Introduction
It was early in the late 1800s the European countries were in the process of imperialist expansion and colonization of the globe especially Africa. There was a short term decision making conference in Berlin in 1884 -1885 this conference had a long-term impact on Africa. This was a meeting of European countries that discussed and placed rules on the formal conquest of Africa. This paper will explore the History, rationale, and implications of this event.
Background
It is important to note that at that time Africa was a continent of diverse tapped in cultural, linguistic and resources endowment. European powers had already secured some coastal commercial stations, and forts, but the interior was comparatively still virgin of any outside intervention. Increasing European interest in Africa brought about rivalry between the major European nations.
TheBerlin Conference was called by Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany, in a bid to avoid emergence of some flare ups that could lead to war over African land. Indeed, Bismarck wanted this conference to be the forum for diplomacy that would bring all interested European countries to agree.
Purpose
The major reason why the conference was held in Berlin was to decide on how the African continent was going to be divided. It meant that the European powers, which then dominated the continent, aimed in setting of standards to regulate their mutual behavior to avoid the wars, still did not consider the African people’s desires or needs. The conference aimed to address the following key aspects:
1. Territorial Claims
One of them was to delimit the territory of African territories occupied by European countries. By the help of this conference, European powers was able to adopt certain bargaining tools which included trade, occupancy and explorations.
But these boundaries negated nationality, language, culture as well as political divides within Africa which resulted to division and conflict among the African communities.
2. Free Trade
While the conference, the European participants also delved into the issue of free trade regime in Africa. They wanted to make African markets and resources freely available to themselves by prohibiting such trade barriers as tariff in their colonies.
Despite the positive focus of ‘ Libre-échange,’ it allowed the Europeans who promised so much to take full advantage of African resources for their own mercantile selfishness to the detriment of the local people.
3. Ending Slave Trade
As much as the conference could be considered exploitative, the conference did try to deal with the problem of slave trade in Africa. Many of the European countries signed a treaty according to which they would fight the practice of slavery and promote antislavery laws all over the continent.
However, this commitment was not strong enough since colonial powers went on to enslave Africans through peasants’ mandatory work and forced enlistment.
Consequences
The Berlin Conference had far-reaching consequences for both Africa and the European powers involved:
1. Colonial Partitioning
Thus, in terms of the conference operation, Africa was divided into clearly distinguishable colonial spheres. Even today most African countries were colonized by European powers without consulting the inhabitants of these countries; Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Italy colonized most of the African countries.
Education became a tool in the hands of colonial masters who infected political systems, languages and distorted traditional African social order. This engineered effects that defined the social, economic, and the political fabric of Africa for many more years, an aspect seen to this date.
2. Exploitation of Resources
African was conned into parting with her natural resources like rubber, gold, diamond, ivory, among them so that the European colonial masters could fuel their industrializations. This exploitation wrote off huge amount of social capital cost and facilitated creation of economic enmity between European and African communities.
3. Rise of Nationalism
The Berlin Conference played its part in the development of nationalism in Africa though contributing indirectly. With more and more Africans subject to foreign domination and oppression, there developed movements against colonial rule, which reached their peak in the twentieth century demand for independence.
Conclusion
It is widely agreed that the berlin conference that took place between the 1884 and 1885 played the role of underlining colonization of Africa. It institutionalised the divisions of the continent and paved way for what would for many decades of colonialism and exploitation. Today, African region continues to face impacts of the conference in the sphere of its socio-political development. This power point presentation shows that it is crucial to study this historical event to grasp tensions and challenges African countries encountered in the present period.
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