Definition
The Berlin Conference was a meeting of European powers held in Berlin from late 1884 to early 1885 to settle how they would divide Africa among themselves. Convened by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, it brought together representatives of more than a dozen European states — and not a single African.
The conference did not, by itself, hand out colonies. Instead it set the ground rules for the partition: principles for recognising claims, conditions for occupying territory, and arrangements meant to keep the competition from sparking war between the European powers.
Why it matters
How it works
The conference solved a problem the European powers had created for themselves: the danger that competition for African territory would drag them into war with one another. By agreeing rules — for example, that a power had to demonstrate effective occupation of a coast to claim the interior behind it — they reduced the risk of conflict among empires. What the rules ignored entirely was the will of the people who actually lived in the territories being divided. The result was a continent partitioned by negotiation in Europe and conquered by force in Africa.