better firepower, equipment and recourses; having better guns, armour, communication technology, and supply routes, made the Europeans a formidable enemy that the various tribes simply could not counter.
- co-opting the local elites; a tried and tested method for centuries, this has always been the way smart conquer, could maintain control over a region.
- divide and conquer; conflict between the many tribes of Africa has been a constant for centuries in the continent. The Europeans could easily manipulate the various tribes against each other to prevent a unified resistance from rising up.
Terrorism they used different forms of terror that would make most contemporary dictators feel a little uneasy. Like the widespread killing and mutilation when quotas were not met in king Leopold II's Congo.
