om the Nile River was essential to the people of Egypt. The British believed that they had to control the headwaters of the Nile to guard Egypt and the canal. Thus, in 1898 Britain conquered Sudan and made it a condominium.By 1900, Europeans controlled most of Africa. Only two countries remained free. Europeans established Colonial rule and forced Africans to work for them. At first they did this using weapons, then taxes. The Europeans treated the Africans little better than slaves. The Commercial plantations they worked in produced peanuts, palm oil, cocoa, and rubber. These products, used as cash crops for export, in part displaced the food crops grown for local consumption. Imperialism had now changed Africa, and started industrializing it....
