Most of these countries stem from small European colonies that were much older than much of the rest of the colonization of Africa, and primarily were there to service the slave population as well as trading with inland empires and servicing ships traveling between Europe and India/East Asia. For example, Senegal's colonization began in the late 17th century, Sierra Leone in the late 18th century, Guinea-Bissau in the early 19th century, Gambia in the late 18th century, etc. However, there was not much drive to expand inland. During the late colonial era when African expansion really started to take off, France took control of most of the areas north of these colonies, locking them into relatively small territories along the coast.