Germany, owing to the upsetting of Bismark's…

Germany, owing to the upsetting of Bismark's carefully laid balance of power in European politics caused by King Leopold II's gamble in the Congo and the subsequent European race for colonies in Africa, feels compelled to act and starts launching expeditions of its own, which frightens both British and French statesmen.

Leopold, hoping to quickly soothe this brewing conflict, is able to convince France and Germany that common trade in Africa is in the best interests of all three countries.

Under support from the British and the initiative of Portugal, Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor, calls on representatives of Austria–Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway (union until 1905), the Ottoman Empire, and the United States to take part in the Berlin Conference to work out policy.

Most major powers attend, and draft an international code governing the way that European countries should behave as they acquire African territory.

However, the United States does not actually participate in the conference both because it has an inability to take part in territorial expeditions as well as a sense of not giving the conference further legitimacy.

The fourteen-nation Berlin Conference (German: Kongokonferenz or "Congo Conference") of 1884–85, which convenes in November 1884, regulates European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power.

Called for by Portugal and organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany, its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa.

The conference ushers in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, while simultaneously eliminating most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance.

The conference turns the International Congo Association into the Congo Free State and specifies that it should have no connection with Belgium or any other country, but will be under the personal control of King Leopold.

It draws specific boundaries and specifies that all nations should have access to do business in the Congo with no tariffs.

The slave trade is to be suppressed.