The Berlin Conference: How Africa Was Partitioned — Fexingo History

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the story of Samori Touré, the brilliant Mandinka leader who built the Wassoulou Empire and fought a two-decade war against French colonial expansion in West Africa. They discuss his innovative military strategies, his use of guerrilla tactics and scorched earth, his forced relocation to the forest region, and his eventual capture. The episode also touches o...

In this milestone 100th episode of the Berlin Conference series, Lucas and Luna explore the night the Berlin Conference actually convened in 1884. They break down who was in the room—Otto von Bismarck, the German host, along with representatives from fourteen European powers and the United States—and what exactly was on the table. No African delegates were present, despite the continent being carv...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Herero-German War of 1904 in German South West Africa, a brutal conflict that foreshadowed 20th-century atrocities. They discuss the roots of the war in land dispossession and cattle theft, the Battle of Waterberg, General Lothar von Trotha's extermination order, and the devastating retreat into the Omaheke desert. The episode also covers the Herero's sk...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the brutal regime of King Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo Free State. They explore the forced labor system for rubber extraction, the violent methods of the Force Publique, and the role of figures like Léon Rom. The discussion covers the chicotte whip, hostage-taking, and the international outcry led by E.D. Morel and Roger Casement. The episode also t...

In 1816, a British-Dutch fleet under Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers for over eight hours, destroying the Barbary corsair fleet and forcing the Dey to release Christian slaves and end the slave trade with Europeans. This episode explores the background of the Regency of Algiers under Dey Omar Agha, the corsair economy that funded the state, the British strategic interests after the Napoleonic Wars,...

This episode of The Berlin Conference podcast dives into the life and empire of Tippu Tip, the Zanzibari slave and ivory trader who became a de facto ruler in the eastern Congo during the Scramble for Africa. Lucas and Luna explore how Tippu Tip navigated between the Sultan of Zanzibar, European explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone, and King Leopold II of Belgium. They discuss...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 triggered the scramble for German East Africa, focusing on the role of Carl Peters, a ruthless colonial adventurer. They discuss the Anglo-German agreement of 1886 that carved up the region, the establishment of German protectorates in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, and the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905–1907, which was a...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna revisit the Berlin Conference's impact on North Africa, focusing on the 1851 bombardment of Salé by the French navy. They explore the Makhzan's struggle to control the Atlantic coast, the role of Sidi Mohammed IV, and how the conference's 'effective occupation' clause legitimized such attacks. The discussion delves into the Treaty of Lalla Maghnia, the rise of Mulai...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 set the stage for the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879—and how the conference's 'effective occupation' principle was used to justify the destruction of the Zulu Kingdom. They discuss King Cetshwayo kaMpande's diplomatic efforts to avoid war, the false reports of Zulu aggression that fueled British paranoia, and the devastating Batt...

Pohnpei, 1910: a forced-road project on a tiny Pacific island spirals into a violent uprising against German colonial rule. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the Sokehs Rebellion from its roots in German land confiscation and draconian labor codes through the killing of Governor Gustav Boeder to the siege of Sokehs Rock. They explore how the Berlin Conference's 'effective occupation' principle...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1816 Bombardment of Algiers by a combined British and Dutch fleet under Lord Exmouth. They discuss the context of Barbary corsairs and their state-sponsored piracy and enslavement of Europeans, the failure of earlier treaties and a previous bombardment in 1815, and the brutal efficiency of the 1816 attack. The episode covers the Dey of Algiers, Omar Agha...

Episode 90 of The Berlin Conference series steps into the nightmare of the Congo Free State. Lucas and Luna explore how King Leopold II's private colony became a vast labor camp after the Berlin Conference opened the Congo Basin to exploitation. They focus on the forced rubber collection system, the brutal 'hostage system' where villages were held for quotas, and the harrowing evidence collected b...

In 1816, a combined British and Dutch fleet under Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded the city of Algiers, aiming to end the Barbary slave trade. This episode explores the regency of Algiers, its corsair fleet, and the diplomatic and military pressures that led to the attack. We follow the Dey of Algiers, Omar Agha, and the centuries-old system of African slavery that ensnared thousands of Europeans. W...

In 1816, a combined British-Dutch fleet under Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded Algiers, a regency under the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire, to force the Dey Omar Agha to release Christian slaves and end the practice of enslaving Europeans. This episode examines the Barbary slave trade, the role of the Barbary corsairs, and how the bombardment set a precedent for punitive European military int...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1851 French bombardment of Salé, Morocco, a pivotal event that exposed the cracks in the Makhzan's authority and foreshadowed the colonial scrambles to come. They discuss the strategic importance of Salé as a corsair port, the diplomatic provocations leading to the attack—including the alleged insults to the French consul and the seizure of a French vess...

In Episode 86 of our Berlin Conference series, Lucas and Luna turn to Morocco, the only African kingdom to escape Ottoman rule and remain independent through the Scramble. They explore the 1851 French bombardment of Salé, a port city that had long defied European naval power. Lucas explains how Morocco's sultans played European powers against each other, the strategic importance of Tangier and the...

In 1886, a British missionary party was ambushed in the town of Ijemo, near Abeokuta in present-day Nigeria. This episode examines the massacre of the Abeokuta mission and its aftermath: the punitive expedition led by British Consul Harry Johnston, the destruction of the town, and the trial of the Egba chiefs accused of the killings. We explore the tense political context of Abeokuta under the Egb...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore an unexpected connection between the Berlin Conference and the bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863. They dive into the story of the Namamugi Incident, where a British merchant was killed by Satsuma samurai, leading to a naval retaliation by the Royal Navy. The conversation then links this early example of gunboat diplomacy to the principles of effective occupat...

In episode 83, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known consequence of the Berlin Conference: the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891. When Manipur, a princely state in northeast India, defied British demands for effective occupation, the result was a swift and brutal punitive expedition. We meet Maharaja Surachandra Singh, his brother Kulachandra Singh who usurped the throne, and the British official Frank Gr...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the little-known connection between the 1884-85 Berlin Conference and the systematic dispossession of the Ndebele people in what is now Zimbabwe. They focus on the 1888 Rudd Concession, a treaty Cecil Rhodes obtained from King Lobengula under false pretenses, handing over mining rights to the British South Africa Company. The discussion covers Lobengula's st...

This episode of the Fexingo History podcast picks up a thread that runs through the Berlin Conference but has never been our main focus: the fate of the Swahili Sultanate of Zanzibar. We trace how Sultan Barghash bin Said maneuvered between European powers, how the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890 traded the sultanate to Britain in exchange for the North Sea island of Heligoland, and what that m...

Episode 80 of The Berlin Conference series explores the overlooked story of the Witu Sultanate, a small Swahili state on the coast of modern-day Kenya that resisted German colonial rule in the late 1880s and early 1890s. When the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 formalized the Scramble for Africa, Sultan Ahmed bin Fumo Bakari of Witu sought British protection against German encroachment. But after the...

Episode 79 of The Berlin Conference series turns to Madagascar, an island kingdom that European powers had largely bypassed during the early scramble. Lucas and Luna explore how the Merina monarchy under Ranavalona III and Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony attempted to modernise and resist French encroachment. They examine the Treaty of Tamatave in 1885, which ceded Diego-Suarez to France and forced...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the aftermath of the Berlin Conference through the lens of the First Italo-Ethiopian War and the Battle of Adwa in 1896. They discuss how Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, having skillfully played European powers against each other and acquired modern weaponry, decisively defeated the Italian colonial army. The conversation covers the Treaty of Wuchale, its tr...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how a single cartoon in the British magazine Punch helped turn public opinion against King Leopold II's brutal regime in the Congo Free State. They explore the role of satirical artist Edward Linley Sambourne, whose 1906 drawing 'The Phantom' depicted Leopold as a vampire bat hovering over the Congo, and trace the broader impact of visual propaganda in the a...