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First Meeting of the Berlin Conference
GETTING STARTED
At the time of the conference, 80% of Africa remained under traditional and
local control. What ultimately resulted was a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries
that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. By the time independence
returned to Africa in 1950, the realm had acquired a legacy of political
fragmentation that could neither be eliminated nor made to operate
satisfactorily. Now, it is YOUR chance to turn back the clock and
establish a system of boundaries and countries (20-25 for this simulation) that
will improve the future of the African continent, while maintaining your
country's perspective during that time period.
You are a member of a delegation representing your nation at the Berlin Conference. Your delegation must create a new boundary system for the entire continent of Africa. To complete this task, you will create a document containing your nation's position on the adjustment of the African boundaries and a resolution to the issue. You will also create an original map depicting your new Africa. 1) Your first responsibility is to research your assigned country; there are several links provided on this site to get you started. This will allow you to represent your assigned nation intelligently, and to act “in character” even when specific information about a topic may not be available (e.g. what type of government exists in your country? What types of problems have occurred in your country's past that could have been prevented?). 2) Secondly, you must familiarize yourself with the continent of Africa through resources, maps, and data, not just information on your assigned country. You must then establish criteria by which you will prioritize the delimitation of the boundaries of Africa. There are many priorities you may consider - language, religion, access to major oceans, seas, or rivers (prevent landlocked states as much as possible), cultures/established tribal kingdoms, population (density & total), mineral access & arable land, physical landscape, etc... As you can see, you have quite a responsibility on your hands. 3) Countries you can represent:
POSITION PAPERS AND RESOLUTIONS When you have gathered enough data and maps, and have established the underlying criteria and philosophies guiding your country's decisions, you are then ready to construct your position paper and proposed resolution. Your position paper will contain your country's underlying criteria and philosophies in dealing with the establishment of the borders of Africa. It needs to be only one to two paragraphs long, and does not propose any specific solutions to the problem. Your resolution will immediately follow the position paper, and is essentially one long sentence. It begins with the Subject (e.g. The Boers on the Issue of Establishing a New African Border System), then uses what are known as Preambulatory Clauses to describe the resolution’s intent and motivation before moving on to describe the specific action which will be taken by the Berlin Conference in the Operative Clauses, which offer specific solutions to the problem (some samples are provided in this site). The correct format must be used to demonstrate organized thinking and professionalism. Remember to represent to goals and desires of your respective nation to the best of your ability. A map containing all new countries must be created using a computer program, to be attached to the position paper and resolution. Use the blank map of Africa provided in this website. In addition to the position paper, resolution and map, each project must contain a section describing the amount of work each individual had contributed. TO SUMMARIZE
In addition to your textbook, encyclopedias, and other books available to you, the following internet sources will help you to complete this task. Maps of Africa (several African maps) Blank Map of Africa (.pdf format) Country Studies: Library of Congress
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