THE CONGO CONFERENCE (1885) BEGAN SEPARATING UP AFRICA, PAYING NO ATTENTION TO CULTURE OR ETHNIC GROUPS, AND LEAVING PEOPLE FROM THE SAME TRIBE ON SEPARATE SIDES OF EUROPEAN-IMPOSED BORDERS. UNDER THE GUISE OF MODERN DEVELOPMENT, AFRICANS WERE ENCOURAGED TO FORGO ANCESTRAL VALUES AS WELL AS BANNED FROM DEVELOPING ANY INDIGENOUS IDEAS WHICH AIMED TO CREATE SOCIAL AWARENESS. GIVEN IMPORTED DOCTRINES AND IDEALS THROUGH WESTERN EDUCATION, THE NATIVES LOST THEIR IDENTITY. AFRICANS THROUGHOUT HISTORY DEVELOPED THEIR OWN LOCAL ARCHITECTURAL, SPIRITUAL, AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS INHABITING A MENTALITY OF THE INTER-CONNECTEDNESS OF LIFE WITH THEIR ART HAVING AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN MODERNIST ART, INSPIRED BY THEIR INTEREST IN ABSTRACT DEPICTION AS SEEN IN AFRICAN SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, SPIRITUALITY, ARTS AND DANCE. LITERACY SIMPLY MEANT THAT ONE COULD READ THEIR WORLD, NOT THE SPOKEN AND WRITTEN WORD, CONSTANTLY DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM NATURE AND BEING INFLUENCED BY IT TO CREATE FUNCTIONAL ART. AS A RESULT OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE, WE HAVE LOST THE ANCIENT TRICKS OF THE TRADE USED TO SURVIVE A WHITE MAN’S WORLD. THE CURRENT IDENTITY OF AFRICA HAD ITS GENESIS IN HER TRAUMATIC ENCOUNTER WITH EUROPE; AT CROSSROADS BETWEEN AFRICAN AND GREEK ART, TRADITIONALISM AND CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, NATIVE TONGUE AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND WESTERN EDUCATION.