Berlin conference

Comparison of the distribution of Africa in 1880 and 1913.

The Berlin Conference (German: Berliner Konferenz, pronounced /bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˌkɔnfeˈʁɛnt͡s/), also known as the Conference of the Westafrika-Konferenz, pronounced /ˌvɛstˈʔaːfʁika ˌkɔnfeˈʁɛnt͡s/), held between November 15 of 1884 and on February 26, 1885 in the city of Berlin (German Empire), was convened by France and the United Kingdom and organized by the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, in order to solve the problems implied by the colonial expansion in Africa and resolve its division.

International context

Exploring the African Continent

The European presence until 1885 had been limited to coastal enclaves except in the area of French Algeria and Tunisia, British South Africa and Boer states, and the Portuguese territories, the interior was little-known territory and where native cultures developed with different degrees of development. In addition were the possessions of the Ottoman Empire. The exploration process was carried out following the great waterways, a few years later (1888), a consequence of those who achieved it, such as the territories of Niger, which were explored between the years 1788 and 1830; the Nile basin and the African Great Lakes region, between 1854 and 1859; the Zambezi, with David Livingstone, between 1852 and 1865, and finally in 1884, the date on which Frederick Stanley Arnot located its basin.

Henry Morton Stanley's voyage of exploration, between 1874 and 1877, of the Congo River Basin, financed jointly by the British newspaper Daily Telegraph and the American New York Herald, determined that practically the entire territory of Africa was known and mapped in detail by Europeans. As a result, the interest of European countries in Africa increased considerably, where nationalism and imperialism influenced various European states to send scientific and military expeditions to African territory with the double purpose of knowing the possibilities of economic exploitation and installing garrisons and commercial posts that would ensure their presence and effective control before other competitors.

The Congo Question

Monarch Leopold II of Belgium, fulfilling his desire to appropriate the land for his own benefit, hired Stanley to introduce Western civilization and religion to the area, and Stanley returned to the Congo at the king's behest to negotiate with the tribal chiefs obtaining land concessions.

Leopold had formed the International Association of the Congo to exploit the riches of the basin of that river, while maintaining said territory in the form of private property and without this area yet becoming a possession of Belgium. Although this Society controlled the mouth of the Congo River, it found opposition from Portugal, which controlled the southern area with Angola, and its ally the United Kingdom.

For its part, France had succeeded in taking possession of Tunisia in 1881, and in that same year a French expedition led by Pierre de Brazza took effective possession of Western Congo on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and entered into dispute with the king's domains Leopold. The following year the United Kingdom took over full rule of Egypt (which was subject to the Ottoman Empire only in theory) and thus gained Egyptian sovereign rights over Sudan and northern Somalia. In 1884 France secured possession of the Guinea coast, making it clear to Europe that the race for Africa had to be regulated.

Participants

The tension generated by this situation gave rise to seeking a negotiated solution to the crisis. This attempted solution was taken advantage of by the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, who summoned the main powers to a conference in Berlin, capital of the German Empire. The call was made, in the words of Bismarck, to "establish the conditions for the development of African commerce, civilization and moral and material well-being", but it also sought an international standard for future occupations of African territory.

The conference opened on November 15, 1884, and continued until its close on February 26, 1885. Twelve European countries plus the Turkish Empire and the United States were convened. Although some had no interest in Africa, international recognition of the results of the conference was sought, although exceptionally, the United States reserved the right to reject or accept the conclusions of the Conference. No African state was represented.

Status	Delegation	Members
States with interest in Africa	German Empire	Otto von Bismarck (German Chancellor), Paul von Hatzfeldt (Secretary of State), Clemens Busch and Heinrich von Kusserow (chief of the Colonial Department)
	Kingdom of Belgium	Gabriel August van der Straten-Ponthoz
	Kingdom of Spain	Francisco Merry and Colom (Germany)
	French Republic	Alphonse de Courcel (Germany)
	Ottoman Empire	Mehmed Saíd Bajá (Gran visir)
	Kingdom of Italy	Edoardo de Launay
	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	Edward Baldwin Malet (Germany)
	Kingdom of Portugal	Antônio José da Serra Gomes (Germany ambassador) and António de Serpa Pimentel
States without interest in Africa
	Austro-Hungarian Empire	Emerich Széchényi von Sárvári Felsö-Vidék (German Ambassador)
	Netherlands	Philipp van der Hoeven (German Ambassador)
	Kingdom of Denmark	Emil Vind (Germany)
	United States	John A. Kasson and Henry S. Sanford
	Russian Empire	Pyotr Kapnist (Netherlands ambassador)
	Union between Sweden and Norway	Gillis Bildt (Germany)

Agreements

The Berlin conference, according to an illustration of "Illustrierte Zeitung".

Caricature on the Berlin Conference.

The purposes of King Leopold II found support in France and Germany, convincing them that it was necessary for both countries to ensure free trade in Africa. Portugal was too weak a country to protect such a vast African empire, so it had to settle for acquiring the territory of Cabinda, at the mouths of the Congo River, as recognition of its rights in the area.

At the Conference, free maritime and fluvial navigation on the Congo and Niger rivers was proclaimed, free trade was established in the center of the African continent formed by the Congo basin, the prohibition of slavery was agreed, and the established the right to claim a portion of the African coast only if said territory was actually occupied and other states were notified of this event.

An important element that was agreed upon at the Conference was to recognize the principle of uti possidetis iure (principle of effective occupation) as a rule of International Law, as long as a European state claims sovereign rights over an African territory should previously establish a real possession over it. To prove this possession, it was necessary for the claiming European power to have signed a treaty with the local population and exercise effective acts of administration, or to have established a permanent military occupation sufficient to ensure its possession, also acquiring the right to permanent economic exploitation.. The objective was to prevent European nations from claiming rights over a territory where they had no presence, which affected countries like Portugal, whose rights it claimed based on its exploration, by Portuguese navigators, in the 15th century.

The final act had four chapters and thirty-five articles. The general provisions were:

• Freedom of trade in the Congo River Basin, its mouth and surrounding regions.
• Declaration on the slave trade.
• International neutrality of the Central African Zone.
• The Niger and Congo River Navigation Act.
• Introduce uniform rules for future occupations in international relations.

In chapter I, which consists of 8 articles, it refers to free trade in the Congo and the delimitation of the free trade territory (article 1), free access for merchants of any nation (art. 2), the importation of products from any nation and regarding taxes on those merchandises (art. 3), elimination of circulation taxes (art. 4), monopoly rights of the signatory powers and defense of properties (art. 5). Finally, reference is made to the protection of the natives, religious freedom and the elimination of slavery (art. 6); as well as the implementation of the International Postal Union Agreement in the area (article 7). These rights will be monitored by an International Commission of Navigation of the Congo (article 8).

In chapter II, it declares the prohibition of the slave trade in the Congo area (art. 9).

In chapter III, the neutrality of the territories and their maintenance despite a possible war (articles 10 and 11). In case of disputes over sovereignty or limits, the mediation of a third party may be used (art. 12).

Chapters IV and V refer to free navigation on the Congo River and the Niger River respectively. In the Congo River, free navigation is established (art. 13), without restriction (art. 14), the same application to tributaries (art. 15), to means of transport other than the river (art. 16). In addition, an International Commission is created to ensure these provisions (art. 17), their inviolability (art. 18) and their constitution (art. 19). The last articles indicate their powers (20), the use of warships of the signatory countries to maintain freedom (21), the freedom of navigation of warships (22) even in times of war (25).. Sanitary (24) and economic (23) measures are also mentioned. For the Niger River, the same criteria are established (articles 26 to 29, and 33) except for the military aspects that are assumed by Great Britain and France in the sections of the river that run through their colonies (articles 30 to 32).

Chapter VI refers to the type of occupation:

Article 34, The power that henceforth takes possession of a territory on the coasts of the African continent, located outside its current possessions or that, not having had them before, acquires them later, as well as the power that assumes a protectorate, will remit attached to the respective Act a notification addressed to the other signatory powers of the current one, so that, if necessary, they can assert their claims

Article 35, The signatory powers of this Act recognize the obligation to maintain, in the territories they occupy on the coast of the African continent, the competent authority to enforce the rights acquired and, if necessary, the freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions that have been stipulated.

Consequences

Map of Colonial Africa on the eve of World War I (1914). Following the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), Europe spread all over Africa, with the exception of Abisinia (now Ethiopia) and Liberia. There were continuous tensions between countries during the colonization of the continent, seen as very unfavourable for Italy and Germany and very beneficial for France and the United Kingdom.

The results of the conference laid the foundations for the effective occupation of Africa, which by 1914 had practically completed.

The northern Africa was especially dispute Franco-Spanish of Morocco (1913), the Italian occupation of Libya (1911-12) and the recognition between the powers of the occupations made previously such as Tunisia (1881) or Egypt (1882).

In the western coast, the penetration to the coast was dominated by France, which achieved control of the Saharan area and coastal areas such as Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Guinea, Senegal or Mauritania. The rest of the powers managed to establish colonies such as Great Britain in Gambia, Sierra Leone, Costa de Oro and Nigeria, of a certain entity; Portugal in Portuguese Guinea and Cabo Verde, and the Germans in Togolandia.

In the equatorial zone, we find the continuity of the French domains of the Sahara that run in southern direction towards the French Congo, and the presence of the Free State of the Congo (personal possession of Leopold II), which in 1909 will go to domain of the domain of the Belgian government The Germans managed to settle in Cameroon, whose territory was extended with a Franco-German agreement in 1911. The Portuguese are also present in Santo Tomé and the Spaniards in the Spanish Guinea, divided into a small continental territory (Muni River) and other islands (Fernando Poo and Elobey, Annobón and Corisco).

In Eastern África , the British tried to establish continuity from their domains of the Anglo-Gipcio Sudan but were interrupted by the German presence. However, London managed to submit Uganda, Kenya, and British Somalia. The Germans, meanwhile, established themselves in German Eastern Africa. The Italian presence was distributed between Eritrea and Somalia without the possibility of continuity after its defeat against Abyssinia (1896); The French were relegated to a possession in the Red Sea, the French Somalia.

Finally, in Southern Africa, the great Portuguese colonial territories of Angola and Mozambique, the Africa of the German Southwest and the wide British territories that from South Africa ascended to the North occupying Bechuanalandia and the Rodesia region. In the Insular area of the Indian, possessions were distributed among French (meeting, comoras and Madagascar) and British (Zanzíbar, Seychelles and Mauricio).

Conflicts and Resistance

The cast formula established in Berlin did not mean the end of colonial disputes between countries. Subsequently, the tensions between London and Paris occur in the so -called Fachoda incident (1898). The reason for the conflict came from the desire of both nations to establish a colonial continuity, west-east by France and North-South by Kingdom, which was diplomatly solved in favor of the British. Also, tensions between the United Kingdom and Portugal, in the last 1890, again motivated by the continuity of the Portuguese Empire in front of British desires to occupy Rodesia. Although it does not lead to armed tensions, the situation in North Africa was complicated with German interference in the French claims over Morocco (1905-1913), the lack of French recognition of the occupation of Egypt by the British (1882) or Italian misgivings for the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881. Finally, the italo-Turco (1911-12) conflict for the control of Cyenaics and Tripolitan.

European penetration also found the resistance of native cultures, which although they hindered colonial progress, in the long run they could not prevent the effective occupation of the territory, except in the case of Abisinia in 1896 over the Italians. Some examples of indigenous resistance were:

• The wars between the United Kingdom and the Ashanti in Costa de Oro (present-day Ghana) between 1824 and 1900
• Anyong Resistance in Nigeria (1904)
• Nandi village resistance in Kenya (1895-1905)
• Maji Maji Rebellion in German West Africa (1905-1907)
• Zulus in South Africa (Anglo-zulu War 1879 and revolt of 1906)
• Heir to Africa of the German Southwest (1904-1906)
• The resistance of Abd el-Krim's shackles to the Franco-Spanish protectorate in Morocco (1921-1923)
• The Libyan opposition led by Omar Al-Mukhtar to Italian penetration (1923-1932)

Non -submitted territories

In a few years, after the conference, the entire African continent was distributed among the powers except Liberia and Ahisinia (today Ethiopia), whose control wanted Italy, resisted the invasion and remained independent. In 1889 the sovereign Abisinio Menelik II signed the Wuchole Treaty (May 2) and between the two signed versions, one in Italian and another in Amhárico a controversy was generated in the interpretation of article 17: In the European version submitted foreign policy From Abyssinia to the Directorate of the Italian Government, while in the African version a consultation to Rome was simply indicated on the external actions of Abyssinia. Italian pressure and abyssin attacks on Italian coastal possessions in Eritrea from 1893 led to an armed conflict, the first Ítalo-Etiopope war (1895-1896), which ended the Italian defeat in Customs and the recognition of independence of abyssinia.

Liberia, on the other hand, was the territory chosen by the American Colonization Society (ACS) to found a colony in Africa with ancient African -American slaves. The first colonies in the area suffered the attack of the local tribes, such as the Malinké The number of colonies was increasing and associated in the Commonwealth of Liberia (1842), this was increasing its autonomy with respect to the ACS until in 1847 the independence of the territory was declared as the Republic of Liberia.