Name:
Directions for Berlin Conference Simulation
1. Arrange your desks so that everyone can reach the map of Africa, which should be in the
middle of the desks.
2. If you have 5 people in your group distribute the role cards from the envelope as follows:
Britain to one person, France to one person, Germany and Spain to one person, Belgium and
Italy to one person, and Netherlands and Portugal to one person. If you have 6 people in your
group distribute as above but give Germany and Spain to different group members. Also give
each group member a different colored pencil(s) for each country that he/she represents. Britain
is one color, France another, Germany another, Spain another color and so on… (Some people
will need two colored pencils, others only one.)
3. Next each group member should read his or her role cards and answer questions 1 and 2 on
his/her worksheet. Please use the atlases and resource sheets at your group to help you.
Please stop reading the directions, and do the above.
After all group members have finished the above please continue reading and following these
directions.
4. Next, you are going to divide up Africa based on the areas that you want most. This should
be based on your role cards and the map that you just created on your paper. Have Great Britain
start the game by taking the quarter and his/her colored pencil and outlining one area with the
quarter that his/her country wants. Next pass the quarter to the next player and he/she will do the
same thing. Go one at a time in a circle and create colonial boundaries for Africa. Those players
with two countries need to alternate between each country. The player representing the
Netherlands does not get to take any land until he/she beats Great Britain in a best of three game
of rock, paper, scissors. Continue playing until time is called by the teacher or Africa is all
divided up.
Additional info for groups of six – play as above, but those players representing Germany and
Spain will use a dime instead of a quarter on their turns.
Play!!
Name:
France
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. France has colonial outposts established
along the west coast of Africa and extending inland approximately 500 miles east of Lake Chad
and north to the Mediterranean Sea. French colonial outposts include the cities of Libreville,
Conakry, Dakar, and Abidjan. Find these on a map and try to make sure no other countries take
these areas.
Great Britain
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. Great Britain is most concerned about
maintaining control of the Suez Canal (it has been under their control since 1875) and the
surrounding territory. The canal connects the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Red, and Arabian
Seas providing important shipping routes. Great Britain has expanded its control around the
canal, throughout Egypt and south into the Sahara to create a buffer zone against French
expansion. Great Britain desires holdings from the Cape (southern tip of Africa) to Cairo. British
colonial outposts exist in west Africa in the cities of Lagos, Freetown, and Banjul. Great Britain
is also in conflict with the Dutch for control of the Cape of Africa. The biggest concerns for
Britain are keeping colonial outposts, land from the Suez Canal south, and land from the Cape
north.
Belgium
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. Led by King Leopold, the Belgians
want access to the mineral and rubber resources of the interior tropical rainforest in the Congo
River basin. The Belgians are also interested in the ivory trade (elephant tusks).
Italy
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. Italy desires the Horn of Africa (area
that is surrounded by the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean) and land in northern Africa nearest
Italy.
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Portugal
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. Portugal has the oldest colonial
outposts on the continent: a small post on the west coast near Bissau, a larger portion on the
southwest coast, and the southeast coast.
Netherlands/Dutch
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. The Dutch have a long history in the
Cape region of Africa dating back to the 1600s. The Dutch are presently struggling for control of
the area against the British. You want to fight against the British for some control of this area. If
you can win best out of three in the game of rock, paper, scissors you may have some small
pieces of this area.
Germany
The 1884 Berlin Conference to partition Africa has been called by the German Chancellor, Otto
Von Bismark. You are hosting the conference in your capital city. The goal of the conference is
to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of
influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources
for their industrialization. Germany has some control of coastal southwestern Africa and coastal
east Africa just south of the equator and some control over a portion of western Africa near the
equator by Douala. Germany desires to maintain control of these areas.
Spain
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into
European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access
to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. The Spanish want to maintain a
presence on the north western coast of Africa. However, the wars for independence in Latin
America beginning in the 1820s have left the empire with little monetary funds.
Name:
Berlin Conference Simulation
1. What country(ies) do you represent?
2. What part(s) of Africa do you want? Why? What resources are there? Draw in the areas you
hope to acquire on map 1 below.
3. Create a sketch of your group’s division of Africa on map 2. What part(s) of Africa did you
end up getting after the simulation? How do they compare to the parts you wanted?
4. Who was not represented at the conference? Why?
5. What challenges do you think this conference and these new boundaries created for the
indigenous people of Africa?
Name:
Below create a map of the actual colonial boundaries of Africa using pg. 99 in your textbook.
(The borders do not exactly match the map below, but do the best you can.) How does this map
compare to your group’s map?