Colonialism was a brutal unification, brought about by fire and sword! Ten thousand entities were reduced to fifty.

 During precolonial times, and hence not so long ago, more than ten thousand little states, kingdoms, ethnic unions, and federations existed in Africa. Roland Oliver, a historian at the University of London, draws attention to a general paradox in his book, The African Experience (1991): it has become common parlance to say that European colonialists partitioned Africa. Partitioned? Oliver marvels. Colonialism was a brutal unification, brought about by fire and sword! Ten thousand entities were reduced to fifty. 

R. Kapuściński, tr. K. Glowczewska, The shadow of the sun (1998), 323