If the slave trade uprooted millions, the Scramble for Africa uprooted entire nations. In the late 19th century, Europe turned its gaze once more to Africa–not just for people, but for land, minerals, and control. Within a few decades, the continent was carved up like a cake at a table where Africans had no seat.
The infamous Berlin Conference of 1884-85 epitomises this era. Convened by European powers, it divided Africa into territories to be claimed, occupied, and exploited.
No African ruler was invited. Boundaries were drawn with rulers and compasses, slicing through rivers, mountains, and ethnic communities.
Families, clans, and kingdoms that had coexisted for centuries suddenly found themselves separated by artificial borders. Others were forced together under a single colonial authority, planting seeds of tension that persist today.
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Colonialism was justified with the language of “civilisation” and “progress.” European powers claimed to bring law, order, and Christianity to supposedly “backward” people. In reality, they imposed forced labour, land dispossession, and resource plunder.
Cash crops replaced food security, and indigenous institutions were undermined or co-opted. Knowledge systems were dismissed as superstition.
Africa’s wealth was extracted on an astonishing scale. Gold, copper, diamonds, and oil enriched European industries, while Africans worked under brutal conditions for little or no pay.
Railways and ports were built not for African development but to accelerate extraction. The colonial state was designed not for citizens but for subjects–people to be controlled, taxed, and disciplined.
The social cost was equally profound. Colonial education created small elites loyal to imperial powers, often alienated from their communities.
Traditional leaders who resisted were exiled or killed; those who collaborated were rewarded with power.
Local languages were suppressed in favour of English, French, and Portuguese. Entire cultures were stigmatised as inferior.
Yet, as in the era of slavery, Africans did not remain passive. Resistance emerged almost immediately.
From the Maji Maji rebellion in Tanganyika to the Ashanti wars in West Africa, from the Herero uprising in Namibia to the Mau Mau struggle in Kenya, ordinary people fought to defend their land, dignity, and way of life.
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Though many of these rebellions were crushed with devastating violence, they planted seeds of defiance that would later inspire independence movements.
Colonialism’s greatest trick was to make its presence seem natural, as though Africa had always been dependent. In truth, it was a brief, violent interruption in a much longer history of African agency.
Yet the borders it left behind continue to shape the continent. Many of Africa’s political crises–from ethnic conflicts to secessionist struggles–trace their roots to this careless partition.
The legacy of the Scramble is double-edged. On one hand, it entrenched underdevelopment by stripping Africa of resources and fragmenting its societies.
On the other, it sparked a Pan-African consciousness–a recognition that the continent’s struggles were shared, and that liberation would have to be collective.
Leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Jomo Kenyatta grew up in the shadow of colonialism, determined to dismantle its hold.
As we continue our Black History Month journey, we must remember that Africa was not only divided by borders; it was divided in spirit, memory, and identity. The work of healing those fractures remains unfinished.
Colonialism claimed to bring civilisation, but it left scars. Our responsibility is to remember those scars–not as reasons for despair, but as reminders of why the struggle for dignity, unity, and justice continues.
Ms Gertrude Kamya Othieno is a political sociologist and founder of Global People’s Network (GPN)
