When European nations established colonies in Africa in the late 1800s, they set up Imperial governments in the land to exploit the natural and human resources of the continent.
Each European countries involved aimed to increase its prestige by accumulating territories in other parts of the world including Africa. By 1900,the Berlin conference to divide Africa brought about nominal control of African territory by Europe. All this was done without the consent of African people.
The European nations sought to expand their economies by obtaining raw materials from Africa which could be transported back to domestic factories and turned into manufactured goods for sale at the expense of the African people.
