The inception of the scramble for Africa obliged Portugal to act on what had been an established ideal for many centuries. Whereas their contemporaries in other European countries had eschewed the acquisition of territory, many Portuguese had envisaged the ultimate conquest and consolidation of the territories in the hinterland of their coastal settlements in Angola and Mozambique. The restructuring of African societies mirrored the economic transformation which Angola had undergone during the nineteenth century. The Berlin Conference had resolved the issue of the Congo mouth, but failed to delimit frontiers between Leopold's Independent State and Angola. The aggressive spirit which emerged from the defeat of Gungunyana was largely responsible for a Portuguese attempt to bring northern Mozambique under control. Events in Mozambique after the financial crisis followed a course similar to that in Angola. The advent of colonial rule in Mozambique did not produce many changes in the colonial social structure.