The Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa

At the conference in Berlin the envoys of fourteen states establish that claims to African lands are recognised where real administration exists on the ground. Within two decades nearly the whole continent is divided among Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Italy; Ethiopia and Liberia remain independent. Borders are drawn along parallels and rivers with no regard to where peoples actually live, and the later states will inherit these lines. The rule rests on the export of raw materials and on forced labour.