Colonialism had a long-lasting effect on world politics. While the development of the slave trade meant that the coastal regions of Africa were heavily colonized, the interior was not affected until the Berlin Conference in 1884. How did the colonial powers choose to divide the interior region among themselves?

At the Berlin Conference, the European powers represented resorted into creating arbitrary geometric boundaries on Africa's map to ease out the division of the interior region among themselves.

Explanation:

At the time of the conference, only the coastal areas of Africa were colonized by the European powers. At the Berlin Conference the European colonial powers scrambled to gain control over the Interior of the Continent. The conference lasted until February 26, 1885 - a three month period where colonial powers haggled over geometric boundaries in the interior of the continent, disregarding the cultural and linguistic boundaries already established by the Native Indigenous African population. What ultimately resulted was a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries.

During the era of "scrabble for Africa" many European nations enter into treaties with African chiefs, claiming their territories for their European leaders.

Explanation:

Before the arrival of Europeans, map of Africa was basically along ethnic lines, which most times are not permanent due to migration or conquest.

The boundaries did not capture all the lands, most lands are uninhabited as they serve as buffer zones between ethnic tribes.

The advent of Europeans, with main interest in exploiting the mineral deposits inland of the coast of Africa, redrawn the lines of the territories and entered treaties with African chiefs for their European leaders.

The size of land acquired by these Europeans depends on their powers in Europe. Countries like France, Britain and Germany has more territorial controls than weaker nations like Spain.

European colonialists set the boundaries base on territorial claims as against the original ethnic lines.

Tribes were lumped together whether they have a conforming tradition or not. Geography was used as the main boundaries as against the tribal lines.

The Berlin conference of 1884 finally saw many European countries owing territories base on agreement arrived at the meeting.

Germany was to loose all her territories after their defeat in first world war.