For centuries, Africa was a prosperous continent with many leading civilizations, such as Egypt and Mali, who inspired the world. They were relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the world and highly involved in global affairs. However, Africa slowly began to fall behind the rest of the world until the 1800s when most of the continent was seized by European colonial powers. After World War II, the European empires could no longer maintain their colonies in Africa and began to grant them independence. Once they achieved independence, the weak, relatively poor African nations found it difficult to move forward, though some were doing better than others. Nonetheless, enthusiasm from their independence enabled the development of a panAfrican identity in many countries and many new African