The Berlin Conference & Assessment

History: KS3, topic 14.1.9

Scramble for Africa: The Berlin Conference & Assessment

In the late 19th century, European powers all tried to establish their empires in Africa. This was called the "Scramble for Africa".

The Berlin Conference was hosted by the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck in 1884-5.
The Berlin Conference 'carved up' Africa into arbitrary countries that the European countries could own, without consulting local people.
It was a landgrab and different tribes and peoples were arbitrarily separated or combined based on convenient geopolitics for the colonial powers.
De Blij & Muller (1997) said "The Berlin Conference was Africa’s undoing in more ways than one. The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African continent."

At the Berlin Conference, the principle of ‘effective occupation’ was established.
In 1884, 90% of Africa was controlled by local tribes or local populations.
This meant that European powers had to demonstrate their capacity to defend and administer the region they occupied to claim rightful rule.
As a result of the conference, by 1902, 90% of the continent was in European hands. Almost all of this territory was seized from local people.
Matt Rosenberg (2019) said "The new countries lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged together disparate groups who really did not get along."