Till the middle of the 19th century, the westerners did not have any idea of the interiors of the African continent.
In the second half of the 19th century, the courageous European travellers brought these regions to the notice of the world.
i. The Berlin Conference: The European nations held a conference at Berlin in 1884-85. The conference was based on the principle of ‘Effective Possession’.
It gave consent to King Leopold’s possession of the Congo region and passed a set of directives for the division of the African continent.
Later, the European nations distributed the African regions among themselves by the year 1914. It was collectively agreed, that the new possession of a region in Africa would be interactively decided.
ii. England: England set up its colonies in the Niger river basin of Africa.
It dominated the regions of Cape Colony, Sudan, Uganda, Rhodesia, East Africa, Zambia, Nigeria etc.
It also took the possession of Egypt under the pretext of providing security to the Suez Canal.
iii. Dutch: The Dutch set up colonies in Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State and Transwal.
iv. France: The French moved up to the Senegal basin. It went on to capture the Sahara desert, Algeria, French Congo, Madagascar Island and Morocco.
v. Germany: Germany colonized the south-west Africa, Cameroon and the east African regions.
vi. Spain: Rio de Oro, north of Morocco and some areas in Guinea Coast were colonized by Spain.
vii. Portugal: The Portuguese dominated the eastern regions, Angola and Mozambique.
viii. Italy: Italy captured Eritrea, Somaliland, Tripoli and Sirenica regions in Africa.
Barring Ethiopia and Liberia, the entire African continent was colonized by the European nations.