Methods used by the imperialists to control the colonies

Methods used by the imperialists to control the colonies

At the beginning of colonialism, they used business companies to expand and carry out colonial administration. Examples of such companies were the German East Africa Company (GEACO) under Carl Peters and the British East African Company (BEACO) under William Mackinnon. The imperialists and their companies cheated Africans by making them sign false treaties. When the Africans discovered that they had been cheated, they dishonoured the treaties. As a result, the imperialists started wars of conquest to control them forcibly. However, by the 1890s, most of the companies had failed to rule the colonies; hence, colonial states and governments were established and controlled the colonies. The common method used to establish colonialism was conquest. The European powers conquered African societies and colonised them. Almost all the colonial powers used this method.