Question: How did the claims on the areas in the continent where the river that serves as a drainage for the southwest plain of the Congo is located benefit European powers?

from the 1880s to 1914, the european powers expanded their control across the african continent, competing with each other for africa’s land and resources. great britain controlled various colonial holdings in east africa that spanned the length of the african continent from egypt in the north to south africa. the french gained major ground in west africa, and the portuguese held colonies in southern africa. germany, italy, and spain established a small number of colonies at various points throughout the continent, which included german east africa (tanganyika) and german southwest africa for germany, eritrea and libya for italy, and the canary islands and rio de oro in northwestern africa for spain. finally, for king leopold (ruled from 1865–1909), there was the large “piece of that great african cake” known as the congo, which, unfortunately for the native congolese, became his personal fiefdom to do with as he pleased in central africa. by 1914, almost the entire continent was under european control. liberia, which was settled by freed american slaves in the 1820s, and abyssinia (ethiopia) in eastern africa were the last remaining independent african states. (john merriman, a history of modern europe, volume two: from the french revolution to the present, third edition (new york: w. w. norton & company, 2010), pp. 819–859). <SEP> mil plain is a plain in azerbaijan. it is located on the bank of the aras river and extends to iran. mil-plain is located in the southwest part of the kur-araz lowland, where the kura and araz rivers meet. the area is between the right bank of the kura river and the left bank of the araz river. the north-eastern part of the plain is lower than the ocean level. in the south-west, these areas are covered by sand, gravel. more than 40 percent of the altitude in the plain is 0-100 meters, 25 percent - 100-200 meters above sea level, and 35 percent - absolute altitude is less than 0 meters. the absolute altitude decreases about 8 m to north (to the kura river) and varies from 200 to 250 to the west (harami plain). the plain includes mainly the areas of imishli and beylagan districts. seismic activity is high as the plain is in the convergent border the alpine-himalayan orogenic belt. <SEP> The major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could exhibit a sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial land holdings or treaties to be legitimate. The European power that demonstrated its control over a territory accepted the mandate to rule that region as a national colony. With the colonial claim came the underlying assumption that the European power that exerted control would use its mandate to offer protection and provide welfare for its colonial peoples, however, this principle remained more theory than practice. The European nation that held the claim developed and benefited from their colony’s commercial interests without having to fear rival European competition. There were many documented instances of material and moral conditions deteriorating for native Africans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under European colonial rule, to the point where the colonial experience for them has been described as "hell on earth." <SEP> The area includes parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola (Cabinda Province), the Republic of the Congo and Gabon. Mayombe (or Mayumbe) is a geographic area on the western coast of Africa occupied by low mountains extending from the mouth of the Congo River in the south to the Kouilou-Niari River to the north. <SEP> The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is the Kouilou-Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between two basins to the south and north. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure.