Okay, so when we think about 19th century imperialism, we usually think about the way that Europe turned Africa from this into this. The so-called Scramble for Africa. Speaking of scrambles and the European colonization of Africa, you know what they say, sometimes to make an omelet you gotta break a few eggs. And then sometimes you break a lot of eggs and you don't get an omelet. Europeans had been involved in Africa since the 16th century, when the Portuguese used their cannons to take control of cities on coasts to set up their trading post empire. But in the second half of the 19th century, Europe suddenly and spectacularly succeeded at colonizing basically all of Africa. Why?