Question

Question:

This map shows the division of Africa following the Berlin Conference of 1884. Briefly explain the impact this 19th-century agreement had on Africa as the former colonies became independent in the decades following World War II.

Answer 1

The European Nations arranged Berlin Conference (1884-85) to divide Africa with diplomacy or armaments among themselves. The conference had both positive and negative effects. Africans 'land was destroyed. About 90% of the continent in Africa was dominated by Europeans. The free country was just Liberia and Ethiopia. Independence for Africans was denied. They were treated as lower classes and had to work for long hours as slaves.

Explanation:

There have been some positive impacts and some negative impacts following the Berlin Conference on Africa.

• The most significant negative impact on Africa of the Berlin Conference was the formation, with the exception of Ethiopia remaining independent, of colonial empires which fragmented the entire continent. The European powers were mainly resource extractors under effective occupation; unlike other colonial territories, such as India, the countries of Europe had no advantages of effective governance in the areas they had conquered.
• The negative effects included land loss, enslavement on these new lands, people's natural resources and European diseases. The citizens of Africa had not even been asked or removed from the meeting, so they just had their land taken without any comment. For ninety percent of Africa was taken from this region. The second detrimental consequence was that the indigenous population there was enslaved by some of the territories. The Congo region controlled by Belgium has been a major example of that. The King slaved a number of Africans who lived there  to gather the natural resources that we found on Africa for his own profit. The people that didn't listen to him got their hands chopped off. As always, illness came with the conquest of the Europeans. The diseases caused the killing of many indigenous Africans there already. These were some of the impacts on the lives of African men.
• The nations participating in the abolition of slave trade were one of the most significant positive results of the Berlin Conference. It was one of the compromises made at the Berlin Conference and all of them agreed to do so to make the Africans look stronger. Even if they just did so in order to give the people of Africa a better look, it also got rid of the very strong slave trade.