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IMPERIAL
PARTITION
Colonial Boundaries,
1891-1960
The last quarter
of the nineteenth century saw political developments that transformed the
Somali Peninsula. During this period, the Somalis became the subjects of
state systems under the flags of Britain, France, Italy, Egypt, and
Ethiopia. The new rulers
had various motives for colonization. Britain sought to gain control
of the northern Somali coast as a source of mutton and other livestock
products for its naval port of Aden in present-day Yemen. As a result of the
growing importance of the Red Sea to British operations in the East, Aden
was regarded as indispensable to the defense of British India. British
occupation of the northern Somali coast began in earnest in February 1884,
when Major A. Hunter arrived at Berbera to negotiate treaties of friendship
and protection with numerous Somali clans. Hunter arranged to have British
vice consuls installed in Berbera, Bullaxaar, and Saylac. The French, having
been evicted from Egypt by the British, wished to establish a coaling
station on the Red Sea coast to strengthen naval links with their Indochina
colonies. The French were also eager to bisect Britain's vaunted Cairo to
Cape Town zone of influence with an east to west expansion across Africa.
France extended its foothold on the Afar coast partly to counter the high
duties that the British authorities imposed on French goods in Obock. A
French protectorate was proclaimed under the governorship of Léonce Lagarde,
who played a prominent role in extending French influence into the Horn of
Africa.
Recently
unified, Italy was inexperienced at imperial power plays. It was therefore
content to stake out a territory whenever it could do so without confronting
another colonial power. In southern Somalia, better known as the Banaadir
coast, Italy was the main colonizer, but the extension of Italian influence
was painstakingly slow owing to parliamentary lack of enthusiasm for
overseas territory. Italy acquired its first possession in southern Somalia
in 1888 when the Sultan of Hobyo, Keenadiid, agreed to Italian "protection."
In the same year, Vincenzo Filonardi, Italy's
architect of imperialism in southern Somalia, demanded a similar arrangement
fromthe Majeerteen Sultanate of Ismaan Mahamuud. In 1889 both sultans,
suspicious of each other, consented to place their lands under Italian
protection. Italy then notified the signatory powers of the Berlin West
Africa Conference of 1884-85 of its southeastern Somali protectorate (see
fig. 2). Later, Italy seized the Banaadir coast proper, which had long been
under the tenuous authority of the Zanzibaris, to form the colony of Italian
Somaliland. Chisimayu Region, which passed to the British as a result of
their protectorate over the Zanzibaris, was ceded to Italy in 1925 to
complete Italian tenure over southern Somalia. The catalyst for imperial
tenure over Somali territory was Egypt under its ambitious ruler, Khedive
Ismail. In the last quarter of
the nineteenth century, this Ottoman vassal sought to carve out for Egypt a
swath of territory in the Horn of Africa. However, the Sudanese
anti-Egyptian Mahdist revolt that broke out in 1884 shattered the khedive's
plan for imperial aggrandizement. The
Egyptians needed British help to evacuate their troops marooned in Sudan and
on the Somali coast.
What
the European colonialists failed to foresee was that the biggest threat to
their imperial ambitions in the Horn of Africa would come from an emerging
regional power, the Ethiopia of Emperor Menelik II. Emperor Menelik II not
only managed to defend Ethiopia against European encroachment, but also
succeeded in competing with the Europeans for the Somali-inhabited
territories that he claimed as part of Ethiopia. Between 1887 and 1897,
Menelik II successfully extended Ethiopian rule over the long independent
Muslim Emirate of Harer and over western Somalia (better known as the Ogaden).
Thus, by the turn of the century, the Somali Peninsula, one of the most
culturally homogeneous regions of Africa, was divided into British
Somaliland, French Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopian Somaliland (the
Ogaden), and what came to be called the Northern Frontier District (NFD) of
Kenya.
Although the
officials of the three European powers often lacked
funds, they nevertheless managed to establish the rudimentary organs
of colonial administration. Moreover, because they controlled the
port outlets, they could levy taxes on livestock to obtain the
necessary funds to administer their respective Somali territories.
In contrast, Ethiopia was largely a feudal state with a subsistence
economy that required its army of occupation to live off the land.
Thus, Ethiopian armies repeatedly despoiled the Ogaden in the last
two decades of the nineteenth century.
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EAST AFRICA
SOMALILAND
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