1870 – 1914

TheScramble

How Europe Carved Up a Continent in a Generation

10%European control, 1870
90%European control, 1914
Chapter 11870–1880

The Stage Is Set

The feast before the feeding frenzy—Africa as imagined prize.

In 1870, Africa remained one of Earth's last frontiers for European empires. Colonial presence hugged the coasts—French in Algeria and Senegal, British in the Cape and Gold Coast, Portuguese clinging to Angola and Mozambique's shores. The interior was a mystery European cartographers filled with speculation.

Then came the explorers. Henry Morton Stanley's famous 1871 encounter with David Livingstone captured imaginations. His 1877 mapping of the Congo River opened new possibilities. King Leopold II of Belgium, watching hungrily, saw opportunity where others saw wilderness.

The technology was finally arriving: quinine made malaria survivable,steamships could navigate great rivers, and the telegram connected expeditions to capitals. What had been impossible became merely difficult.

King Leopold II

The Butcher of the Congo

  • Personally owned the Congo Free State as private property
  • Created rubber extraction system enforced through terror
  • Responsible for an estimated 10 million deaths

“I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.”

— Leopold II, 1876 (attributed)
Chapter 21884–1885

The Rules of the Game

Fourteen nations carve a continent around a table where no Africans sat.

On November 15, 1884, representatives of fourteen European nations gathered in Berlin at Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's invitation. For three months they debated, negotiated, and established rules for what was already underway:the division of Africa.

The General Act of Berlin codified the “effective occupation” principle—European powers could claim African territory only by demonstrating actual control. This accelerated the scramble; claiming on paper was no longer enough.The race was on.

Not a single African was invited. The men in Berlin drew lines on maps with rulers, cutting through kingdoms and cultures they neither knew nor cared to understand. The Yoruba were divided. The Somali were split among four powers. Ethnic groups who had coexisted for centuries found themselves in different colonial administrations.

Berlin Conference, 1884–1885: European delegates divide Africa

Otto von Bismarck

The Iron Chancellor

  • Convened the Berlin Conference (1884–1885)
  • Established "effective occupation" principle
  • Used colonial expansion to manage domestic pressures

“My map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia and here is France, and we are in the middle.”

— Bismarck, 1888 (attributed)

“My map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia and here is France, and we are in the middle. That is my map of Africa.”

— Otto von Bismarck (attributed)
Chapter 31885–1908

The King's Private Hell

One man's personal property—larger than Western Europe—and the millions who died to make him rich.

Content Warning

The following section contains descriptions and references to colonial violence, including forced labor, mutilation, and mass death. This historical documentation is presented to accurately convey the reality of the Congo Free State under Leopold II.

Skip to African Resistance
Chapter 41879–1898

Those Who Fought Back

Resistance was the rule, not the exception—from Zulu spears to Ethiopian artillery.

The narrative of passive African submission is a colonial myth.Resistance was widespread, varied, and sometimes successful.

1879

Battle of Isandlwana

Zulu forces under King Cetshwayo annihilated a British column—the worst defeat ever inflicted on the British army by an indigenous force.

1882–1898

Samori Ture's Resistance

In West Africa, Samori Ture resisted French conquest for sixteen years, building the Wassoulou Empire and manufacturing his own firearms.

1896

Battle of Adwa

Ethiopian forces crushed the Italian invasion. Italy recognized Ethiopian independence—the only European power to do so.

The Victory at Adwa

Emperor Menelik II had modernized his army, purchasing European weapons while exploiting European rivalries. When Italy claimed Ethiopia as a protectorate based on a disputed treaty, Menelik prepared for war.

On March 1, 1896, 100,000 Ethiopian soldiers faced 17,000 Italians. The result was devastating for Italy: 6,000 dead, 1,500 wounded, 3,000 captured. Ethiopia remained the only African nation to repel European colonization.

100,000Ethiopian forces
6,000Italian dead

Menelik II

Victor of Adwa

  • Emperor of Ethiopia (1889–1913)
  • Modernized Ethiopian army with European weapons
  • Commanded forces at Battle of Adwa (March 1, 1896)
  • Preserved Ethiopian independence

“I have no intention of being an indifferent spectator if the distant powers have the idea of dividing up Africa.”

— Menelik II, circular letter to European powers, April 1891

Empress Taytu Betul

Warrior Empress

  • Wife and co-ruler with Menelik II
  • Led 5,000 troops personally at Adwa
  • Key strategic advisor opposing disputed treaty

“I am a woman. I do not love war. But rather than accept this, I prefer war.”

— Attributed to Empress Taytu

“I have no intention of being an indifferent spectator if the distant powers have the idea of dividing up Africa.”

— Emperor Menelik II, 1891
Chapter 51880–1900

The Tools of Conquest

Not superior civilization but superior firepower—quinine, steamships, and the Maxim gun.

European conquest of Africa was not inevitable. For centuries, Africa had repelled European penetration—disease killed colonizers faster than they could establish footholds. What changed was technology.

Quinine

Made malaria survivable for Europeans. What had been “the white man's grave” became accessible.

Steamships

Enabled river navigation—the Congo, the Niger, the Nile—carrying troops where foot travel was impossible.

Maxim Gun

The first portable machine gun. The decisive technology that turned battles into massacres.

Battle of Omdurman, 1898

British forces under General Kitchener faced the Mahdist army of Sudan. The result was slaughter.

Mahdist Casualties11,000killed in hours
vs
British Casualties47total dead

This asymmetry was not about courage or civilization.It was about bullets per minute.

Chapter 61890–1914

The Colonial Machine

Different labels, same extraction—how European powers built systems to drain a continent.

Once territory was claimed, Europeans built systems to exploit it. The methods varied—British “indirect rule,” French “assimilation,” Belgian extraction terror, German militarized administration—but the logic was shared: Africa existed to enrich Europe.

British Empire

Indirect Rule

Used African chiefs as intermediaries under British supervision. Cheaper and created illusion of African participation.

French Empire

Assimilation

Goal to create “Black Frenchmen.” More centralized, cultural replacement, French law and education.

Belgian Congo

Extraction Terror

Leopold's personal rule, pure exploitation, worst abuses. Rubber quotas enforced through mutilation.

German Empire

Militarized Control

Settler emphasis, brutal suppression. Herero and Nama genocide—the 20th century's first.

In German Southwest Africa (Namibia), colonization took its most extreme form. General Lothar von Trotha's Vernichtungsbefehl—extermination order—was explicit:

“Within the German borders, every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I will no longer accept women and children.”

— Lothar von Trotha, Vernichtungsbefehl, October 2, 1904

The First Genocide of the 20th Century

65,000Herero killed
80%of Herero population
10,000Nama killed
2021Germany recognized genocide
Chapter 71885–1914

Lines on Maps, Lives Divided

Borders drawn with rulers in Europe sliced through peoples who had lived together for millennia.

The lines drawn in Berlin and negotiated in subsequent treaties had one thing in common: they ignored Africa.

An estimated 177 ethnic groups were divided by colonial borders. The Maasai found themselves split between British Kenya and German Tanganyika. The Ewe were divided among British, French, and German territories. Kingdoms that had existed for centuries were partitioned or absorbed into unrelated administrative units.

177Ethnic groups divided by colonial borders

The scramble also created flash points that nearly ignited European war. At Fashoda in 1898, French and British forces met in Sudan—two empires converging on the same point. War seemed imminent before France backed down.

By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent. The rest of Africa was colored on European maps, governed from European capitals, and bled for European profit.

Chapter 81914–Present

The Borders That Remain

Independence changed the flags but kept the lines—the scramble's longest legacy.

When African nations gained independence in the mid-20th century, theyinherited colonial borders. The Organization of African Unity, founded in 1963, explicitly maintained these boundaries to prevent endless territorial disputes. The lines drawn in Berlin would remain.

Those lines continue to shape African politics. Ethnic groups divided in 1885 remain divided today. Landlocked nations created by colonial negotiation remain dependent on neighbors for port access. Resource-rich regions claimed by distant capitals remain sites of extraction and conflict.

The scramble's economic patterns also persist. Many African nations still export raw materials to former colonial powers and import manufactured goods. The infrastructure built for extraction—railroads from mine to port—still constrains development.

1914

Colonial Africa: Territories named by European powers

  • French West Africa
  • Belgian Congo
  • German East Africa
  • British Nigeria
Today

Independent nations: African names, same borders

  • Mali, Senegal, Niger...
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi
  • Nigeria

This is not destiny. African nations have built, grown, and transformed in the century since colonial rule ended. But understanding why the map looks the way it does—and why certain conflicts recur—requires understanding the forty years when Europe carved up a continent.

The scramble ended. Its consequences did not.

Sources & Further Reading

This narrative was fact-checked against peer-reviewed academic sources and authoritative historical records. Primary documents from the Berlin Conference, Casement Report, and contemporary reform publications were consulted.