A Scientific and Diplomatic Scramble for Africa: Barbosa du Bocage, colonial science, and the Berlin Conference of 1884–85

Description

This communication explores how José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, a nineteenth-century Portuguese zoologist, was able to play important diplomatic roles in the discussions regarding the colonization of the African continent due to his scientific expertise. It was only in the late nineteenth century that the economic, political, and technoscientific conditions for the colonization of Africa in its entirety emerged. European states with colonial ambitions vied to control this mostly unknown continent, with competition rapidly evolving into a scramble. Despite its difficult financial situation and political irrelevance, Portugal also embarked in the race, desperately trying to preserve the colonial remnants of its golden Age of Exploration. In the mid-1880s, when attentions concentrated in the partitioning of the much coveted Congo region, Bocage, a Portuguese naturalist, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and organized the colonial negotiations. He had reached such a prominent political position not only due to his proximity to particular political quarters, but also because he was a specialist in African fauna and had acquired relevant knowledge in the country’s geography. When an international conference was organized in Berlin in 1884 to discuss the terms of the partition, Bocage carefully instructed his son Carlos Roma du Bocage on colonial matters and sent him as part of the Portuguese delegation. Bocage’s case illustrates the importance of scientific knowledge in diplomatic negotiations in a period in which science and scientists were not yet recognized a strategic and fundamental part of political processes.

Period	20 Jul 2019
Event title	Diplomats in Science Diplomacy: Promoting scientific and technological collaboration in international relations
Event type	Workshop
Location	Copenhagen, DenmarkShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International