History of Berlin Conference
In 1884, the Chancellor of German Otto Von Bismarck, at the request of Portugal, did call together the major western powers of the world in order that they can negotiate queries and confusions that had been in the control of Africa. Bismarck did appreciate the opportunity to expand Germany’s spheres of influence over Africa, and wanted or force the rivals of Germany to struggle with one another for territory (Forster, Et al).
When the Berlin conference was going on, more than 80 percent of Africa did remain under the local and traditional control. This ultimately led to the hodgepodge of geometric boundaries, which divided Africa into some fifty irregular countries. Such a roadmap of the continent was superimposed over the one 1000 indigenous regions and cultures of Africa. The new countries did lack rhyme or even reason and it divided the coherent groups of people and also it merged together the disparate groups who did not even move along. Being opened in November 15, 1884, the conference was represented by a plethora of ambassadors from fourteen countries. The countries that were represented involve Denmark, Germany, Australia-Hungary, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Great Britain, Sweden-Norway, Portugal, Spain and Russia, the United States of America and turkey. Of the above mentioned countries, Germany, Portugal, Great Britain and France were the major players in the conference and they controlled most of the colonial Africa at the time.
The initial aim and task of the Berlin conference was to agree that the Niger River mouths and basin and Congo River would be considered neutral and also open to trade. Although there was some neutrality, some parts of the Congo basin was a personal kingdom for Belgium’s King Leopold II, and it was under his rule that over half of the region’s population died. During the Berlin conference, the coastal parts of Africa only were colonized by the European powers. In fact, the European colonial powers did scramble to have control over the interior of the continent. The conference did last until February 26, 1885, having lasted for three months, in which case the colonial powers struggled over the geometric boundaries in the interior of continent, and they disregarded the linguistic and cultural boundaries that were started by the indigenous African population.
The Berlin conference did manage to create some set of rules for the orderly extension of European influence in the African region. The first thing is that, the fourteen nations did agree that there will be freedom of navigation and trade in the Congo basin. They also agreed that any power that annexed territory or even created some protectorate from that day forward will let every other country to know immediately. In the same time, such a country was responsible for creating political stability, and hence guaranteeing effective occupation of such regions. They did also agree to put an end to the slave trade, in which case such territories may not serve as some market or even means of transit for the trade in slaves that are of any race. The give and take carried on following the conference. By the year 1914, the conference participants had entirely divided Africa amongst themselves into some fifty countries.
Some of the major colonial holdings involve the Great Britain, in which case they desired a Cape-to-Cairo collection of colonies, and they were almost succeeding in their control of Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana. In essence, the British did control Ghana and Nigeria. On the other hand, France covered much of the western Africa, from Chad to Mauritania, and republic of Congo and Gabon. There were also the Belgium and king Leopold II, in which case they did control the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other major holdings were Italy, who did controlled Somalia and some parts of Ethiopia, Portugal who did control Mozambique in the east and in the west, Angola. There is also the Spain who did claim Equatorial Guinea, the smallest territory, and Germany that controlled Namibia and Tanzania.
The Africa’s size, surface features, resources, climate and strategic importance became quite suitable for conquest by ambitious European empires. Despite the fact that Africa was quite a remote place physically, especially from the power centers of North America, Asia, and Europe, it was surrounded by water, and this made it to be reached easily from the other continents. Such implied that the Europeans needed to create some rules for dealing with each other if they wanted to avoid some constant bloodshed and competition for African resources. The Berlin conference did create such ground rules. By the mid 1900, the Europeans had created colonies along the African coast and they did compete for control. The push for overseas territories was established quite intensely by the industrial revolution and forced by the need for the raw material, cheap labor and new labor. Such competitions between the Europeans most often led to violent conflicts.
The Partition of Africa
This happened in earnest with the Berlin conference of 1884-1885, and it was the cause of the Africa’s borders currently. As said above, the conference was called in order to settle how the European countries will colonize land in Africa and also to avoid some war amongst the European countries over Africa territory. The fourteen countries were invited as said above, and the United States was specifically invited because of its interest in Liberia, but they did not attend because it had no aim to build some colonial empire in Africa. The conference was to make sure every European country that had some claim in possession of any part of Africa brings civilization, and this is in the form of Christianity, and trade to every region that they will occupy. The country’s claim of a territory was quite valid only if it informed the other European powers and created some occupying force on the ground. Such occupying force was a military outpost on the coasts and also interior waterways with little to no actual settlement. Having the African indigenous rulers sign some “X” to some general agreement for protection by the European power got some lands. Such rulers did not have any idea of what they were signing, and this is because most were illiterate or they could not understand the European languages (Lousi).
In essence, the conference dealt with the territories that were yet to be acquired in Africa. This implied that the interior of Africa was the land area that was available. Many European countries, and so the much of southern Africa and Africa north of the Sahara already claimed the most coastal land. The few Europeans had set foot into the interior of sub-Saharan Africa before the conference. After the conference, there was still exploration into the interior of Africa beyond having the initial treaties. Many Europeans still continued to stay on the coastal regions, and this is while few missionaries did follow rivers inland to find the Christian converts. By 19th century, more Europeans had moved into the African interior to extract raw materials, for instance gold, palm oil, rubber, diamonds and copper. Such natural resources made Africa the vital resource for the European economy.
Even though the African colonies were controlled by nations, the Berlin conference did permit Kind Leopold II of Belgium, to be the sole owner of the large area of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Central Africa. Such an area was provided Leopold II by some other European powers, and this was with the intent that it will be a free area for trade for all the Europeans in Africa. Leopold did agree to such stipulation, including the bringing of Christian missionaries to the interior of the area. However, in practice Leopold II did keep out most of the European traders as he did grant concessions to many corporations to exploit the region’ resources. In the year 1908, King Leopold II gave instructions that the native people of Congo be forced to farm wild rubber as some form of tax payment to the colonial government. People who were not able to reach to their rubber quota had their foot or hand chopped off, and even the Leopold’s agents killed them. When the abuses of power came to the public light, king Leopold II was stripped of his colony, and the Belgium government ruled the large Congo region, and this is until it became independent in 1960.
In the year 1914, more than 90 percent of African continent had been divided between seven European countries, with the exception of only Liberia and Ethiopia that remained independent countries. Most of the boundaries that were drawn up by the Europeans at the Berlin conference still endure currently with little regard to the historic ethnic and political boundaries or natural landmarks created by the Africans themselves. Such boundary disregard, which was retained after independence, sometimes generates conflict in Africa today. Africa then began to emerge from colonial rule first with Ghana that had its independence in 1957. By 20th century, virtually all of the former colonies had gained independence.
The General Act of the 26th February 1885
It was until the mid 1900 that the imperialist great powers of Europe did show some renewed interest in the continent of Africa, and this was specifically in the hitherto unexplored central regions that comprised the modern-day Zambia, Zaire and Zimbabwe. The interest was even heightened by the expected opportunities for raw materials and also investment that such territories could provide for Europe’s continuing industrialization. Competition rose among the powers. Much interest was centered on the Congo region upon which the Belgium’s king Leopold II had set his sights. Portugal had also saw Congo as its historical sphere of influence.
The General Act of 26th February 1885, allotted “spheres of influence” to the relevant powers and it also established the Congo basin as the Congo Free State under the sovereignty of Leopold II, and this is in his personal capacity as the head of the private international Congo association. There are provisions of the act, and it was as follows.
Chapter 1 was relating to the Congo River basin and the adjacent territories. In this chapter, the trade of all countries was to enjoy complete freedom, all the flags had free access to the whole of the coastline of the territories, and goods imported to such regions had to be subjected to no other taxes than such as may be levied as fair compensation for expenditure among others. In addition, merchandise imported remained free from import and transit duties, no power that exercise or shall exercise sovereign rights in the regions shall be permitted to grant therein some monopoly or favor of any sorts in matters of powers and the powers exercising sovereign rights or influence were to watch over the preservation of the native tribes. Chapter 2 was related to documents relative to the slave trade, and it involved the powers that do or shall exercise the sovereign influence or rights in the territories forming the basin of Congo, and such territories did not serve as market or means of transit for the trade in slaves. Chapter IV involved the act of navigation for the Congo, and it stated that the navigation of the Congo was to remain free for the merchant ships of all nations equally. Chapter V involved the navigation for the Niger, and it stated that the navigation of the River Niger was to remain entirely free for the merchant ships of all nations equally. Chapter VI involved the new occupations on the coasts of Africa.
Result of Colonization
The European colonial powers did share one objective in their African colonies, and this was exploitation. However, in the way they governed their dependencies, they did reflect their differences. Some colonial powers were democracies by themselves such as France and United Kingdom, while others were dictatorships such as Spain and Portugal. The British did create some system of indirect rule over some of their domain, leaving the indigenous power structure to remain and making the local rulers representative of the British Crown. Such was quite unthinkable in the Portuguese colonies, where direct and harsh control was the rule. The French did seek to establish some culturally assimilated elites that would represent French ideals in the colonies. King Leopold II in the Belgian Congo did start some campaign of ruthless exploitation. His enforcers did mobilize the entire Congolese people to gather rubber, build public works, and kill elephants for their ivory, and this was to improve export routes. The entire community would have been massacred when they failed to meet the production quotes. In fact, maiming and killing became so common in a colony that horror was the usual denominator (Penrose).
After the slave trade impact, King Leopold’s reign of terror became the Africa’s most severe demographic disaster. 10 million Congolese had been murdered by the time the salve trade ended.
Effects of the Partition of Africa
There were some long-run consequences of the scramble for Africa amongst the European powers in the late 19th century. First, it led to the civil conflicts, in which case it spread from the homeland of partitioned ethnicities to some nearby ethnic regions. Such led to robust and rich set of controls at some fine level and also the inclusion of country fixed effects and ethnic family fixed effects. In addition, the partitioned ethnic groups did suffer significantly from warfare, and this is because they experienced quite prolonged and quite devastating civil wars. The other is that, because of the heightened problem between the countries in the end of 1900, the portioning of Africa can be seen as some way for the Europeans to eliminate Europe war over Africa. In essence, the last 59 years saw control via military influence and economic dominance to that of the direct rule. The other effect involved European countries claiming significant land and natural resources. In addition, the Europeans did create nation borders in Africa. The European powers scramble for colonies, while African leaders forge nationalist movements and the western educated African elites did emerge (Boahen). However, there were some positive effects, which involved infrastructure, and innovation, technology among others.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Berlin conference took place in 1884-1885 and it was called in order to settle how the European countries will colonize land in Africa and also to avoid some war amongst the European countries over Africa territory. Being the defining moments of African history for various reasons, the conference led to the change of the political boundaries of Africa. Most of the seven countries that led in the Berlin conference involved United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, and Belgium. There were effects of the partition of Africa, for instance, it led to the civil conflicts, and the partitioned ethnic groups did suffer significantly from warfare among others.
References:
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Forster, Stig, Wolfgang J. Mommsen, and Ronald E. Robinson. Bismarck, Europe, and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884-1885 and the Onset of Partition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.
Griffiths, Leuan. The African Inheritance. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print
Hansen, Valerie, and Curtis, Kenneth. Voyages in World History, Volume II, Brief. New York: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print
Lousi, William. Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization. Oxford: I.B.Tauris, 2006. Print
Makong’o, J. History and Government Form 2. New York: East African Publishers, 2010. Print.
Penrose, Ernest. European Imperialism and the Partition of Africa. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print