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32 Duke J. Comp. & Int'l L. 1 (2021-2022)
The International Law of Colonialism in East Africa: Germany, England, and the Doctrine of Discovery

handle is hein.journals/djcil32 and id is 2 raw text is: THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF COLONIALISM IN EAST AFRICA: GERMANY, ENGLAND, AND THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY ROBERT J. MILLER* & OLIVIA STITZ** 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 of1884-85 expressly and implicitly adopted and codified all ten elements to control the European partition and colonization ofAfrica. Copyright ( 2021 Robert J. Miller & Olivia Stitz * Professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University; Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar; Director, Rosette LLP American Indian Economic Development Program; Elected Member, American Philosophical Society; Chief Justice, Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals; Citizen, Eastern Shawnee Tribe. ** J.D. 2021 Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Ms. Stitz performed research on German colonization activities in Africa and provided all translations. 1

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