The French colonial governor of Senegal, General Faidherbe (1818-89), reorganizes the administration of the French settlements here between 1854 to 1865. In 1857, he founds the city of Dakar as the capital of the French territories. He recruits Senegalese soldiers for the French colonial army, and they become some of the best troops in the whole of the French army. Using these troops, Faidherbe expands French control inland beyond the Senegal River. From their bases in Senegal and Algeria, the French annex the Sahara region and western Sudan (eastern Sudan is a British colony). The Macina empire of Ahamdou and the Tuculor state of al-hajj Omar are defeated. Bondu is effectively under French control by the 1880s, although it remains nominally independent until 1901. In 1878, the kingdom of Dahomey (famous for its women soldiers) is conquered. In 1886, the Ivory Coast is occupied, and 1893, Guinea is declared a colony.

In 1898, one the toughest opponents of French expansion, Samori Turay, is finally defeated after 20 years of resistance. Samori's state was based in the highlands of the upper Senegal and Niger Rivers. In 1904, the west African territories were all reorganized and came under the control of what was called the Government General of French West Africa.

By 1905, France had completed the occupation of central Africa through the relatively peaceful policies of the explorer Savorgnan de Brazza. Instead of military might, he established French dominance through a series of treaties with local rulers in the Congo basin region. In 1910, these territories were put under the Government General of Equatorial Africa.

Meanwhile, the British complete the conquest of the Asante kingdom in two campaigns, in 1895 and 1900, and annex it as part of the Gold Coast colony. In 1903, the armies of the Sokoto caliphate and the city state of Kano are defeated in turn. These regions are annexed to the British colony of Nigeria The rapid expansion inland of these relatively small European-led armies (both French and British) was based on the power of the new generation machine guns now in use.

The rising powers of Germany and Italy felt excluded from the race for colonies. Thus, in 1884, an international congress divided up the whole continent among the European powers. The Italians were mostly interested in north and east Africa, but in west and central Africa, Germany occupied Togo and Cameroon. The British and French almost came to blows at a number of points in Africa, the most famous of which is called the Fashoda Crisis of 1898. A French army and British army faced off along the border of the French and British zones of Sudan. The situation was resolved without fighting, and in the end, a strong alliance between the two countries was formed which would have serious consequences in Europe. The Congo region was created as a buffer--a neutral zone--between the French, British and Germans, and was given to King Leopold of Belgium as his personal property.