Though colonial imperialism empires dated back hundreds of years, the rapid drive for colonies at the end of the nineteenth century led Europe's to gain political control of most Asia and Africa. Between 1880-1914, European nations scrambled to divide among themselves virtually the entire continent of Africa, except Liberia and Ethiopia. Once European nations carved up empires, they quickly set up colonial governments to rule them and systems to make them profitable.
European imperialism brought modern inventions and techniques of the Industrial Revolutions to the non-European world. But, to peoples in Africa and Asia, Western expansion represented a profoundly disruptive assault.
