<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Portuguese established the first firm post-Middle Ages European settlements, trade posts, permanent fortifications and ports of call along the coast of the African continent, from the beginning of the Age of Discovery during the 15th century . But Europeans showed comparatively little interest in (and less knowledge of) the interior for some two centuries thereafter . </P> <P> European exploration of the African interior began in earnest at the end of the 18th century . By 1835, Europeans had mapped most of northwestern Africa . In the middle decades of the 19th century, famous European explorers included David Livingstone and H.M. Stanley, each of whom mapped vast areas of East Africa and Central Africa . Arduous expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s by Richard Burton, John Speke and James Grant located the great central lakes and the source of the Nile . By the end of the 19th century Europeans had charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi Rivers, and realised the vast resources of Africa . </P>

Which european country was the first to claim land in africa
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