Technology, God, Gold & Greed: The Scramble for Africa (#2047)

By the mid 1800s, Europe was feeling its oats. Technological and societal advances made it feel as if it could, and should, conquer the world. The Berlin Conference cemented Britain, Germany, and France as the dominant colonial powers in the region, and, crucially, created protocols for recognizing European claims to new territories. It is one of the few times that these types of disputes have been settled through diplomacy instead of war. Liberia and Ethiopia, however, were basically left out of the scramble. Colonization largely remained in place until several charismatic African leaders and world pressure combined, and then the countries gained their independence.