Conference of Berlin

The Conference of Berlin , the purpose of which lasts of the November 15th 1884 with the February 26th 1885, joined together on the initiative of Bismarck, is to lay down the rules of the game for the conquest of the Africa, in order to defuse the conflicts between the colonizers, moreover Franco-Belgian competition with the Congo.

Fourteen powers take part in it: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Ottoman Empire, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden. They are committed not more carrying out wild acquisitions without notifying it with the others, to enable them to make complaints. The African people and kings are not consulted nor not informed of all these discussions.

Its “general act”, the February 23rd 1885, draws up the following points:

any European power installed on the coast can extend its domination towards the interior until meeting a close sphere of influence.
it can have there annexation only by the effective occupation of the ground and the treaties concluded with the indigenous populations must be notified with the other colonizing nations.
freedom of navigation on the rivers Niger and Congo, and freedom of trade in the basin of Congo.
prohibition of the Slavery.
recognition of the State independent of Congo, territory actually belonging to the king Léopold II of Belgium (and which will become a Belgian colony in 1908). France obtains the recognition of its authority on Right Bank of Congo and Oubangui.

The Conference of Berlin points out the prohibition of the Traite and invites the signatories to contribute to his extinction.

The Conference of Berlin did not divide Africa between the colonial powers, it does nothing but lay down the rules of this division. But it could not prevent the conflicts between colonizers, as show it the crisis of Fachoda, in 1898 and the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911.

See too

This model includes/understands thirteen of the fourteen powers present, the Empire of Austria-Hungary, disappeared since chess-board, being singularly deprived of overseas colonies.

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