The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 indicates the European competition for territory in Africa. It was also known as the <u>Congo Conference</u> or <u>West African Conference</u> and it was organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany.
During the 1870s and early 1880s Great Britain, France, Germany, and others began looking to Africa for natural resources as well as a potential market for the goods these factories produced.
The Scramble for Africa, which was the name given to the event of the occupation, division, and colonization of African territory by European powers, led to conflict among these powers, particularly between the British and French in West Africa; Egypt; the Portuguese and British in East Africa; and the French and King Leopold II in central Africa. The competition between Great Britain and France led Bismarck to take action, and in late 1884 he called a meeting of European powers in Berlin.
In consecutive meetings, Great Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and King Leopold II negotiated their requests to African territory, and they were then formalized and mapped. During the conference the leaders also agreed to allow free trade among the colonies and established a structure for them to negotiate future European claims in Africa.
As a result of the Berlin Conference: The Congo Free State was confirmed as the private ownership of “Congo Society”. Consequently, the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo today. Also, nearly 2 million square kilometers passed into the hands of King Leopold II and it late became a Belgian colony.
The 14 signatory powers mentioned above have free trade across the Congo River basin and Lake Malawi. And the Niger and Congo rivers were free transit of ships.
It was also a signed by the states an international prohibition to abolish the slave trade.
