3-086-001 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The British Expedition from Accra to the Gold Coast Hinterland: palaver with Amrahia, 1898. From a photograph by Lieutenant Henderson. 'The white figures are Amrahia and his chiefs returning from council held during palaver [meeting]...No fresh incidents have this week been reported...from the Lower Niger and Lagos Hinterland region, casting any new light upon the situation of the British and French official authorities in the disputed Borgu territory...To ensure its fair and equitable consideration by public opinion, the political doctrine of a "Hinterland" or "Back Country," naturally required by any European coast settlement for the development of trade and the extension of civilising agencies in the interior of such a continent as Africa, with a protectorate and control of native tribes, should be kept steadily in view. This doctrine...has been admitted as a general principle by the International Conferences...since which diplomatists have endeavoured to assign in such instances a limit drawn on the map, or to be described in some formal document, for the "sphere of influence" specially assigned to the European Government possessing recognised colonial jurisdiction on the sea-coast, or at the navigable river port of the country'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.