Which 1884 international conference established the rules for European claims in Africa?

The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 established rules that European powers used when making and recognising territorial claims in Africa. It was convened by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Berlin and ran from November 1884 to February 1885.

Fourteen states attended, including European powers, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire. No African representatives were invited, even though the conference dealt extensively with African territories and political claims.

The General Act of the conference addressed trade and navigation in the Congo Basin, freedom of commerce in parts of Africa, and the principle of effective occupation. Under that principle, a European power claiming territory needed to demonstrate actual authority there rather than relying only on a paper declaration.

The conference did not literally divide every part of Africa at one table, and it did not by itself create all later colonial borders. However, it accelerated the Scramble for Africa by providing diplomatic procedures and recognition mechanisms for European expansion. Its consequences included borders and political structures that continued to affect African states after independence.