History of The African Union - Scramble For Africa

Scramble For Africa

The first attempts to create a politically unified state encompassing the whole of the African continent were made by European colonial powers in the 19th century, intent on harnessing the vast natural resources and huge amount of manpower the continent had to offer to their Empires. However, the strong rivalry between European powers such as Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, meant the reality soon dawned that no one nation was powerful enough to outdo all the others, and take complete control of the continent.

Instead, they carved the continent up between them, scrambling for control of as much territory as possible, and attempting to prevent their rivals from obtaining favourable regions. The European powers essentially maintained control of their territories as colonies until the second half of the 20th century, when changes in European policy and thinking, led to releasing of control over their African colonies, and the creation of independent nations across the continent took place between the 1950s and 1970s.