The Scramble for Africa Was Faster Than Almost Anyone Expected

The 1892 Punch cartoon The Rhodes Colossus, Cecil Rhodes striding from the Cape to Cairo.

In 1870 Europe controlled about a tenth of Africa; by 1914, roughly nine-tenths. How the partition actually worked — chartered companies, pre-printed treaties, and a great many wars — and why the “carve-up at Berlin” story is only half true.