Map Description

Historical Map of Africa in the 17th and 18th Centuries.


Illustrating

The possessions of the European Powers established in Africa c. 1790. (Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, French, Danish, Turkish)

Inset: The Gold and Slave Coasts.

Colonization in Africa during the 17th and 18th centuries was characterized by limited European settlement and massive economic exploitation, as well as the transatlantic slave trade. The focus was on trade and resource extraction rather than extensive territorial control.

The First and the Last Colony in Africa

The first European colony in Africa was established by Portugal in 1415 when it captured Ceuta, a city on the northern coast of modern-day Morocco. European colonial activity in Africa had begun.

The last claim of a colony in Africa was made by Italy, which invaded Ethiopia in 1935. This invasion is recognized as the last significant act of colonization in Africa before the wave of decolonization began after World War II.

The last colony to gain independence in Africa was Namibia, which became independent from South African rule on March 21, 1990. Prior to Namibia's independence, the continent had been largely decolonized, with most African nations achieving independence in the 1960s and 1970s.

Credits

University of Texas at Austin. From the Cambridge Modern History Atlas, 1912.

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