Page 126 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

EpiloGuE

BY 1884, EUROPEAN INTEREST IN CONTROLLING THE op p os it e
natural resources in Africa had grown. Great Britain, France, Por- Music based on traditional
tugal, Belgium, and Germany were openly competing for control of West African rhythms
territory all over the continent. In West Africa, Great Britain, France, continues to be a big part
and Germany had each gained control of sections of the Atlantic of the world music scene.
Harouna Samake is one
coast. They did it both by signing treaties with local African rulers of Mali’s most famous
and by outright military conquest. musicians, particularly for
The Europeans did not hesitate to go to war against Africans who his skill with the kamalen
were trying to defend their homelands. But they wanted to avoid going ngoni, which is a modern
to war with each other in what came to be known as “the scramble for version of the donso ngoni,
Africa.” In 1884 and 1885, a conference was held in Berlin, Germany, to or sacred hunter’s harp.
lay the ground rules for the European conquest of Africa. The represen-
tatives of 14 European nations and the United States met for 13 weeks.
No Africans were invited.

french conqueSTS

French dreams of acquiring riches and glory by controlling the Western
Sudan had begun in the 18th century. At the Berlin Conference, French
representatives protected their claims to the interior regions of the Upper
Niger River. In the 20 years following the Berlin Conference, the French
became fully committed to their conquest of the Western Sudan.
By the time of the Berlin Conference, the French already con-
trolled the island of Gorée off the coast of modern-day Senegal and St-
Louis at the mouth of the Sénégal River. The French wanted to carve a

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