European states saw it as a real bonus to be able to say that they had colonies, so much so that a children's rhyme in an ABC for Baby Patriots went, C is for colonies, rightly we boast, that of all the great countries, Great Britain has the most. But it was mostly, not to get all Marxist on you or anything, about controlling the means of production. Europeans wanted colonies to secure sources of raw materials, especially cotton, copper, iron, and rubber, that were used to fuel their growing industrial economies. And in addition to providing the motive for imperialism, European industrialization also provided the means. Europeans didn't fail to take over territory in Africa until the late 19th century because they didn't want to. They failed because they couldn't. This was mostly due to disease.