Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, an agreement regulating European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period. The conference of fourteen countries was organised by Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of Germany, at the request of Leopold II of Belgium at a building on Berlin’s central Wilhelmstrasse. It met on 15 November 1884 and, after an adjournment, concluded on 26 February 1885 with the signing of the General Act. During the conference, attendees also discussed other related issues and agreed on a common framework for the recognition of European
The General Act of Berlin can be seen as the formalisation of the Scramble for Africa that was already in full swing. The conference contributed to ushering in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, and is sometimes cited as being responsible for the "carve-up of Africa". However, some scholars warn against overstating its role in the colonial partitioning of Africa, drawing attention to the many bilateral agreements concluded before and after the conference. A 2024 study found that the only borders set at the conference were those of the Congo region, and that most of Africa’s borders did not take their final form until over two decades later. Wm. Roger Louis conceded, however, that "the Berlin Act did have a relevance to the course of the partition" of Africa.
European powers were also driven by economic motivations, as competition for the vast natural resources on the continent were crucial for industrialization and expansion. As European industries grew, the raw materials such as rubber, minerals, ivory, and cotton made Africa highly valuable. Control over Africa’s vast markets enabled European powers to sell manufactured goods, reinforcing their economic dominance in both resources and trade. The Berlin Conference formalized these ambitions by recognizing territorial claims in resource-rich areas and establishing regulations to reduce conflict among competing colonial powers. Economic rivalries, particularly between Britain and France, heightened the urgency to secure colonies before monopolies could be established in strategic regions such as the Congo Basin. The industrial surplus in Europe further encouraged expansion, as African colonies provided both raw materials for European industries and ready markets for European manufactured products.
Seven of the fourteen countries represented – Austria-Hungary, Russia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States – came home without any formal possessions in Africa.
Background
Prior to the conference, European diplomats approached African rulers and the French leaders had already invaded some parts of Lagos in the same manner as they had in the Western Hemisphere, by establishing a connection to local trade networks. In the early 19th century, the European demand for ivory, which was then often used in the production of luxury goods, led many European merchants into the interior markets of Africa. European spheres of power and influence were limited to coastal Africa at this time as Europeans had only established trading posts.In 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium, who had founded and controlled the International African Association the same year, invited Henry Morton Stanley to join him in researching and "civilising" the continent. In 1878, the International Congo Society was also formed, with more economic goals but still closely related to the former society. Leopold 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.
Explorers and missionaries played a significant role in laying the groundwork for the Berlin Conference. They mapped large parts of the continent, negotiated treaties with local leaders, and promoted narratives that justified European expansion. Notably, Henry Morton Stanley conducted expeditions into the Congo Basin on behalf of King Leopold II, securing treaties that later enabled Belgium to claim sovereignty over the region. Missionaries similarly advanced European influence by seeking to spread Christianity and Western cultural values, often aligning their religious activities with the objectives of colonial expansion. Mission stations frequently served as early outposts of European presence, combining religious instruction with political functions. Reports from both explorers and missionaries depicted Africa as a land of economic potential and as a target for what was termed the “civilizing mission.”
From 1878 to 1885, Stanley returned to the Congo not as a reporter but as Leopold's agent, with the secret mission to organize what would become known as the Congo Free State soon after the closure of the Berlin Conference in August 1885. French agents discovered Leopold's plans, and in response France sent its own explorers to Africa. In 1881, French naval officer Pierre de Brazza was dispatched to central Africa, travelled into the western Congo basin, and raised the French flag over the newly founded Brazzaville in what is now the Republic of Congo. Finally, Portugal, which had essentially abandoned a colonial empire in the area, long held through the mostly defunct proxy Kingdom of Kongo, also claimed the area, based on old treaties with Restoration-era Spain and the Catholic Church. It quickly made a treaty on 26 February 1884 with its old ally, Great Britain, to block off the Congo Society's access to the Atlantic.
By the early 1880s, many factors including diplomatic successes, greater European local knowledge, and the demand for resources such as gold, timber, and rubber, triggered dramatically increased European involvement in the continent of Africa. Stanley's charting of the Congo River Basin removed the last terra incognita from European maps of the continent, delineating the areas of British, Portuguese, French and Belgian control. These European nations raced to annex territory that might be claimed by rivals.
France moved to take over Tunisia, one of the last of the Barbary states, using a claim of another piracy incident. French claims by Pierre de Brazza were quickly acted on by the French military, which took control of what is now the Republic of the Congo in 1881 and Guinea in 1884. Italy became part of the Triple Alliance, an event that upset Bismarck's carefully laid plans and led Germany to join the European invasion of Africa.
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 to India threatened. Because of the collapsed Egyptian financing and a subsequent mutiny in which hundreds of British subjects were murdered or injured, Britain intervened in the nominally Ottoman Khedivate of Egypt, which it controlled for decades.
Conference
The European race for colonies made Germany start launching expeditions of its own, which frightened both British and French statesmen. Hoping to quickly soothe the brewing conflict, Belgian 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, the Chancellor of Germany, 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 a joint policy on the African continent.The conference opened on 15 November 1884 and closed on 26 February 1885. The number of plenipotentiaries varied per nation, but these 14 countries sent representatives to attend the Berlin Conference and sign the subsequent Berlin Act:
| State | Colonial empire | Plenipotentiaries |
 German Empireill|Heinrich von Kusserow|deGeneral ActThe General Act fixed the following points:
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