The era of old imperialism ended in the 19th century when different colonial powers shifted their focus from exploring the new world to scrambling to lay claim over various pieces of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. For the majority of the 19th century, Great Britain was under the rule of Queen Victoria, who the people saw as a great leader and symbol of national pride. GB was a powerful force at this time, and wanted to further establish their power by taking control of Afghanistan. Afghanistan did not appeal to colonial powers because of the resources it had to offer, but because of its geographic significance. At the time, Russia had control over Persia and GB had control of its crown jewel, India. Afghanistan is right in between the two