The correct answer is B) merchants in France.
The groups that benefited most from 19th-century imperialism were merchants in France.
WIth its imperialistic idea, France wanted to improve the economy of the nation. France had lived a heavy economic depression in the 1870s and was in great debt to Prussia. France also followed imperialistic purposes because it wanted to limit the expansion of Great Britain in West Africa. So France started expansionism affairs and arrived in Africa and colonized territories such as Sudan, Mali, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Benin. France was there to take advantage of the raw materials and natural resources that these places had, benefiting so much the French merchants that traded many goods in France.
