The Portuguese were the first Europeans to setup colonies in Africa. They built stone forts along the West African coast in fourteen eighty two. By nineteen hundred, millions of Africans had come to be ruled by Europeans. In nineteen fourteen, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only independent nations south of the Sahara Desert. In some areas European colonists setup European style communities and profited from the continent's natural resources.
During the nineteen hundreds, many Africans spoke out against the European nations that had controlled their continent. In the decades that followed World War Two, Africans once again began to control their own lands and lives.