Editing Berlin Conference (section)

==Background==
[[File:Cartoon depicting Leopold 2 and other emperial powers at Berlin conference 1884.jpg|thumb|Cartoon depicting [[Leopold II of Belgium|Leopold II]] and other imperial powers at the Berlin Conference]]

Prior to the conference, European diplomats approached African rulers and the French leaders had already invaded some parts of Lagos in the same manner as they had in the Western Hemisphere, by establishing a connection to local trade networks. In the early 1800s, the European demand for [[ivory]], which was then often used in the production of [[luxury goods]], led many European merchants into the interior markets of Africa.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} European spheres of power and influence were limited to coastal Africa at this time as Europeans had only established trading posts (protected by gunboats) up to this point.<ref>Chamberlain, Muriel E., ''The Scramble for Africa'' (1999).</ref>

In 1876, King [[Leopold II of Belgium]], who had founded and controlled the [[International African Association]] the same year, invited [[Henry Morton Stanley]] to join him in researching and "civilising" the continent. In 1878, the [[International Congo Society]] was also formed, with more economic goals but still closely related to the former society. Leopold secretly bought off the foreign investors in the Congo Society, which was turned to [[imperialism|imperialistic]] goals, with the "African Society" serving primarily as a philanthropic front.<ref>[[Neal Ascherson|Acherson, Neal]], ''The King Incorporated: Leopold the Second and the Congo'' (1999).</ref>

Explorers and missionaries played a vital role in setting the stage for the Berlin conference. They mapped territories, negotiated treaties with local populations, and promoted narratives justifying European expansion onto the continent. Figures such as Henry Morton Stanley conducted expeditions into the Congo Basin on behalf of King Leopold II. He established treaties with local leaders that later have Belgium sovereignty over the region. Missionaries carried out similar tasks, seeking to spread Christianity and western values across the continent. These missionaries often aligned their goals with those of colonial expansion. Missions established in these regions were used as early posts of European values, blending their religious objectives with political ones. Reports by explorers and missionaries painted Africa as a land of opportunity and a perfect target for the "civilizing mission"

From 1878 to 1885, Stanley returned to the Congo not as a reporter but as Leopold's agent, with the secret mission to organise what would become known as the [[Congo Free State]] soon after the closure of the Berlin Conference in August 1885.<ref name=Crowe>{{cite book |last1=Crowe |first1=S. E. |title=The Berlin West African Conference, 1884–1885 |date=1942 |publisher=Longmans Green |location=London}}</ref><ref name=Cornelis>{{Cite book|last=Cornelis|first=S.|date=1991|chapter=Stanley au service de Léopold II: La fondation de l'État Indépendant du Congo (1878–1885)|editor=Cornelis, S. |title=H.M. Stanley: Explorateur au Service du Roi |location=Tervuren |publisher=Royal Museum for Central Africa |pages=41–60 (53–54)}}</ref><ref name=Katzenellenbogen/> French agents discovered Leopold's plans, and in response [[French Third Republic|France]] sent its own explorers to Africa. In 1881, French naval officer [[Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza|Pierre de Brazza]] was dispatched to central Africa, travelled into the western Congo basin, and raised the French flag over the newly founded [[Brazzaville]] in what is now the [[Republic of Congo]]. Finally, [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], which had essentially abandoned a [[Portuguese Empire|colonial empire]] in the area, long held through the mostly defunct proxy [[Kingdom of Kongo]], also claimed the area, based on old treaties with [[Restoration (Spain)|Restoration-era Spain]] and the [[Catholic Church]]. It quickly made a treaty on 26 February 1884 with its old ally, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]], to block off the Congo Society's access to the Atlantic.

By the early 1880s, many factors including diplomatic successes, greater European local knowledge, and the demand for resources such as gold, timber, and rubber, triggered dramatically increased European involvement in the continent of Africa. Stanley's charting of the [[Congo River]] Basin (1874–1877) removed the last {{lang|la|[[terra incognita]]}} from European maps of the continent, delineating the areas of British, Portuguese, French and Belgian control. These European nations raced to annex territory that might be claimed by rivals.<ref>Förster, Stig, Wolfgang Justin Mommsen, and Ronald Edward Robinson, eds. ''Bismarck, Europe and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference 1884–1885 and the Onset of Partition'' (1988).</ref>

France moved to take over [[Beylik of Tunis|Tunisia]], one of the last of the [[Barbary Coast|Barbary states]], using a claim of another [[piracy]] incident. French claims by Pierre de Brazza were quickly acted on by the French military, which took control of what is now the [[Republic of the Congo]] in 1881 and [[French Guinea|Guinea]] in 1884. [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] became part of the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]], an event that upset Bismarck's carefully laid plans and led [[German Empire|Germany]] to join the European invasion of Africa.<ref>Langer, William L., ''European Alliances and Alignments: 1871–1890'' (1950), pp. 217–220.</ref>

In 1882, realizing the geopolitical extent of Portuguese control on the coasts, but seeing penetration by France eastward across Central Africa toward Ethiopia, the Nile, and the [[Suez Canal]], Britain saw its vital trade route through Egypt to India threatened.  Because of the collapsed Egyptian financing and a [['Urabi Revolt|subsequent mutiny]] in which hundreds of British subjects were murdered or injured, Britain intervened in the nominally [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Khedivate of Egypt]], which it controlled for decades.<ref>Langer, ''European Alliances and Alignments: 1871–1890'' (1950), pp. 251–280.</ref>