Just a clarification: Ethiopia should not be included in the treaty of Tordesillas claim for Portugal because it is a Christian nation and thus exempt from Portuguese control per the Pope's decree. Any undiscovered Christian lands (and remember some Europeans at the time thought there was a powerful Christian king Prester John out there somewhere, probably in Africa) have the right to their own sovereignty. So in short, Portugal could not lay claim to Ethiopia as the map indicates.
Yeah, thats why Ethiopia was left alone by the Western Powers for pretty long. Can't really plunder a region's ressources with the argument that you are converting the natives to your religion if said natives already practice said religion. Being basically the first state in history to adopt Christianity really payed off for Ethiopia in the long run because thats also how they got all these russian military advisors and french guns they used to chase the italians around in the first italo-ethiopian war.
France cared. It toke parts of Sahara already claimed by Spain to its Mauritania; also note it left almost no Morocco to Spain, and if there was any part of Africa that Spain really wanted and tried actively to colonize before the Berlin Confence was Morocco, and that was what made it to colonize the dessert just bellow it. Spain also tried to colonize western Algeria, but... France
Western Sahara is an Illusion, in 1975, Morocco organized The Green March, a peaceful march to liberate it's southern provinces, as Spain withdrew from Western Sahara due to this march, they spilt the territory in half in favor of Morocco and Mauritania. In 1984, Mauritania gave it's half to some sort of gangs originally from Tindouf (an Algerian city) claiming that territory is theirs as Saharawi people. Morocco perceived this as a move of the Algerian regime to gain control of an area coasting the Atlantic Ocean, thus he proclaimed the other half that it historically proven his. Now Morocco controls over 2 thirds of the territory while these gangs who named Polisario control the rest. Till this day , this gang is still preforming Hit-and-Run operations all over the borders. If you think about it, how can a proclaimed "country" with less than 100 000 citizens own such advanced military equipment without even a proper command chain. This clearly shows that they're just a bunch of thugs backed by a foreign power to initiate conflicts.
Now I have this horrific image of Leopold sending his goons into Wisconsin and forcing the population to make huge quotas of beer and cheese, and beer-cheese... and chopping off hands if they didn't.
Leopold wanted Wisconsin because that's the US State with the biggest concentration of Belgian-descendants. It's the second largest Wallophone (people who speak Walloon, a Belgian dialect) place in Earth after Wallonia itself (the Belgian region where the Wallonian language was born)
Portugal claims half of the world for itself, Portugal claims Africa for itself, Portugal claims half of africa for itself, Portugal claims territory between their already existing colonies, Portugal gets scammed, Portugal is now sad :(
@La nova renaissance that's not entirely true, since germany and italy were trying to get into the game and UK kinda backed up some of the interests of Portugal (luso-british alliance) even if some of the claims were incompatible between them both
I don't think the Belgian army ever helped Leopold with his conquering ambitions. Leopold was more sneaky, hiring British explorers who let local kings and leaders sign contracts to hand over the land.
I like how Leopold just wanted the entirety of Portugal as a colony,not like their islands off the coast or their colonies,THE ENTIRE FUCKING PORTUGAL.
@@trey5747 The man was responsible for over 8 million Congolese deaths, who he killed and dumped there bodies in the river. Even the survivors didn't get out 100%. Instead he would take their hands first.
And then goes tyrannical maniac. The Congo "Free" State really isn't mentioned enough in genocide conversations. I don't know how Leopold II slept at night.
That's basically how the colonial powers viewed it. The conference even included a treaty which made the colonies neutral if the mother countries went to war. It was broken when WW1 broke out, but still.
Did anyone realize britain was that friend who wants to get in the middle of everything? LITERALLY!? France, Germany, Portugal why don't we make colonies more simple? From east to west. Britain: How about I create a fucking thicc line between you all?
Europe: hey the Monroe doctrine is all about America protected from our imperialist ambition, gtfo of our continent and have fun elsewhere, i dunno the middle east? Twould give us more reasons to spite you
@Safwaan There would've been a time, that all of North America would've been US states. Mexico? Polk actually wanted the whole country under the US after the Mexican America war. Canada? Invaded it numerous of times. Like, during the American revolution, the War of 1812. But, the British defended it hard. Cuba? Haiti? Honduras? Nicaragua? El Salvador? Best believe, if plans were stronger back then, (scoff) the US would've been the largest country instead of Russia. But, who's to deny that it still wouldn't happen though?
@@imafkingbeastandrewtateise9563 Kinda, it's more like the just sent former slaves there and just let them do what they wanted. We didn't have much influence in Liberia so, it's hard to call it a true colony.
9:28 "led to a Portuguese defeat" Actually they were military victories for the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique. They lost their colonies because of a new government that formed as a result of the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon in 1974. The revolution led to the end of the Estado Novo regime, began a transition to democracy, and a gradual decolonization process. Recognizing the independence of their former colonies in Africa in 1974 and 1975
@@capnsteele3365 Why? French citizen are never own by guyana. I don't understand. Can you explain to me the link between french guyana and guyana? I hope it's not only the name
@@R-H-B the treaty of tordesillas signed by the pope divided the world between spain and portugal but the spanish still got to keep the canary islands somehow eventhoguh all the other atlantic islands were portuguese
@@teixeira476 Portugal owned part of the Canaries but the Castillians were harassing Portugal for the rest of the Islands, plus the Canaries had natives populations that the others islands did not (Azore,Madeira and Cape Verde), so Portugal gave the islands fully control to Castille in exchange for any new islands in the Atlantic.
By the way, so if the Austrians were mentioned, then why not Poland too! Quoted from the wiki link "Colonization attempts by Poland". But first my addition: Duchy of Courland was a vassal state of the Polish Empire, which is why all areas of this duchy were under Polish sovereignty. So here is the wiki quote: " Gambia in Africa: In 1651 Courland bought James Island (then called St. Andrews Island by the Europeans) from a local tribe, establishing Fort James there and renaming the island. Courland also took other local land including St. Mary Island (modern day Banjul) and Fort Jillifree. The colony exported sugar, tobacco, coffee, cotton, ginger, indigo, rum, cocoa, tortoise shells, tropical birds and their feathers. The governors maintained good relations with the locals, but came into conflict with other European powers, primarily Denmark, Sweden, and the United Provinces. The Dutch annexed the Courland territories in Africa, bringing an end to their presence on the continent." By the way, in addition, Kurland has also acquired islands in the Caribbean. Wiki quote on! "Cameroon expedition: In 1882, almost a century after Poland was partitioned and lost its independence, Polish nobleman and officer of Russian Imperial Fleet, Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński organized an expedition to Cameroon. Officially that was an exploration expedition, but unofficially the expedition was looking for a place a Polish community could be founded abroad. He had no official support from the Russian Empire, nor from its puppet Congress Poland, but was backed by a number of influential Poles, including the famous Polish writers Boleslaw Prus, and Henryk Sienkiewicz. On 13 December 1882, accompanied by Leopold Janikowski and Klemens Tomczek, Rogoziński left French port of Le Havre, aboard a ship Lucja Malgorzata, with French and Polish flags. The expedition was a failure, and he returned to Europe, trying to collect more money for his project. Finally, after second expedition, Rogoziński found himself in Paris, where he died 1 December 1896." "Poland regained independence in the aftermath of World War I with the so-called Second Polish Republic. While colonization was never a major focus of the Second Polish Republic, certain organizations like the Maritime and Colonial League supported the idea of creating Polish colonies. The Maritime and Colonial League traces its origins to the Polska Bandera (Polish Banner) organization founded on 1 October 1918. The League supported purchases of lands by Polish emigrants in places like Brazil and Liberia. The League became highly influential in shaping the government's policies with regards to Polish Merchant Marine, despite its long and ongoing campaign (publications, exhibitions, speeches, lobbying, etc.) and public support, it has however never succeeded in following up with its plans to obtain a colonial territory for Poland." "Angola: On 14 December 1928, the Maritime and Colonial League sent an expedition to Angola, which was then a Portuguese colony. The plan was to try to bring as many Polish immigrants as possible, and then try to purchase some land from the Portuguese. However, after five years, one of the first pioneers in Angola, Michal Zamoyski, wrote: "Personally, I would not persuade anybody to live in Angola". Living conditions were difficult, profits were marginal, and the idea was abandoned." Liberia: Liberian and Polish governments had good relations because of Polish support for Liberia in the League of Nations. In the fall of 1932, the League of Nations drafted a plan which projected turning Liberia into a protectorate, governed by one of members of the League. The plan was the result of internal policies of Liberia, where slavery was widespread. Since Poland was not regarded by the Liberians as a country which had colonial aspirations, in late 1932 unofficial envoy of Liberian government, dr Leo Sajous, came to Warsaw to ask for help. In April 1933, an agreement was signed between Liberia and the Maritime and Colonial League. The Africans agreed to lease minimum of 60 hectares of land to Polish farmers, for a period of 50 years. Polish businesses were awarded the status of the most favoured nation, and Warsaw was permitted to found a society to exploit natural resources of Liberia. Liberian government invited settlers from Poland in 1934. Altogether, the Liberians granted to Polish settlers 50 plantations, with total area of 7,500 acres (3,035 ha). In the second half of 1934, six Polish farmers left for Liberia: Gizycki, Szablowski, Brudzinski, Chmielewski, Januszewicz and Armin. The project was not fully supported by the Polish government but rather by the Maritime League; only few dozens of Poles took on that offer (because of Liberian requests that the settlers should bring significant capital) and their ventures proved to be, on the most part, unprofitable. The original of the agreement has been lost, but, according to some sources, there was a secret protocol that allowed Poland to draft 100,000 African soldiers. The Polish involvement in Liberia was harshly opposed by the United States of America, creator of the nation of Liberia. As a result of American pressure, in 1938 the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs closed the office of the Maritime and Colonial League in Monrovia." "Mozambique: plans for colonization of Mozambique were tied to business investments by some Polish enterprise near the late 1930s and never progressed beyond normal foreign investment (acquisition of agricultural lands and mines)." "Tanganyika and Cameroon: Various Polish authors, unsupported by the government, expressed interests in this region on the grounds that they were in part discovered by Stefan Szolc-Rogoziński and that Europe owed a general debt to Poland for the Polish-Soviet War." So at least as noteworthy as the colonial efforts of Austria and Sweden.
Every country: We want a nice connected line from west to east, so we can all nicely line up roughly in parallels, surely we can work out the details Britain: I want a connected line from north to south!
European congress: "So, what would you guys like to colonize?" Portugal: All of Africa. The entire continent belongs to us. King Leopold: *WISCONSIN* AND PORTUGSL
Western Sahara actually exports sand in vast quantities. It is full of phosphate & gets turned into fertiliser. Not that the Spanish knew that at the time. It was just a lucky guess 😃
Leopold used the rivalry of the different superpowers and his country's neutrality to get the Congo. The power of Belgium is in its diplomacy, not its army.
@@funnySIMON99 no body cared very much about the Congo, only when they knew about the resources. They villefied ( rightfully) leopold2 and later Belgium.
Fun fact: similar to the island of Fernando Poo and Spanish Guinea (administered by the Viceroyalty of "La Plata"), the Philippines at the time were also administered from Mexico by the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Equatorial guinea was administrated by the united provinces of the rio de la plata, aka argentina + other territories, either that or the islands of the galapagos and easter island
It would still be a problem. Too many ethnicities with too many languages and cultures would still create the social problems that come with large multiethnic and multicultural states.
The Scramble for Africa is proof to why Japan closing off to Europe except for the Dutch was probably a smart move. From a Japanese perspective, if only.
They would be better served with a centralized state in place of isolationism, they only escaped because of the isolated geographic position and because those islands have literally nothing useful, not even the terrain or the climate is suitable for plantations.
@@Melnek1 The Meiji Restoration is what saved Japan. By 1890s, Japan had a formidable force that could compete with European powers and was even able to defeat China and the other Asian powers around it. Japan's progress in the 1800s is astounding and does not get enough attention.
@@volbound1700 And where did I say otherwise? I just stressed that they could have done even better. I don't know where you live, but the achievements of the Meiji restoration are not an unknown topic for anyone who sets out to understand Asia's policies. If the Japanese have a problem with that, they may not have waged a war against the entire planet while they were committing the most depraved acts and atrocities imaginable on an industrial scale, they may have more recognition, but the way things are, they came out with very lucky, the Germans for example cannot say anything about their past without first and necessarily showing guilt and remorse, otherwise they will be immediately antogonised, something that the Japanese do not do and no one forced them to do, they didn’t even give in to work on solving all the problems with his nominal ally and neighbor in South Korea, let alone the rest.
Portugal delegate: "We'll take this part." *points in the middle of Africa* Rest of EU powers: "You want the Kongo?" Portugal delegate: "No, I want the whole bloody Africa!" Leopold: "KoNg0 iS mInE bItCh fIgHt mE!!!" *REEEEEE*
8:20 You (as many others) totally misunderstood what the "padrão" was supposed to symbolise, as well as what the Teaty of Tordesillas was meant to establish. The "padrão" did not mean the Portuguese considered themselves the owners of that place, i.e., they were not expecting to convince the locals to obey them by erecting pillars... (In fact, until the very end of 19th century, the Portuguese made little effort to conquer territory in Africa, they were satisfied with establishing trading posts to trade with the natives - under favourable conditions, of course, so violence was used whenever needed.) The "padrão" was meant to be both a sign to other Portuguese navigators ("We've been in before") and a warning to other foreign powers: the Portuguese have been here, you may come into conflict if you insist on coming here, too. So, it was a diplomatic object of sorts, or like the bright coloured skin of a poisonous animal, warning potential enemies in an attempt to avoid conflict. Likewise, the Treaty of Tordesillas was not meant as Portugal and Spain each claiming to own half of the World. Actually, it was the opposite: each party to keep out of half of the world. This may seem the same thing as claiming ownership of the other half, but it's not. Portugal and Spain did not claim to own an hemisphere, they stated their interest in *trying* their best in that hemisphere. They were not naïve to the point of thinking that presenting a signed piece of paper would convince the natives that they were their overlords. The Treaty was meant only as a gentlemen's agreement that they would go different ways so to avoid conflict among them: I go this way, you go that way. But if they wanted to actually conquer something, they knew they would have to fight (the natives), the paper was worthless. It's like when 2 drug dealers divide a territory: that's meant to avoid conflict between them, but it does not translate in them owning the entire place (each house, each car, each person). They just assured their rival will not be around, but if they want to actually make a profit, they know they still have to find clients in "their" territory.
Kind of funny how everyone sold us land just to block their rivals. "Here, want Louisiana? We need money, but also to contain Britain and Spain". "Here, want this icy Alaska thing? We need to stop Canada from expanding to the edge of Siberia".
@@thunderbird1921 It was the United States baby shower lol They don't even touch on how we got Alaska in school or at least they barely mention it. There's a few things left out of our history especially in modern times
I mean, America actually obtained and held onto the territory they obtained in the Louisiana Purchase; the same cannot be said for Portugal's hemisphere.
Small Note: I've once read that there was a deal between Germany and Britain that if Portugal used income from its colonies as security for a loan Germany and Britain would take the colonies for themselves. Germany for example was supposed to gain Angola and North Mozambique as well as some Islands. All the conditions were met in July 1914 but further proceedings were cut short by a minor international incident that you might have heard of.
@@Daniel-jm7ts Longest alliance ever, but of course the British had drafted a deal to backstab them in any case as they did with any of their alliance ever signed, British diplomacy rules.
Portugal: *ALL IS MINE* Russia: _yo, can i have this island thousands of miles away from me at the opposite pole of the earth?_ France: *s a n d* Britain: *l a n d* America: _send off slaves only for them to enslave_ Spain: *cocololonyny* Belgiu --- Leopold: this. this shall be mine. not belgium's. *mine* Ottomans: ... *fuck my life* ...
On Italy's note, i feel like you should've mentioned that the Italian desire for Tunis and France cucking them by annex the region escalated tensions and started a Franco-Italian trade war which then lead Italy into joining the central powers.
Bismarck: Invites everyone over to have a peaceful discussion rather than killing each other for land Future Historians: Yeah man they really scrambled for those lands, it was nuts
Portugal: So according to this treaty roughly 200 years ago that you weren't part of we deserve everything. Everyone else: How about no. Portugal: Okay, but we put up totem poles across the entire southern half of the continent, so we get the whole southern half. Everyone else: How about no. Portugal: Please let us at least keep these very few areas we are actually administering. Everyone else: Good enough lol.
@Josip Aha I think I get it now, I had Slivovica when I was invited by a Serb shop-owner, quite a strong liquor, the Czechs make something similar themselves.
I love how every country was hungry for expansion and more land, and The Netherlands was rather just like "can I just have my territory in South Africa back please?" lol
Thank you so much for this video! It really helped me on my geography homework. (P.S. I basically copied most of it word-for-word but if they find out it’s plagiarized I’ll just call it inspiration and say it still taught me about this)
Lol imagine a Portuguese planning to get the entire Africa: So they have the following convo: -Which country do you want in Africa? -I want Africa! -Yeah, but which country in Africa you want? -Heh? Africa is the country I want! -But Africa is a continent, not a country!! -Just gimme Africa dude!
I’d expect britain or France to want all of Africa PORTUGAL WANTS ALL + thankyou guys for 500 likes without pointing arrows at the like bar thats just astounding and it’s amazing how humanity started in Africa (Ethiopia) and migrated across the world for a few hundred thousand years and knew a lot about Europe but even though a lot of ancient civilisations started in Africa we knew nothing about it until the Portuguese found the southern parts of Africa in the 15th century (btw I am talking about europe finding the southern parts of Africa not the north)
The british and french were more realistic and focused that's why they got actualy most of what they wanted. Portugal was a joke in every conceivable way, from what they demanded to why they demanded to the fact that their military and commercial power at that time was comparable to that of Liechtenstein.
@@RoScFan To be fair, Portugal didn't claim the entirety of Africa in the Berlin Conference, as far as I'm aware. It was simply what was stipulated in the Treaty of Tordesillas, which by this time was very much ignored by everyone, including Portugal. Portugal's final claims on Africa - the Pink Map - were also realistic and focused. I can't imagine anything more logical than simply wanting the territory between two already existing colonies. Considering Portugal's declining state, that's not a farfetched goal at all. However, Portugal's oldest ally - Britain -, who was already getting like fucking half of Africa, could not relinquish that bit of territory just to pursue their ambitious project which they didn't even manage to complete in the end. That's "realistic" according to you? "Realism" and "focus" aren't why Britain and France got what they wanted. I mean, just look at the map, they both got gigantic portions of Africa. The reason is far simpler - power. They were the strongest colonial powers, so they made the rules, and they got what they wanted, for the most part.
But Portugal's claim on the whole of Africa was from 400 years prior to the conference, when they were a big deal, and they dropped it along with their decline in power. It was obviously insane from the begining, but it seems that most people didn't quite understand that this came from loooong before (more than double the time between the conference and now, and look how much changed since then)
@La nova renaissance I am aware. But that other dude called Britain's goals realistic and focused, and Portugal's a joke. Yet Portugal's goals were pretty much the same as Britain's but at a smaller, much more modest scale. So why is the more attainable of the two "unrealistic"?
@Morgan V still more then every other country. :D I mean...ok you could argue that netherlands, UK and france still have some colonies, but all this areas are more or less fully incorporated. thats why the EU has a border in south armerica. :D
The fact that so much of the reasoning was about making lines all the way across Africa really drives home how little the Europeans cared about the existing political and cultural map of the Africans themselves.
the problem is say they followed cultural lines they might miss out on resources or strategic places plus they didnt excpect the colonies to go independent and follow those borders that was there own decision
Ok boys,mr Portugal it is your turn,which part of Africa do you want? Portugal:I want Africa delegators:ok which part? Portugal: África, takes the entire map and walk away from the conference.
@@Pierre-Rambal_Cochet like France was under German colony in ww2? but, unlike France ethiopia didn't surrender. the Italians were fighting everywhere in ethiopia that whole five years.
oh the ones that Small Pox and et all killed, or the ones that attacked, fought and lost wars ageist the US, this was not a one sided afire except the early bronze age tribes had no chance ageist a steam age nation state.
@@Delgen1951 I guess there is no arguing against delusion, but maybe a list of Wikipedia articles can what I cannot en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Native_American_genocide
The 'Conference of Berlin' had been asked for by Portugal in order to avoid future conflicts over Africa, but contrary to what it had hoped for, it became the most disadvantaged by the conference; being gravely betrayed by England -- for instance, many of the uninhabited islands discovered by Portugal, have been robbed by England!
This was the 1880's, before most of those lands were taken. Even than those lands were kinda not treated as colonies due to the US dislike of it. The Philippines is the big example of this, which was taken in the 1890's
I would say that Hawaii and Cuba+surrounding islands are the only real cases of American colonies, as we straight up bought Alaska and the Philippines from Russia and Spain respectively, I agree that America was not absolved from it, but the video is mostly right with the whole “America din’t particularly like the whole colonialism thing” thing.
Its a good thing the Filipinos fought back for their independence too; stopped the USA’s imperial ambitions there, even though our government regime already had to do mental gymnastics to justify colonialism as a former colony ourselves
Ah yes except the Philippines was given their freedom in 1949 as the US promised in the 1920s, Hawaii is part of the Union and Puerto Rico will be as its last vote the statehood party won, American Soma wants to stay like it is, Guam wants to enter the union, Micronesia wants to join Guam and join the US as as a state. Jay you need to stop beeing so nineteen thirtyish and try to be at lest early twenty-first in outlook. You just so outdated.
I really enjoyed this video. It was incredibly well researched, great graphics and narration, and great sense of humor. Really well done! Please keep the outstanding videos coming and God bless you, my friend!
Actualy, up untill the end Portugal was winnig it's colonial wars with the exception of guinea-bissau. It was the war exausted portuguese people that allowed the colonies to become independent.
@@alphagamer9505 lmao, no, America lost because it failed to achieve any of its objectives. You don't understand that in order to win you have to be on good terms with the people. The whole we lost only becaue of commies back home is a revanchist myth created in order to justified their failure. The thing is that they lost because they lost. But it will take time before they accept that
@@RoScFan Germany lost because it simply couldn't compete on two fronts and did not have sufficient manpower and industrial capacity to wage such a war. Not because of some "stab in the back". All of this "we lost, not because we lost, but because of those back home" is a revanchist BS made up by people who are just trying to justify their failures. The thing is that they lost because they lost. Some people are just too weak to admit defeat.
