History of Kenya
Mrs.
Nardi's 9th Grade World History Class
Lenox Memorial High School, Lenox, Massachusetts
The Berlin Conference
During the 15th Century, the Portuguese, sailing along the coast of Africa, began to trade with African ethnic groups. By 1498 Vasco De Gama had rounded the Cape of Good Hope; the plunder of the African continent and the slave trade were soon to follow. For Great Britian, the Dark Continent and its slave trade would be a rich source of cheap labor until 1807 when anti-slavery advocates would win the fight to abolish the importation of slaves from Africa (Rosenfeld and Geller 201). Even though the use of slaves would be outlawed in Great Britian, it was not until the United States banned the use of slaves that the African slave trade would be curtailed. [Even though the United Nations,( see UN Convention on Human Rights), has determined slavery to be inhuman, it is still practiced in many countries today.]
While most of the world banned slavery, that did not stop many European countries from occupying parts of Africa for their own benefit. In fact, European Imperialism would threaten to create strife between countries such as France, Great Britain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Spain. This rivalry led to the Berlin Conference, 1884-1885, where European nations would come together to divide the continent of Africa peacefully, more or less. As Louise Minks writes,"The fourteen nations attending all came to agreement: no country could claim control or primary influence over an area unless it effectively occupied and governed tha area" (Traditional Africa 74).