Mweru Wantipa. Not

many people live in this forbidding region which possibly is the least developed in the

whole country, without any roads or infrastructure worth mentioning. Mweru Wantipa

should not be confused with Lake Mweru which is situated further west. Mweru

means lake, and Wantipa is mud. Approaching the lake from the border, there is no

distinct shore. The open water is surrounded by a broad belt of papyrus which can

only be negotiated by dugout canoes. Lake Mweru Wantipa, Lake Mweru and

Luapula Valley form the western branch of the Great Rift Valley. Geographers are not

sure whether Mweru Wantipa is a lake which sometimes dries out leaving a plain of

mud, or if it is a swamp which is sometimes flooded. Mweru Wantipa does not have

an outlet. It could be defined as an isolated river basin with a strongly fluctuating

water level. For some reason the migrating locusts once chose these eerie

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surroundings as their permanent breeding place. In 1929 they broke out. A horrific

large swarms spread over Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, Southern

Rhodesia and South Africa, wreaking havoc in an area of eight million square

kilometres. The plague gradually waned after 1935, but it was not before 1950 that it

was under control. There is a road running from Nkosha parallel to the eastern shore

of Mweru Wantipa to Kaputa, the district capital. Continuing east it soon deteriorates,

and during the rains it becomes impassable. The only other transport route is a rough

track going from Kaputa north-west to Chipanta and Chiengi. Even a 4WD vehicle

can negotiate this route only with some luck. This track passes two more enclaves

which have been surrendered to the Congo. They are inhabited by Congolese

citizens, and their government is represented by border posts. No roads suitable for

vehicles connect these isolated settlements with the rest of the Congo.

After having crossed the wetlands, the terrain is mountainous with deep-cut valleys

and thickly wooded ridges. During the Second Congo War (1999) this godforsaken

region hit the headlines. Kabila rebels advanced and the militant Hutu militia was

trapped in Katanga. Tens of thousands fled towards the Zambian border, many of

them retreating to the inaccessible Marungu Mountains just north of the ill-defined

border. Many of them flooded Kaputa District, Zambia's neglected backyard. Before

the District Commissioner had repeatedly asked Lusaka for uniforms because his

government officials were not recognized and respected as police or customs

officers. And now the administration centre Kaputa, a village with less than 3000

inhabitants, had to deal with 16,000 armed Hutu refugees. Most of them were

directed to big UNHCR camps in Kawambwa and Mporokoso District.

2.2 Lake MweruThis line shall then be drawn directly to the entrance of the river into the lake, being however deflected towards the South of the lake so as to give the Island of Kilwa to Great Britain. (Border Treaty 1894)

The administration and border of the Lake Mweru region caused the British South

Africa Company (BSAC) some headache. The magistrates were supposed to fly the

flag, maintain law and order, stop slave trade, collect taxes and administer the area.

It began with Crawshay who in 1890 built a boma at Chiengi stream, a few miles

outside Puta. It was the first administrative station to be opened in what is now

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Zambia. The site was well chosen. Close to the borders of the British sphere of

interest it commanded a direct view of the old trade route between Kazembe's court

and Lake Tanganyika. Further downhill a dambo fringed the lake. Chief Puta, after

whom the nearby settlement was called, was still harassed by Swahilis. He hoped to

get protection from the British; therefore he was friendly to Crawshay.

In 1891, the Stairs expedition was on its way back to Zanzibar. They had taken the

same route as Sharpe and Chrawshay before, but when coming to the junction north

of the lake, they did not care to visit Crawshay but continued towards Lake

Tanganyika. Although they did not meet, Stairs and Crawshay exchanged notes

which were carried by runners. The topic of their communication was the course of

the border between Katanga and the BSAC territory. Stairs confirmed that it should

run along the Congo-Zambezi watershed, Luapula River, and from Lake Mweru to

Lake Tanganyika.

Crawshay resided in a wooden house protected by strong wooden bars. He did not

have to go far for shooting game on which he and his troops subsisted. Sitting on his

veranda he could see caravans passing by. Trade in slaves and ivory went on as it

had done for centuries. The army officer turned big-game hunter never understood

the mechanics of this continent-spanning commerce linked by an intricate system of

transport and communication. Besides, he did not dispose of sufficient police power

to stop the slave trade which went on right under his nose. Needless to say that

Kazembe did not allow him to collect taxes, he did not even let him fly the Union

Jack. Utterly frustrated Crawshay abandoned the post in 1891 and left the BSAC

service.

There is some confusion about the name of this boma. Some documents refer to it as

Puta, others as Chiengi. As Johnston toured the Mweru region he decided to reopen

the station and renamed it into Rhodesia. In 1892 he deployed John Kydd and Frank

Bainbridge to exercise administrative authority at the lake. The two agents did not

settle at the deserted Rhodesia post but moved to a location in the hills where the

road leading to Kazembe's capital intersects with Kalungwishi River. They named this

new station also Rhodesia. Although they could not stop slavery altogether, they at

least managed to give protection to the locals against the Swahilis. 1894 both of

them suddenly died of blackwater fever. They were buried under the flagstone of the

boma. Rumour had it that they were poisoned. Be that as it may, it is a credit to them

15

to have opened the colony's first post office. Among other duties, magistrates of

remote bomas also had to provide public mail service. Letters were carried by

runners who maintained communication between administration posts.

In 1893 Dr. Blair Watson was sent as BSAC collector and magistrate to Rhodesia.

Tax collection was a permanent bone of contention. For centuries the Kazembes had

held the monopoly of ivory trade and now these strangers came and demanded tax

in form of ivory. Minor chiefs stopped paying tribute to Kazembe, and when pressed

they went to Watson for protection. However, the same chiefs often did not pay their

tax to Watson either. Instead they sneaked across the border and sold tusks to the

Belgians.

The suppression of slave trade was another challenge, and Watson took it very

serious. Msiri's death had left a power vacuum which the BSAC could not fill. Mwata

Kazembe tried to regain control over the old Lunda territory to the West of Luapula

River, but his attempts were thwarted by the Belgians who had opened a station at

Lofoi in Eastern Katanga. Meanwhile the Swahilis resumed their slave trade. Under

their leader Shimba they raided villages and nearly depopulated the area around the

lake, as the explorer Poulet Weatherly reported. They built a heavily fortified boma on

Kilwa Island and made it their headquarter. Several times the Belgians tried to take

Shimba's boma, but they were repulsed. As Shimba unexpectedly came to death in

1895, Watson quickly seized the opportunity. With his small police force he took

Kilwa Island, destroyed the stockades of the Swahilis and hoisted the Union Jack. As

Watson heard of Zanzibari caravans still trading slaves at Kazembe's capital, he

marched his troops to Mwansabombwe. But there he was defeated. A second

attempt was also thwarted by Kazembe. To humliate him even more, Watson was

forbidden to collect taxes and fly the flag. It was a precarious situation. 1000 km of

rough terrain lay between Mweru and Blantyre, the than capital and nearest garrison

of British Central Africa. Not before 1899 Sharpe and Robert Codrington, the BSAC

administrator of North-Eastern Rhodesia (NER) could deploy a punitive expedition.

Mwata Kazembe escaped across the Luapula, but later the BSCA allowed him back

to resume his chieftainship.

Another slave trader, the aged Abdullah ibn Suleiman who in his earlier days was a

companion of the infamous Tippu Tib, was still harassing Bila villages. He was

16

arrested by H.T. Harrington and imprisoned in Kalungwishi in 1899. According to

Harrington's reports, Kalungwishi was by now a strongly stockaded boma with four

bastions. Harrington had been an administrator in Kalungwishi since 1896. The

punitive expedition and the arrest of Abdullah ibn Suleiman broke the power of

Swahili slavers once and for all.

Small wonder that during the 1890ies the BSAC could not establish an efficient and

coherent administration in the lake region.

As J.F. Sealy and G.T. Wenham were sent as collectors, they reopened the old

Rhodesia station, this time, however, under the name of Chiengi. Previously, the

region of modern Zambia and Zimbabwe had been variously called Zambezia, or

British Central Africa, or BSAC Territories, or Charterland, but in 1895 the Chartered

Company proclaimed: "The territories now or hereafter placed under the control of

the British South Africa Company shall be named collectively 'Rhodesia'". Thus

Rhodesia became the official name for the whole region between Limpopo River and

Katanga, and the bomas on Lake Mweru were renamed into Kalungwishi and

Chiengi, respectively.

Due to a devastating sleeping sickness epidemic in 1907 – 1910, administrative work

practically came to a halt. Sharpe sent Drs. J.D. Brunton and W.G. Jollyman who for

three years battled against sleeping sickness in Mweru area. As the epidemic had

ebbed away more administrators arrived, one of them P.C.J. Reardon in 1917. He

went mad and was taken to an asylum. In 1922 the station was closed for lack of

funds. The station was reopened in 1925 by G.H. Morton who went mad in 1927 and

ended up in a Cape Town asylum. In 1929 F.O. Hoare arrived, he died of black water

fever the same year. Chienge was closed in 1933. Mweru was then administered

from far away Mporokoso, later from Kawambwa. Chiengi was not reopened until

1973 under the Kaunda administration.

After 1900, more white people trickled into the district: missionaries, big game

hunters, adventurers and traders, albeit Lake Mweru remained a remote outpost.

There were no roads, no motor cars, not even ox-wagons. The tsetse-fly makes the

17

area uninhabitable for cattle. Transport was done by porters or dugout canoes, and

people travelled by foot. The administrators lived very basic, to say the least. They

lived by hunting and fishing. The next doctor was hundreds of miles away, death tolls

were heavy and isolation sent them around the bend.

The Border Treaty 1894 provided that the border running from Lake Tanganyika in a

straight line ends on the right bank of the Luvua at the point where the river issues

from Lake Mweru. Thus the border-line divided the fishing village of Pweto, cutting

the greatest part of the village off from the lake. The fishermen did not bother, they

did not know of that artificial line drawn on a map in far-away Europe. Pweto and

Chipungu were defined as situated within BSAC territory. Considering the chaotic

history of the Chiengi post it is hardly surprising that the administrators were not

overzealous to extend their activities beyond Lunchinda River. As Johnston toured

the Mweru region, he visited Captain Jacques, an official of the Congo Free State,

who administered Pweto Johnston and Jaques agreed by handshake that, for the

time being, the latter should continue to administer the whole town including the

British sector. Belgium missionaries provided health service and taught children of

the Bwile tribe in French. Greek traders sold dried fish and game to the rapidly

growing Katangese mining towns. They did not care on whose territory they carried

on their business. And the BSAC administrators were quite happy with this solution

since they had enough other problems to worry about. The Belgians, on the other

hand, had a keen interest in the lake region with its rich fishery.

As Northern Rhodesia became a crown colony in 1923, some half-hearted attempts

were made to gain control over Pweto, but to no avail. In 1958 District Commissioner

Thomson visited Chief Puta's area. He was made aware of squatters who had run

away from Pweto to elude forced labour imposed upon them by the Belgians. The

situation was absurd. On paper they were inhabitants of Northern Rhodesia, but their

government had never provided any facilities like banks, schools, clinics - everything

was Congolese. They had been forced to carry Congolese identity cards, they had

been under Belgian jurisdiction, they had been harassed by Belgian recruiters, and in

Puta they were treated as refugees. Exorbitant cost and infrastructural obstacles

were the lame excuse of the Federation for not giving protection to their citizens in

Pweto and Chipungu, but the plain fact was that the Federal Government was in a

predicament. The 70 km pedicle road was the ace in the sleeve of the Belgians. It

18

was – and still is - the lifeline of Luapula Province, and it crosses Congolese territory.

A border meeting was convened, aimed at settling the Pweto problem. All it resulted

in was a fisheries agreement regulating fishing rights and the type of nets to be used

on the lake. It was also proposed to swap land on the north-west boundary for control

over the pedicle. The Belgians promised to give it consideration, but at the end they

remained in Pweto and kept the pedicle. Even as late as 1961, Provincial

Commissioner E.L. Button commented on the topic of the boundary between Lakes

Mweru and Tanganyika: "Despite the rather nebulous nature of a common boundary,

no administration difficulties had been caused by it, and as such it would be better to

let sleeping dogs lie." A strange statement for a high-ranking government official!

With the Delimitation Treaty of the Zambian sector of Pweto and the territory between

the lake shore, Luchinda River and the border was ceded to DR Congo.

There was a bizarre sequel to that treaty. In 2002 Chiengi Deputy and former

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Katele Kalumba, claimed that the "scandalous

(delimitation) agreement with the corrupt Mobutu regime" was unconstitutional "and

therefore our government must restore our sovereignty". Ironically, a year later Dr.

Kalumba himself was accused of having embezzled some 30 million US Dollars, and

an arrest warrant was issued. Dr. Kalumba disappeared and police failed to trace

him. After some weeks it transpired that he was hiding near his home in Chiengi

district, and that he used witchcraft to make himself invisible. The police consulted

two prominent witch finders who advised them to go out naked when looking for Dr.

Kalumba. Only that would counteract the strong witchcraft. Now the Force was in a

fix: Failing to arrest was embarrassing, but a platoon of naked cops chasing a fugitive

member of parliament in a highly sensitive border area would have been downright

scandalous. A compromise was worked out and the police had to remove their

underpants. It worked. They found Dr. Kalumba in a tent on his farm near Chiengi.

The police operation was dubbed the 'underpants-and-witchcraft scandal'.

South of Luvua and along the eastern shore, the steep escarpment closes in to within

a few kilometres of the lake. The border runs from the outlet of Luvua along the

median line of the lake. It deflects to the East to include Kilwa Island into Zambian

territory, then turns west to the estuary of Luapula River.

19

2.3 Luapula River(see Map 4: Luapula River and Lake Bangweulu)

20

Before entering Lake Mweru, the Luapula forms a large river delta with swamp,

lagoons and channels. Some elevations appear as islands only when the seasonally

21

fluctuating water level is low. But there are 179 permanent river islands, some of

them bisected by the median line. With the delimitation Treaty 1989 the islands were

clearly divided between the two nations. The actual course of the river is distinct and

navigable, although for some 120 km upriver both shores are fringed by a broad belt

of marshes and floodplains, populated by an abundance of hippo, crocodile and

birds. Until some 50 years ago the plains were roamed by large herds of elephant,

lechwe, buffalo and antelope, and lions were on the prowl. By now wildlife has been

heavily reduced by poaching.

Back in the 1890ies, the Belgians pursued an aggressive policy of expansion and

Sharpe worried about the Luapula Border. He marked a site for a station at Luapula

River just north of the Johnston Falls (today Mambilima Falls) and named it Fort

Rosebery. To impress the Belgians it was put on international maps. To quote the

1896 Report of the (BSAC) Administrators: "Fort Rosebery, which was reported by

Sir H. Johnston in May 1894 as having been fortified, has never been built, nor has

any white man visited the site since Mr. Sharpe selected it in 1892." In those days,

the dividing line between fake and fact was rather thin. The real Fort Rosebery,

(today's Mansa) was built much later, about 80 km to the East.

To put that fake settlement on the map was by no means a boastful quirk of Sharpe.

The General Act of the Berlin Conference stipulated the rule of 'effective occupation'.

To satisfy the principle of effectivity, their possession had to be based on treaties with

local chiefs, they had to established an administration, make economic use of the

colony, maintain order with a police force and fly the flag. If the claimant did not, any

other power, e.g. the Belgians, could have taken proper possession by virtue of the

Berlin Act. It was exactly this section of the Act which had fuelled the sudden

scramble for Africa and made concession hunting a profitable business. Anyway, the

original Fort Rosebery was just another red herring in the history of that blurred

border.

(see Map 5: The Belgian Claim)

22

Initially the Belgians wanted to make the watershed the border, from Angola right up

to the highlands between lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa. The watershed runs along

the Zambian border from Angola to Mkushi River and continues from there roughly

along the route of the Great North Road. The British, on the other hand, tried to

include the whole of mineral-rich Katanga into their territory. Both these claims were

nothing but wishful thinking. The BSAC had already stations set up, they would never

have ceded North-East Rhodesia. But how should the border between Luapula River

and the Watershed be drawn? The British proposed a line along the Lake Mweru-

Luapula Valley and, instead of following the course of the river curving to the East,

(see Map 6: The British Proposal)

23

continue the border southwards at longitude 28°35' until it intersects with the Congo-

Zambezi watershed. This option would have included the Pedicle in BSCA territory.

The Belgians, however, insisted on the watershed border up to Tunduma. Their

objective was to gain control over enormous fisheries and abundant wildlife of the

huge Bangweulu drainage system. The only point the adversaries finally agreed on

was to invite the Italian King as independent arbitrator.

2.4 The Meridian Border

His Majesty, King Umberto I of Italy, took up pen and ruler and drew a straight line

from Mpanta (Lake Bangweulu) southward to where it intersects with the watershed.

That is how the Pedicle was created, a panhandle region in the extreme South-East

of the Congo. It is of little use for the Congo and a painful thorn in the flesh of Zambia

because it cuts off Luapula Province from the rest of the country.

Britain and Belgium accepted the King's decision and the 1894 Border Treaty was

drafted. It stipulates that the border follows the thalweg of the Luapula from Lake

Mweru up to its issue from Lake Bangweulu.

24

A river is a clear demarcation – provided there is a river bed. But north of Tshongola

the Luapula loses its appearance as a distinct river. It vanishes in almost

impenetrable marshes of papyrus. The 1894 Border Treaty was based on the

assumption that the only outflow of Lake Bangweulu was the source of Luapula

River. That outflow is situated on the South of the Lake at the village of Mpanta. After

some miles that broad river peters out in the marshes.

The Bangweulu swamps and the multitude of constantly changing channels stretch

as far as Munyanga in the East and Mubanga in the North. It is part of the vast

Bangweulu-Chambeshi catchment system, fed by over a dozen streams. Only

slender dugouts can negotiate the maze of narrow channels through the papyrus.

No white man had ever crossed the Bangweulu Swamps, and certainly nobody had

figured out the thalweg of Luapula and Chambeshi River. In fact, it should take

another 25 years before the hydrography of the Bangweulu system was unravelled.

Today we know that Chambeshi River enters the swamps and divides into a number

of interconnected arms, all of them hidden for their most part under the vast expanse

of swamp, lagoons and channels. They follow their clandestine course in a south-

westerly direction, by-passing Lake Bangweulu. North of Tshongola they again

consolidate as one river. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the Luapula does not

spring from Lake Bangweulu. Instead, the Luapula is the continuation of Chambeshi

River. Only one of the Chambeshi distributaries – known as Chisale Channel -

diverges west and empties into the lake. The outflow of the lake at Panta just

discharges into the swamp. There is no thalweg along which the border between

Lake Bangweulu and Luapula River could possibly follow.

(see Map 7: Border Treaty 1894)

25

Maps drawn around 1900 show the border running north up to Mpanta and from

there stretching back south as a straight line along the meridian of 30° Longitude,

forming a very narrow Belgian corridor. Later it turned out that Tshongola was

situated at latitude 29° 55' E, whereas Mpetu lay 29°49' E. Paradoxically the western

border of that corridor was for the most part situated east of its eastern border.

Allowing for a non-existing meandering thalweg of the river, a few isolated Congolese

enclaves were scattered along that border. They feature endless marshes and

floating papyrus islands populated by pelican, unafraid of man. Though it is

impressive when they waddle along, it is hard to say whether their movements are

ridiculous or dignified. But the territory as such is useless for all practical purposes.

With the 1989 Delimitation Treaty, the Congo (then Zaire) renounced its claim to

these enclaves in exchange for some Zambian enclaves in Zaire.

Ever since the eastern border of the Pedicle is a straight line running from Tshongola

south to a point near Mkushi River where it meets the watershed dividing the Congo

and Zambezi drainage systems.

26

2.5 The Watershed Border

(see Map 8: The Delimitation Agreement 1989)

From the point where the meridian touches the watershed, it runs westward along the

watershed until it reaches the Angolan border. An Anglo-Belgian border commission

had demarcated that part of the border between 1911 and 1914. Over a total length

of about 1000 km the border had been demarcated with only 46 pillars at unequal

distances. Some Pillars were 40 km apart and difficult to locate in the dense bush. It

soon turned out that a border as sensitive with regard to mining rights as the Congo-

Rhodesian border needed an exact demarcation. To cite an example, the Belgians

had opened a remarkably rich copper mine at Kipushi in 1909. It was situated 28 km

south-west of Elisabethville, right on the Rhodesian border.

Concession holders on both sides of the border demanded from their respective

governments a clear demarcation of the mineralised border. Great Britain and

Belgium formed a commission which jointly mapped and marked the boundary

between 1927 and 1929. More than 200 pillars were erected between the southern

tip of the meridian border and the Angola frontier. This section of the watershed

extends over a length of almost 1000 km, dividing the upper basin of the Zambezi

27

and its affluent, the Kafue River in the South, and the headwaters of the Congo River

in the North. For the most part the border area is flat plateau, a feature which is not

typical at all for a watershed. In the absence of topographical elevations most

trigonometric points had to be erected on anthills. Survey was extremely difficult

because plain surface and thick bush made it impossible to determine the watershed

line by eye.

An interesting side note: Sir Stewart Gore-Brown, was one of the members of the

border commission. During his work he fell in love with the country and decided to

settle in Northern Rhodesia. Later he built Shiwa Ngandu.

The 1894 Border Treaty stipulates that the Congo-Zambian Border ends where "it

reaches the Portuguese frontier." However, at that time the Portuguese border was

far from being settled. Ten years earlier, at the Berlin Conference, the Portuguese

had presented the Mapa cor-de-rosa (Pink Map), claiming Portugal's sovereignty

over all land between Angola and Mozambique, including what is now Zambia,

Zimbabwe and Malawi. A partition was suggested. At that time Britain did not care

about the territory between the Zambezi and Katanga (today's Zambia), but it

objected to recognise Matabeleland and the Nyasa mission field (today's Zimbabwe

and Malawi) as falling within the Portuguese sphere of influence. This offer was

rejected by Portugal. No sooner the fabulously rich mineral deposits of the copperbelt

had become known than London quickly withdrew its offer and lay claim to

'Zambesia', too. The Portuguese argued that their 400-year old African Empire

reached from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. However, the sole evidence of their

continent-spanning possessions were the diaries of a few explorers like Lacerda who

had failed to cross their so-called empire. The only persons who had succeeded in

crossing the continent from coast to coast were those two native slave traders

Baptista and José.

The first European to travel the “Portuguese African Empire” extensively and cross

the continent from Luanda in the West to Quelimane in the East was not a

Portuguese but a British subject: Dr. David Livingstone. In the 1850s he explored

Barotseland where he met the Angolan Trader Silva Porto who nursed Livingstone as

he fell ill with dysentery and fever, assisted him when travelling the province of Bié,

and furnished him with letters of recommendation to influential citizens of Luanda.

28

Livingstone was impressed by the proverbial hospitality and generosity of the

Portuguese, and he appreciated the lack of colour bar. In his Missionary Travels he

noted: "None of these gentlemen had Portuguese wives… It is common for them to

have families by native women. It was particularly gratifying to me, who had been

familiar with the stupid prejudice against colour entertained only by those who are

themselves becoming tawny, to view the liberality with which people of colour were

treated by the Portuguese."

The Portuguese who had been deployed to service in Africa considered Angola as a

penal colony. But life in the cities was pleasant: town planning, architecture, streets,

squares, parks, the way of life – it was the charming copy of a coastal town in

Portugal. However, it should be noted that the Portuguese were a seafaring people,

and their main activities were confined to the natural harbours of Luanda, Lobito and

Moçamedes. The Portuguese were city dwellers. Outside the towns very little could

be seen of 400 years of Portuguese occupation. Between the coasts of Angola and

Mozambique was nothing to be found but African villages and bush. Of course, there

was trade, but outside the cities it was carried out by pombeiros who bought slaves

and ivory from the chiefs in remote areas, took them to the sea ports and sold them

to the trading houses at the ports. Although there was a decline in slave trade at the

time Livingstone visited Luanda, it was still going on. After having met the

Commissioner, he wrote: "The Portuguese home Government has not generally

received the credit for sincerity in suppressing the slave trade which I conceive to be

its due."

For a Portuguese, Silva Porto was very exceptional. As the first Swahili trading

caravan from Zanzibar arrived in Benguela, Silva Porto grabbed this opportunity to

accompany them on their overland journey back to East Africa. As they reached

Lealui, the capital of the Barotse Kingdom, Silva Porto fell ill and had to stay behind.

It was on this expedition that Silva Porto met Livingstone.

Silva Porto was an adventurer straight out of a picture book. Nobody knew the

interior of the colony better than he did, and he was respected by local chiefs.

Already in his lifetime he was a national hero. And he was a far-sighted patriot. For

decades he lobbied for the exploration and development of the vast hinterland,

arguing that if Portugal would not do it, foreign powers certainly would. Over the

29

years his warnings grew more urgent, but the Governor in Luanda believed that

coastal domination was sufficient. As it finally dawned on the Government in Lisbon

that foreign powers encroached from overland routes, they called for a meeting to

have their historic rights to the interior between Angola and Mozambique recognised

by the colonial powers. This request inspired the German Chancellor Otto von

Bismarck to organise the Berlin Conference 1884-85. Portugal emerged as the big

loser of the conference.

As the aged Silva Porto learned that Portugal had lost Central Africa, he staged a

bizarre suicide: He wrapped himself into a home-made Portuguese flag, sat on

twelve kegs of gunpowder and blew himself through the roof of his house.

In 1893 Britain and Portugal reached a provisional agreement, making the Zambezi

their common border. Lewanika, the Paramount Chief of Barotseland, complained

that this arrangement would give a large part of his territory away to the Portuguese.

Usually Cecil Rhodes did not make a fuss about the feelings African chiefs might

have when boundaries were negotiated, but in this case he gave full support to

Lewanika's case and insisted that the Barotseland border should be drawn 150 km

West of the Zambezi. The Portuguese did not agree, and the border issue remained

pending. In 1905 again an Italian King was invited to draw the border, this time Victor

Emmanuel III. He drew a line from the watershed along the Jimbe River in a

southerly direction. At 13° Latitude S he turned West drawing a straight line up to 22°

Longitude E. There he turned South again, drawing a straight line up to Rio Cuando.

In 1915 the Border between Angola and Northern Rhodesia was demarcated, and in

the same year the Belgo-Portuguese Border was demarcated. Thus it should be easy

to clearly define the Angola-Congo-Zambia tripoint. It is unbelievable, but so far the

point where the borders of the three countries converge has not yet been explicitly

agreed upon:

- The watershed border ends at pillar 46 which was erected by Anglo-Belgian

surveyors in 1929, but Belgium did not sign the Anglo-Belgium Border Protocol of

1934. Neither did the Congo accept pillar 46 as the tripoint.

30

- The Anglo-Portuguese Protocol demarcated initial pillar 1 at 10° 53' 18.3'' Latitude S

and 23° 59' 58.3'' Longitude E. However, neither Belgium nor the Congo accepted

this point. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the Anglo-Portuguese pillar 1 and

the Anglo-Belgian pillar 46 are identical.

- The Belgo-Portuguese border demarcation also starts with a pillar 1. Again, there is

no reference that it is identical with any of the other pillars.

This problem cannot be solved from the desk. It would be a matter of a day or two to

go and inspect the site, but so far the three countries concerned have not appointed

a competent team to do this. Meanwhile the International Association of Geodesy

(IAG) classifies the tripoint as indefinite.

Conclusion

The Berlin Conference 1884/85 marked for Africa the beginning of a state system on

the model of European territorial states with clearly defined and demarcated borders.

Geographers describe borders which are made up of natural features such as seas,

lakes, rivers, mountains etc. as 'natural borders', whereas boundary lines not based

on geographical features are termed artificial or arbitrary. Hence the border between

the Zambian Copperbelt and Katanga is natural because it runs along a watershed

although it is not visible to the naked eye. But lines drawn on a map are not natural,

they are an invention of the human mind. For example, this Copperbelt border cuts

right through Lamba territory, and it is understandable that for a Lamba the border is

not 'natural' at all. Giving due consideration to the culture and language of the people

concerned, all African boundaries are artificial. As Lord Salisbury signed the Anglo-

French Convention of 1890 in respect of Nigeria's northern boundary, he remarked in

a jocular mood: "We have been engaged in drawing lines upon maps where no white

man's foot ever trod. We have been giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to

each other, only hindered by the small impediment that we never knew exactly where

the mountains and rivers and lakes were."

Borders are one of the burdens inherited from the colonial past.

Document provided by kind courtesy of Doug Grewar

31

History

since 900 Baluba Kingdom

since 1665 Kingdom of Lunda

1798 expedition of Dr. Francisco de Lacerda / Francisco Joao Pinto

1806 – 1814 expedition of Pedro João Baptista and Amaro José

1831 Major Jos Monteiro and Captain Antonio Gamitto visit Kazembe

1834 The Sultan of Oman moves his capital to Zanzibar

1850 Msiri conquers Katanga and founds the Yeke Kingdom

1868 Dr. David Livingstone visits Kazembe

1884/85 Berlin Conference

1890 Alfred Sharpe signs a treaty with Kazembe; unsuccessful expedition to Bunyeke; Captain Richard Crawshay opens station at Chiengi

1890 Msiri killed; Captain William Grant Stairs occupies Katanga on behalf of the King of Belgium

1894 Border Treaty between Belgium and Great Britain

1899 Punitive expedition against Kazembe

1911–14 Anglo-Belgian Border Commission

1927-33 Second Anglo-Belgian Border Commission

1989 Delimitation Treaty between Zambia and Zaire

32

Bibliography

Edward A. Alpers, The East African Slave Trade, Nairobi 1967

A.I. Asiwaju, Les Frontieres Artificielles, Lagos 1990

W.V. Brelsford, The Tribes of Zambia, Lusaka

Kenneth Bradley, Copper Venture, London, 1952

Basil Davidson, The African Past, London 1964

Basil Davidson, Old Africa Rediscovered, London 1965

Basil Davidson, Africa in History, London 1992

James Duffy, Portuguese Africa, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1968

Richard Hall. Zambia, London 1965

Hugh Marshall Hole, The Making of Rhodesia, London 1967

A.H. Quiggin, Trade Routes, Trade and Currency in East Africa.

J.E.G. Sutton, Early Trade Routes in Eastern Africa, Nairobi 1973

J.E.G. Sutton, The East African Coast, Dar es Salaam 1966

V.W. Turner, Lunda Rites and Ceremonies, The Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, 1953

33

MAPS

1 Central African Powers before 1850

2 Old Trade Routes and African Powers after 1850

3 Boundary between the Lakes

4 Luapula River and Lake Bangweulu

5 The Belgian Claim

6 The British Proposal

7 Border Treaty 1894

8 Delimitation Agreement 1989

34