May 18th Field
Question
Today we visited the site of the November 15th,
1884 Berlin Conference on Wilhelmstraße. The
Berlin conference was a gathering of European powers to discuss the boundaries
of Africa and determine ways to divide the continent (Michalopoulos and Papaionnou,
2011, p.3). African voices were not considered in the conference; basically the
goal was to avoid conflict between Europeans powers (Michalopoulos and
Papaionnou, 2011, p.3).
The sign on the site recognizes the event as one that
degraded African people of their rights and destroyed foreign cultures. It has
been argued that this is not simply due to the colonization of Africa, but the
way in which the European powers split up the continent (Michalopoulos and
Papaionnou, 2011). At the Berlin Conference they neglected to consider relevant
ethnic composition (Michalopoulos and Papaionnou, 2011, p.3). The vast
occurrence of civil conflict in Africa is well known to all of us and
Michalopoulos and Papaionnou (2011) have shown in Africa that ethnicities, which have been partitioned have experienced more and more destructive
civil war incidents compared to tribes that have not been directly affected by
the improper border design (p.25).
Source:
Michalopoulos, S., Papaioannou. E. (2011) The Long-run Effects of the Scramble for Africa. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Source:
Michalopoulos, S., Papaioannou. E. (2011) The Long-run Effects of the Scramble for Africa. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
5 comments:
I find it absolutely astonishing that African representatives were not present at this conference. Do you know what the reasoning was for this? Obviously the goal was to avoid conflict between European powers but how would African representatives have affected this goal had they been present at the conference?
This is not my area of expertise by any means, but to my understanding the original people in places that were colonized by Europeans typically didn't get much of a say in what happened. Think about Canada's history. I would have been more surprised if they were included.
One of the main reasons that the scramble for Africa was so influential was because of the resources many African countries have. For example coco beans. When conquering these countries the exploitation of resources became a larger priority than compromising borders with the people living in Africa.
From what I have read/heard Taya is correct. The point was never to include the local population because they were inferior and in fact were often thought of as a resource themselves. What I find more interesting is that once decolonization took place they didn't adjust any of the borders. I realize there was likely a lot going on at the time but if there had been patterns of violence like this it might have been helpful in the long run.
True Jennifer. Unfortunately redrawing borders is not an easy task.
Post a Comment