European Consensus of Africa

28.1.3: European Consensus of Africa

The Berlin Conference sought to end competition and conflict between European powers during the “Scramble for Africa” by establishing international protocols for colonization.

Learning Objective

Explain why it was so important for European leaders to divide up Africa in a peaceful manner

Key Points

  • Although colonization of Africa was limited before 1870, by the early 1880s the “Scramble for Africa” created concerns among European powers, who feared new conflict and possibly war if colonization went unchecked.
  • The occupation of Egypt and the acquisition of the Congo were the first major moves in the precipitous scramble for African territory.
  • Hoping to quickly soothe this brewing conflict, King Leopold II convinced France and Germany that common trade in Africa was in the best interests of all three countries.
  • Under support from the British and the initiative of Portugal, Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor, called on representatives of 13 nations in Europe as well as the United States to take part in the Berlin Conference in 1884 to work out joint policy on the African continent.
  • The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain and Portugal; they remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established.
  • No Africans were invited to the Conference.

Key Terms

Otto von Bismarck
A conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an overseas empire when demanded by both elite and mass opinion. Juggling a very complex interlocking series of conferences, negotiations, and alliances, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain Germany’s position and used the balance of power to keep Europe at peace in the 1870s and 1880s.
New Imperialism
A period of colonial expansion by European powers, the United States, and the Empire of Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The period is distinguished by an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions. At the time, states focused on building their empires with new technological advances and developments, making their territories bigger through conquest, and exploiting their resources. The new wave of imperialism reflected ongoing rivalries among the great powers, the economic desire for new resources and markets, and a “civilizing mission” ethos.
“informal imperialism”
The use of indirect means to control an area, sometimes a military presence but usually economic control.

The Berlin Conference: “Peaceful” Colonization

The Berlin Conference of 1884–85, also known as the Congo Conference, regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, coinciding with Germany’s sudden emergence as an imperial power. Called for by Portugal and organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany, its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, was the formalization of the Scramble for Africa. The conference ushered in heightened colonial activity by European powers, which eliminated or overrode most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance.

Having witnessed the political and economic rivalries among the European empires in the last quarter of the 19th century, the formal partitioning of Africa prevented European countries from battling one another over territory. The conference provided an opportunity to channel latent European hostilities outward, provide new areas for European expansion in the face of rising American, Russian, and Japanese interests, and form constructive dialogue for limiting future hostilities. The latter years of the 19th century saw the transition from “informal imperialism” by military influence and economic dominance to direct rule, bringing about colonial imperialism.

Colonies were seen as assets in “balance of power” negotiations, useful as items of exchange in international bargaining. Colonies with large native populations were also a source of military power; Britain and France used British Indian and North African soldiers respectively in many of their colonial wars. In the age of nationalism, an empire was a status symbol; the idea of “greatness” became linked with the sense of duty underlying many nations’ strategies.

Owing to the European race for colonies, Germany started launching expeditions of its own, which frightened both British and French statesmen. The occupation of Egypt and the acquisition of the Congo were the first major moves in what came to be a precipitous scramble for African territory. Hoping to quickly soothe this brewing conflict, King Leopold II convinced France and Germany that common trade in Africa was in the best interests of all three countries. Under support from the British and the initiative of Portugal, Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor, called on representatives of 13 nations in Europe as well as the United States to take part in the Berlin Conference in 1884 to work out joint policy on the African continent.

While the number of voting participants varied per nation, the following 14 countries sent representatives to attend the Berlin Conference and sign the subsequent Berlin Act: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Britain, and the United States. There were no African representatives at the conference, despite its rhetoric emphasizing the benefit to Africa.

The conference was convened on Saturday, November 15, 1884 at Bismarck’s official residence on Wilhelmstrasse. The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal. They remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 colonies. The attendants established who was in control of each of these new divisions. They also planned, noncommittally, to end the slave trade in Africa.

A drawing of the Berlin Conference, which depicts several dozen men around a large table, with a large map of Africa posted on the wall.

Berlin Conference: A drawing of the Berlin Conference. The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal.

Attributions