The Berlin Conference on Africa began in 1884.
The conference opened in Berlin on 15 November 1884 and continued until 26 February 1885. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck hosted the meeting, which brought together European powers, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire. Its stated concerns included trade, navigation, and rules for European claims in Africa.
The conference established principles such as “effective occupation,” requiring powers to demonstrate control over territories they claimed. It also recognised the Congo Free State as the personal possession of Belgium’s King Leopold II. The meeting did not draw every later colonial boundary in detail, but it helped accelerate and regulate the European partition of Africa.
The conference had no African representatives deciding the settlement, and its consequences included coercive colonial rule, economic exploitation, and long-lasting political borders. The phrase “Scramble for Africa” refers to the broader period of imperial expansion, not merely the conference itself. That distinction matters because colonisation began before 1884 and continued afterward.