Scramble for Africa

From ArticleWorld


The Scramble of Africa started in the 1880s. Prior to David Livingston’s explorations, only about ten percent of the continent was under European power. One of Livingston’s explorers, Henry Morton Stanley, began making treaties with chiefs in the Congo region on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium. Other European nations quickly followed suit, and New Imperialism took over till the First World War.

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European colonization

The competition between European countries to acquire colonies in Africa was so desperate that it sparked the Berlin Conference from 1884 to 1885, which decided the allotment of lands between the nations. It was broken down as such:

  • Great Britain: Egypt, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (present-day Sudan), British East Africa (including Kenya and Uganda), British Somaliland, Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia), Bechuanaland (present-day Botswana), Orange Free State, British South Africa, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and British Gold Coast (present-day Ghana).
  • France: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, French West Africa (including Mauritania, Senegal, present-day Mali, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, present-day Burkina Faso, and present-day Benin), French Equatorial Africa (including Gabon, Chad, and present-day Congo and Central African Republic), French Somaliland (present-day Djibouti), Madagascar, and Comoros.
  • Portugal: Angola, Portuguese Cabinda, Portuguese East Africa (present-day Mozambique), Portuguese Guinea (present-day Guinea-Bissau), Cape Verde Islands, and Sao Tome and Principe.
  • Germany: German Kamerun, German East Africa (present-day Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania), German South-West Africa (present-day Manibia), and German Togoland.
  • Italy: Italian North Africa, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland (present-day Somalia).
  • Belgian: Belgian Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of Congo).
  • Spain: Spanish Sahara (present-day Rio de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra), Spanish Morocco (including Ceuta, Ifni, and others), and Rio Muni (part of present-day Equatorial Guinea).

Ultimately, only two nations – Liberia and Ethiopia – remained free nations.

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Effects on Africa

Once colonized, Europeans brought some industrialism and technology to Africa, but not enough to make the colonies politically and economically significant. The Europeans also exploited the natural resources and workers in Africa.

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