You are in 1870s. The New World and Asia are divided among the European colonizers. There is only one continent, which mysterious depths still have never witnessed the presence of any European traveler. But everything will change very soon. The Scramble for Africa is just about to start. In the game you act as the Minister for Colonies of any of the available countries. You send expeditions to explore new territories, and then you have to commence colonization, build colonial facilities and extract valuable resources.
There are 8 playable great powers: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and even Russia. Historically, some of them got a solid piece of the African pie, some others limited themselves to crumbs from the table, and some did not participate in the colonial race at all.