Prelude to the Conference

    Before the Berlin Conference, European diplomacy treated African indigenous people in the same manner as the New World natives, forming trading relationships with the indigenous chiefs. In the early 1800s the search for ivory, which was then often used in the production of luxury goods led many white traders further into the interior of Africa. With the exception of trading posts along the coasts, the continent was essentially ignored during this period. For almost a century, most of Europe had entered into the Industrial Age, with machinery increasingly replacing human and animal labor. The desire for more raw materials to feed their factories, as well as new markets to sell their goods, became an ever-expanding endeavor. With the Western Hemisphere largely independent, and most of Asia already divided between established empires, and European colonies and spheres of influence, Africa presented a new and promising frontier. What followed has been referred to as the "Scramble for Africa". Starting in the 1870s, the Age of Imperialism (also known as the New Imperialism) - essentially "Colonialism 2.0" - had begun through intense competition between European rivals.

    In 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium, hired experts for the purpose of researching how to 'civilize' the African continent. By 1878, on the surface, Leopold supported philanthropic actions in the Congo region, however, his true goals lied in imperialism, the extension of a country's rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. French intelligence had discovered Leopold's plans, and France quickly engaged in its own colonial exploration. In 1881, they raised the French flag over a newly founded Brazzaville in the western Congo basin. Portugal, which already had a long, but essentially abandoned colonial Empire in the area through the mostly defunct proxy state Kongo Kingdom, also claimed the area. Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas, in 1884 - with the United Kingdom as an ally - Portugal sought exclusive rights to the territory.