“The General Act of the Conference”

28.1.4: “The General Act of the Conference”

The “General Act of the Berlin Conference” established international guidelines for the acquisition of African territory.

Learning Objective

List some of the key agreements in the General Act of the Conference

Key Points

  • In 1884, the Berlin Conference was convened to discuss African colonization, with the aim of setting up international guidelines for making claims to African land to avoid conflict between European powers.
  • At the Conference, the participants decided on the “General Act of the Conference,” which laid the frameworks for colonization.
  • One of the most important decisions in the “Act” was the principle of effective occupation, which stated that no territory could be formally claimed prior to being directly ruled and administered by the colonial power.
  • The conference also resolved to end slavery by African and Islamic powers, a move that many critics ridiculed as a humanitarian façade to garner international support; the resolution was non-binding.
  • The Scramble for Africa sped up after the Conference, since even within areas designated as their spheres of influence, the European powers had to take possession under the Principle of Effectivity.

Key Terms

principle of effective occupation
Colonial powers could acquire rights over colonial lands only if they possessed them: if they had treaties with local leaders, if they flew their flag there, and if they established an administration in the territory with a police force to keep order.
Heart of Darkness
A novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State in the heart of Africa by the story’s narrator Marlow. The work’s central ideal is that there is little difference between so-called civilized people and those described as savages; the book raises questions about imperialism and racism.
spheres of influence
A spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity, accommodating to the interests of powers outside the borders of the state that controls it.

In 1884, Otto von Bismarck convened the Berlin Conference to discuss the African problem. Its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, formalized the Scramble for Africa.

The diplomats in Berlin laid the rules of competition by which the great powers were to be guided in seeking colonies. No nation was to stake claims in Africa without notifying other powers of its intentions. No territory could be formally claimed prior to being effectively occupied. However, the competitors ignored the rules when convenient and on several occasions war was only narrowly avoided.

According to some critics, the diplomats put on a humanitarian façade to garner international support by condemning the slave trade, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages and firearms in certain regions, and expressing concern for missionary activities. The writer Joseph Conrad sarcastically referred to the conference as “the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs” in his novella Heart of Darkness.

The General Act decided on the following points:

  • The conference resolved to end slavery by African and Islamic powers. Thus, an international prohibition of the slave trade throughout their respected spheres was signed by the European members.
  • The Congo Free State was confirmed as the private property of the Congo Society, which supported Leopold’s promises to keep the country open to all European investment. The territory of today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo, some two million square kilometers, was confirmed by the European powers as essentially the property of Léopold II. Later it was organized as a Belgian colony under state administration.
  • The 14 signatory powers would have free trade throughout the Congo Basin as well as Lake Malawi, and east of this in an area south of 5° N.
  • The Niger and Congo rivers were made free for ship traffic.
  • A Principle of Effectivity was introduced to prevent powers from setting up colonies in name only.
  • Any fresh act of taking possession of any portion of the African coast would have to be notified by the power taking possession or to the other signatory powers in a protectorate.
  • Regions were defined in which each European power had an exclusive right to “pursue” the legal ownership of land in the eyes of the other European powers.
  • The first reference in an international act to the obligations attaching to “spheres of influence” is contained in the Berlin Act.

Principle of Effective Occupation

The principle of effective occupation stated that powers could acquire rights over colonial lands only if they possessed them or had “effective occupation”: in other words, if they had treaties with local leaders, if they flew their flag there, and if they established an administration in the territory to govern it with a police force to keep order. The colonial power could also make economic use of the colony. This principle became important not only as a basis for the European powers to acquire territorial sovereignty in Africa, but also for determining the limits of their respective overseas possessions, as effective occupation served in some instances to settle disputes over the boundaries between colonies. But as the Berlin Act was limited in its scope to the lands that fronted on the African coast, European powers in numerous instances later claimed rights over lands in the interior without demonstrating the requirement of effective occupation, as articulated in Article 35 of the Final Act.

At the Berlin Conference of 1885, the scope of the Principle of Effective Occupation was heavily contested between Germany and France. The Germans, who were new to the continent of Africa, essentially believed that as far as the extension of power in Africa was concerned, no colonial power should have any legal right to a territory unless the state exercised strong and effective political control, and if so, only for a limited period of time. However, Britain viewed Germany as a latecomer to the continent that was unlikely to gain any possessions apart from already occupied territories, which were swiftly proving more valuable than British-occupied territories. Given that logic, it was generally assumed by Britain and France that Germany had an interest in embarrassing the other European powers on the continent and forcing them to give up their possessions if they could not muster a strong political presence. On the other side, the United Kingdom had large territorial “possessions” on the continent and wanted to keep them while minimizing its responsibilities and administrative costs. In the end, the British view prevailed.

This principle, along with others written at the Conference allowed the Europeans to “conquer” Africa while doing as little as possible to administer or control it. The Principle of Effective Occupation did not apply so much to the hinterlands of Africa at the time of the conference. This gave rise to “hinterland theory,” which basically gave any colonial power with coastal territory the right to claim political influence over an indefinite amount of inland territory. Since Africa was irregularly shaped, this theory caused problems and was later rejected.

Consequences of the Conference

The Scramble for Africa sped up after the Conference, since even within areas designated as their spheres of influence, the European powers had to take possession under the Principle of Effectivity. In central Africa in particular, expeditions were dispatched to coerce traditional rulers into signing treaties, using force if necessary, as in the case of Msiri, King of Katanga, in 1891. Bedouin and Berber-ruled states in the Sahara and Sub-Sahara were overrun by the French in several wars by the beginning of World War I. The British moved up from South Africa and down from Egypt, conquering Arabic states such as the Mahdist State and the Sultanate of Zanzibar. After defeating the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa, in 1879, they moved on to subdue and dismantle the independent Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State.

Within a few years, Africa was at least nominally divided south of the Sahara. By 1895, the only independent states were Morocco, Liberia, Ethiopia, the Majeerteen Sultanate, and the Sultanate of Hobyo.

By 1902, 90% of all African land was under European control. The large part of the Sahara was French, while after the quelling of the Mahdi rebellion and the ending of the Fashoda crisis, the Sudan remained firmly under joint British-Egyptian rulership. Egypt was under British occupation before becoming a British protectorate in 1914.

The Boer republics were conquered by the United Kingdom in the Boer war from 1899 to 1902. Morocco was divided between the French and Spanish in 1911, and Libya was conquered by Italy in 1912. The official British annexation of Egypt in 1914 ended the colonial division of Africa.

Map of European claims in Africa, 1913. Modern-day boundaries, largely a legacy of the colonial era, are shown.

Colonial Africa 1913:  European claims in Africa, 1913. Modern-day boundaries, largely a legacy of the colonial era, are shown. Yellow: Belgium; Green: Germany; Pink: Spain; Blue: France; Red: Britain; Lime Green: Italy; Purple: Portugal; Gray: Independent.

Attributions