Scramble

Lets back up a bit and examine what went on in the mid to late 19th century in Africa. AND, I'm still looking for an explosion and a few wacked out leaders. Britain, Portugal, Belgium and France all had big claws into Africa.

The Potugese had been raiding the west coast for some time supplying themselves and others with slaves. The leading European industrial nations had turned to Africa as supplies of raw materials began to dwindle in their own countries. These tiny countries simply did not have the coal and metals left in their soil to fuel their new factories. And there was all that yummy coffee and cocoa.

Belgium and France seemed to have an inferiority complex going on as they added to their square miles of African ownership at every opportunity. During the closing years of the century it is estimated over 9 million square miles of Africa was colonized. To put it in perspective, all of Europe is 3.5 million square miles. France is 211, 000 while Belguim is just under 12,000!

Anyway, Germany, itself a player in the game, calls a conference in 1885 to put some organization into this crazy business. The term "New Imperialism" was coined to describe the period between the Franco Prussion War and the the First World War, 1871 t0 1914. A less sanitized and more accurate description is "The Scramble".