Editing Africa (section)

=== Colonialism ===

European colonial expansion in Africa accelerated during the 19th century. Earlier European activity had focused mainly on coastal trade, forts, missionary activity, and limited settlements. During the late 19th century, European powers divided most of the continent through conquest, diplomacy, company rule, and treaties imposed under unequal conditions.

The [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884–1885 became a major symbol of this division. European states created colonial borders that often ignored existing political, linguistic, ethnic, economic, and ecological realities. Colonial rule introduced new administrative systems, forced labor, taxation, land seizure, cash-crop production, racial hierarchies, missionary education, and infrastructure designed mainly for extraction.

Colonial control was not uniform. Some regions were ruled through direct administration, while others were governed through indirect rule using local rulers or appointed chiefs. African resistance occurred in many forms, including armed revolt, religious movements, labor protest, tax refusal, migration, political organization, and cultural preservation.

Colonial rule also produced new cities, schools, railways, ports, courts, and bureaucracies. These institutions changed African societies in uneven ways. Some became tools of exploitation, while others later became resources for anti-colonial movements and independent states.