Europeans had traded with parts of Africa for centuries, rarely getting beyond the coastal regions. That changed in the 1870s, when the search for riches and empire led European countries to stake claims to the so-called "dark continent."
It is not a pretty story, but one told in great detail by Robert Harm in the book Land of Tears: The Exploration and Exploitation of Equatorial Africa.
The author, who teaches history and Africa studies at Yale, follows the trail of Africa's incorporation into the modern world, a process not often beneficial to Africans. We welcome the author to the Exchange.