Berlin Conference General Act (1885)
The Berlin Conference initiated a greedy, brutal scramble for Africa. It resulted in the formation of the Berlin Conference General Act of 1885, which ensured that no one could claim African land simply by name. Because this meant that territories were claimed on a “first-come-first-serve” basis, it heightened the speed and brutality in which Africa was conquered. The Europeans did not hesitate to take advantage of the unsuspecting Africans by using technology and trickery to con the natives of their land and resources.
"There were instances in which Mr. HENRY M. STANLEY sent one white man, with four or five Zanzibar soldiers, to make treaties with native chiefs... All the sleight-of- hand tricks had been carefully rehearsed, and he was now ready for his work... The white brother took from his pocket a cigar, carelessly bit off the end, held up his glass to the sun and complaisantly smoked his cigar to the great amazement and terror of his black brother. The white man explained his intimate relation to the sun, and declared that if he were to request him to burn up his black brother’s village it would be done...By such means as these, too silly and disgusting to mention, and a few boxes of gin, whole villages have been signed away to your Majesty."
—George Washington Williams to King Leopold II
"There were instances in which Mr. HENRY M. STANLEY sent one white man, with four or five Zanzibar soldiers, to make treaties with native chiefs... All the sleight-of- hand tricks had been carefully rehearsed, and he was now ready for his work... The white brother took from his pocket a cigar, carelessly bit off the end, held up his glass to the sun and complaisantly smoked his cigar to the great amazement and terror of his black brother. The white man explained his intimate relation to the sun, and declared that if he were to request him to burn up his black brother’s village it would be done...By such means as these, too silly and disgusting to mention, and a few boxes of gin, whole villages have been signed away to your Majesty."
—George Washington Williams to King Leopold II
The Scramble for Africa
Professor Patrick N. Allitt
"Rise and Fall of the British Empire"
Professor Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Emory University
Professor Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Emory University
"The European colonial powers scrambled to conquer Africa in the last three decades of the nineteenth century, especially after the discovery of diamonds and gold in South Africa. African rulers who tried to stand in the way of these conquerors, such as the Zulu King Cetshwayo and the Sudanese religious leader, the Mahdi, were annihilated by British rifles, machine guns, and artillery."
The European Exploitation of Africa
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Enslavement of the Congolese People
Zana Aziza Etambala,
Historian/Professor, University of Leuven |
Exploitation of Resources in the Congo
Jean-Pierre Bemba,
Vice President, DRC/Leader of MLC |
Belgium's Takeover of the Congo
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Maurice Lenain,
Colonial Royalist, AFAC |
Maurice Lenain,
Colonial Royalist, AFAC |
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