The Conference That Divided Africa
Discover how 14 European powers divided an entire continent in 3 months — without a single African in the room. From November 15, 1884, to February 26, 1885, Bismarck hosted the Berlin Conference, where 14 nations drew Africa's borders using rulers and racial assumptions. In 1884, Europeans controlled 10% of Africa. By 1914, they controlled 90%. The straight-line borders they drew — ignoring ethnic groups, languages, and geography — created the fault lines for Rwanda's genocide, Nigeria's civil war, and Congo's endless conflicts. King Leopold II's Congo Free State, a personal fiefdom, killed an estimated 10 million people. Three months of meetings. A century of tragedy.