How Europe Raped Africa
The Berlin conference of 1884 is where European colonising nations basically carved up Africa. Historians refer to it as “the scramble for Africa”.
#Africa #Europe #WhiteSupremacy
The countries represented at the time included Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, #France, #Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, #Russia, #Spain, Sweden-Norway (unified from 1814-1905), #Turkey, and the United States of #America.
The Conference of 1884–85, also known as the Congo Conference, regulated European colonization and trade in #Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power.
The conference was organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany; its outcome, the General Act of the #Berlin Conference.
The conference ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, which eliminated or overrode most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance.
Before the conference, European diplomacy treated African indigenous people in the same manner as the New World natives, forming trading relationships with the indigenous chiefs.
In the early #1800s the search for #ivory, which was then often used in the production of luxurious products, led many white traders further into the interior of #Africa.
By 1870, the momentum of European intervention with Africa quickly increased, which can be seen as The Conquest of Africa.
With the exception of trading posts along the coasts, the continent was essentially ignored
In 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium, who had previously founded and controlled the International African Society that same year, invited Henry Morton Stanley to join him in researching and 'civilizing' the continent.
In 1878, the International #Congo Society was also formed, with more economic goals, but still closely related to the former society.
Léopold secretly bought off the foreign investors in the Congo Society, which was turned to imperialistic goals, with the African Society serving primarily as a philanthropic front.
Sir Henry Morton Stanley GCB was a Welsh journalist and explorer who was famous for his exploration of central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley reportedly asked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
From 1878 to 1885, Morgan Stanley returned to the #Congo, not as a reporter but as an envoy from Léopold with the secret mission to organize what would become known as the Congo Free State.
French intelligence had discovered Leopold's plans, and France quickly engaged in its own colonial exploration. In 1881, French naval officer Pierre de Brazza was dispatched to central Africa, traveled into the western Congo basin,
... and raised the French flag over the newly founded #Brazzaville, in what is currently the Republic of #Congo.
Finally, #Portugal, which already had a long, but essentially abandoned colonial Empire in the area through the mostly defunct proxy state Kongo Empire, also claimed the area.
Its claims were based on old treaties with Spain 🇪🇸 and the Roman Catholic Church 🇻🇦 It quickly made a treaty on 26 February 1884 with its former ally, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to block off the Congo Society's access to the Atlantic.
By the early 1880s, due to many factors including diplomatic maneuvers, subsequent colonial exploration, and recognition of Africa's abundance of valuable resources such as gold, timber, land, and markets, European interest in the continent had increased dramatically.
Stanley's charting of the Congo River Basin (1874–77) removed the last terra incognita from European maps of the continent, and delineating the areas of British, Portuguese, French, and Belgian control.
The powers raced to push these rough boundaries to their furthest limits and eliminate any potential local minor powers which might prove troublesome to European competitive diplomacy.
#France moved to take over #Tunisia, one of the last of the Barbary Pirate states, under the pretext of another piracy incident. #French claims by Pierre de Brazza were quickly solidified with French taking control of today's Republic of the #Congo in 1881 and #Guinea in 1884.
Italy became part of the Triple Alliance, upsetting Bismarck's carefully laid plans with the state and forcing Germany to become involved in Africa. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Al…
In 1882, realizing the geopolitical extent of #Portuguese control on the coasts, but seeing penetration by France eastward across Central Africa toward Ethiopia, the Nile, and the Suez Canal, Britain saw its vital trade route through Egypt and its Indian Empire threatened.
Owing to the European race for colonies, Germany started launching expeditions of its own, which frightened both British and French statesmen. Hoping to quickly soothe this brewing conflict, King Leopold II convinced France and Germany that common trade in Africa was in the best
...interests of all three countries. Under support from the British and the initiative of Portugal, Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor, called on representatives of 13 nations in Europe as well as the United States to take part in ...
the Berlin Conference in 1884 to work out joint policy on the African continent.
The conference was opened on November 15, 1884 and continued till its closure on 26 February 1885. Whilst the number of plenipotentiaries varied per nation, the following 14 countries did send representatives to attend the Berlin Conference and sign the subsequent Berlin Act.
Berlin Conference & Cutting away from our African Roots
The Berlin Conference - Lecture
How African Empires Fell
At first glance, if you look at the first black-white image it looks pretty typical. But, If you look closely at the image you’ll notice the men are holding chopped-off hands.
Look at what they’re holding in their hands.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.