Editing New Imperialism (section)

===Berlin Conference===
[[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|upright=2|Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913]]

The [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–1885 sought to destroy the competition between the powers by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of a territory claim, specifically in Africa. The imposition of direct rule in terms of "effective occupation" necessitated routine recourse to armed force against indigenous states and peoples. Uprisings against imperial rule were put down ruthlessly, most brutally in the [[Herero Wars]] in [[German South-West Africa]] from 1904 to 1907 and the [[Maji Maji Rebellion]] in [[German East Africa]] from 1905 to 1907. One of the goals of the conference was to reach agreements over trade, navigation, and boundaries of [[Central Africa]]. However, of all of the 15 nations in attendance of the Berlin Conference, none of the countries represented were African.

The main dominating powers of the conference were [[French Third Republic|France]], [[German Empire|Germany]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. They remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 different colonies. The attendants established who was in control of each of these newly divided colonies. They also planned, noncommittally, to end the slave trade in Africa.