European colonization caused revolutionary changes to Africa's political geography and old African empires and kingdoms met their demise. The societies in Africa were in flux and politically and organizationally unstable so they were unable to resist the European invaders.
Seven European powers colonized most of Africa by 1900. These powers included Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and Portugal. After the conquest of both the centralized and decentralized African states, the European powers went to set up colonial state systems. The goal of these systems was to exploit and control the colonized societies through the use of a machinery of administrative domination.
