The Berlin Conference
In many parts of Africa, the atrocity inflicted upon the people by the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, which balkanised the continent, can be seen starkly in how homogeneous ethnic groups were carved up and shoved into two, three, and sometimes even more countries just by the stroke of a European pen. It is something that Africans have had to live with since the day the Berlin Conference ended and the Scramble for Africa began in earnest.