The Berlin Conference of 1884 and the Division of Africa

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The Berlin Conference of 1884 and the division of Africa Student’s Name Institution Affiliation The Berlin Conference of 1884 and the division of Africa Introduction The Berlin conference took place 1884-1885, and it was one of the defining moments of African history for various reasons, the most vital being that it changed the political boundaries of Africa. The European countries, before the Berlin conference, did set up colonies abroad. The European countries that had imperial colonies in Africa were seven, and it included the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, and Belgium. France and UK had the most territory, and it is argued that Belgium treated its colony the worst. When the European countries began to expand their territories, they encountered border issues. Such issues led to the Berlin conference in 1884, in which case the European countries decided to meet and discuss the political boundaries in the African continent. In the conference, no African was invited and the European went ahead to divide up African continent based on the land that they wanted, and not based on the pre-existing religious or cultural divisions. Such led to big implications on warfare in modern Africa, from the ethnic conflicts in Rwanda, the creation of South Sudan in 2011, the Darfur region in Sudan, to the religious issues and conflicts that still plague countries, for instance Central African Republic and Nigeria. What was the purpose of the Berlin convergence in the division of African continent? Did the partition of Africa have some effects? History of Berlin Conference In 1884, the Chancellor of German Otto Von Bismarck, at the request of Portugal, did call together the major western powers of the world in order that they can negotiate queries and confusions that had been in the

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