Before colonialism, the international relations of Africa and Africans, especially with Europe, were mainly trade relations. By the beginning of the 20th century, relationships changed from trade and exchange to control and subjugation. Europe’s conflicts of interest over African territories and the ensuing clashes of European powers led to the Berlin Conference in 1884 and 1885. There were no delegations from Africa, but it divided Africa among the European powers. The aspirations of the participants were expansionism and the economic benefits of non-European territories
The economic and political situation in the Slave Coast was influenced by the situation in the 1870s. Three colonial powers , England, France and Germany, competed in the division of Africa. Britain expanded its influence on the Western Slave Coast in the mid-19th century. Under the guise of anti-slave trade, the bombing of Lagos in 1851 and its incorporation into the English Protectorate, ten years later, took place. Britain closed the Slave Coast ports in 1852. The British annexed the Gold Coast Anlon area (now southern Togo) as a colony in 1872. Under pressure from the King of Dahomey, the British enforced the entire Slave Coast shutdown from 1876 to 1877. Due to the heavy duty imposed on spirits and other imported goods in the Anlo area, merchants moved east. Smuggling into the British territory became more common. To stop it, the British extended their territories eastward.