The Scramble for Africa document summarizes the major events of European colonization and imperialism in Africa between the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Berlin Conference divided the continent among European powers without African input. Belgium's King Leopold oversaw one of the bloodiest massacres in Congo's history. The Boer War changed South Africa as the Zulu Kingdom was diminished. Europeans arbitrarily divided African ethnic groups, separating families and causing conflict. The legacy of exploitation and artificial borders has led to ongoing issues like civil wars, disease, and the Rwandan genocide. International aid now also enables continued resource exploitation.

1. The Scramble for Africa
By: Nicolas Catelli, Rodrigo Garza and Armando Mar

2. Imperialism
● Imperialism refers to the latin word Imperium, which means
to rule over territories. Its function is to extend the power of a
country by military force or colonization.

3. The Berlin Conference
● The Berlin Conference set the ground for the
Scramble for Africa, effectively splitting the continent
between the major european powers of Great
Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and
Portugal.
● This event directly sparked segregation and caused
severe separation between ethnic and religious
groups. African concerns were not taken into
consideration and therefore negated Africans the

4. Massacre at Congo
● King Leopold the Second of Belgium was responsible for
what is considered one of the bloodiest massacres in history.
Approximately 10 million congolese were killed by Belgian
troops, which were after the riches of Congo.
● Leopold’s Policy of violent enforcement for brutal work
remains in modern day Congo, where militias rape, kill and
pillage as they like.

5. South Africa and the Boer War
● The Boer War was one of the major conflicts in
the struggle for Africa and therefore changed the
entire development of Southern Africa.
● The territory in which the modern country of
South Africa now stands was once the Zulu
Kingdom, a native union of tribes. After a Dutch
and British invasion, the kingdom’s populace was
greatly diminished and its resources taken to
Europe.

6. Cultural Split
● Africa was divided without any prior knowledge of ethnic,
religious or cultural clustering. Africans were not notified, and
in some cases, villages were divided and fell into different
zones of influence. This led to families being separated,
innocents killed in border skirmishes and others.
● To better ascertain their control over the local people, many
Europeans divided the population to better control them. This
further divided the African people.

7. Lasting Effects
● Africa is modernly an underdeveloped continent, civil wars
are fought daily throughout many countries (Congo, Nigeria,
Libya), disease spreads without control (Ebola, AIDS). This is
mainly because of the take it and leave it mentality that the
europeans had in regards to Africa.

8. The Rwandan Genocide
● In 1994, the Rwandan population was divided into 3 groups:
Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Tutsi were placed on the
government by Europeans, even though they were a minority.
When the Europeans left, Hutus rose to power.
● Extremists within the Hutu Government blamed the Tutsis
for the country’s problems. Tutsis were murdered in their
homes and while attempting to flee. About a million people
died.

9. Modern Africa
● One of the main problems of africa
nowadays is the international aid. It might
seem as a good thing, but it’s just an alibi.
This is an alibi for the countries to exploit
them, take all their resources. Also what
they do is make them lose the basic
interest in their country, not only that they
cause them to behave irrationally to their
own populations.

10. Bibliography
● http://www.siliconafrica.com/africa-top-10-problems-not-the-
ones-you-were-thinking-about/
● Hotel Rwanda, Movie
● History Class Lectures
● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism