Gerald Portal

Sir Gerald Herbert Portal (born March 13, 1858 in Laverstoke Park , Hampshire , † January 25, 1894 in Westminster , London ) was a British diplomat in Africa .

Life

Portal was sent as an envoy to Ethiopia in 1887 to mediate between Italians making claims to Ethiopia and Emperor Yohannes IV .

From 1889 to 1891 he was an envoy to Zanzibar , where he was supposed to convince Sultan Khalifa ibn Said, among others, of the abolition of slavery. In addition, it was he who settled the Indian golden crow on Zanzibar in order to control native pests, which later developed into a plague itself.

From March 6, 1891 to December 12, 1892 he was Consul General in Zanzibar and was beaten on August 6, 1892 to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George .

Frederick Lugard campaigned in England in October 1882 for the establishment of a British protectorate in Uganda , which would replace the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEACo), the British trading company for East Africa, in Buganda . Portal was sent into the country to prepare an opinion on possible funding on behalf of the British government. On April 1, 1893, Portal had the Union Jack hoisted over Fort Kampala for the first time , and on May 29, 1893, he concluded a treaty with the then King Mwanga , church representatives and Muslims, who effectively put Buganda under British protectorate. Buganda officially became a protectorate on June 18, 1894.

Portal supported Frederick Lugard's military considerations to found forts on the border between the kingdoms of Toro and Bunyoro , which is why one of them was named Fort Portal after him in 1900 , in which city his statue can be seen. He and his administration settled in Entebbe , which remained the capital of Uganda until independence in 1962.

Works

• The British Mission to Uganda in 1893