User:Asha.abukar/sandbox

In the late 1800s - particularly during the Scramble for Africa following the famous Berlin Conference that happened during November 15 1884 to February 26 1885 - cartography heavily influenced the expansion of European imperialism, and colonialism. Using detailed first-hand accounts of explorers and surveyors, maps were then drawn of the “New World,’ providing key information about the ruling tribes, locations, roads, and villages to assist in treaties, and eventually to then give way to European commerce and complete control through the process of colonization.

The case of West Africa is particularly useful to look at when identifying the grand role cartography played in association with European imperialism and colonialism. The “big white area on the page” - Africa - presented itself as an opportunity for European imperalists who immediately saw an opportunity for conquest. European governments sent surveyors on expeditions, and some even founded organizations solely to promote overseas expansion like the French imperalists Ausguste Terrier and Harry Alis’s Comite de l'Afrique Franqaise.

Furthermore, the special features of maps such as lines and colours helped assist in European expansion by drawing in lines and colouring lands according to the Europeans governments in possession of those lands, differentiating between which European government laid territorial claims on and had influence over what space, and this in turn promoted imperialism and colonialism.