coast to the southern shores of Lake Chad), and secondly by the subsequent Franco-German agreement of 1894 by which a wedge of German territory was interposed between the French claims in Congoland and on the river Shari, and the British sphere on the Benue; though nevertheless the Germans admitted the French to a point on the extreme upper waters of the Benue in return for German access to the Sanga, one of the Congo tributaries. Besides being hampered by the conflicting ambitions of other European powers, the Niger Company had to conduct a difficult campaign against the Amir of Nupe. Like most great Muhammadan empires, Sokoto consisted of a bundle of vassal states owing a varying degree of allegiance to the dominant power. British Nigeria then contained four important civilized negro peoples, and an indefinite number of savage tribes who were politically of no account whatever. These four great peoples are the _Songhai_ on the north-west, the _Hausa_ occupying all the centre, the _Bornu_ or Kanuri on the north-east, and the _Nupe_ on the south-west. Over three of these (excepting the Kanuri) the Fula conquests of a century ago had established Fula rule with its head-quarters in the Hausa States. But the kingdom of Nupe, though ruled by a Fula dynasty, held its allegiance to the court of Sokoto but cheaply, and requested at the hands of the Niger Company a recognition of its complete independence, which for political reasons the Company could not give. This powerful kingdom, however, stood in the way of all access to Sokoto, and in its defiance of the Niger Company raided for slaves far down on the Lower Niger. Unless a way was to be opened for successful foreign intrigue by allowing Nupe to assert its independence of Sokoto and the Royal Niger Company, it was necessary to subdue its pretensions. Therefore Sir George Goldie, with the aid of a staff of British officers, of Hausa troops and machine guns, inflicted a crushing defeat on the forces of Nupe (mainly Fula), captured their capital, and successfully asserted the sovereign rights of the Company as conferred on them by the Sultan of Sokoto. Subsequently other turbulent and slave-raiding tribes were dealt with, and the Company gradually rendered itself master of a great riverain dominion in west-central Africa.