1885

Berlin Conference on Africa

The aim of this conference, organized by Chancellor Bismarck between November 1884 and February 1885, was to provide a framework for the colonization of Africa that had begun much earlier. Rules were established between the colonizing states, including free trade access to the major African river basins and the obligation to actually occupy a territory before claiming it. British, French, Germans, Belgians, Portuguese and Italians then moved into the heart of Africa and divided it up in less than fifteen years.