European Colonialism and Territorial Disputes in Africa: The Gulf of Guinea and the Indian Ocean

This essay examines how European colonialism continues to underlie most territorial disputes in Africa. How these disputes have been resolved or are likely to be resolved is described, based on the following four long drawn-out disputes: the Nigeria–Cameroon dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula; the Gabon–Equatorial Guinea dispute over the islands of Mbanié, Cocotiers, and Conga in the Corisco Bay; the Mauritius–United Kingdom dispute over the Chagos Archipelago; and the Comoros–France dispute over Mayotte.