🗺️
⚔️
🌍 The Scramble for Africa
The Great Colonial Partition
📅 1880s – 1914
📚

The Great Competition

How European powers raced to colonize Africa

In the late 19th century, a fierce competition erupted across the African continent as European powers sought to expand their empires. Six major nations engaged in this unprecedented race for territorial control, driven by economic ambitions, national prestige, and strategic advantages.
🇬🇧
Great Britain
🇫🇷
France
🇩🇪
Germany
🇧🇪
Belgium
🇵🇹
Portugal
🇮🇹
Italy
🏛️

The Berlin Conference

The meeting that divided a continent

1884-1885
🤝 The Diplomatic Solution
Organized by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Berlin Conference brought together European powers to establish rules for African colonization. Without a single African representative present, they literally drew lines on maps, dividing the continent among themselves.
The conference established the principle of “effective occupation” – meaning that European claims to African territory had to be backed by actual presence and administration. This sparked an even more intense race as nations rushed to establish footholds across the continent.
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The Staggering Impact

Numbers that tell the story

30
Years to Complete Colonization
90%
Of Africa Under European Control
54
Modern African Nations Affected
🛡️ The Survivors

Only two African nations successfully resisted European colonization

🇱🇷
Liberia
Founded by freed American slaves
🇪🇹
Ethiopia
Defeated Italy at Adwa (1896)

The Lasting Legacy

How the Scramble shaped modern Africa

By 1914, the transformation was complete. The artificial borders drawn in European capitals would become the foundation for modern African states. The economic systems established during this period continued to influence the continent for generations, creating lasting impacts on politics, society, and development patterns across Africa.

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