Dr Gabriel Eke: Africa, 140 years after Berlin Conference

140 YEARS BEYOND THE BERLIN CONFERENCE

*Saturday 13 December 2025
Venue: SOAS, University of London

For this event, expert speakers on Africas past, present, and future will come together for discussions and deliberations over two days on the continuing legacy of the Berlin Conference on the African continent.
Venue: SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG

Background
In 188485, the Berlin Conference was convened by European powers to formalise the partitioning of Africa, redrawing its political boundaries, appropriating resources, and
reshaping the continents destiny without African participation. This was not an isolated moment, but the culmination of centuries of economic exploitation, forced migration, and cultural erasure that began with the international trades in enslaved Africans. The political, economic, and psychological dependencies the Berlin conference cemented continue to shape Africas place in the world today.

One hundred and forty years later, this symposium seeks to revisit the context, consequences, and continuing legacies of Berlin and to reimagine Africa beyond it. By bringing together historians, policymakers, cultural leaders, and activists from Africa and the diaspora, we aim to confront historical realities, interrogate inherited systems, and generate actionable visions for a liberated future..