The 1884 Berlin Conference and the Partition of Africa

In 1884, representatives of all the colonial powers of Europe and America met in Berlin to discuss how they would divide Africa between them. The colonization of Africa had begun, and the newly formed Germany under German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was attempting to create their own overseas empire. This led to a great deal of concern about war between the different European powers over their African holdings. The result was a series of negotiations over how to divide Africa, known as the Berlin Conference.

The participating countries included: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, and the United States of America. Not all of these countries had colonies in Africa, but they participated in the talks as it concerned their empires elsewhere.

Although all of Africa was divided at the Conference, the final map didn't look exactly as they planned. Ethiopia, under Emperor Menelik II, remained independent. When Italy attempted to conquer the country in 1895, the Ethiopians dealt them a resounding defeat at the Battle of Adwa. The Ethiopians, armed with newly purchased French and German weapons and better trained in their use, won the first Italo-Ethiopian war with fewer casualties than the Italians and with no change in their borders. By the 1930s, Ethiopia would remain the only African nation not colonized by a European country.

(This doesn't count Liberia, which was a country founded by free black people fleeing conditions in the U.S.; it is important to note, however, that Liberia was also a colonial state, and the locals were not full participants in running the country).

https://www.infoplease.com/history/world/partition-of-africa