The Scramble for Africa

In 1870 Europeans ruled only a tenth of Africa, mostly on the coasts. Quinine, steamboats and machine guns changed that.

At Berlin in 1884–85 the powers agreed rules for claiming land. Within thirty years they had taken almost the whole continent, often by brutal war; in King Leopold's Congo, millions died.

Only Ethiopia, which defeated Italy at Adwa, and Liberia stayed independent. The borders drawn then are still Africa's borders today.