1.  By far the most consequential reason lies in the 1884 Berlin Conference that officially authorized the 'scramble' for Africa. At the time of the conference, only 10% of Africa was colonized. By the year 1914, approximately 90% was ruled by Europe (Shisia, 2018). This is also a time when European countries decided on which areas of Africa each country would take over, thus dividing up Africa into its prospective countries we see today. The borders made during this period did not take into consideration the ethnic groups that already lived on this land (Sylvester & Anthony, 2014, pp. 11-12)

2. Africa was a gold mine of untapped raw materials. As the scramble started happening, many European countries were just coming out of a 23-year long economic depression. The majority of countries saw Africa as their path to economic recovery (Shisia, 2018).  

3. The invasion of Africa was a way to show the world that France was a force to be reckoned with. During colonization, France felt that it had something to prove and thus wanted to create a "Greater France" in Africa. The belief was that France was improving these 'lesser' countries by advancing colonialist cultures and economies (Iverson, 2007, pp. 6-7). 

4.  Social Darwinism was popularized by philosopher Hubert Spencer in the late 19^th century. Social Darwinism or 'scientific racism' is essentially the idea that some societies are fundamentally better than others. In this ideology, only the best societies survive the test of time and spread throughout the world (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). In many ways, the notion of social Darwinism justified colonization. People felt as if they were making societies better by spreading their culture and doing away with ineffective ways of living practiced by the indigenous peoples (Korkmaz, 2019, p. 2).

 a. Earlier works such as Von den verschiedenen Rassen der Menschen (1775) by philosopher Maurice Makumba, proposed that racism and slavery were justified because the 'original' race of humans was white and therefore must be superior to all other races. Ideas like this was a main justification for slavery (Sylvester & Anthony, 2014, p. 10)

5. Parti colonial was a favored special interest group in France that promoted the idea of Eurafrique or the colonization of Africa by Europe. The Parti ideology consisted of the belief that Europe and Africa's fates were so intertwined that colonizing Africa was the next logical step in achieving both Africa's and Frances's common economic goals (Martin, 1995, p. 2). These economic goals were to be fulfilled when Africa provided raw materials to Europe which manufactured the final product (pp. 2-3). 

6. Mission civilisatrice or "civilizing mission" was the belief that France had a responsibility to spread its culture, language, values, and beliefs to the African world. In essence, this was a mission to convert African colonists into French people (Martin, 1995, p. 2). This mission attempted social engineering by implementing westernized education, politics, and infrastructure (Benneyworth, 2011, p. 1). It was Frances version of the "white man's burden".

- The French colonies education system was biased towards French ideals and values. To the French, having an educated colonial  workforce was not a top priority. Instead, the primary mission of was to teach children how to be faithful laborers who were unquestionably loyal to France (Korkmaz, 2019, pp. 3-4). 

o  The educational material in schools was littered with propaganda that glorified France. None of these schools allowed students to speak any language but French (Iverson, 2007, p. 16). The use of the French language in schools was designed to persuade educated colonial students to think of France as a 'superior' or educated language.

o  Some of the more elite colonial educated individuals went on to become important French ambassadors and politicians. These individuals were essential at the time of France's decolonization-- when it promoted these loyalists to top-ranking positions in their prospective countries (Iverson, 2007, pp. 16-17).

-   In 1887 a law called 'Le Code de l'indigénat' was adopted in nearly all of the French colonies. The law forced indigenous peoples to do manual labor for little to no payment (Korkmaz, 2019, p. 3). In 1903 and 1905, these labor laws were revised but did little to protect the safety or dignity of the colonial people (Benneyworth, 2011, p. 1). 

-  Economic colonial policies kept the colonies in a perpetual state of servitude to the imperial empire. France enforced a policy of supression of all forms of independent colonial manufacturing which prevented the colonies from making independent finished goods (Iverson, 2007, p. 16). The colonies would thus be reliant on France for all manufactured products.

- France also attempted to keep bilateral trade agreements strictly between France and its colonies. This resulted in France maintain a monopoly on these regions' goods by setting the selling price artificially low and export price artificially high (Iverson, 2007, pp. 16-17).

-  In an effort to assimilate local peoples, France created a policy that allowed some local customs (that allied with French values) to be practiced by local ethnic groups (Conklin, 1997 as cited by Benneyworth, 2011, p. 1). Even though this was not precisely what France envisioned when creating their policies of assimilation, they hoped that granting more autonomy to the colony's chiefs would increase their compliance to French standards and customs. 

The colony's initial refusal of independence from France can be traced back to Charles de Gaulle who was the president of France's Fifth Republic during this time. Between the years 1946 to 1956, de Gaulle started granting France's colonies a significant amount of independence (Korkmaz, 2019, p. 5). The most important change came from the Loi-Carde Deffer Law, which made it possible for local electorate's power to be recognized and legitimized in the French government as well as gave the majority of colonial citizens the right to vote (Iverson, 2007, p. 18). This law was set in place to actively discourage decolonization, but eventually became a vital part of protecting the faltering relationship between the French and its colonies after colonization (p. 19). 

The granting of autonomy to colonial Africa was all part of de Gaulle's plan to maintain a neo-colonial relationship with these nations. At the end of colonization, all of France's former colonies, excluding Guinea, where required by law to follow the rules of Communauté ƒranco-aƒricaine also known as Accords de coopération (Martin, 1995, pp. 4-5). These laws were made to target and influence the colony's political, military, and socioeconomic policies.

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