This month commemorates 140 years since the Berlin Conference, where Western powers disregarded African voices and divided the continent amongst themselves. In the late 19th century, Europe looked to Africa as a treasure trove of resources, desiring direct control rather than merely trade. The narrative of ‘developing and civilising’ Africa masked intentions centred on resource extraction and exploitation.
The event dubbed the “Scramble for Africa” saw major players like Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium racing to claim African territories for their burgeoning industries. Their scout missions aimed for trade treaties, leading to disputes over land ownership that sparked a need for an organised approach to colonisation.
In response to rising tensions, Otto von Bismarck convened a meeting in Berlin from November 1884 to February 1885. Despite the concerns of various nations about territorial claims, no African delegates were invited, leaving local voices entirely sidelined. The conference brought together representatives from 14 countries to negotiate borders and commerce.
Notably absent from the discussions were the very people who would be affected. Only four nations—Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal—held substantial territory at the time, while the likes of the US and Russia attended without any colonial stakes.
Three months of negotiations resulted in a General Act comprising 38 clauses that legitimised Africa’s partition. While the US did not sign, likely due to anti-imperialist sentiments, the agreements laid down administrative rules for the territories claimed. Crucially, this conference led to deadly exploitation in places like the Congo under King Leopold II, masked as humanitarian endeavors.
The territorial claims were not finalised at the conference itself, but subsequent events helped establish the European-colonial map we know today. With Liberia as the sole independent nation, the aftermath saw an array of European countries laying claim to vast swathes of land, resulting in a disjointed scattering of cultures and ethnicities.
Historians argue that the Berlin Conference did not instigate colonisation but intensified the race for control. Pre-conference, only about 20% of Africa was colonised; within five years, this skyrocketed to 90%. It formed arbitrary borders that ignored local realities, sowing discord amongst peoples.
Some scholars assert that the conference itself had minimal impact on defining modern states, while others highlight its role in establishing the framework for exploitation and extraction. The ramifications persist, shaping modern Africa’s political landscape marked by fragmentation and conflict as newly independent nations struggled to unite disparate groups.
Post-independence conditions led to civil wars and military coups across the continent. Scholars link these upheavals to colonial practices that forced diverse communities into new political entities. Today, nations like Mali and Burkina Faso grapple with the legacy of colonisation, viewing Western involvement through a lens of neo-colonialism and interference.
The words of former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere encapsulate the ongoing challenges: “We have artificial ‘nations’ carved out at the Berlin Conference in 1884… struggling to build these nations into stable units… We are in danger of becoming the most Balkanised continent in the world.”
The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 marked 140 years of European powers dividing Africa without African representation. Key European nations aimed to secure territorial claims and resources for industrialisation, causing local discrepancies and inter-nation disputes. The outcome established arbitrary borders that disregarded cultural alignments, igniting future conflicts and shaping today’s political realities in Africa, where the effects of this historical event are still felt.
The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 was a pivotal event that forever altered the African continent, marking a systematic division of its territories among European powers with complete disregard for indigenous peoples. While not the commencement of colonisation, the conference certainly sped up the process, resulting in a legacy of conflict and fragmentation that continues to shape Africa’s political and social landscapes today.
Original Source: www.aljazeera.com
