In 1821 the British established a coastal colony around the tiny town
 of Bathurst on the River Gambia. Only later were colonies established
 on the coasts of present-day Ghana and Nigeria. Basutoland (now Lesotho)
 became a British protectorate in 1868, at the request of Moshoeshoe I (1790–1870).
 From the 1880s onward Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain
 vied with each other to establish colonies in Africa. British protectorates
 were established to cover roughly the area of present-day Gambia, Sierra Leone,
 Ghana, and Nigeria. Because of the climate, which gave West Africa its reputation
 as ‘the white man's grave’, these colonies attracted very few British settlers.