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'Egyptian Claims to Sovereignty over the Somali Coast.' [‎14r] (27/62)

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The record is made up of 31 folios. It was created in 1876-1879. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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3
* From Foreign Office, 27th April 1876,
No. 252.
f From Foreign Office, 22nd July 1876,
No. 440.
J From Foreign Office, 30th September
1876, No. 555.
application would be made to the Porte to authorize
the conclusion of a Convention to give effect to it,
and to engage that no portion of the Somali coast
thus formally incorporated in the Ottoman do
minions under the rule of the Khedive should at
any time be ceded to a foreign Power.
On the 7th April 1876,* General Stanton re
ported that he had made the necessary communi
cation to the Egyptian Government, and had had
a casual conversation with the Khedive on the
subject.
His Highness remarked, with reference to Cape
Guardafui being regarded as the limit of his pos
sessions on the Somali coast, that Has Haffun, a
point some 200 (sic, but ?) miles south of the cape,
and to which neither Zanzibar nor any other Power
even laid claim, was actually occupied by him ; and
that the Egyptian Government had been fully
recognized there by the local Chiefs and tribes.
He was ready to agree to most of the conditions
proposed by Her Majesty’s Government, but ob
served, with regard to Zeyla, that he was unable to
declare that a free port, as he had to pay the Porte
the sum of 15,000/. a year in lieu of the customs
dues formerly collected there on account of the
Ottoman Government.
His Highness was willing to enter into any en
gagement with Her Majesty’s Government for the
prohibition of the export of slaves along the coast,
and for the prevention of the slave trade in Egyptian
waters; but with regard to the suppression of the
slave trade in the Somali territory, it was out of his
power to take any effective steps in that direction,
unless the whole of the territory as far as the J uba
was incorporated under his rule, and he again
alluded to the necessity of his being allowed a
proper harbour on the north-east coast of Africa.
General Stanton, with reference to this last point,
suggested whether it might not be advisable to
consider the question of the boundary between
Egypt and Zanzibar at the same time as that of
the incorporation with Egypt of the coast as far as
Cape Guardafui.
On the 9th June, Lord Derby, in forwarding to
Mr. Cookson, who was acting as Consul General in
Egypt, a report by the Commander of Her Majesty’s
ship “ Teazer ” of a cruise to Tajourrah, Zeyla,
and Berbera, showing great activity of the Egyptian
authorities at these places, requested to be informed
how the question of the recognition of Egyptian
sovereignty over the Somali coast then stood.
Mr. Cookson’s reply (No. 224, dated 1st July
1876),f did not contain the information desired.
Subsequently (No. 237, dated 8th August ]876),J
he reported, as follows, what passed at an interview
with the Khedive on the 6th August:—
“ His Highness repeated his desire to enter into
the proposed Convention, but objected to Cape
Guardafui as the limit of Egyptian territory, ob
serving that, as a matter of fact, Egypt had acquired

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Content

A historical memorandum relating to Egyptian claims to sovereignty over the Somali coast, written by A W Moore, Assistant Secretary to the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , in two parts, submitted 26 February 1876 and 11 October 1879.

The first part of the memorandum provides a historical narrative of events leading from the discovery in June 1870 of an Egyptian warship at Berbera on the Somali coast, with consequent suspicions that the Egyptian Government wished to occupy that place, up to the production of a draft Somali Coast Convention in 1876. The memorandum reproduces correspondence between the Resident at Aden, the Secretary of State for India, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which the authors consider the impact of Egyptian and Turkish influence at Berbera on British trade interests at Aden; on the independence of local Somali tribes; and on British efforts to suppress the slave trade. The memorandum also includes the terms by which HM Government agree to recognise Egyptian sovereignty.

Appendices to the first part of the memorandum reproduce several 'Treaty Relations with Tribes on the African Coast' and 'Geographical Notes'.

The second part of the memorandum opens with an account of events which preceded the signing in 1877 of the Somali Coast Convention by the British Government and by the Egyptian Khedive, describing the Khedive's attempts to extend the limit of proposed Egyptian sovereignty as far south as the Juba River, and subsequent British threats to enter into agreements with Somali chiefs independently of the Khedive.

The memorandum goes on to describe renewed discussions in connection with the procedure in Constantinople necessary to give validity to the Convention after it was signed by the Khedive, and reproduces a note issued by the Ottoman Porte, which asserts Turkish sovereignty over the territory covered by the Convention, but falls short of providing assurances against ceding any of that territory to other foreign powers.

The memorandum closes with the reproduction of correspondence discussing the text of a proposed firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). , to be issued by the Ottoman Porte, which would give validity to the Convention signed by the Khedive.

Appendices to the second part of the memorandum reproduce the text of the 'Somali Coast Convention' and an 'Agreement in regard to the Island of Socotra'.

Extent and format
31 folios
Arrangement

This file is in two parts - the first part consists of a historical narrative (ff 1-9), followed by two appendices (ff 10-12); the second part consists of a historical narrative (ff 13-29), followed by two appendices at the end (ff 30-31).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 31; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'Egyptian Claims to Sovereignty over the Somali Coast.' [‎14r] (27/62), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100035841288.0x00001c> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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