Concept
The history of external colonisation of Africa can be dated back from ancient, medieval, or modern history, depending on how the term colonisation is defined. Ancient Greeks, Romans, and potentially the Malays as it pertains to distinguishing between immigration and settler colonialism, all established colonies on the African continent, similarly to how they established settler-colonies in parts of Eurasia. Some of these endured for centuries; however, popular parlance of colonialism in Africa usually focuses on the European conquests of the New Imperialism and Scramble for Africa (1884-1914), followed by gradual decolonisation after World War II. The principal powers involved in the modern colonisation of Africa are Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In nearly all African countries today, the language used in government and media is the one imposed by a recent colonial power, though most people speak their native African languages. History of Africa In ancient times, people from Southern Europe and Western Asia colonised North Africa, while people from Southeast Asia colonised Madagascar In the Middle Ages, North and East Africa was further colonised by people from Western Asia. In the Modern Era, Western Europeans colonised regions in all the continent's 5 major "parts", culminating in the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, during which nearly the entire continent was colonized. Roman Africans and Romans in Sub-Saharan Africa In the early historical period, colonies were founded in North Africa by migrants from Europe and Western Asia, particularly Greeks and Phoenecians. Under Egypt's Pharaoh Amasis (570–526 BC) a Greek mercantile colony was established at Naucratis, some 50 miles from the later Alexandria. Greeks colonised Cyrenaica around the same time. There was an attempt in 513 BC to establish a Greek colony between Cyrene and Carthage, which resulted in the combined local and Carthaginian expulsion two years later of the Greek colonists.