Late in 1884, several major European powers held a conference to discuss the future of Africa, “the dark continent.” Most of the interior of Africa had not been seen by European explorers yet. Nonetheless, these Western nations, including France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Great Britain and the United States (fourteen nations total), sat down with their host, Chancellor Otto Von Bismark of Germany, to carve Africa into spheres of European influence in response to the “scramble for Africa.” Concerned with European trade and industry interests and attempting to keep good relations between European powers, the Berlin Conference essentially gave parts of Africa to parts of Europe. This decision, which unfortunately did not incorporate Africans in the process, has had far reaching effects on Africa.
Before the Conference, Europe’s involvement within Africa was limited to coastal regions where they established some settlements. Great Britain, Portugal and France had the largest involvement in Africa. Europe was becoming industrialized, with Great Britain possibly being the very first industrialized nation. Thus Europe was in need of resources such as cotton, rubber and tea which were not available domestically and came from Asia or the Americas. Africa, although its resources were barely known to Europe as of yet, seemed to offer an alternate supply.
There were other interests Europe had in Africa as well. Many people in Europe believed that Africans were uncivilized, unintelligent and un-Christian in their ways. Somewhere along the line, the idea was propagated as an obligation. Europeans, including explorers, scientists and missionaries, believed that it was their Christian duty to “civilize” the continent of Africa. This idea is called the “white man’s burden.”
Europeans had begun exploring Africa before the Conference, and some nations had claimed spheres of influence over certain regions. Colonization was not officially initiated, however, until the Conference.
Colonialism was part of the transition from exploitation in Africa based on an agricultural Western economy to exploitation based on an industrial one. When the Berlin Conference took place, Spain was not sufficiently industrialized and, therefore, could not compete in the changing economy. Hence, more industrious nations took the forefront. Germany, Portugal, France and Great Britain were competing for resources and cheap labor to support their ongoing industrialization. The race between these four powers resulted in the Berlin Conference.
During the Conference, certain terms were agreed upon before the division of Africa. These terms were designed to prevent tension between the powers involved in the Conference. The first term was that the colonizing nation must prove that they can effectively control an area. Free European trade and access to the Congo and Niger River basins was agreed upon next. Any nation involved was also required to campaign against the slave trade in their territory and allow Christians of all sects the ability to establish missionaries in the territories.
The Berlin Conference did manage to prevent wars amongst European nations. However, the Conference was designed to benefit Europe in disregard of the African people. The traditional rule of nations changed under European control, as did education and religion. Colonial rule in Africa forced Western culture, priorities, economics, religion, politics and world views on to the indigenous people. African people were segregated, discriminated against and exploited economically. European colonies in Africa were small dictatorships who were at the mercy of their imperialist, oppressive rulers.
The colonial division of Africa did not end with the Conference in 1885. In 1914, Egypt was the last to be annexed when it was taken over by Great Britain. Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained outside of colonial rule. In 1936, however, Ethiopia was finally dominated by Italy who had attempted to establish colonial rule several times before. Liberia eventually became a victim of American economic imperialism but remained outside of official colonial rule.
Until after World War I, Rwanda was under the control of colonial Germany. Before German rule, Hutu and Tutsi people lived amongst one another, intermarrying, speaking the same language, practicing the same religion, using the same land and tracing their ancestors to a common people. Colonialism played a large part in changing this way of life and Rwanda is merely one example of how the Berlin Conference and colonialism still effect Africa today.
According to a European myth, Hutu were decendents of Bantu people and are “black Africans” while the Tutsi were decendents of a variety of Nilotic peoples. In the mind of German explorers Tutsi people appeared taller, lighter and more aristocratic which made them more suitable candidates for “civilization” than the Hutu. Also, Tutsi were mainly herders as opposed to the Hutu who were agriculturalists. Cattle was a valuable asset in the eyes of Europe and seemed to denote wealth which reinforced their ideas about the Tutsi.
After World War I, Germany was forced to resign its colonial territories and Belgium took control of Rwanda. The country was severly polarized by this time due to the unfair priveledge allotted the Tutsi under colonial rule. Tutsi received leadership positions and became the security and beurocratic wings of the colonial government while the Hutu were treated like slaves.
One of the first actions Belgium took after acquiring Rwanda was send armies of missionaries into the area. With the missionaries came scientists who weighed brains and measured noses to further propagate racial myths. The analysis done by the Belgian scientists insisted that the Hutu were coarse and bestial while the Tutsi were nobler by nature. The Catholic Church backed Belgium in reconstructing Rwanda along racial lines. By the 1930s a Belgian census produced identity cards for the people of Rwanda. In turn, the Catholic Church established schools that exclusively taught Tutsis and indoctrinated the students with the notion of racial superiority.
When the idea of Rwandan independence arose, the Belgians switched sides, however. Suddenly there were masses of Belgian priest preaching Hutu “empowerment” and “equality” in preparation for independence. Empowerment and equality basically translated to power and retribution and the European divide and conquer tactics worked again.
Strategies and practices like what happened in Rwanda were common practice under colonial rule in Africa. In the case of Rwanda, the divide created by Europeans between the Tutsi and Hutu eventually resulted in Tutsis being massacred by Hutu in the early 1990s.
It is clear that this was a result of the open wounds left from the division placed between the integrated Tutsi and Hutu societies by Rwanda’s colonial rulers, explorers, and scientists born of the Berlin Conference. The Tutsi/Hutu society of pre-colonial Rwanda had been ripped apart and the thus created factions then set against one another. Had the Berlin Conference not occurred, had Germany never ruled, had the explorers never set foot in Rwanda, if there was no state called Rwanda, what type of relationship could the Tutsi and Hutu have with each other today? Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what could have happened had the state of Rwanda not been carved out during the Berlin Conference of 1884.
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