Africa, the scramble for

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Drive by European nations to establish colonies in Africa. It began in the 1880s, and by 1914 only two African countries remained completely independent. They were Ethiopia, which had been a kingdom for about 2,000 years, and Liberia, established in 1822 as a homeland for freed black slaves. The rest were under the control of seven European powers: Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Britain and France had the most colonies. All these colonies were short-lived, and the majority attained their independence in the 1960s and 1970s.

The scramble for Africa had three main causes. The first was the work of 19th-century explorers, such as the Scottish missionary David Livingstone and the French naval officer Pierre de Brazza, in opening up large areas of Africa that were previously unknown to Europeans. The second was the establishment of King Léopold II of the Belgians to set up a personal colony in the basin of the Congo River in 1885. It was later taken over by the Belgian government and named the Belgian Congo. It is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bismarck intervenes
Leopold's action led to the third cause of the scramble – diplomatic moves by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck at a conference on African affairs 1884–85. Bismarck, whose interests lay mainly in Europe, encouraged other European powers, especially France, to take an active interest in acquiring land in Africa. This left Germany free to conclude alliances and increase its influence in Europe.

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