Scramble for Africa

  • Period: 600 to 1500

    Pre-Colonization

    Africa is divided into diverse cultural nations
  • Period: to

    Burton and Speke expedition

    Lake Tanganyika is discovered
  • Period: to

    Speke and Grant expedition

    Lake Victoria is discovered
  • Period: to

    Berlin Conference

    European countries meet to divide Africa among them
  • Period: to

    Colonization expands

    European exploration leads to colonial expansion to the center of Africa
  • Period: to

    WWI

    The Battle of Tanga and a guerrilla campaign by Germany are fought in Africa. Africans’ loyalty to colonizers increases.
  • Period: to

    Treaty of Versailles

    Germany loses African colonies to France and the UK
  • Period: to

    Invasion of Ethiopia

    Italy invades and captures Ethiopia
  • Period: to

    WWII

    Northern Africa serves as an important theater. Many Africans fight alongside their colonizers. It is also used as a launch point for the Allied invasion of Italy
  • Period: to

    Decolonization

    Africa now holds 53 sovereign States, with many borders being similar to those drawn at the Berlin Convention.
  • Period: to

    OAU

    The Organization of African Unity is formed to create an alliance for the betterment of the continent as a whole.
  • Period: to

    African Union

    The African Union replaces the OAU
  • Period: to

    Afro-European agreement

    The EU and AU reach an agreement that lays out a strategy for the development of Africa