The Scramble for Africa was the rapid conquest and division of most of the African continent by European powers, including Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain, in the period between about 1881 and 1914. Before then Europeans held mostly coastal posts. Rivalry over trade and prestige, along with new technologies such as steamships, quinine and repeating rifles, drove the expansion. The Berlin Conference of 1884 and 1885 set rules for claiming African territory, without any African representation. Borders were often drawn with little regard for existing peoples and kingdoms. By 1914 only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent. African states and peoples resisted, sometimes fiercely, and the colonial legacy continued to shape the continent's politics after independence.
Before and after
- 1885Discovery of neodymium
- from 1885 to 1919German East Africa
- 1885The Potato Eaters
- 1885Construction of Washington Monument
- from 1885 to 1914Scramble for Africa
- 1885Publication of Mila Rodino
- 1885Construction of Rijksmuseum
- 1885Publication of Thus Spoke Zarathustra
- 1885Founding of Stanford University
More in Wars, politics & history
- 4 July 1776United States Declaration of Independence
- 17 September 1787United States Constitution
- from 1803 to 1815Napoleonic Wars
- 1815Congress of Vienna
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
- from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.