There were permissive factors that made the colonial occupation of Africa possible. European explorers had been coming to Africa and continued to explore the continent. James Bruce, David Livingstone, Clapperton, Mungo Park, Richard Lander, Henry Morton Stanley, Rene Caillie, and Samuel Baker were some of the explorers. Missionaries followed in the footsteps of the explorers, aiming at evangelizing the African peoples. Individual fortune seekers were accompanied by companies. These companies were followed by colonial governments.
The explorers and the missionaries gathered useful information, which was used by companies and European governments. Some did this in the service of European governments. Some other explorers and missionaries did it out of curiosity and for scientific missions. But their works served their governments.
Colonial powers made treaties with local rulers and gradually acquired the lands of these rulers. These treaties were often agreements by which African rulers accepted the protection of one or another European power. Europeans also produced fake treaties, in which they falsely claimed to have been given possession of lands by local African rulers.
Outright conquests of territories were also carried out. For instance, military conquests were made in West Africa by the French. The British occupied Egypt in 1882. In 1898, the British defeated the Mahdist resistance at the Battle of Omdurman. This victory enabled them to occupy the Sudan.
In 1899, Seyyid Muhammad Abdile Hassen organized Somali combatants and confronted British colonizers. In this encounter, Abdile Hassen called for a united Somalia to stand against the common enemy. Although he was defeated by the British forces in 1920, he had laid the foundation for a united Somali nation.
It was only in Ethiopia that successful resistance against the Europeans was achieved. This success could be attributed to many factors.
European colonial conquest was carried out during this period. The Europeans had modern weapons and trained professional armies. Unlike the Europeans, Africans were technologically backward and could not manufacture firearms. They also found it difficult to acquire firearms through purchase. African resistance was not coordinated.
After treaties and military conquests, colonial powers drew African boundaries in line with their own interests arbitrarily and hastily.
European colonial rule denied self-government to Africans. European colonizers exploited African mineral and agricultural resources. They used Africans as a source of cheap labour.
European colonial rule varied in form. The British made local chiefs obey their wishes, often by giving them instructions. The French mainly preferred to give direct orders. The British kind of administration has come to be known as indirect rule, and that of the French as direct rule.
