II.
Brief History of the Boundary. (1)
Prior to the period of intensive boundary negotiations by European states, the zone of the Nigeria-Niger boundary was characterised by spheres of influence or domination by the indigenous states rather than by formal boundaries. The first formal definition of the boundary is contained in the second article of the Anglo-French Declaration of 1890, (2), and laid down "a line from Saye on the Niger, to Barruwa on lake Tchad, drawn in such a manner as to comprise in the sphere of action of the Niger Company all that fairly belongs to the Kingdom of Sokoto". (See map appended to this paper).
This vague description, not represented in any detail on any map as far as is known, remained the basis of the boundary until the Anglo-French Convention of 1898, (3), concerning the British and French possessions in West Africa from the Ivory Coast to the Cameroons, Article IV of the Convention described the boundary from the River Niger to Lake Chad by a series of geometric lines, except where it followed the median line of the Dallul Mauri at the western end.
Article V of the 1898 Convention provided for the appointment of commissioners within two years, "to delimit on the spot the lines of demarcation". The subsequent Anglo- French Boundary Commission of 1902-04, (4), was in the field from November 1902 until January 1904, but its work never came to fruition because in the meantime the British and French governments had agreed to further substantial alterations in the boundary, principally to give the French a practicable east-west route from Saye to Zinder and eastwards to Lake Chad.
These alterations were embodied in the Convention of 1904, (5). This dealt with a number of Anglo-French conflicts in different parts of the world, Article VIII dealing with the Anglo-French boundary east of the Niger, The 6th and 7th paragraphs of Article VIII recognised that modifications might subsequently be required in the light of the work of the 1902-04 Commission which had not yet returned home.
There were modifications, and they were incorporated in a new agreement, the Convention of 1906, (Bibliography, item 2), which consisted basically of a verbal description of the boundary, based on but modifying the 1904 Convention alignment, and two maps at 1:1,000,000 scale, designated TSGS 2178. The description was a much more detailed one than any earlier ones, being based largely on the work of the Boundary Commission of 1902-04.
In accordance with Article IV of the 1906 Convention the two governments established a mixed commission to demarcate the agreed boundary on the ground by means of beacons. This was the Boundary Commission of 1907-08, (6), which signed its report at Kaua, (on Lake Chad, at approximately 12°58'N, 13°42'E), on 25 February 1908. This report, of which MRLG does not hold a copy, (7), was the basis for the Protocol defining the boundary, which was signed by the Commissioners on 19 February 1910, together with 14 maps. This Protocol, formally approved by the British and French governments by an Exchange of Notes dated respectively 1 July 1911 and 17 May 1911, is the Agreement of 1910, (Bibliography, item 5), and is the basis for the present-day alignment of the Nigeria-Niger boundary. The boundary thus established differed slightly from that shown on the two-sheet map accompanying the 1906 Convention.
However, although no later authority is known for modifications to the boundary, the French 1:200,000 map series, Carte de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, published by the Institut Géographique National (I.G.N.) shows a few marked changes in the boundary alignment, which have been repeated on series 1501 maps produced by the U.S. Army Map Service, (now Defense Mapping Agency, Topographic Center). These changes do not appear in the admittedly inadequate Nigerian maps covering the boundary, although the biggest
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