Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

Giant and DwarfFrom Colonization to the MillenniumDevelopment GoalsPartitioning of Africa and the Berlin conference: Europe occupies the entire continentsave Ethiopia and Liberia. The abolition movement: colonial PR or maturing humanity?David Livingstone’s crusade against slavery. Building cities, ports, railroads andschools. Post-colonial stereotypes: Europe is rich because it ravaged the colonies. Marshallplan for rebuilding post-war Europe and the World Bank’s first loans.The era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade began to wane towards the middle of the 19 thcentury. At the same time and across the ocean, the white man had armed himself withrifles and crossed the Mississippi River. This triggered the massive colonization of the AmericanWest, which in a matter of decades wiped out many tribes of Native Americans, withthose that managed to survive left decimated and cornered into tiny reservations. Africacame to represent for European powers the same that the Wild West did for the UnitedStates: a huge unoccupied and undeveloped part of the world with vast natural resourcesand with unclear limits of influence. The beginning of the end to this period of ambiguitybegan in 1878 when the ambitious Belgian King Leopold II decided to establish a colonyin the Congo. The French quickly responded to this initiative in 1881 by establishing thecity of Brazzaville on the banks of the Congo River. Shortly thereafter, Portugal, the longagocolonizing force on the coast of Congo and Angola, took the initiative in the regionand suddenly European activity in sub-Saharan Africa began to take on an unseen levelof intensity and geographic scope. The French quickly and vehemently joined in the gameof carving up western Africa, with the British joining along the Nile River and in the southof the continent. British and French expansion spurred the Germans into action over fearsthat the new resources and riches flowing from Africa could tip the balance of power thathad been so fragile to maintain in Europe. In 1884 matters had proceeded to such an extentthat many of the powers had reached the conclusion that Europeans needed an agreementon how to divvy up their interests in Africa. German Chancellor Otto van Bismarck called118