Dbq Essay

DBQ ESSSAY The Berlin Conference of 1986-1985 was Africa's undoing in many ways. During the conference, European Nations decided which lands in Africa they would take over. However, this was done without the presence of an African representative. The race of these European powers to colonize and occupy Africa is termed, the “Scramble for Africa”. Africa’s inhabitants responded with anger and violence as is shown in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth document. On the other hand, some tried to come to an agreement or to keep peace with the Europeans, which is seen in the second and third document; and the first document shows the Europeans attempted to gain control without conflict. Due to the Africans lack of modern weapons, they were often defeated. We can see in Document 1; the contract from the Royal Niger Company, that the Europeans wanted to make it seem as if they were giving the African Leaders a choice to give up their land. Leaders of these tribes would have believed that signing wasn’t an obligation and could refuse if they wanted. This shown in Document 2; The letter to Britain from the Ashanti leader, Prempeh I, where he states,” My kingdom of Ashanti will never commit itself to any such policy”. He declined in a respectful honorable manner, expecting the Europeans to leave them be. From Prempeh I’s point of view, he most likely believed that they were in charge of their own fate, but Europe did not just step back. An additional document that would support this would be from an African leader who signed the document, to see how they were treated in comparison to those who refused to