Colonial conquest began in the late 19th century for most of Africa. The “scramble for Africa” was a meeting known as the Berlin Conference in 1884 between 14 countries that decided how they would divide Africa. Europeans were interested in raw materials for industrialization from Africa, a place of exploration and an opportunity to expand Christianity. The European claim to African territory had multiple effects on women in Africa, such as the silencing of their voices by colonial officials, the exposure of their bodies to the public, and increased hours of work. Women during the 19th century were usually silenced because they could not express their opinion on whether they believed they were treated right or wrong. An example of this is Abina Mansah, an Asante African woman who believed she had been unjustly enslaved and decided to escape and witness her freedom. Abina is a great example of how women were treated in Africa as a result of European imperialism. Abina was enslaved in two places in Asante and then once again in Salt Pond by Quamina Eddoo. While she was Eddoo's slave, Abina worked around the house such as sweeping, fetching water and firewood, cooking, and going to the market to buy vegetables. Women like Abina did not have free will. While in the courtroom, they discussed the fact that Abina was free, however, she believed she was enslaved because not only did she have to work and not be paid, but she was also called a slave multiple times. Abina, like other women on the Gold Coast, was threatened with punishment if she did not comply with her master's orders. Regarding an order she received from Eddoo, Abina states: “And the defendant said that if I did not agree to marry Tandoe he would… mid-paper… or marry someone she barely knew and didn't want get married while other Asante women, as discussed earlier in the paper, had no control over whether their bodies were photographed and publicized. However, in Abina and the Important Men, it is shown that Abina did not let European imperialism silence her. Instead of staying where she had been enslaved, Abina escaped to Cape Coast to find freedom. Unlike Abina, many people throughout the 19th century remained silent. The reason why people were silenced was because many of them living on the Gold Coast were still slaves even though slavery had technically been abolished. Many of these individuals did not contain the courage that Abina had in trying to make her story heard. The effect that European imperialism had on women in Africa was to silence their voices, expose their bodies and increase their working hours.