Name: ____________________________
Mr. DiRé
AIM #2: How did European colonization impact Africa?
Map of European colonies in Africa
Map of tribal/ethnic groups in Africa
1. Which two European countries colonized
the most African territory? ____________
& ___________
2. From the map, does it appear that
European colonial boundaries adhered to
(followed) traditional African tribal/ethnic
boundaries? _______
3. Since the borders of independent modern African countries tend to follow their former colonial
boundary lines, explain how colonial boundary lines that split apart and combined many different
tribal regions together may have affected long term peace within countries?
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In the second half of the nineteenth century the European powers finally laid claim to virtually all of Africa.
Competition was intense. Colonies began to crowd each other and hostility between the colonial powers seemed
likely. It was time for negotiation, and in late 1884 a conference was convened in Berlin to sort things out. The Berlin
conference laid the groundwork for the now familiar …map of Africa.
In November 1884, the imperial chancellor and architect of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, convened a
conference of 14 states (including the United States) to settle the cutting up of Africa. Of the fourteen European
nations present, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were the major players in the conference, controlling
most of colonial Africa at the time.
The Berlin Conference was Africa's undoing in more ways than one. The colonial powers placed their domains on
the African Continent. By the time Africa regained its independence after the late 1950s, the realm had acquired a
history of broken governments ruling over ethnic groups that had been thrown together. The African map today is thus
a permanent weakness that resulted from the three months of ignorant, greedy land grabbing during a period when
Europe's search for minerals and markets had become insatiable (couldn’t be satisfied).
At the time of the conference, 80% of Africa remained under traditional and local control. What ultimately resulted
was a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. This new map of the
continent was superimposed over the one thousand indigenous cultures and regions of Africa. The new countries
lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged together disparate groups who really did
not get along.
Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts, by H. J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller and Berlin Conference M. Rosenberg
4. What was the purpose of the Berlin Conference in 1884 and why do you think European nations agreed to
attend? _________________________________________________________________________________
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5. How does the author believe the Berlin Conference affected Africa’s future? Why does he feel this?
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“The European colonial powers shared one objective in their African colonies; exploitation. But in the way they
governed their colonies, they reflected their differences. Some colonial powers were themselves democracies (Great
Britain and France); others were dictatorships (Portugal, Belgium, Spain).
The British established a relatively relaxed system of indirect rule over much of their domain, leaving indigenous
governments in place and making local rulers representatives of the British Crown. This was unthinkable in the
Portuguese colonies, where harsh, direct control was the rule.
In the Belgian Congo King Leopold II embarked on a campaign of ruthless exploitation. His enforcers mobilized
almost the entire Congolese populations to gather rubber, kill elephants for their ivory, and build transport systems to
improve export routes. For failing to meet production quotes, entire communities were massacred. Killing and maiming
by cutting off hands became routine in a colony in which horror became all too common. Only second to the transAtlantic slave trade of the 1500-1800s, King Leopold's reign of terror in the 1800s was Africa's most severe
humanitarian disaster. By the time it ended, after a growing outcry around the world, millions of Congolese had been
murdered.” -from Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts, by H. J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller
6. In a word, what was the common goal among all European “colonial powers” in Africa?
______________________
7. How did British rule in South Africa and Egypt differ from Belgium’s rule in the Congo? Why do you
think their methods were so different?
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8. Why were Congolese murdered and maimed (had hands cut off) by Belgium forces in the Congo?
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9. Where were most of Africa’s rail systems located in 1914? _____________________________________
10. Who do you think organized the building of these rail systems in the mid 19th-early 20th century? Who
actually did the labor to build them? __________________________________________________________
11. What do you think the purpose of these rail systems was? Why were they built?
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12.What are those elevated wires alongside the railroad in the photograph? What was their purpose?
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Dr. David Livingston (British explorer, missionary, and doctor)
“When [the native man] at last applied for baptism, I simply asked him how he, having the Bible in his hand,
and able to read it, thought he ought to act. He went home, gave each of his wives new clothing, and all his
own goods, which they had [kept] in their huts for him, and sent them to their parents [telling them] that he
had no fault to find with them, but that in parting with them he wished to follow the will of God. On the day on
which he and his children were baptized, great numbers came to see the ceremony. Some thought, from a
stupid [rumor] circulated by enemies to Christianity in the south, that the converts would be made to drink an
infusion of "dead men's brains", and were astonished to find that water only was used at baptism.”
13. According to this excerpt, identify 3 changes taking place among African natives?
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14. What myth circulated among the natives about baptism? What does this tell us about the way Africans
viewed Europeans? Why is this ironic?
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15. Identify two things this map indicates about African resistance to European imperialism/colonialism?
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16. Does this map contradict or support anything in the account of Dr. Livingston located above it?
Explain.
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