Colonising Africa: What happened at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885? [View all]
It was the late 19th century and European nations were beginning to look at the African continent as a more permanent resource base for their newly growing industrial sectors.
More than the ongoing trade between the two continents that had run for decades, though, the Europeans wanted direct control of Africa’s natural resources. In addition, these countries aimed to “develop and civilise Africa”, according to documents from that period.
Thus began the mad “Scramble for Africa”, as it would later be called. Great Britain, Portugal, France, Germany, and King Leopold II of Belgium began sending scouts to secure trade and sovereignty treaties with local leaders, buying or simply staking flags and laying claim to vast expanses of territory crisscrossing the continent rich with resources from palm oil to rubber.
Squabbles soon erupted in Europe over who “owned” what. The French, for example, clashed with Britain over several West African territories, and again with King Leopold over Central African regions.
To avoid an all-out conflict between the rival European nations, all stakeholders agreed to a meeting in Berlin, Germany in 1884-1885 to set out common terms and manage the colonisation process.
No African nations were invited or represented.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/26/colonising-africa-what-happened-at-the-berlin-conference-of-1884-1885
Extremely informative and worth a read. Explains a lot of what's going on in Africa today.
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