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The International Law of Colonialism in East Africa: Germany, England, and the Doctrine of Discovery

by Robert J. Miller & Olivia Stitz

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Abstract

The non-European, non-Christian world was colonized under international law that is known today as the Doctrine of Discovery. This common-law international Doctrine was codified into European international law at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 and in the Berlin Act of 1885 specifically to partition and colonize Africa. Thirteen European countries and the United States attended the four-month Conference, which ended with thirteen countries signing the Berlin Act on February 26, 1885. Under the Discovery Doctrine and the Berlin Act, these European countries claimed superior rights over African nations and Indigenous Peoples. European explorers planted crosses, signed hundreds of treaties, and raised flags in many parts of Africa to make legal claims of ownership and domination over the native nations and peoples, and their lands and assets. These claims were justified in the fifteenth and in the nineteenth centuries by racial, ethnocentric, and religious ideas about the alleged superiority of European Christian nations. This Article examines the application of the Doctrine and the Berlin Act by England and Germany in East Africa, which now comprises Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This comparative law analysis demonstrates convincingly that the Berlin Act and these colonizing countries applied what we define as the ten elements of the Doctrine of Discovery. These elements had been developed and refined by European legal and political systems since the mid-1400s. Over 400 years later, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 expressly and implicitly adopted and codified all ten elements to control the European partition and colonization of Africa. Germany and England used this international law to colonize East Africa. Needless to say, European domination, exploitation, and colonization seriously injured the human, property, sovereign, and self-determination rights of Indigenous nations and peoples. The effects of colonization are still felt today. The comparative legal analysis set out in this article sheds light on how law affected and directed African colonization. It also develops a better understanding of the international law of colonialism as well as its historical process and impacts. This Article concludes by explaining the crucial importance of this knowledge.

The International Law of Colonialism in East Africa: Germany, England, and the Doctrine of Discovery

by Robert J. Miller & Olivia Stitz

Click here for a PDF file of this article

Abstract

The non-European, non-Christian world was colonized under international law that is known today as the Doctrine of Discovery. This common-law international Doctrine was codified into European international law at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 and in the Berlin Act of 1885 specifically to partition and colonize Africa. Thirteen European countries and the United States attended the four-month Conference, which ended with thirteen countries signing the Berlin Act on February 26, 1885. Under the Discovery Doctrine and the Berlin Act, these European countries claimed superior rights over African nations and Indigenous Peoples. European explorers planted crosses, signed hundreds of treaties, and raised flags in many parts of Africa to make legal claims of ownership and domination over the native nations and peoples, and their lands and assets. These claims were justified in the fifteenth and in the nineteenth centuries by racial, ethnocentric, and religious ideas about the alleged superiority of European Christian nations. This Article examines the application of the Doctrine and the Berlin Act by England and Germany in East Africa, which now comprises Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This comparative law analysis demonstrates convincingly that the Berlin Act and these colonizing countries applied what we define as the ten elements of the Doctrine of Discovery. These elements had been developed and refined by European legal and political systems since the mid-1400s. Over 400 years later, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 expressly and implicitly adopted and codified all ten elements to control the European partition and colonization of Africa. Germany and England used this international law to colonize East Africa. Needless to say, European domination, exploitation, and colonization seriously injured the human, property, sovereign, and self-determination rights of Indigenous nations and peoples. The effects of colonization are still felt today. The comparative legal analysis set out in this article sheds light on how law affected and directed African colonization. It also develops a better understanding of the international law of colonialism as well as its historical process and impacts. This Article concludes by explaining the crucial importance of this knowledge.