Why did the Europeans control such a small portion of Africa in the 1800s? The Europeans had such little land because they hadn't sparked an interest in Africa yet. The Europeans did not know about the Gold and Diamonds in the African soil. ... Africa because they found out about the rich soil and Gold and Diamonds.
Depends on the context... by 1900, about all of Africa was European, around 1800? Not so much, simply because at the time Europe was in a massive war between Napoleon’s France and Britain along with their respective allies. Europeans didn’t start to take notice until valuable resources were discovered along with ways to exploit the continent
