Canada
Austria-Hungary
France gave up its Canadian territories to Britain in 1763.
The second-largest empire in Europe was invited to the Berlin Conference, which was to decide who was going to colonize Africa. It did not claim any land, however.
NORTH AMERICA The Caribbean Islands throughout the region were shared among European empires.
EUROPE
AFRICA Former colonies
Liberia
Spain and Portugal had colonized most of Central and South America 300 years earlier, but in the early 1800s, revolutions gained these countries their independence.
SOUTH AMERICA
Americans created this territory in 1822 as a country for freed AfricanAmerican slaves.
Congo Free State This was a private colony, or fiefdom, belonging to King Leopold of Belgium.
Orange Free State Now a part of South Africa, this region was controlled by Afrikaners (Boers, the descendants of Dutch settlers), who revolted against British political rule.
Ethiopia This is the only country in Africa never to have been colonized.
The Scramble for Africa When Europeans entered Africa to help end the slave trade, they took the chance to occupy territory. This turned into a scramble for wealth and glory, so the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was organized to govern it. Africa was split among seven European powers, giving them land if they flew their nation’s flag there and made treaties with local leaders. These treaties, however, were mostly made by force.
118
A French political cartoon passes comment on the Berlin Conference. It shows the German Chancellor cutting up African territory like a cake.
“His majesty’s dominions, on which the Sun never sets.” Christopher North (pen name of writer John Wilson), describing the British Empire, 1829
BY 1902, EUROPEANS CONTROLLED 90 PERCENT OF AFRICA, BUT
