November 15 holds profound historical significance. On that day in 1884, European imperialists gathered in Berlin to start dividing up Africa between them. What impact has one of history's biggest land grabs had on the African continent?
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00:00It was on November 15, 1884, that representatives from various empires in Europe, Scandinavia, and the United States assembled in Berlin to decide the fate of the African continent.
00:12The Berlin Conference was also referred to as the Congo Conference because much of the negotiations revolved around control of the vast Congo region.
00:21Otto von Bismarck of Germany and King Leopold II of Belgium were key figures at the gathering where not a single African leader was present.
00:30The European imperialists were hungry for resources.
00:34They already had some control of African coastlines, but Africa then was still largely under African rulers.
00:41The Berlin Conference led to a formal agreement in early 1885.
00:46It created the principle of effective occupation, meaning that any European military that could control territory militarily would claim it.
00:56That was a trigger for the infamous and violent Scramble for Africa.
01:01Massive colonial expansion followed, and the carving up of Africa involved subjective boundaries that split indigenous ethnic groups and unified historical rivals.
01:12The reorganization of diverse African societies by imperialists led to ethnic divisions that persist today.
01:20Colonial borders became the national boundaries of independent African states decades later, and many current conflicts date back to these artificial divisions.
01:29The legacy of the Berlin Conference is external control and influence over African countries and their resources.
01:37It is still much talked about 140 years on, with an intense push by Africans for everyone involved in the Scramble for Africa to confront the damage.
01:46Conversations about reparation and restitution often cycle back to the Berlin Conference.