"Colonialism==
The section on Colonialism is very inadequate.  No sources are cited. I recommend that the following be added:

To speak of the ""scramble for Africa"" is to begin a debate centuries old. In the words of Robert Collins, ""The explanations [for the colonization of Africa] are nearly as unsatisfactory as they are numerous.  The misconceptions are as enduring as they are erroneous.  To scholar and student alike, the search for understanding this dynamic period, which resulted in European colonial rule in Africa and dramatically altered the future of a vast continent, is the Problem of the Partition of Africa.""Robert O. Collins, Historical Problems of Imperial Africa, (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1994), 7

By 1870, many European nations were interested in the African interior, and began moving up the rivers.  Generally, except for a few cases, foreign powers could not move beyond ""small coastal enclaves."" Kevin Shillington, History of Africa: Revised Second Edition, (New York: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2005), 301  But from the years of 1880-1900, the European imperial powers engaged in a major territorial scramble and occupied most of the continent, creating many colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations: Liberia, an independent state partly settled by African Americans; and Orthodox Christian Ethiopia (known to Europeans as ""Abyssinia""). Colonial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of World War II, when all colonial states gradually obtained formal independence.

The scramble came from the rising of a new world from old Europe.  Until this point, Britain had been the undisputed leader in the industrial realm.  They could produce more manufactured goods than any other country, and at the lowest price.  Britain promoted the idea of ""free trade"" in Africa, the idea that no European countries would interfere with one another while freely trading in Africa.  Britain had no worries until the 1860's when ""France, Germany, and the United States had caught up with Britain in terms of industrial technology and manufacturing."" Kevin Shillington, History of Africa: Revised Second Edition, (New York: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2005), 301 

As a result of this industrialization of the world, there was a shortage of markets to sell to.  many European countries, as a result, looked to Africa as a potential client. Some believed when diamonds were discovered in 1869 they ""provided the incentive and capital for a large influx of Europeans.""Robert O. Collins, Historical Problems of Imperial Africa, (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1994), 7  The creation of the Suez Canal ""not only made the East African coast more accessible but also became the great pivot in British imperial strategy.""ibid., 7 Above all else, we must look at this imperial world pragmatically and not ideologically. Until this point, ""military and political relations between Africans and Europeans concludes that Africans controlled the nature of their interactions with Europe.  Europeans did not possess the military power to force Africans in any type of trade in which their leaders did not wish to engage."" John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, second edition (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 7

But a new world, as noted above, had begun.  Because of new competition in the trading industries of Europe and the Americas, Britain now had rivals for trade in Africa.  Even smaller countries sometimes wanted to get involved looking for quick cash and to find ways to sustain their countries.  Within the hubris of the European nations was the ideal of ""national prestige,"" an idea that holding African colonies would increase the power of a nation.Kevin Shillington, History of Africa: Revised Second Edition, (New York: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2005), 303 New technology as well in the form of the ""repeater rifle"" and the ""maxim-gun"" gave Europeans new advantages over Africa. There had been trade of guns with Africa before this era, but as Hilaire Belloc put it:

Whatever happens we have got

The Maxim gun; and they have not.Kevin Shillington, History of Africa: Revised Second Edition, (New York: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 2005), 301     

But the main question that we must decide is how the partition of Africa began. What was the primary catalyst for ""the scramble?""  Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher argue that the British occupation of Egypt began the process.Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher with Denny Alice, Africa and the Victorians: The Official Mind of Imperialism (London: Macm