The Country Of Belgium An Ambitious King Of The Conquest...

In 1876, no more than 10 percent of Africa was under European rule, but by 1900 more than 90 percent was controlled by a European country. Belgium was about as strong as the three less dominant Western powers of Portugal, Italy, and Germany, but was able to manipulate people, prices, and circumstances to level itself with those major powers above it such as Britain and France, who worked together to draw out their own maps of the â€Å"dark continent† to prevent conflict in the midst of the conquest of Africa. Europeans had been travelling to and trading with this mysterious land for centuries, but had never attempted to conquer the area beyond the ivory and golden coasts until prompted by both great sins and great opportunities. While most†¦show more content†¦In the 1840’s, a British missionary and explorer named David Livingstone made the trek across the blank spaces intricately decorated on his map of Africa and thoroughly documented who and what he experie nced. Not only did he discuss the variety of life, but the variety of cruelties, as well. Particularly focusing on the Arab and African slave trades, Livingstone’s detailed account of his adventures became the hot topic of European conversation, as slavery had been banned in most of Europe by this time. In an underpopulated continent like Africa, a group’s population was what mattered and the leader’s influence was key. Because it was population that seemed to represent a group’s power, the slave trade was dominant and focused on the control of influence. The political leaders of the West though, specifically King Leopold II of Belgium, were attentive to the details regarding the natural and human resources this land offered. Because several different European countries all wanted to control much of Africa, European and US leaders met in Berlin, Germany in 1884 to decide the fate of the continent. These leaders were able to transform the rage of Europe into support of