Sharing Africa: Dividing the African Continent

THE Africa Sharing is the name by which the division of the African continent was known during the 19th century and which ended with the Berlin Conference (1884-1885).

With the economic growth of England, France, the Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire, these countries wanted to advance to Africa in search of raw materials for their industries.

How did it happen?

Countries like Portugal were already on the continent since the 16th century. They used Africa as a supplier of slave labor, in a lucrative trade in which England, Spain, France and Denmark participated.

The European expansion to the African continent, in the 19th century, was justified to public opinion as the need to “civilize” this territory.

In the nineteenth century, there was a belief in the superiority of races and civilizations. Theories like the Positivism, by Auguste Comte and the Social Darwinism, corroborated this idea.

Thus, it was necessary to ensure that “backward” Africans, in the European mold, were civilized.

sharing africa — European powers divide Africa according to their interests

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News from the African continent reached Europe through reports of expeditions that had different purposes:

scientific expeditions: mapping the terrain, measuring the geographic and botanical potential, and detailing the many ethnic groups that inhabited the continent.
commercial shipments: know the local raw material and evaluate the exploration possibilities.
religious expeditions: end polytheism, anthropophagy and establish Christianity.

Thus, we realize that economic, religious and cultural aspects influenced the desire for possession of the territory.

For the European, it was necessary to "save" the African from the savagery, backwardness and practices that were considered reprehensible in the Old World. This kind of imperialist behavior underpinned the myth of the "white man's burden" and the eugenics.

Summary

Simultaneously, the territories were gradually being invaded by European nations. See below how the occupation of Africa by the European powers was:

Portugal

After Brazil's independence, Portugal managed to keep its African possessions such as Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea and Mozambique.

The country will have problems with Belgium, England and Germany that wanted to expand their territories in Africa, over the Portuguese territories.

Spain

Spain occupied the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Western Sahara and Melila. To supply its Caribbean colonies with slaves, it relied on the trade made by the Portuguese, French and Danes. Later, the country would invade Equatorial Guinea (1778).

Belgium

King Leopold II of Belgium established the International Association of Africa in 1876. This organization aimed to explore the territory corresponding to the Congo that would become its personal property.

The country also occupies Rwanda and establishes a system of ethnic division there, between Hutus and Tutsis, which will have disastrous consequences in the future in the Genocide in Rwanda (1994).

England

The United Kingdom was the greatest economic power of the 19th century due to Industrial Revolution. However, it needed more cheap raw materials to keep pace with its growth.

England was occupying territories such as what is now Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa. Such was the certainty of English superiority that fueled the idea of building a railway linking Cairo and Cape Town.

For this, the country invades areas between these territories such as Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe and will enter into conflict with virtually all other European countries in order to maintain or expand their possessions.

France

France occupied the territory of Senegal in 1624 in order to guarantee the supply of slaves to its colonies in the Caribbean.

Throughout the 18th century, its navigators occupied several islands in the Indian Ocean such as Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros and Réunion.

However, it was in the 19th century that, between 1819 and 1890, he managed to settle 344 treaties with African leaders. Thus they occupied Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Chad, Mali, Togo, Benin, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Burkina Faso and Niger.

In addition to facing the inhabitants who did not accept the invasion, the French waged several wars against the Germans, as they wanted to take over their possessions.

Netherlands

Dutch occupation began in present-day Ghana, called the Dutch Gold Coast. There, they remained until 1871 when they sold their possession to the English.

Through private investors, the Dutch began exploring the Congo in 1857.

However, it was in the South Africa, that the Dutch stayed longer. There they had established a supply station in present-day Cape Town in 1652.

When the territory was conquered by the British, the Dutch were expelled in 1805, but they still remained. in South Africa and would enter into various conflicts with the British, such as the Boer War (1880-1881/1899-1902).

Italy

After Italian unification, Italy sets out to conquer the world. However, without a powerful army, the country occupies the territories of Eriteia, part of Somalia and Libya.

Tries to conquer the kingdom of Ethiopia, but this was helped by France and Russia. It will only do so in the 1930s under the command of Benito Mussolini.

Germany

Germany wanted to secure its share of markets in Africa. After German Unification, in 1870, any European decision had to pass through the powerful Chancellor Bismarck.

As there were already many disputes over borders between the European powers, Bismarck invites the representatives of the main colonial powers to discuss the direction of the African occupation.

This event would be known as the Berlin Conference. Germany occupied the territories corresponding to Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

Berlin Conference

Africa Sharing — Africa at two distinct moments in its history

In order to avoid wars between the European powers over African territories, the chancellor Otto Von Bismarck convened a meeting with representatives of European countries that had possessions in Africa. No African representative was invited.

THE Berlin Conference (1884-1885) consisted of an agreement that aimed to recognize the borders of the territories already occupied and establish the rules for future occupations on the African continent.

Among its directives was the need for a nation to communicate to another when it took possession of a territory. It was also necessary to prove that he was able to manage it.

Consequences

Before the Partition of Africa, African kingdoms were within natural boundaries defined according to the ethnic groups that made up these kingdoms.

African states were drawn by artificial borders according to the will of the European colonizer. Thus, enemy ethnic groups had to live within the same territory causing bloody civil wars.

The European occupation provoked resistance and insurrections from nations that were massacred during the course of the 20th century.

Also, through the European vision, the myth has spread that Africans are cursed for not accepting Christianity and therefore not able to prosper.

Currently, the African continent is the poorest in the world and there is still strong pressure on Africa's natural resources, such as oil, gold, phosphate and diamonds.

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