A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IMPACT OF BERLIN CONFERENCE, 1885 ON TERRITORIAL DISPUTES AMONG AFRICAN COUNTRIES

AUTHOR – INBATHAMIZHAN K, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, THE TAMIL NADU DR AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI

BEST CITATION – INBATHAMIZHAN K, A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF IMPACT OF BERLIN CONFERENCE, 1885 ON TERRITORIAL DISPUTES AMONG AFRICAN COUNTRIES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (1) OF 2025, PG. 1197-1210, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

     The colonial countries which means the western European countries had made lots of tragedy to the countries they were colonized. There are lots of countries have been affected in colonial period. There are lots of exploitation, slavery, human trafficking, force labour were common thing in those period. There lots of important event took place in this period. Once of such event is Berlin conference in 1885. The purpose of the conference was to solve the territorial disputes in Africa regarding to safeguard the interests of European countries and establishment of colonies in Africa with proper borders. Impact of the Berlin conference ended in Scramble Of Africa. Those persons who never ever visited the African continent were drawn lines in the map of Africa and established territorial borders for African countries. The territorial separation leads to various border disputes, ethnic conflicts, genocides, etc. Reason for these conflicts is that scramble was done only on basis to protect the interest of the European countries and not on the basis of geography and ethnic and tribal difference. The ethnic and tribal difference leads to lot of territorial disputes between various African countries. This research paper going to analysis about background for Berlin conference and it’s impacts on the various territorial disputes in Africa which has sole reason is Berlin conference using historical and quantitative method by analysing scholarly writing, legal documents, case laws and other governmental records.

KEYWORDS – Berlin West African Conference 1884-1885, Colonialism, Scramble for Africa, Congo basin, River Congo, River Niger, River Nile, River Zambezi, free trade, principle of effective occupation, principle of sphere of influence.