Cat and Mouse on the Niger: The History of the Competition Between the British and French for Control of the Niger River

"They have soldiers. We only have arguments." - French Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé

Near the end of the 19th century, Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event, known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa. The conference established two fundamental ru...