As the European conquest of Africa unfolded, Portugal played the role of catalyst rather than leader. Hampered by its small size and weakened by several centuries of European warfare, Portugal was the smallest and poorest of Europe's imperial powers by the end of the 19th century. As a result, it was unable to hold on to everything that it claimed, but by playing off the major powers (England, France and Germany) against each other, Portugal managed to expand the territory that it actually controlled by the end of the "Scramble for Africa."
NOTE: The Scramble for Africa is an expression used to describe the rather frantic competition by Europeans to claim as much African soil as they could at the end of the 19th century. Although there is some disagreement about the exact dates, the "Scramble" is thought to have begun in the early 1880s and ended by 1900.
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