The Berlin Conference

The Berlin started in 1884. This conference was held to discuss how the continent of Africa was going to be divided into European colonies. There were 14 European country representitives at the conference as well as African leaders. however, none of these African leaders had political say in how Africa should be divided. The objective of the conference was to make sure there was peace among European countries so they will not go to war with each other of the natural resources that Africa possesed. This conference had an major impact on the European colonizers because they grew wealthier in resources such as diamonds, oil, iron ore, etc. African natives were affected as well as the people who colonized the African coumtries. They was deprived of their land and resources they owned. They were also forced to change their way of life under a policy called assimilation. Assimilation was a policy practiced by Europeans in order to change African cultural values into European cultural values. As a result of the Berlin Conference, many of the resources Africa had was stolen as well as traditional beliefs. That is why today many Africans speak some of the European languages such as French for an example.

-By Laron McBryde and Joselyn Orejuela