The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa, is the proliferation of conflicting European claims to African territory during the New Imperialism period, between the 1880s and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

The last fifth of the 19th century sees the transition from "informal imperialism" of control through military influence and economic dominance to that of direct rule.

Attempts to mediate imperial competition, such as the Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885) between Britain, France and Germany, fail to establish definitively the competing powers' claims.