Nation-Building and Artificial States

The territorial map of colonial Africa was fixed largely at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, convened by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to regulate European competition for African territory; no African representatives were present, and the resulting borders were drawn overwhelmingly along lines of latitude, longitude, and negotiated spheres of influence between European chancelleries rather than along lines of precolonial kingdoms, language groups, or trade networks. A frequently cited estimate holds that roughly 44 percent of Africa's land borders today run in straight lines, a geometric signature of their origin in European map rooms rather than in any prior political or ethnic boundary.