that the slave trade had a long-term debilitating impact on African economic development. Manning, for example, arrived at the following conclusion, after accounting for regional variations in slave exports and assuming an annual African population growth rate of 0.5.%: the population of West Africa would have been 100 million rather than ~50 million in 1850, if not for the combined effects of the external and internal slave trades. Nunn, in a recent econometric analysis of slave-exporting regions in all parts of Africa, found "a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves taken from a country and its subsequent economic development." Nunn argues, moreover, that this cannot be explained by poverty prior to the slave trade, because more densely populated and economically developed parts of Africa regressed behind previously less developed, non-slave exporting areas during the course of the Atlantic, trans-Saharan, Red Sea and Indian Ocean slave trades. Colonial era 1884–1945 The Berlin Conference (German: Kongokonferenz or "Congo Conference") of 1884–85 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power. Called for by Portugal and organized by Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany, its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa. The conference ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, while simultaneously eliminating most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance. During this colonial time, the economy of Africa was re-arranged to serve Europe and Europeans, and the European industrial chain began in Africa and ended in European industrial warehouses. All of Africa would ultimately fall under European colonial rule by 1914, with the exceptions of Ethiopia and Liberia. The partitioning of African territory among European regimes often violated existing boundaries recognized by local Africans. Some of the independent African states affected by the partitioning of the continent included: Al-Hajj Umar Ahmadu Sefu Ankole Asanti Bagirmi Barotse Basutoland Benin Kingdom Bornu Buganda Bunyoro Burundi Chokwe Dahomey Empire of Sokoto Jumbe Karagwe Matabele Merina Mirambo Mlozi Morocco Msiri Rwanda Samori (Mahdist State of the) Sudan Yao Chiefs Yoruba State Wadai (Sultanate of) Zanzibar Zulu Empire Under colonial rule, the plantation system of farming was widely introduced in order to grow large quantities of cash crops, and employing cheap (often forced) African labor for export to European countries. Mining for gems and precious