During the 19th century, European colonization in Africa dramatically altered the African continent and the lives of African people. As the major powers of Europe met in Germany in 1884 and 1885 to divide Africa between them, they claimed for themselves vast and invaluable reserves of natural resources, including timber, gold, diamonds, ivory, and rubber. For decades afterward, France, England, Germany, Belgium, and other European countries colonized African lands, extracting billions of dollars worth of material goods for sale abroad, and oppressing millions of Africans under colonial rule.

In this addition to the Daily Life through History series, Toyin Falola, a preeminent scholar of African history, walks readers through the many and complex ways that colonialism effected the daily lives of Africans across the African continent. European Christian missionaries converted millions to a new faith, disrupting spiritual practices and sacred traditions much older than the Christian church itself. Farmers who had once planted only what they needed to sustain themselves and their communities began harvesting new cash crops, including cotton and cocoa. The radical reconstruction of local African politics shifted power from traditional leadership to centralized governments overseen by foreigners. Yet despite new challenges and hardships, Falola shows how many everyday Africans adapted to new ways of life, resisting colonial intrusion for decades until gaining their independence in the 20th century.