Wednesday, September 5, 2018

What were the outcomes of the Berlin conference?

The Berlin Conference was aimed at assisting European powers to stay ahead of the emerging Russian, American, and Japanese powers. It also sought to regulate European activities in Africa, which provided them with an opportunity to expand with regards to their territory. The idea was to limit European conflicts in light of collective interest in Africa.
The conference fueled the "Scramble for Africa." The situation introduced colonialism to Africa and foreign territorial boundaries, which eventually created nations after independence. The participating nations expedited their campaigns in Africa and coerced rulers into signing treaties that gave them access to their lands and resources. Many territories were conquered by the Europeans in their push for expansion and domination in Africa. In a few years after the conference, much of Africa fell under European rule and was divided among the different European powers.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Berlin-West-Africa-Conference


The Berlin Conference's impact must be viewed from both European and African perspectives.
For Africans the Berlin Conference (1884–85) set the stage for an intense period of European colonization. While the coastal regions had been the focus of European trade nd limited colonization for more than a century, the conference opened the interior, sub-Saharn Africa principally, to exploration and exploitation. African kingdoms which previously had little contact with Europenas, now were engaged in struggle for self-preservation.
From the European perspective, the conference staked Germany's and Italy's claims to a position in the imperial scramble for Africa while seeking to decrease the competitive tensions between the powers. The 13 European powers that attended (plus the U.S.) agreed to a coordinated policy toward the African continent. The agreement established an understanding that allowed the Europeans to avoid conflict with one another, at least during that generation's rule, as they took control of the various African states within their respective spheres of control. With each Great Power having it's position in Africa established and recognized, there was a plan to avoid conflict over African territory. This confernece also laid the ground work for the establishment of the alliance systems that eventually lead to the wider conflict that began in 1914. 

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