Adrian Gvinda

Political Geography

The scramble for Africa

The scramble for Africa also called the Partition of Africa or the Conquest of Africa was
the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European
powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914.
Until the 19th century, Britain and the other European powers confined their imperial
ambitions in Africa to the odd coastal outpost from which they could exert their economic and
military influence. British activity on the West Africa coast was centred around the lucrative
slave trade.
Between 1572 and 1807, when the slave trade was abolished, British ships carried up to
three million people into slavery in the Americas. In total, European ships took more than 11
million people into slavery from the West African coast, and European traders grew rich on the
profits while the population of Africas west coast was devastated.
In 1870, only 10% of the continent was under direct European control, with Algeria held
by France, The Cape Colony and Natal by Britain, and Angola by Portugal. But the situation
changed and in 1914 it increased to 90% of the continent, with only Ethiopia and Liberia still
being independent.
The beginning of the so called Scramble for Africa began in 1884 with the Berlin
Conference, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa. The conference was
convened by Otto von Bismarck to discuss the future of Africa. One of the main things on the
agenda was the stamping out of slavery. The Berlin Act of 1885, signed by 13 European powers
attending the conference, included a resolution to help in suppressing slavery. In fact, the
strategic and economic objectives of the colonial powers, such as protecting old markets and
exploiting new one, were far more important. The Berlin Conference began the process of
carving up Africa, paying no attention to local culture or ethnic group, and leaving people from
the same tribe on separate sides of European-imposed borders.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramble_for_Africa
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Scramble_for_Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/scramble_for_africa_article_01.shtml