Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Rules for the Partition of Africa

The Berlin Conference, also called the Congo Conference or West Africa Conference, was a meeting of 14 states held in Berlin from 15 November 1884 to 26 February 1885. Hosted by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, it produced the General Act of Berlin, which set rules for new European claims on the African coast, declared free trade in the Congo basin and eased international recognition of King Leopold II’s Congo. Although it did not divide Africa, it has become the most famous symbol of the Scramble for Africa.

Background

By the early 1880s European rivalry in Africa was intensifying. In the Congo region, Henry Morton Stanley was signing treaties with local rulers on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, acting through private organisations rather than the Belgian state. On the north bank of the Congo, the French officer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza had signed a treaty with the Teke ruler Makoko in 1880, and France ratified it in 1882.

Portugal claimed the mouth of the Congo on historical grounds. In February 1884 Britain and Portugal signed a treaty recognising Portuguese control of the river mouth, partly to block French and Belgian ambitions. The treaty provoked strong protests from France, Germany, merchants in Britain and Leopold, and it was never ratified.

Meanwhile Germany, which had no colonies, suddenly declared protectorates in 1884 over Angra Pequena in South West Africa, Togoland and Cameroon. Bismarck saw a conference as a way to manage colonial disputes, improve relations with France and gain influence for the new German Empire. The French prime minister Jules Ferry supported the idea, and invitations went out in October 1884.

Historians still debate why Bismarck, who had long dismissed colonies as an expensive distraction, changed course in 1884. Some point to pressure from German merchants and colonial societies, others to domestic politics before the Reichstag elections of October 1884. Many also stress diplomacy: by co-operating with France against Britain on African questions, Bismarck hoped to ease French hostility after the war of 1870-1871 and keep Britain from dominating the African coast.

The conference

Delegates gathered at Bismarck’s official residence on the Wilhelmstrasse on 15 November 1884. Fourteen states took part: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway and the Ottoman Empire. Most delegates were ambassadors in Berlin, supported by legal, commercial and geographical experts. French was the working language of the conference, and after Bismarck’s opening speech the sessions were usually chaired by senior German officials.

No African ruler or African state was invited, although some, such as the Sultan of Zanzibar, had claims directly affected by the discussions. Leopold’s International Association of the Congo was not formally a participant, but his agents were very active behind the scenes. Stanley attended as a technical adviser to the American delegation, which was led by the minister to Germany, John A. Kasson, with Henry Shelton Sanford, a long-time associate of Leopold.

The formal sessions dealt with three questions set out by Germany and France: freedom of trade in the basin and mouths of the Congo; freedom of navigation on the Congo and Niger rivers; and the formalities required for new occupations on the African coast. Much of the real bargaining over territory took place outside the conference room, in bilateral talks between governments and Leopold’s representatives.

The General Act of Berlin

The General Act, signed on 26 February 1885, contained 38 articles in seven chapters. Its main provisions were:

• Free trade in the Congo basin. The powers defined a broad “conventional basin” of the Congo, stretching across Central Africa towards the Indian Ocean, where all nations would enjoy freedom of trade and no differential duties.
• Slave trade. The signatories declared that the slave trade was forbidden under international law and promised to help suppress it.
• Neutrality. States holding territory in the Congo basin could declare it neutral in time of war.
• Navigation. The Congo and Niger rivers were declared open to the ships of all nations. An international commission was planned for the Congo, though it was never set up.
• New occupations. Under Articles 34 and 35, any power taking possession of land on the African coast, or assuming a protectorate there, had to notify the other signatories, and had to establish authority sufficient to protect existing rights and freedom of trade.

The last provision became known as the principle of “effective occupation”. It applied only to the coast, not the interior, but in practice it encouraged European powers to back their paper claims with officials, posts and troops.

Recognition of Leopold’s Congo

The most significant result for Central Africa came through separate agreements. In April 1884 the United States had already recognised the flag of Leopold’s association. Germany followed in November 1884, and during the conference Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Sweden-Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France and Portugal also signed bilateral conventions with the association, the last two settling frontiers that gave France the north bank and Portugal territory south of the river mouth.

On 26 February 1885 the association adhered to the General Act. A few months later, on 1 July 1885, Leopold proclaimed the Congo Free State, ruled by himself personally as sovereign. The free trade guarantees of Berlin did not prevent his administration from later monopolising rubber and ivory and imposing a brutal system of forced labour.

Key people

• Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), German chancellor, who hosted and opened the conference, though he left much of the detailed work to officials.
• Leopold II (1835-1909), king of the Belgians, who did not attend but whose diplomacy secured recognition of his Congo state.
• Jules Ferry (1832-1893), French prime minister and advocate of colonial expansion, who supported holding the conference.
• Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904), explorer and Leopold’s agent in the Congo, who advised the American delegation; he was famous for having found David Livingstone in 1871.
• Sir Edward Malet (1837-1908), British ambassador in Berlin and Britain’s chief delegate.

By the numbers

Myths and facts

“The Berlin Conference divided Africa among the European powers.” This is the most widespread misconception. The conference did not allocate most of the continent or draw its borders. When it ended, much of Africa was still under African rule, and most colonial boundaries were set by later treaties, such as Anglo-French, Anglo-German and Franco-Portuguese agreements of the 1880s and 1890s.

“Delegates sat around a map and drew straight lines across Africa.” The famous image of diplomats with a map of Africa is a real contemporary illustration, but the straight-line borders of modern Africa were mostly drawn in other negotiations, often years later.

“The conference started the Scramble for Africa.” The rush was already under way in 1881-1884, with France in Tunisia and on the Congo, Britain in Egypt and Germany’s new protectorates. The conference was a response to competition, though it helped to accelerate and regulate it.

“Africa was entirely absent from the agenda except as land.” The Act did discuss African interests, including the suppression of the slave trade and the “moral and material well-being” of local populations, but these promises were largely ignored in practice, and Africans had no voice in the meeting.

Consequences and legacy

In the decade after Berlin, European claims to Africa expanded rapidly. Treaty-making missions spread inland, and chartered companies were given large territories. The idea of “spheres of influence”, worked out in bilateral agreements, became more important than the coastal rules of the Act.

The United States signed the General Act but the Senate never ratified it. The Brussels Conference Act of 1890 extended anti-slavery measures, and the Convention of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1919 revised the Berlin rules among the victorious Allies after the First World War.

Over time the conference came to symbolise the way Africa’s fate was decided without Africans. In discussions of colonialism, reparations and the borders of modern African states, “Berlin 1884” is often used as shorthand for the whole partition. Historians today stress that its practical effects were narrower, but that its spirit, the assumption that Europeans had the right to dispose of African land, was real.

Timeline

• 1880, 10 September: Brazza signs a treaty with the Teke ruler Makoko.
• 1884, 26 February: Anglo-Portuguese treaty on the Congo mouth, later abandoned.
• 1884, 22 April: The United States recognises the flag of Leopold’s association.
• 1884, April - July: Germany declares protectorates in South West Africa, Togoland and Cameroon.
• 1884, 15 November: The Berlin Conference opens at Bismarck’s residence.
• 1885, February: France and Portugal sign conventions with Leopold’s association.
• 1885, 26 February: The General Act of Berlin is signed.
• 1885, 1 July: Leopold proclaims the Congo Free State.

Why it matters

The Berlin Conference set the legal tone for the partition of Africa, created the framework for Leopold II’s Congo and showed European powers negotiating over a continent whose peoples were not present. Understanding what it did, and what it did not do, is key to understanding the colonial map of Africa.