The scramble for Africa brought almost all of the continent under European colonial rule in only a few short decades. Against industrialized European adversaries with overwhelming technological advantages, African forces could offer little sustained military resistance. This does not mean, however, that conquest and colonization brought African resistance to an end. Instead, resistance took on new forms as the European powers settled into the difficult task of governing their new colonies. British businessman and financier Cecil Rhodes (Document 25-2) may have imagined that African peoples would simply disappear, washed away by a tidal wave of racially superior “Anglo-Saxon” settlers, but they did not. The European presence had a profound impact on African society and culture, but it was a complex one, forged out of cross-cultural interactions and the ongoing efforts of Africans to regain control of their lives and destinies. As you read the documents included in this feature, think about the African reaction to colonization. Why did African peoples never fully accept the legitimacy and permanence of colonial rule?