Please click this link to download the chapter. The conference was called by German Chancellor Bismarck and would set up the parameters for the eventual partition of Africa.
European nations were summoned to discuss issues of free navigation along the Niger and Congo rivers and to settle new claims to African coasts. This treaty set up rules for European occupation of African territories. The treaty stated that any European claim to any part of Africa, would only be recognized if it was effectively occupied.
The Berlin Conference therefore set the stage for the eventual European military invasion and conquest of African continent. With the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, the entire continent came under European colonial rule. The story of West Africa after the Berlin Conference revolves around 5 major themes: the establishment of European colonies, the consolidation of political authority, the development of the colonies through forced labor, the cultural and economic transformation of West Africa, and West African Resistance.
Effective Occupation was a clause in the Berlin Treaty which gave Europe a blank check to use military force to occupy West African territories. European imperialists continued to pursue their earlier treaty making processes whereby West African territories became European protectorates.
Protectorates were a loaded pause before the eventual European military occupation of West Africa. Because protectorate treaties posed serious challenges to West African independence most West African rulers naturally rejected them. West African rulers adopted numerous strategies to forestall European occupation including: recourse to diplomacy, alliance, and when all else failed, military confrontation.
