During their empire building in the 1500s and 1600s which was believed the first great period of European colonization, several nations established trading posts on the east and west coasts of Sub-Saharan Africa. As the European powers scrambled for possessions in Africa, they needed to justify their actions. One such justification was the notion of the "white man's burden," which suggested that it was the duty of whites to assist Africans and other "inferior" people of the world by introducing them to the benefits of civilization.

West Africa had been a major center of the slave trade where the Portuguese, Dutch, British, and French established trading posts along the coast. When most European countries abolished the slave trade in the early l800s, these former slaving centers turned to other types of commerce. Eager to control this trade, Europeans began to push inland, seeking to link their coastal...