sentences:  Chamberlain believed that West Africa had great economic potential, and shared Salisbury's suspicions of the French, who were Britain's principal rival in the region.Chamberlain sanctioned the conquest of the Ashanti in 1895, with Colonel Sir Francis Scott successfully occupying Kumasi and annexing the territory to the Gold Coast.Using the emergency funds of the colonies of Lagos, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, he ordered the construction of a railway for the newly conquered area.