Berlin Conference Role Cards
Deana M.
Jaeschke
Central Middle School, White Bear Lake, MN
The 1884 Berlin Conference to
partition Africa has been called by the German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismark.
You are hosting the conference in your capital city. The goal of the conference
is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European
colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining
access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization. Germany has
some control of coastal southwestern Africa and coastal east Africa. Germany
desires to maintain control of these areas.
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
France has colonial outposts established along the west coast of Africa and extending inland approximately 500 miles east of Lake Chad. French colonial outposts include the cities of Libreville, Conakry, Dakar, and Abidjan.
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
Great Britain is most concerned about maintaining control of the Suez Canal (it has been under their control since 1875) and the surrounding territory. The canal connects the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Red, and Arabian Seas providing important shipping routes. Great Britain has expanded its control around the canal, throughout Egypt and south into the Sahara to create a buffer zone against French expansion. Great Britain desires holdings from the Cape (southern tip of Africa) to Cairo. British colonial outposts exist in west Africa in the cities of Lagos, Freetown, and Banjul. Great Britain is also in conflict with the Dutch for control of Cape of Africa.
Portugal
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
Portugal has the oldest colonial outposts on the continent: on the west coast, southwest coast, and the southeast coast.
Netherlands/Dutch
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
The Dutch have a long history in the Cape region of Africa dating back to the 1600s. The Dutch are presently struggling for control of the area against the British.
Belgium
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
Led by King Leopold, the Belgians want access to the mineral and rubber resources of the interior tropical rainforest in the Congo River basin. The Belgians are also interested in the ivory trade (elephant tusks).
Spain
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
The Spanish want to maintain a presence on the western coast of Africa. However, the wars for independence in Latin America beginning in the 1820s have left the empire with little monetary funds.
Italy
The goal of the conference is to negotiate and create a process for the partition of Africa into European colonies or spheres of influence. The European powers are interested in gaining access to raw materials and resources for their industrialization.
Italy desires the Horn of Africa.