The Berlin Conference

For the approximate time window of three months in 1884 to 1885, the Berlin Conference, also known as the Congo Conference, had taken place in regards to the scramble for Africa. In attendance were fourteen Western European countries as well as the United States, yet the big league players of the conference were Britain, France, and Germany. Not a single representative for a free-state of Africa was present during the conference.The Berlin Conference regulated European colonization and advocation for opening free trade in Africa such as the Congo during the period of New Imperialism. Organized by Otto Von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany,the outcome, which would become known as the General Act of the Berlin Conference, would be the starting point for what would ultimately cause the increase of European colonial activity while enforcing paternalistic ideals of Africa that are still in affect today.

Europeans had many motives as to why they should colonize Africa in the first place. Economically speaking, Africa offered new sources of raw materials, new markets for which to trade goods, and new ventures and enterprises worth investing into. From a political standpoint, however, Europeans needed naval refueling bases, a safe point so they could stop the expansion of rival countries, and Europeans saw Africa as a way to promote national security and national prestige. Another supposed motivation for settling in Africa was the mind set that Europeans could better the lives of Africans since they didn't seem to have organized governments or religion. This idea stemmed off of the term that would later evolve into modern day racism. Social Darwinism, term coined in the late 19th century to describe the idea that humans, like animal...

... middle of paper ...

...tures for their own gain. The home base of all the disadvantages towards Africa and African culture is the Berlin Conference. In the wake of the conference, Africa totaled tens of thousands dead or mutilated natives by Europeans exploiting the riches of the land, not yet including thousands more from the African slave trade, and even more lives in the outcomes of resistance movements. The imperialistic ideals, placed in Africa in the time, had inferred that the African nations are incompetent to governing themselves correctly and are generally underdeveloped. This stereotypical image of Africa is still in place today.In many nations, land is subject to tribal ownership and in others, most of the land is often in the hands of descendants of European settlers of the late 19th century and early 20th century . In due part to the Berlin Conference, Africa still suffers.