Map of Africa from 1890

The Scramble for Africa

Africa held many attractions for the European powers during the late 1890's. While explorers including Livingstone, Stanley and Speke had mapped out most of the continent during the 1850's, much of Africa was not under direct European control. But the 1890's marked an era where Europan powers, namely the British, French, Portuguese and Germans, decided that grabbing land for themselves and setting up colonies was an economic and poltitcal necessity. Africans did not consent or even realise their land was now in the hands of foreigners. In some cases entire tribes were massacared. For more details, Wikipedia has a nice synposis of this era with the conclusion below:

Between 1885 and 1914 Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under her control, to 15% for France, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and only 1% for Italy. Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of French West Africa or the entire German colonial empire. It was paradoxical that Britain, the staunch advocate of free trade, emerged in 1914 with not only the largest overseas empire thanks to her long-standing presence in India, but also the greatest gains in the "scramble for Africa", reflecting her advantageous position at its inception. In terms of surface area occupied, the French were the marginal victors but most of their empire was covered by desert.

For more about Africa's fascinating history, see About.com's African History Site. Among other curious details, find out why Queen Victoria handily re-drew the border between Kenya and Tanzania in order to give her grandson a mountain of his own in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.