MAP 23.1 Africa, c. 1890
The scramble for Africa entailed a change in European trading practices, which generally had been limited to the coastline. Trying to penetrate economically and rule the interior ultimately resulted in a map of the continent that made sense only to the imperial powers, for it divided ethnic groups and made territorial unities that had nothing to do with Africans’ sense of geography or patterns of settlement. This map shows the unfolding of that process and the political and ethnic groupings to be conquered.