During the XIX century the capitalism and the industrial revolution had settled down in Europe and need an expansion in the look for raw materials and new markets. The colonialist thinking began to rise as the primary territory idea and found in Africa a region rich in natural resources.
In other times countries wanted to have imperial colonies not only for territory exploitation, they also wanted full control, they were almost like provinces for the same country. But with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution the empires were only looking for the exploitation of the territory, took out the raw materials from there and export elaborated products back at them with value added.
This began a race among the European countries to get control over Africa’s countries; this would get it´s final expression on the Berlin Conference 1884-1885 in which the European countries divided the African’s regions.
Africa was an unknown region; it´s exploration was an adventure of discovery. The river that connected Europe with the interior of the continent was the river Congo, there was a strong competition between Belgium and France towards the dominion of this passage. The United Kingdom pretensions were over the south of Africa and Egypt, Portugal claimed its right due to the ownership of factories long time ago in the Angolan coasts. Germany assured the western part of the continent. Finally the Congo was in the hands of the Leopold II not the Belgian state because it was considered that the region was heritage of the crown not the state .
To summon it up the European nations wanted to colonize Africa in the 1880s because it was a region rich in natural resources and raw materials.
Hope this help you. Regards.
