scramble for Africa
Continental land grab
The scramble for Africa was the rapid colonization of the African continent by European powers in the late nineteenth century.
Between roughly 1881 and 1914, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain carved up nearly the entire continent, drawing borders with little regard for existing peoples or kingdoms.
The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 formalized the process.
The phrase now describes any rushed competition to claim territory or resources: a scramble for market share, the scramble for Arctic drilling rights.
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- partitionBarrier separating spaces
- carve upDivide by cutting
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- white man's burdenImperialist ideology disguising exploitation
territories · exploitation · raw materials · natural resources · missionaries · ivory · rubber · Congo · trade routes · diamonds · gold · King Leopold · Leopold · borders · treaties · conquest · colonial powers · British Empire
- PortugalLisbon, Porto, Algarve, Oporto, Madeira
- African historyNubia, Dahomey, Oyo Empire, Berlin Conference, colonial era
- colonialismcolony, colonization, colonial rule, colonial powers, colonizer
- Kenya historyindependence struggle, British colonialism, colonial rule, 1963, December 12
- explorationexploration, explore, expedition, expeditions, voyage
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
scramble, scrambled, scrambling, scrambler, scramblers, Africa, African, Africans, Africanization