BERLIN CONFERENCE ROLE-PLAY



Berlin Conference Role-play

Great Britain

You are leading imperialist powers in Europe mainly due to your superiority of the seas. You have a history of colonization. You also have control of India and Australia. The route to India is very important and is to be protected at all costs. The government also controls Heligoland, a tiny island off the German coast and uses it as a naval base.

Portugal is of concern since it has displayed an interest in the southern region of Africa. However, you are quite aware that Portugal is not a strong European power any longer. Maintaining control of the “country” of South Africa is a vital concern for you, no matter what country is involved.

The next major involvement into Africa for Britain dealt with Egypt. The Suez Canal was completed in 1869 which greatly intensified Europe’s interest in Egyptian financial and political stability for commerce reasons. The leader of Egypt, Ismail, bankrupted the country so European creditors took control. This was to be a joint British-French venture. There was a revolt in 1881 to throw the Europeans out. France was unable to respond because of their loss in the Franco-Prussian War. Great Britain invaded and occupied Egypt on the pretext of “restoring order” and assured the other European countries it was only temporarily occupying Egypt. As time goes by you become concerned that no other European power acquires control of the Upper Nile region. If another country did, using “modern” engineering methods, it could divert the White Nile bringing desolation to Egypt, thus disaster to Britain. This all seemed to upset the status quo and other countries became jealous and started looking toward the colonization of Africa.

The Congo (Zaire) River area was also a concern for you. In 1884, you and Portugal signed a treaty allowing you navigation rights for your commercial interests. Portugal gained political control of the mouth of the river. Every other nation condemned the treaty and it failed. France and King Leopold now asserted their claims to the river territories. You become very concerned about your commercial interests.

Your colonial policy is that of “indirect rule.” That is government through the existing African government. Your intention is preparing your colonies for independence at a future date, though this future remained remote.

Belgium

The Belgium parliament is not interested in colonial adventurers. They see the disadvantages outweighing the advantages. However, become jealous of France and British colonial moves. Therefore, King Leopold takes it upon himself to become a colonial power. He uses his own money to finance the colonial movement. Once done, he needs to export products to recoup his investments. For a while he was in a quandary as to how to go about it.

Then in 1878, King Leopold met Stanley who wanted to open up the Congo (Zaire) river basin for commercial interests. Stanley was looking to the British for financial support but the British were not interested. King Leopold was able to persuade Stanley to accept his backing.

King Leopold established an International African Association, headed by himself, for “humanitarian” reasons. The stated objective of this organization was to further exploration and advancement of humanitarian concerns in Africa, especially the Congo River area. The target area was the south-central part of Africa where there were no competing claims by the other European powers.

Unbeknownst to King Leopold, France had sent in a man who established a treaty with African leaders. Thus, they were claiming land just north of the river where Stanley was. This led to an increasing rivalry with France. Also, Great Britain and Portugal had signed a treaty also dealing with the Congo River. This treaty gave Portugal political rights to the mouth of the Congo River and Great Britain the navigation and commercial rights the river. You, along with the other European countries, condemn this treaty.

Your colonial policy is directly controlled by King Leopold. He does whatever it takes to realize a profit. His men resort to flogging, mutilation, and killing to get the Africans to do what they want. Belgian control is known to be the most ruthless and bloody of all the European powers. After the king died, the Belgian community seemed to become more paternalistic. They want to better their African subjects-improve the social systems and the economic systems.

Portugal

By the 1800s, you had lost your power in Europe. Your successes on a world-wide basis came early in the 1400-1500s with your explorations. You had established trading posts at various points along both the east and west coasts of Africa. You are aware you lack many necessities of a modern diversified economy. Therefore, you pursue a policy of economic exploitation in Africa. You buy raw materials for a low price for your industries and then sell the manufactured goods for a much higher price.

You are interested in claiming colonies within Africa. But, again you know your ability to do this is tenuous. However, you do claim the area around the Congo (Zaire) River based on the actions of your ancestors within the old “Kongo Kingdom.” This includes the mouth of the river as well as some land inland. Great Britain opposes this move because of commercial interests and the movement of trade items. To solve this conflict, you sign a treaty with Great Britain giving you the political power over the river basin and Great Britain the navigation and commercial rights. Thus, you both are happy and get what you want. But the rest of the countries of Europe cry their indignation.

Your colonial policy is one of assimilation. This policy becomes known as “Overseas Portugal.” You expect all people of your colonies to speak Portuguese. If the African colonies will adopt Portuguese culture they will receive equal rights. The problem though is the lack of money for educating the people in the ways of your culture and language. Your treatment of the Africans is strict and harsh. You make use of forced labor without pay. Your people are very racist and this is evident in their treatment of the Africans. Very little political rights are attained by the Africans because of all this.

France

France comes in 2nd in imperialism behind Great Britain. In 1870-1871, you fought a war with Germany called the Franco-Prussian War and lost. You are a distant 3rd in power in Europe behind Germany and Great Britain respectfully. The government becomes stabilized in 1879 and began to behave aggressively around the globe, particularly Africa. Many blame you for the “scramble of Africa.”

Due to the loss to Germany (Prussia), you lost the region known as Alsace-Lorraine. You also cannot get into a power struggle with anyone, specifically your historical enemy, Great Britain. Germany comes to your aid and ends up siding with you in most disputes with Great Britain. This serves to heighten the tensions in Europe.

With the support of Germany, you turn your attention to Africa. Again, you do not want to come into conflict with Great Britain. Through negotiation with African chiefs, you acquire the land on the north side of the Congo (Zaire) River. This causes conflict with King Leopold of Belgium because he is wanting the same land. The British and Portuguese had signed a treaty giving the Portuguese political power over the river and the British economic power over the river. You, along with the other European powers, denounce this treaty.

Your colonial policy is one of assimilation. You believe in the superiority of the French culture. Your goal is that of creating an “Overseas France.” If the people of the colony accept and adopt French culture they would have all the rights of a Frenchman. In Africa this would happen on a limited basis because of the elitist possibilities of education. This policy was failing by 1896. You did not educate the peoples of the colonies which would lead to understanding of French ways. Therefore, there was no combining of the cultures.

Germany

You are the leading power in Europe. You have just fought a war with France in 1870-1871 and won. This led to a fall in power for France and a tremendous increase in power for Germany (Prussia). You are a land power but not a sea power.

Your leader, Bismarck, is not interested in establishing an overseas empire. He only wants to dominate Europe. However, others within the country, specifically those with commercial and banking interests, as well as religious interests, force Bismarck to change. These other interests made it an issue of national pride and dignity so therefore he can not do otherwise. He proclaims protectorates over the areas where German missionaries were active.

Great Britain is your main threat to power in Europe. You are afraid that Great Britain will gain economic and political power through Africa and thus, attain more power in Europe. Therefore, you side with France whenever it had a confrontation with Great Britain. You use Egypt as a dividing issue between France and Great Britain since Great Britain had essentially out-maneuvered France to gain control of Egypt.

Your interest in France is also self-serving in maintaining your political status in Europe. You want to keep France occupied elsewhere, namely Africa, rather than in Europe. You want to keep the area of Alsace-Lorraine which you had taken as a result of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871.

Your colonial policy is to maintain a highly centralized administration. German administrators in the African colonies are responsible to the chancellor who is responsible to the emperor. You do not include the indigenous Africans. You use African forced labor for public works. Women are often indecently treated or assaulted by German officials without any check.

Your Task:

You are at the Berlin Conference representing your country and are assigned to determine the borders/areas of your country’s interests/control in Africa. You are to assign the areas/borders you think your country should be given. You must consider other countries’ concerns and wants. Make this as realistic and academic as possible. Read your predominate needs from the data provided to you regarding your assigned country. When you are finished, please answer the following questions. After all groups are finished, you will share your map with the class. After all groups have shared their conclusions, you must all come to a compromise. Use the hints and maps below to assist you in your decision. Good luck.

Reflective Questions

1. What challenges did you face and contend with while determining your borders?

2. Why did you choose the areas you did for your country?

3. How would you feel if this was done to America?

4. How do you think the Africans felt?

Helpful Hints

BOUNDARY TIPS: NOT ALL BOUNDARIES ARE CREATED EQUAL

|Good Boundaries |Poor Boundaries |

|- Mountains and coastlines because they already divide people from|- Boundaries that  pass through large concentrations of people. |

|each other. |- Latitude or longitude lines would generally be bad for Africa |

|- Lakes, depending upon the size of the lake and the amount of |(many diverse nations), but it depends upon how many large |

|available fresh water. |population centers they pass through. |

|- Cultural borders such as those formed by racial groups, |-  Rivers are often used, but for convenience,  not for good |

|religious groups, or language groups; because they promote |boundary making.  High population concentrations are usually found|

|nationalism within countries. |along rivers. Water is a valuable resource that will cause |

|- Borders that are relatively rectangular; close to the geometric |disputes (e.g., over access & quality). |

|center of the country (avoid protruded or elongated areas). | |

IMPORTANT FACTS TO CONSIDER

Access to Open Waters:  Landlocked countries have difficulty with trade because shipping is the cheapest way to move bulky commodities.  Trade affects the economy, which affects the wealth of the government, which affects the amount and quality of the services it provides the people. All of this can affect nationalism within a country.

Land Area and Population:  A country needs enough land and people to be economically competitive in the world. If a country has a lot of land, it has a better chance of having a variety of climates, landforms, and minerals.  This will improve its chances of having a mixed economy. Which means having a variety of ways to make money.  If a country depends on a single economic source, its chances of failure increase greatly.  Self-defense is also a factor. If borders are too large, this can become a problem.

New Names for Countries: You must give new countries a name.  New names should reflect something about a country’s history, geography, cultures, or natural resources.  Do not just give the new country a random name or some combination of student names from your group!  Be thoughtful, do some investigating about the areas involved.

Culture:  One of the key difficulties in Africa today is that the borders were placed with little regard to the location of tribes, kingdoms, or ethnic groups.  It will be very difficult to solve this problem because there are so many tribes in Africa. Sometimes European boundaries have split tribal groups by creating national boundaries that divided them.  Sometimes tribes that did not get along or barely knew each other were put together in the same country.  If they at least had something in common like language, religion, race or occupations, they would have a better chance of getting along!

Mineral Wealth:  Every country would like to have mineral wealth.  However, minerals are frequently clumped in certain areas, while other regions have none or almost none.  The uneven distribution of minerals in Africa makes it very difficult to create countries with reasonably equal amounts of minerals.  You should expect some countries to be considerably wealthier than others, no matter how you try to avoid it.  If you do distribute minerals fairly evenly, you might create another problem, because other cultural or physical factors had to be slighted to do so.

The following maps can be found and more at

If you would like to see the maps more closely please go to the website referenced above or you may go to the toolbar and click onto VIEW. Scroll down to Zoom and click. From there, it will give you options on how close you would like to go; mine goes to 200% so I use that when wanting to see something in more detail.

Map of Africa Pre-Colonialism

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Minerals in Africa

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Map of Major Rivers and Lakes

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Map of other economic activities

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Africa prior to 1870

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Population Density in 1800

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Languages

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Your Map for the Berlin Conference

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