Did you know that during the Berlin Conference of Africa 80% of Africa continued to be under the Native Traditional or local control? The Berlin West Africa Conference occurred in a three months span from the opening on November 15, 1884 to the ending on February 26, 1885. The conference was and is referred to “Africa’s undoing” due to the cause of the conference being Africa in several ways. When the conference opened there were fourteen countries in attendance, represented by their ambassadors.
The conference was opened by the chancellor and architect of the German Empire, Otto Van Bismarck. His main mission of the conference was to settle the political partitioning of Africa, too expand German spheres of influence in Africa but also to put Germany colonial rivals against each other to get an advantage. The countries that were accounted for at the conference were, Austria- Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, United States Of America, Italy, Russia, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden-Norway( which were unified from 1814- 1905), and Portugal. The initial task of the Berlin Conference was to agree that the Congo River and the Niger River mouths and basins would be open to any trade and would be neutral territory.
Even though the area was considered neutral, part of the Congo basin became private property to Belgium’s King Leopold II, while under his rule of Belgium over half of the regions’ population died. During the occurrence of the conference the only areas that were colonialized by the European powers were the coastal areas. European colonial powers scrambled to gain control over the Interior of the Continent at the time of the Berlin Conference. Over the course of the three month conference colonial powers argued over boundaries in Africa’s interior.
The boundaries created by The Berlin Conference disregarded the cultural and linguistic boundaries that had already been established by the Native African population. This resulted in geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. The new countries that were created due to the boundaries lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged groups that didn’t get along. Following the end of the conference, the back and forth of countries continued, by 1914 the participants had fully divided Africa among themselves into fifty non- naturally created states.
The conference was opened by the chancellor and architect of the German Empire, Otto Van Bismarck. His main mission of the conference was to settle the political partitioning of Africa, too expand German spheres of influence in Africa but also to put Germany colonial rivals against each other to get an advantage. The countries that were accounted for at the conference were, Austria- Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, United States Of America, Italy, Russia, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden-Norway( which were unified from 1814- 1905), and Portugal. The initial task of the Berlin Conference was to agree that the Congo River and the Niger River mouths and basins would be open to any trade and would be neutral territory.
Even though the area was considered neutral, part of the Congo basin became private property to Belgium’s King Leopold II, while under his rule of Belgium over half of the regions’ population died. During the occurrence of the conference the only areas that were colonialized by the European powers were the coastal areas. European colonial powers scrambled to gain control over the Interior of the Continent at the time of the Berlin Conference. Over the course of the three month conference colonial powers argued over boundaries in Africa’s interior.
The boundaries created by The Berlin Conference disregarded the cultural and linguistic boundaries that had already been established by the Native African population. This resulted in geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. The new countries that were created due to the boundaries lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged groups that didn’t get along. Following the end of the conference, the back and forth of countries continued, by 1914 the participants had fully divided Africa among themselves into fifty non- naturally created states.
Sources
“Mangovo, Ngoyo.” Federation of the Free States of Africa. Web. 9 May, 2016. http://www.africafederation.net/Berlin_1885.htm