Middle Africa (1828–1971 CE): Abolition, Partition, Extraction, and Independence

Geographic & Environmental Context

The subregion of Middle Africa includes Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola.Anchors included the Congo–Kasai–Ubangi river system and ports (Matadi, Léopoldville/Kinshasa, Brazzaville), the Atlantic harbors of Luanda, Lobito, Pointe-Noire, Libreville, Douala, the Cameroon Highlands and forest massifs, the northern savanna and Lake Chad basin, and the Gulf of Guinea islands (São Tomé, Príncipe, Bioko). From equatorial rainforest to Sahelian margin, the region’s corridors were re-engineered by abolition’s aftermath, the Scramble for Africa, and 20th-century state formation.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

With the retreat of the Little Ice Age, rainfall belts oscillated. Congo basin forests stayed humid, but dry-season length varied by decade; high river years expanded floodplain farming yet raised erosion risk. The Lake Chad basin swung between flood and shrinkage pulses (notably late 1960s drought). Along the Atlantic, heavy rains alternated with stormy seasons that reshaped estuaries and mangroves. Logging, plantation clearance, and later oil extraction intensified local micro-climate and watershed stress.

Subsistence & Settlement

Abolition redirected labor from slave corridors to plantations, mines, and ports.

• Forest and riverine belts: Cassava (by now a staple famine reserve), plantain/banana, yam, taro, maize, oil palm, groundnuts, and beans anchored household nutrition; fishing and smoked/dried fish stores remained vital. Cocoa and coffee spread in Cameroon, Gabon, and on São Tomé and Príncipe, where plantation monoculture dominated.

• Savanna and Lake Chad: Millet, sorghum, rice, and cattle herding persisted, with recession farming along floodplains.

• Urbanization: Port and rail towns (Douala, Pointe-Noire, Libreville, Léopoldville/Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Luanda) expanded around docks, depots, and workshops; mining towns rose in Katanga (copper, cobalt), Kasai (diamonds), and the Angolan interior (iron, diamonds).

Technology & Material Culture

Colonial regimes laid railways that reoriented trade: the Congo–Ocean Railway (1921–1934) to Pointe-Noire; the Benguela Railway linking Katanga to Lobito; Douala–Nkongsamba and other lines in Cameroon. River steamers, dredged channels, and ports (Matadi, Boma) integrated the Congo corridor with the Atlantic. Concession companies built mills for palm oil, timber yards, and mining plants; mission presses, schools, and clinics proliferated. Forced-labor systems supplied roads, rails, and estates—prestations in French Equatorial Africa, contract labor and chibalo in Portuguese Angola, with coerced migration to São Tomé and Príncipe cocoa roças (sparking early 1900s boycotts). Household craft and market production—blacksmithing, weaving, pottery, canoe carpentry—adapted to cash economies; urban workshops forged a new artisanal landscape.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• River and rail grids funneled palm products, timber, copper/cobalt, diamonds, and cocoa to Atlantic ports.

• Atlantic lanes connected Luanda, Lobito, Pointe-Noire, Douala, Libreville, and São Tomé with Lisbon, Antwerp, Marseille, and later New York.

• Labor migrations moved workers from savannas to mines, plantations, and docks; seasonal and contract flows tied the Lake Chad fringe to forest and port towns.

• Mission and medical circuits (sleeping-sickness campaigns) penetrated deep inland. Late in the period, roads and airstrips extended state reach; large projects (e.g., Inga on the lower Congo, planned in the 1960s) heralded hydro-modernity at decade’s end.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

Mission Christianity spread schooling, print, and new associational life; prophetic and African-initiated churches transformed religious landscapes—Kimbanguism (founded 1921) in the lower Congo became a mass church by mid-century; later Angolan movements (e.g., Tokoist strands) blended biblical and local idioms. Urban music and dance forged modern publics: Congolese rumba/soukous, Cameroonian makossa, Angolan semba, all carried ngoma drum lineages into amplified nightlife. Writers (e.g., Ferdinand Oyono, Mongo Beti) and painters chronicled colonial contradiction. Court and village arts endured—masks, nkisi figures, raffia and cotton textiles—now circulating through markets and museums alike.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Households hedged risk with multicropping (cassava as standing reserve), compound gardens, and fish smoking/drying. Forest communities rotated fields and protected sacred groves; savanna herders shifted grazing with the rains; floodplain cultivators followed river pulses. During epidemics and forced labor drives, kin networks rehomed dependents; mutual-aid societies, mission parishes, and later unions buffered shocks. Conservation began as colonial game reserves and national parks (e.g., Odzala 1930s) and post-colonial protected areas; fisheries and forest regulations emerged unevenly under pressure from urban markets.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict & Polity Dynamics)

The Atlantic slave trade collapsed, but concessionary regimes (rubber, ivory) in the Congo Free State (1885–1908)produced catastrophic violence—amputation terror and demographic collapse—before annexation as the Belgian Congo. France consolidated French Equatorial Africa; Germany took Kamerun (later partitioned to France/Britain after World War I); Spain held Equatorial Guinea; Portugal deepened rule in Angola and on São Tomé and Príncipe. After 1945, anticolonial nationalism surged: strikes, student leagues, churches, and cultural clubs nurtured parties and fronts.
Key turning points:

• Congo–Léopoldville independence (1960): crisis—Patrice Lumumba, Katanga secession (1960–1963), UN intervention, and the 1965 coup by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; the country was renamed Zaire in 1971.

• Congo–Brazzaville, Gabon, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon: 1960 independence, followed by one-party consolidations and, in places, insurgencies (UPC in Cameroon; conflict in Chad from 1965).

• Equatorial Guinea: independence (1968), authoritarian turn under Francisco Macías Nguema.

• Angola: anticolonial war from 1961 (MPLA, FNLA, UNITA), still under Portuguese rule within our span.

• São Tomé and Príncipe: plantations persisted under Portugal; independence would follow after 1971.

Transition

By 1971 CE, Middle Africa had traversed coerced extraction, partition, and a turbulent decolonization. New states—Cameroon (federation of 1961), Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Zaire—stood astride river and rail grids built for export, now reimagined for nation-building. Angola fought a widening independence war; São Tomé and Príncipe remained under plantation rule; Gabon entered an oil economy; Kinshasa’s rumba and Brazzaville’s dance bands broadcast urban modernities from riverbanks to continents. Beneath the rush of copper and oil, timber and cocoa, household multicropping, river fisheries, and kin solidarities still sustained everyday life—resilient repertoires forged across forests and floodplains, now tasked with the work of sovereignty.

A set of epic struggles to create a single unified state dominates the southern part of the African continent in the nineteenth century.

British expansion into southern Africa is fueled by three prime factors: first, the desire to control the trade routes to India that pass around the Cape; second, the discovery in 1868 of huge mineral deposits of diamonds around Kimberley on the joint borders of the South African Republic (called the Transvaal by the British), Orange Free State and the Cape Colony, and thereafter in 1886 in the Transvaal of a major gold find, all of which offer enormous wealth and power; and thirdly the race against other European colonial powers, as part of a general colonial expansion in Africa.

Other potential colonizers include Portugal, who already control West Africa (modern day Angola) and East Africa (modern day Mozambique), Germany (modern day Namibia), and further north, Belgium (modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo) and France (West and Equatorial Africa, and Madagascar).

Middle Africa (1876–1887 CE): Portuguese Claims, European Partition, and Intensified Slave Trade

Between 1876 and 1887 CE, Middle Africa—covering modern Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Angola (including its Cabinda enclave)—experiences intensified European colonial ambitions, extensive disruptions from slave-trading activities, and the early stages of partitioning by European powers.

Portuguese Claims and the Berlin Conference

In 1883, aware of competing French and Belgian activities along the lower Congo River, Portugal occupies Cabinda and Massabi, asserting longstanding territorial claims north of the Congo River and annexing areas of the former Kongo Kingdom. Portugal seeks international recognition by negotiating a treaty with Britain in 1884, but this agreement is rejected by other European powers, especially France and Belgium.

Portugal's appeals for an international conference initially find little support. However, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck seizes upon this idea, aiming to diminish French and British colonial dominance. Consequently, the pivotal Berlin Conference (1884–1885) convenes, profoundly impacting Central African geopolitics. At the conference, Belgium’s King Leopold II gains recognition for his privately controlled International Association of the Congo, subsequently establishing the Congo Free State. This territory, officially neutral and open to free trade, is in reality subjected to Leopold’s brutal exploitation in the following decades.

German Establishment in Kamerun

Germany formalizes its presence in Central Africa during this era. In 1884, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, influenced by merchant Adolph Woermann, dispatches the gunboat SMS Möwe to protect German trading interests at Douala, laying foundations for the colony of Kamerun. Prominent German firms—including Woermann and Jantzen & Thormählen—establish expansive trading networks and plantations, notably cultivating bananas and other export crops. The administration supports commercial interests by suppressing local uprisings, as Germany aspires to link Kamerun to its East African territories through the Congo region.

French Expansion in Gabon and the Congo

French explorers, notably Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, significantly expand French influence during this period. Brazza, guided by Gabonese bearers, explores the upper reaches of the Congo River, securing treaties and establishing strategic posts. In 1880, Brazza negotiates a treaty with King Makoko of the Bateke, formally establishing the French Congo colony in 1882, with Franceville founded as an important regional center. By 1885, France officially occupies Gabon, though full administrative control will be delayed until the early twentieth century.

Devastating Slave Trade in the Central African Interior

The late nineteenth century witnesses intensified slave-raiding activities in the present-day Central African Republic and surrounding regions. Slave traders from the Sahara, the Nile Basin, and Arab-led expeditions disrupt local societies severely. The Bobangi people, controlling slave trade along the upper Congo and Ubangi rivers, dominate commerce, selling captives primarily to the Americas. The widespread use of the Bangi language emerges to facilitate interethnic commerce throughout the Congo Basin.

Slave raiders from the Sudanese states of Wadai and Darfur, along with Khartoum-based armies under leaders like Rabih al-Zubayr, decimate populations such as the Banda people. Raids, warfare, and forced migrations profoundly disrupt indigenous societies, with extensive population losses caused directly by slavery and related conflicts.

Azande Expansion and Fragmentation

The Azande people, emerging from the merging of the Bandia and Vungara peoples, continue their territorial expansion across the southeastern savannas of present-day Central African Republic and neighboring regions. Succession struggles among Azande rulers drive defeated contenders to establish new kingdoms, facilitating their spread northward and eastward. By the late nineteenth century, Azande territories become fragmented by slave raids from the north, and soon thereafter, colonial boundaries established by Belgium, France, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan permanently divide Azande society.

Luba Instability and Chokwe Expansion

By the late nineteenth century, the Luba Kingdom experiences severe internal instability due to continual dynastic conflicts. The absence of stable succession mechanisms weakens the Luba monarchy significantly, facilitating invasions by the aggressive and militarily superior Chokwe people. Armed with firearms and driven by the lucrative trade in slaves, ivory, wax, and later rubber, Chokwe warriors conquer and occupy extensive Luba territories, spreading turmoil across the central savannas.

The Chokwe quickly absorb conquered populations, integrating them into their existing social structure, thereby rapidly expanding their influence. However, by the end of the century, the Chokwe will be pushed back by resilient Lunda forces.

Multicultural Development in Fernando Pó

On Spanish-controlled Fernando Pó (now Bioko), significant administrative and social changes take place. Following recommendations to move settlements to higher elevations to reduce tropical disease exposure, by 1884 major plantations and administrative functions have relocated to Basile, several hundred meters above sea level. This move greatly improves survival rates for Europeans and other settlers. The island continues to host a vibrant, multicultural community of Creoles, Africans, and exiled Europeans, enhancing its distinctive cultural landscape.

Lasting Consequences of the Era

Between 1876 and 1887, the foundations of European colonial empires in Central Africa are decisively laid, accompanied by severe disruptions from intensified slave raiding and interethnic warfare. European competition and the outcomes of the Berlin Conference reshape the geopolitical landscape profoundly, setting the stage for the colonial era that will dominate the region well into the twentieth century.

Leopold II soon proceeds to transform the Congo Free State into an effective instrument of colonial hegemony in order to meet the conference's legal requirement of "effective occupation."

Indigenous conscripts are promptly recruited into his nascent army, the Force Publique, manned by European officers.

A corps of European administrators is hastily assembled, which by 1906 will number fifteen hundred people; and a skeletal transportation grid will eventually be assembled to provide the necessary links between the coast and the interior.

The cost of the enterprise will prove far higher than had been anticipated, however, as the penetration of the vast hinterland cannot be achieved except at the price of numerous military campaigns.

Some of these campaigns will result in the suppression or expulsion of the previously powerful Afro-Arab slave traders and ivory merchants.

Only through the ruthless and massive suppression of opposition and exploitation of African labor can Leopold II hold and exploit his personal fiefdom.

Recruiting Stanley to help him from 1878, Belgium's King Leopold II founds the International Association of the Congo, financed by an international consortium of bankers.

Under the auspices of this association, Stanley arrives at the mouth of the Congo in 1879 and begins the journey upriver.

He founds Vivi, the first capital, across the river from present-day Matadi, then moves farther upriver, reaching a widening he named Stanley Pool (now Pool de Malebo) in mid-1881.

There he founds a trading station and the settlement of Lèopoldville (now Kinshasa) on the south bank.

The north bank of the river has been claimed by France, leading ultimately to the creation of the colony of French Congo.

The road from the coast to Vivi is completed by the end of 1881, and Stanley returns to Europe.

He is back in Africa by December 1882 and sails up the Congo to Stanleyville (now Kisangani), signing more than four hundred and fifty treaties on behalf of Leopold II with persons described as local chieftains who have agreed to cede their rights of sovereignty over much of the Congo Basin.

In 1884 Stanley returns to Europe.

Leopold II's International Association of the Congo, which has already adopted its own flag, gains the separate recognition as an independent entity by thirteen powers, following the example set by the United States, at the Conference of Berlin, held in 1884-85 to settle disputes among the European nations and in essence to partition Africa among them.

Shortly afterward the association becomes the Congo Free State.

By the General Act of Berlin, signed at the conclusion of the conference in 1885, the powers also agree that activities in the Congo Basin should be governed by certain principles, including freedom of trade and navigation, neutrality in the event of war, suppression of the slave traffic, and improvement of the condition of the indigenous population.

The conference recognizes Leopold II as sovereign of the new state.

Portugal and the Berlin Conference (1884–1885): The Scramble for Africa

Despite Portugal’s historical claim to the Congo region, the colonial ambitions of the great European powers—Britain, France, and Germany—led to increasing disputes over African territories. In response, Portugal proposed an international conference to resolve its contested claim.

The resulting Berlin Conference (1884–1885), convened by Germany’s Otto von Bismarck, reshaped the future of African colonization. Instead of recognizing historical rights, the conference established the principle that a claim to African territory was only valid if the colonial power could demonstrate "effective occupation." As a result, the Congo was awarded to King Leopold II of Belgium, dashing Portugal’s hopes of securing the region.

The Partition of Africa and Portugal’s Colonial Holdings

While Portugal lost its claim to the Congo, the Berlin Conference formally recognized its control over:

• Mozambique (East Africa)
• Angola (West Africa)
• Portuguese Guinea (modern-day Guinea-Bissau, West Africa)

Although Portugal retained a modest colonial empire, its holdings were now subject to the new European standard of effective control, forcing the Portuguese government to strengthen its administrative and military presence in these territories to maintain sovereignty. The Berlin Conference thus marked a turning point in European imperialism, accelerating the partition of Africa and intensifying the competition among colonial powers in the late 19th century.

The 1886 Treaties and the "Rose-Colored Map": Portugal’s Imperial Ambitions in Africa

In 1886, Portugal signed two treaties with France and Germany, formally delimiting colonial boundaries and securing international recognition of Portuguese sovereignty over vast interior territories between Mozambique and Angola. These agreements reinforced Portugal’s claim to a continuous east-west corridor across Africa, a vision that would become central to Portuguese imperial ambitions.

The "Rose-Colored Map" and Portuguese Expansion Efforts

• The Portuguese claim to this territory between Mozambique and Angola was visually represented in a map annexed to the treaty with France, where the claimed lands were colored red—a depiction that would later be known as the "rose-colored map" (Mapa Cor-de-Rosa).
• To substantiate this claim, Portugal organized successive expeditions into the interior, attempting to establish effective occupation in line with the principles set by the Berlin Conference (1884–1885).

British Rivalry and the Cape-to-Cairo Railway

While Portugal sought to consolidate its territorial ambitions, Britain had its own imperial objectives in the region. Under the leadership of Cecil Rhodes, the British were simultaneously exploring the interior from south to north, aiming to establish a British-controlled corridor from Cape Town to Cairo, linked by a transcontinental railway.

This conflict of interests between Portugal and Britain would soon escalate, leading to a diplomatic crisis that would culminate in the 1890 British Ultimatum, forcing Portugal to abandon its territorial aspirations in favor of British expansionism.

Atlantic West Europe (1876–1887): Republican Stabilization, Imperial Ambitions, and Industrial Prosperity

From 1876 to 1887, Atlantic West Europe—encompassing northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and regions facing the Atlantic and English Channel coasts—experienced political stabilization, deepening industrialization, expansive colonial ambitions, and critical social and cultural transformations. The period notably saw the solidification of the French Third Republic, Belgium's rapid colonial expansion in Africa, the continued rise of labor and socialist movements, and a flourishing of artistic and intellectual innovation.

Political and Military Developments

Consolidation of the French Third Republic

• The French Third Republic stabilized politically during this period, notably under presidents Jules Grévy (1879–1887) and prime ministers such as Jules Ferry, who enacted crucial educational and civic reforms.

• The republic firmly established secular governance through landmark education laws (1881–1882), mandating free, compulsory, and secular education, significantly curtailing the Catholic Church's influence on public life.

Belgian Colonial Expansion under Leopold II

• King Leopold II of Belgium pursued aggressive colonial expansion in Central Africa, notably establishing the Congo Free State (1885) as his personal colony following the Berlin Conference (1884–1885).

• This imperial ambition greatly impacted Belgium's economy and national prestige, but it also began to draw international scrutiny due to exploitation and severe humanitarian abuses in the Congo.

Stable Constitutional Governance in the Netherlands and Luxembourg

• Under King William III (1849–1890), the Netherlands continued stable parliamentary governance. The Liberal and Conservative parties alternated power, implementing social reforms and further developing democratic institutions.

• Luxembourg enjoyed political stability and economic prosperity, strengthened by continued neutrality and advantageous positioning between Germany, France, and Belgium.

Economic Developments: Industrial Prosperity and Global Trade

Expansion of Industrial Capacity and Trade Networks

• Industrial production surged throughout the region. Northern France's textile mills, coal mines, and steel factories flourished, with cities like Lille, Roubaix, and Dunkirk benefiting from expanding railway networks and global trade connections.

• Belgium's industrial regions (especially Wallonia) expanded coal and steel production, reinforcing its economic stature in Europe.

Maritime and Commercial Growth in the Netherlands

• Dutch ports, particularly Rotterdam and Amsterdam, experienced sustained commercial growth, becoming central hubs for global trade. Rotterdam, in particular, significantly expanded its port facilities, laying foundations for its 20th-century prominence.

• Agriculture continued as an economic backbone, with improved technology and land reclamation efforts significantly increasing Dutch productivity.

Increased Colonial Trade and Exploitation

• Colonial markets expanded considerably, particularly Belgium’s exploitation of Congolese resources (rubber, ivory), enriching the nation at substantial human cost.

• France, with existing colonial holdings in Africa and Asia, intensified economic exploitation of colonies, notably in Algeria, Indochina, and West Africa, fueling economic growth and industrial investment back home.

Social Developments: Labor Activism and Class Tensions

Growing Labor and Socialist Movements

• Socialist and labor movements gained momentum, reflecting persistent industrial unrest and demands for improved working conditions, higher wages, and broader political rights. France’s workers increasingly rallied around socialist figures such as Jules Guesde and organizations like the Parti Ouvrier Français (POF), founded in 1882.

• Belgium’s industrial regions (Liège, Charleroi) similarly witnessed significant labor organization, strikes, and socialist advocacy, pressing for broader social reforms.

Improved Social Legislation and Worker Rights

• Social legislation began to improve labor conditions modestly, influenced by socialist pressures. Belgium and the Netherlands introduced early social insurance schemes, shorter working hours, and improved workplace safety laws.

Cultural and Intellectual Developments

Impressionism and Artistic Innovation

• The Impressionist movement matured in France, profoundly influencing European art. Painters such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro transformed artistic expression by capturing contemporary life, urban landscapes, and transient moments.

• This movement significantly influenced subsequent generations, laying the groundwork for Post-Impressionism and early Modernist art movements.

Literary Realism and Naturalism

• French literature continued its exploration of realism and naturalism, notably through works by Émile Zola, whose novel Germinal (1885) vividly portrayed working-class struggles in northern France’s coalfields.

• Such literature deeply influenced European thought, highlighting the harsh realities of industrialization and class disparities.

Scientific and Technological Advances

• Major advances occurred in technology, chemistry, and engineering, especially in the chemical industries of Belgium and the Netherlands. Innovations in chemical production, metallurgy, and manufacturing processes enhanced industrial efficiency and economic growth.

• Technological advancements in transportation—expanding railway networks, improved steamships—further integrated the region economically and socially.

Religious and Educational Developments

Secularization and Church-State Conflict

• Continued secularization, particularly in France, intensified tensions between the state and the Catholic Church. The 1880s educational reforms significantly reduced religious influence in public education, fostering stronger secular civic identities.

Education Expansion and Intellectual Growth

• Education expanded significantly across Atlantic West Europe, driven by state-funded secular schooling in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Increased literacy and education profoundly impacted social mobility and intellectual life, stimulating greater cultural vibrancy and democratic engagement.

Urbanization and Social Dynamics

Accelerated Urban Growth

• Major cities such as Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Lille, and Roubaix experienced substantial urban expansion, driven by industrialization and immigration from rural areas.

• Improved infrastructure—transportation, sanitation, housing—supported this urban growth, reflecting significant investments aimed at managing increasing populations.

Persistent Social Inequality and Class Struggles

• Economic growth disproportionately benefited industrial and merchant elites, exacerbating social disparities. Urban working classes faced harsh living conditions, spurring continued social unrest, labor activism, and demands for greater social justice and political representation.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

The period 1876–1887 represented a critical juncture in Atlantic West Europe's modern development:

• Politically, France’s Third Republic solidified its institutions, Belgium embarked on imperial expansion, and the Netherlands and Luxembourg maintained stable parliamentary governance.

• Economically, rapid industrial expansion, global trade integration, and colonial exploitation secured long-term prosperity, albeit with deepening social inequalities.

• Socially, the rise of labor movements, socialism, and early welfare reforms began reshaping class relations and democratic institutions.

• Culturally, artistic movements like Impressionism and literary naturalism profoundly shaped European cultural identity, fostering innovative artistic and intellectual traditions.

By 1887, Atlantic West Europe stood firmly integrated into global economic networks, politically stable but socially divided, culturally influential yet confronting complex internal tensions, laying essential foundations for the intense modernization and dramatic upheavals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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.