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106-553: The Eritrean national identity began to develop during the Scramble for Africa , when Italy claimed Eritrea as one of its colonies. This marked the establishment of Eritrea's present-day borders. Following Italy's defeat in World War II and the subsequent British administration of Eritrea, the former colony was federated with Ethiopia in 1952. Tensions increased through the 1950s between Eritreans wishing for independence and

212-717: A terror regime on the colonized people, including mass killings and forced labour, that Belgium, under pressure from the Congo Reform Association , ended Leopold II's rule and annexed it on 20 August 1908 as a colony of Belgium, known as the Belgian Congo . The brutality of King Leopold II in his former colony of the Congo Free State was well documented; up to 8 million of the estimated 16 million native inhabitants died between 1885 and 1908. According to Roger Casement , an Irish diplomat of

318-453: A war with Austria in 1859 , Sardinia, under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Garibaldi , was able to unify most of the peninsula by 1861, establishing the Kingdom of Italy . Following unification, Italy sought to expand its territory and become a great power, taking possession of parts of Eritrea in 1870 and 1882. In 1889–90, it occupied territory on the south side of

424-920: A base for the subjugation of neighbouring African states and the Dutch Afrikaner settlers who had left the Cape to avoid the British and then founded their republics. Theophilus Shepstone annexed the South African Republic in 1877 for the British Empire, after it had been independent for twenty years. In 1879, after the Anglo-Zulu War , Britain consolidated its control of most of the territories of South Africa. The Boers protested, and in December 1880 they revolted, leading to

530-662: A colony in Mashonaland . Tippu Tip , a Zanzibari Arab based in the Sultanate of Zanzibar , also played a major role as a "protector of European explorers", ivory trader and slave trader. Having established a trading empire within Zanzibar and neighbouring areas in East Africa, Tippu Tip would shift his alignment towards the rising colonial powers in the region and at the proposal of Henry Morton Stanley, Tippu Tip became

636-570: A first or second language. The Beja also include the Beni-Amer people , who have retained their native Beja language alongside Tigre. According to the CIA, the Kunama constitute around 2% of Eritrea's population. They mainly live in the country's Gash Barka Region , as well as in adjacent parts of Ethiopia's Tigray Region . Many of them reside in the contested border village of Badme . Their language

742-637: A full protectorate over Morocco on 30 March 1912, ending what remained of the country's formal independence. Furthermore, British backing for France during the two Moroccan crises reinforced the Entente between the two countries and added to Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions that would culminate in the First World War. Following the Berlin Conference, the British, Italians, and Ethiopians sought to claim lands inhabited by

848-650: A governor of the " Stanley Falls District " ( Boyoma Falls ) in Leopold's Congo Free State, before being involved in the Congo–Arab War against Leopold II's colonial state. To the west, in the land where their expansions would meet, was Katanga , the site of the Yeke Kingdom of Msiri . Msiri was the most militarily powerful ruler in the area and traded large quantities of copper, ivory and slaves—and rumours of gold reached European ears. The scramble for Katanga

954-584: A major city in the Dʿmt and Aksumite kingdoms. Since Eritrean independence, the National Museum of Eritrea has petitioned the Ethiopian government to return artifacts removed from the site, though their efforts have been rebuffed. Hawulti , a pre-Aksumite or early Aksumite era obelisk, is situated here. Rock art near Qohaito appears to indicate habitation in the area since the fifth millennium BC, while

1060-744: A naval base on the Atlantic. The German move was aimed at reinforcing claims for compensation for acceptance of effective French control of the North African kingdom, where France's pre-eminence had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference. In November 1911, a compromise was reached under which Germany accepted France's position in Morocco in return for a slice of territory in the French Equatorial African colony of Middle Congo . France and Spain subsequently established

1166-654: A nomadic and pastoralist people, related to the Tigrinya and to the Beja people . They are a predominantly Muslim nomadic people who inhabit the northern, western, and coastal lowlands of Eritrea, where they constitute 30% of local residents. Some also inhabit areas in eastern Sudan. 95% of the Tigre people adhere to the Islamic religion Sunni Islam , but there are a small number of Christians among them as well (often referred to as

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1272-522: A proletarian nation. The Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935–1936), ordered by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini , was the last colonial war (that is, intended to colonise a country, as opposed to wars of national liberation ), occupying Ethiopia —which had remained the last independent African territory, apart from Liberia. Italian Ethiopia was occupied by fascist Italian forces in World War II as part of Italian East Africa though much of

1378-437: A sizable Tigrinya community in the diaspora. One view believes that the name comes from the word tägärät ( ተገረት ), meaning "she ascended". The word tägäru ( ተገሩ ) "they ascended" describes the ascension of the earliest indigenous people to the mountainous highlands of Eritrea as the plateau's first settlers. The Tigrinya tribe were first mentioned around the 8th to 10th centuries, in which period manuscripts preserving

1484-442: A source of military power; Britain and France used large numbers of British Indian and North African soldiers, respectively, in many of their colonial wars (and would do so again in the coming World Wars). In the age of nationalism there was pressure for a nation to acquire an empire as a status symbol; the idea of "greatness" became linked with the " White Man's Burden ", or sense of duty, underlying many nations' strategies. In

1590-618: A sprawling African empire. Britain had sought to extend its East African empire contiguously from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope , while France had sought to extend its holdings from Dakar to the Sudan, which would enable its empire to span the entire continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea . If one draws a line from Cape Town to Cairo (Rhodes's dream), and one from Dakar to

1696-463: A trade surplus: a market that bought more from the colonial power than it sold overall. Surplus capital was often more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition, and abundant raw materials made a greater premium possible. Another inducement for imperialism arose from the demand for raw materials, especially ivory , rubber , palm oil , cocoa , diamonds , tea , and tin . Additionally, Britain wanted control of areas of

1802-700: A transition from " informal imperialism " – military influence and economic dominance – to direct rule. With the decline of the European colonial empires in the wake of the two world wars, most African colonies gained independence during the Cold War , and decided to keep their colonial borders in the Organisation of African Unity conference of 1964 due to fears of civil wars and regional instability, placing emphasis on pan-Africanism . By 1841, businessmen from Europe had established small trading posts along

1908-407: Is called Kunama . Although some Kunama still practice traditional beliefs, most are converts to either Christianity (Roman Catholic and Protestant) or Islam. The Nara represent under 5% of the nation's population. They principally reside along the south-western border with Sudan and Ethiopia. They are generally Muslim, with a few Christians and some practising their indigenous beliefs. Their language

2014-537: Is called Nara . The Rashaida are one of Eritrea's nine recognized ethnic groups. They represent around 2% of the population of Eritrea. The Rashaida reside in the northern coastal lowlands of Eritrea and the northern eastern coasts of Sudan. They are predominantly Muslim and are the only ethnic group in Eritrea to have Arabic as their mother tongue, specifically the Hejazi dialect . The Rashaida first came to Eritrea in

2120-416: Is not so clearly linked to capitalism and the free markets... historically there has been a closer link between colonialism/imperialism and state-led approaches to development." While tropical Africa was not a large zone of investment, other overseas regions were. The vast interior between Egypt and the gold and diamond-rich Southern Africa had strategic value in securing the flow of overseas trade. Britain

2226-459: Is thought that crops were interspersed with buildings in the town. Old edifices included the pre-Christian Temple of Mariam Wakino and the Sahira Dam, which might also be pre-Aksumite. The ruins at Qohaito were first located in 1868, though they were erroneously identified as a "Greek depot" at the time. A related site outside of Senafe , Matara , lies about 15 kilometres to the south and

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2332-777: The 1900 World's Fair presented the famous diorama "living" in Madagascar, while the Colonial Exhibitions in Marseilles (1906 and 1922) and in Paris (1907 and 1931)displayed human beings in cages, often nudes or quasi-nudes. Nomadic "Senegalese villages" were also created, thus displaying the power of the colonial empire to all the population. In the U.S., Madison Grant , head of the New York Zoological Society, exposed Pygmy Ota Benga in

2438-586: The Afar Region in Ethiopia, and Djibouti . They speak the Afar language as a mother tongue, and are predominantly Muslim. Afars in Eritrea number about 397,000 individuals, the smallest population out of the countries they reside in. In Djibouti, there are about 780,000 group members, and in Ethiopia, they number approximately 1,300,000. The Saho represent 4% of Eritrea's population. They principally reside in

2544-520: The Bilen as a mother tongue. Christian adherents are mainly urban and have intermingled with the Tigrinya who live in the area. Muslim adherents are mainly rural and have interbred with the adjacent Tigre. The Beja in Eritrea, or Hedareb , constitute under 5% of local residents. They mainly live along the north-western border with Sudan. Group members are predominantly Muslim and communicate in Beja as

2650-459: The Bronx Zoo alongside the apes and others in 1906. At the behest of Grant, a scientific racist and eugenicist , zoo director William Temple Hornaday placed Ota Benga in a cage with an orangutan and labeled him "The Missing Link " in an attempt to illustrate Darwinism , and in particular that Africans like Ota Benga are closer to apes than were Europeans. Other colonial exhibitions included

2756-672: The Cape Colony contributed to a preoccupation over securing the source of the Nile River. Egypt was taken over by the British in 1882, leaving the Ottoman Empire in a nominal role until 1914, when London made it a protectorate. Egypt was never an actual British colony. Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda were subjugated in the 1890s and early 20th century; and in the south, the Cape Colony (first acquired in 1795) provided

2862-626: The Eritrean Orthodox faith, 5% Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic (whose mass is held in Ge'ez as opposed to Latin), and 5% belonging to various Protestant and other Christian denominations, the majority of which belong to the (Lutheran) Evangelical Church of Eritrea). The Tigre reside in the western lowlands in Eritrea. Many also migrated to Sudan at the time of the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict and lived there since. They are

2968-856: The First Boer War . British Prime Minister William Gladstone signed a peace treaty on 23 March 1881, giving self-government to the Boers in the Transvaal . The Jameson Raid of 1895 was a failed attempt by the British South Africa Company and the Johannesburg Reform Committee to overthrow the Boer government in the Transvaal. The Second Boer War , fought between 1899 and 1902, was about control of

3074-575: The First Italo-Ethiopian War broke out in 1895; Italian troops were defeated as the Ethiopians had numerical superiority, better organization, and support from Russia and France. In 1911, Italy engaged in a war with the Ottoman Empire , in which it acquired Tripolitania and Cyrenaica , that together formed what became known as Italian Libya . In 1919 Enrico Corradini developed the concept of Proletarian Nationalism , which

3180-614: The Horn of Africa (the French ambition), these two lines intersect somewhere in eastern Sudan near Fashoda , explaining its strategic importance. A French force under Jean-Baptiste Marchand arrived first at the strategically located fort at Fashoda, soon followed by a British force under Lord Kitchener , commander in chief of the British Army since 1892. The French withdrew after a standoff and continued to press claims to other posts in

3286-514: The Jardin d'Acclimatation , decided in 1877 to organise two "ethnological spectacles", presenting Nubians and Inuit . Ticket sales at the Jardin d'Acclimatation doubled, with a million paying entrances that year, a huge success for these times. Between 1877 and 1912, approximately thirty "ethnological exhibitions" were presented at the zoo. "Negro villages" were presented in Paris' 1878 World's Fair ;

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3392-495: The Kingdom of Prussia , and through a series of wars with both Austria in 1866 and France in 1870 was able to unify all of Germany under Prussian rule. The German Empire was formally proclaimed on 18 January 1871. At first, Bismarck disliked colonies but gave in to popular and elite pressure in the 1880s. He sponsored the 1884–85 Berlin Conference , which set the rules of effective control of African territories and reduced

3498-790: The Niger River to the Nile, thus controlling all trade to and from the Sahel region by their existing control over the caravan routes through the Sahara. The British, on the other hand, wanted to link their possessions in Southern Africa with their territories in East Africa and these two areas with the Nile basin. The Sudan (which included most of present-day Uganda) was the key to the fulfilment of these ambitions, especially since Egypt

3604-559: The Ovambo kingdoms , most of which were later conquered. The 1884 Berlin Conference regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa, and is seen as emblematic of the "scramble". In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries between the European empires , which provided the impetus for the colonisation. The later years of the 19th century saw

3710-561: The Second Industrial Revolution during the era of " New Imperialism " (1833–1914): Belgium , France , Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , Portugal and Spain . In 1870, 10% of the continent was formally under European control. By 1914, this figure had risen to almost 90%; the only states retaining sovereignty were Liberia , Ethiopia , Egba , Aussa , Senusiyya , Mbunda , the Dervish State , and

3816-748: The Southern Region and the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. Their language is called Saho . They are predominantly Muslim, although a few Christians known as the Irob live in the Debub Region of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The Bilen in Eritrea represent around 2% of the country's population. They are primarily concentrated in the north-central areas, in and around the city of Keren , and south towards Asmara ,

3922-527: The United States . Technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialization brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of steamships, railways and telegraphs. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, which helped control their adverse effects. The development of quinine , an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of

4028-637: The 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces. In 1881, the Mahdist revolt erupted in Sudan under Muhammad Ahmad , severing Tewfik's authority in Sudan. The same year, Tewfik suffered an even more perilous rebellion by his Egyptian army in the form of the Urabi revolt . In 1882, Tewfik appealed for direct British military assistance, commencing Britain's administration of Egypt. A joint British-Egyptian military force entered

4134-418: The 1924 British Empire Exhibition and the 1931 Paris "Exposition coloniale". Tigrinya people The Tigrinya people ( Tigrinya : ትግርኛ , romanized:  Təgrəñña , pronounced [tɨɡrɨɲːä] ), also known as the Biher-Tigrinya ( ብሄረ ትግርኛ , bəherä Təgrəñña ) or Kebessa , are an ethnic group indigenous to Eritrea . They speak the Tigrinya language . There also exists

4240-458: The 19th century from the Arabian Coast. A few monolingual Italian Eritreans remain. As of 2008, they were estimated at 900 people, down from around 38,000 residents at the end of World War II. Most languages spoken in Eritrea are from the Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan language family. Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa was the conquest and colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by

4346-422: The 1st century BC. The 3rd century Iranian prophet Mani wrote that Aksum was one of four great powers of the world, along with Persia , Rome , and China . It is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ; the name Erythraean Sea refers to the Red Sea , and is the origin of the name Eritrea . Aksum began to decline in the mid 6th century, eventually collapsing by the end of the 10th century. Following

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4452-445: The African continent, with all their territories located near the coasts. The most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique , held by Portugal ; the Cape Colony , held by the United Kingdom ; and Algeria , held by France . By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained outside European control, with the former eventually being occupied by Italy in 1936 while the latter having strong connections with its historical colonizer,

4558-418: The Atlantic. By 1890 the Congo Free State had consolidated control of its territory between Leopoldville and Stanleyville and was looking to push south down the Lualaba River from Stanleyville. At the same time, the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes was expanding north from the Limpopo River , sending the Pioneer Column (guided by Frederick Selous ) through Matabeleland , and starting

4664-407: The British Empire recognized France's claim to Madagascar as well as their sphere of influence in North Africa stretching down to the border region of Sokoto. However, finely demarcating this border was difficult to do without a large map. Although the Berlin Conference had set the rules for the Scramble for Africa, it had not weakened the rival imperialists. As a result of the Entente Cordiale ,

4770-454: The Cameroons and South West Africa to be under its protection; and France occupied Guinea. French West Africa was founded in 1895 and French Equatorial Africa in 1910. In French Somaliland , a short-lived Russian colony in the Egyptian fort of Sagallo was briefly proclaimed by Terek Cossacks in 1889. Germany, divided into small states , was not initially a colonial power. In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became Minister-President of

4876-452: The Cameroons, and Tanganyika. Germany tried to isolate France in 1905 with the First Moroccan Crisis . This led to the 1905 Algeciras Conference , in which France's influence on Morocco was compensated by the exchange of other territories, and then to the Agadir Crisis in 1911. After fighting alongside France during the Crimean War (1853–1856), the Kingdom of Sardinia sought to unify the Italian peninsula, with French support. Following

4982-483: The Eritrean government. The majority of the Tigrinya inhabit the highlands of Eritrea; however, migration to other parts of the country has occurred. Their language is called Tigrinya . They are the largest ethnic group in the country, constituting about 50% of the population. The predominantly Tigrinya populated urban centers in Eritrea are the capital Asmara , Mendefera , Dekemhare , Adi Keyh , Adi Quala and Senafe . They are 96% Christians, (of which 90% are of

5088-415: The Ethiopian government, culminating in the Eritrean War of Independence. Eritrea is widely considered to have been part of the territory of the ancient Land of Punt , which was first recorded by the ancient Egyptians in the 25th century BC. Most of the area, along with northern Ethiopia, became part of Dʿmt from the 10th to 5th centuries BC. This area later became the centre of the Kingdom of Aksum in

5194-541: The European powers as they divided the continent among themselves. More importantly, the diplomats in Berlin laid down the rules of competition by which the great powers were to be guided in seeking colonies. They also agreed that the area along the Congo River was to be administered by Leopold II as a neutral area in which trade and navigation were to be free. No nation was to stake claims in Africa without notifying other powers of its intentions. No territory could be formally claimed before being effectively occupied. However,

5300-416: The French colonial project in the late 19th century and early 20th century was the civilizing mission ( mission civilisatrice ), the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilisation to benighted peoples. As such, colonial officials undertook a policy of Franco-Europeanisation in French colonies, most notably French West Africa and Madagascar . During the 19th century, French citizenship along with

5406-462: The French conquest of Timbuktu (visited by René Caillié , disguised as a Muslim, in 1828, thereby winning the prize offered by the French Société de Géographie ); Malagasy after the occupation of Madagascar; Amazons of Abomey after Behanzin 's mediatic defeat against the French in 1894. Not used to the climatic conditions, some of the indigenous died from exposure, such as some Galibis in Paris in 1892. Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, director of

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5512-417: The French foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé , took a defiant line. The crisis peaked in mid-June 1905 when Delcassé was forced out of the ministry by the more conciliation-minded premier Maurice Rouvier . But by July 1905 Germany was becoming isolated, and the French agreed to a conference to solve the crisis. The 1906 Algeciras Conference was called to settle the dispute. Of the thirteen nations present,

5618-418: The German Kaiser decided to test the solidity of such influence, using the contested territory of Morocco as a battlefield. Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Tangier on 31 March 1905 and made a speech in favour of Moroccan independence, challenging French influence in Morocco. France's presence had been reaffirmed by Britain and Spain in 1904. The Kaiser's speech bolstered French nationalism, and with British support,

5724-422: The German representatives found their only supporter was Austria-Hungary , which had no interest in Africa. France had firm support from Britain, the U.S., Russia, Italy, and Spain. The Germans eventually accepted an agreement, signed on 31 May 1906, whereby France yielded certain domestic changes in Morocco but retained control of key areas. However, five years later the Second Moroccan Crisis (or Agadir Crisis )

5830-399: The Horn Africa. Archaeologist Peter Schmidt compared the Asmara settlement to Athens and Rome. The language known as Tigre was believed to be spoken in the region around 1000 BC. D'mt (Daamat) was believed to be home to a settled community in Southern Eritrean and Tigray from around 8th century BC to 4th century BC. There is little archaeological evidence of the D'mt Kingdom. Metera was

5936-401: The Horn of Africa, forming what would become Italian Somaliland . In the disorder that followed the 1889 death of Emperor Yohannes IV , General  Oreste Baratieri occupied the Ethiopian Highlands along the Eritrean coast, and Italy proclaimed the establishment of a new colony of Eritrea, with its capital moved from Massawa to Asmara . When relations between Italy and Ethiopia deteriorated,

6042-426: The Mahdist War. Additionally the Egyptian province of Equatoria (located in South Sudan) led by Emin Pasha was also subject to an ostensible relief expedition of Emin Pasha against Mahdist forces. The British-Egyptian force ultimately defeated the Mahdist forces in Sudan in 1898. Thereafter, Britain seized effective control of Sudan, which was nominally called Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . The occupation of Egypt and

6148-437: The Mensaï in Eritrea). Their language is called Tigre . The Jeberti people in Eritrea trace descent from early Muslim adherents. The term Jeberti is also used to refer more generally to Muslim inhabitants of the highlands . The Jeberti in Eritrea speak Arabic and Tigrinya . According to the CIA, the Afar constitute under 5% of the nation's population. They live in the Debubawi Keyih Bahri Region of Eritrea, as well as

6254-469: The Somali nation, and the Germans promised to officially recognise any territories the Dervishes were to acquire. After a quarter of a century of holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 as a direct consequence of Britain's use of aircraft. Between 1904 and 1908, Germany's colonies in German South West Africa and German East Africa were rocked by separate, contemporaneous native revolts against their rule. In both territories

6360-404: The Somalis. The Dervish movement , led by Sayid Muhammed Abdullah Hassan , existed for 21 years, from 1899 until 1920. The Dervish movement successfully repulsed the British Empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. Because of these successful expeditions, the Dervish movement was recognized as an ally by the Ottoman and German empires. The Turks named Hassan Emir of

6466-499: The Suez Canal. The shares were snapped up by Britain, under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli , who sought to give his country practical control in the management of this strategic waterway. When Isma'il repudiated Egypt's foreign debt in 1879, Britain and France seized joint financial control over the country, forcing the Egyptian ruler to abdicate and installing his eldest son Tewfik Pasha in his place. The Egyptian and Sudanese ruling classes did not relish foreign intervention. During

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6572-560: The acquisition of military and naval bases, for strategic purposes and the exercise of power. The growing navies, and new ships driven by steam power, required coaling stations and ports for maintenance. Defence bases were also needed for the protection of sea routes and communication lines, particularly of expensive and vital international waterways such as the Suez Canal. Colonies were seen as assets in balance of power negotiations, useful as items of exchange at times of international bargaining. Colonies with large native populations were also

6678-422: The acquisition of the Congo were the first major moves in what came to be a precipitous scramble for African territory. In 1884, Otto von Bismarck convened the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference to discuss the African problem. While diplomatic discussions were held regarding ending the remaining slave trade as well as the reach of missionary activities, the primary concern of those in attendance was preventing war between

6784-441: The bush of civilians in German South West Africa resulted in a genocide of the population. In total, as many as 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Namaqua (50% of the total Namaqua population) either starved, died of thirst, or were worked to death in camps such as Shark Island concentration camp between 1904 and 1908. Between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros, 10,000 Nama , and an unknown number of San died in

6890-447: The coasts of Africa, but they seldom moved inland, preferring to stay near the sea. They primarily traded with locals. Large parts of the continent were essentially uninhabitable for Europeans because of their high mortality rates from tropical diseases such as malaria . In the middle of the 19th century, European explorers mapped much of East Africa and Central Africa . As late as the 1870s, Europeans controlled approximately 10% of

6996-400: The colonial administration when left to itself; as described in Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness (1899)—published around the same time as Kipling 's The White Man's Burden —or in Louis-Ferdinand Céline 's Journey to the End of the Night (1932). Colonial lobbies emerged to legitimise the Scramble for Africa and other expensive overseas adventures. In Germany, France, and Britain,

7102-469: The colonial empires had become very popular almost everywhere in Europe: public opinion had been convinced of the needs of a colonial empire, although most of the metropolitans would never see a piece of it. Colonial exhibitions were instrumental in this change of popular mentalities brought about by the colonial propaganda, supported by the colonial lobby and by various scientists. Thus, conquests of territories were inevitably followed by public displays of

7208-416: The colonial lobby in his cabinet and thus did not execute his electoral promise to disengage from Egypt. Although Gladstone was personally opposed to imperialism, the social tensions caused by the Long Depression pushed him to favour jingoism : the imperialists had become the "parasites of patriotism." In France , Radical politician Georges Clemenceau was adamantly opposed to it: he thought colonization

7314-463: The competitors ignored the rules when convenient, and on several occasions war was only narrowly avoided (see Fashoda Incident ). The Swahili coast territories of the Sultanate of Zanzibar were partitioned between Germany and Britain, initially leaving the archipelago of Zanzibar independent until 1890, when that remnant of the Sultanate was made into a British protectorate with the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty . Britain's administration of Egypt and

7420-414: The early 1880s, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was exploring the region along the Congo River for France, at the same time Henry Morton Stanley explored it on behalf of the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo , backed by Leopold II of Belgium , who would have it as his personal Congo Free State . Leopold had earlier hoped to recruit Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, but turned to Henry Morton Stanley when

7526-435: The fall of Aksum, the land of present-day Eritrea was part of Medri Bahri . The kingdom lasted until Italian colonization in 1889, however the coastal regions were ruled by other polities during this time. The Adal Sultanate conquered the coast under Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din in the 15th century, and the Ottomans conquered the area in 1517, incorporating into the empire as Habesh Eyalet . Eritrea, with its current borders,

7632-508: The first census did not take place until 1924, it is difficult to quantify the population loss of the period. The Casement Report set it at three million. William Rubinstein writes: "More basically, it appears almost certain that the population figures given by Hochschild are inaccurate. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining the population of the Congo before the twentieth century, and estimates like 20 million are purely guesses. Most of

7738-681: The genocide. Characteristic of this genocide was death from starvation, thirst, and possibly the poisoning of the population's wells, whilst they were trapped in the Namib Desert . In its earlier stages, imperialism was generally the act of individual explorers as well as some adventurous merchantmen. The colonial powers were a long way from approving without any dissent the expensive adventures carried out abroad. Various important political leaders, such as William Gladstone , opposed colonization in its first years. However, during his second premiership between 1880 and 1885, he could not resist

7844-737: The gold and diamond industries; the independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic were this time defeated and absorbed into the British Empire. The French thrust into the African interior was mainly from the coasts of West Africa (present-day Senegal) eastward, through the Sahel along the southern border of the Sahara . Their ultimate aim was to have an uninterrupted colonial empire from

7950-705: The indigenous people for scientific and leisure purposes. Carl Hagenbeck , a German merchant in wild animals and a future entrepreneur of most Europeans zoos, decided in 1874 to exhibit Samoa and Sami people as "purely natural" populations. In 1876, he sent one of his collaborators to the newly conquered Egyptian Sudan to bring back some wild beasts and Nubians . Presented in Paris, London, and Berlin these Nubians were very successful. Such " human zoos " could be found in Hamburg, Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Milan, New York City, Paris, etc., with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors attending each exhibition. Tuaregs were exhibited after

8056-531: The inscriptions of Cosmas Indicopleustes (fl. 6th century) contain notes on his writings including the mention of a tribe called Tigretes. The word kebessa (in the form khebsi) has also been found in Ancient Egyptian inscriptions in reference to puntites, however concentrating later on during the Ptolemaic period, the word khebsi roughly translates to "those who cut or detach the incense from

8162-450: The interior of the Congo was literally unexplored if not inaccessible." A similar situation occurred in the neighbouring French Congo , where most of the resource extraction was run by concession companies, whose brutal methods, along with the introduction of disease, resulted in the loss of up to 50% of the indigenous population according to Hochschild. The French government appointed a commission headed by de Brazza in 1905 to investigate

8268-687: The latter was recruited by the French government. France occupied Tunisia in May 1881, which may have convinced Italy to join the German-Austrian Dual Alliance in 1882, thus forming the Triple Alliance . The same year, Britain occupied Egypt (hitherto an autonomous state owing nominal fealty to the Ottoman Empire ), which ruled over Sudan and parts of Chad, Eritrea, and Somalia. In 1884, Germany declared Togoland ,

8374-446: The middle class often sought strong overseas policies to ensure the market's growth. Even in lesser powers, voices like Enrico Corradini claimed a "place in the sun" for so-called "proletarian nations", bolstering nationalism and militarism in an early prototype of fascism. A plethora of colonialist propaganda pamphlets, ideas, and imagery played on the colonial powers' psychology of popular jingoism and proud nationalism. A hallmark of

8480-584: The mountainous countryside had remained out of Italian control due to resistance from the Arbegnoch . The occupation is an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Axis powers as opposed to the Scramble for Africa. David Livingstone 's explorations, carried on by Henry Morton Stanley , excited imaginations with Stanley's grandiose ideas for colonisation; but these found little support owing to

8586-462: The nation's capital. Many of them entered Eritrea from Kush (central Sudan) in the 8th century and settled at Merara, after which they went to Lalibela and Lasta. The Bilen then returned to Axum in Ethiopia's Tigray Province , and battled with the natives; in the resulting aftermath, the Bilen returned to their main base at Merara. The Bilen include adherents of both Islam and Christianity . They speak

8692-664: The problems and scale of action required, except from Leopold II of Belgium, who in 1876 had organised the International African Association . From 1869 to 1874, Stanley was secretly sent by Leopold II to the Congo region, where he made treaties with several African chiefs along the Congo River and by 1882 had sufficient territory to form the basis of the Congo Free State . While Stanley

8798-528: The problems of low prices and overproduction caused by shrinking continental markets. John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global "New Imperialism" period. William Easterly , however, disagrees with the link made between capitalism and imperialism , arguing that colonialism is used mostly to promote state-led development rather than corporate development. He has said that "imperialism

8904-644: The region. The Fashoda Incident ultimately led to the signature of the Entente Cordiale of 1904, which guaranteed peace between the two. In 1890, both the United Kingdom and France were able to reach a diplomatic solution over a colonial dispute that would guarantee freedom of trade for the British Empire while allowing France to expand their influence in North Africa. In exchange for France recognizing Britain's protectorate over Zanzibar,

9010-598: The right to elect a deputy to the French Chamber of Deputies was granted to the four old colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane and Réunion as well as to the residents of the " Four Communes " in Senegal. In most cases, the elected deputies were white Frenchmen, although there were some black deputies, such as the Senegalese Blaise Diagne , who was elected in 1914. By the end of World War I

9116-640: The risk of conflict between colonial powers. Bismarck used private companies to set up small colonial operations in Africa and the Pacific. Pan-Germanism became linked to the young nation's new imperialist drives. In the beginning of the 1880s, the Deutscher Kolonialverein was created, and published the Kolonialzeitung . This colonial lobby was also relayed by the nationalist Alldeutscher Verband . Weltpolitik (world policy)

9222-569: The rumoured abuses in the colony. However, de Brazza died on the return trip, and his "searingly critical" report was neither acted upon nor released to the public. In the 1920s, about 20,000 forced labourers died building a railroad through the French territory. To construct the Suez Canal , French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps had obtained many concessions from Isma'il Pasha , the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan in 1854–56. Some sources estimate

9328-604: The southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India . But, excluding the area that became the Union of South Africa in 1910, European nations invested relatively limited amounts of capital in Africa. Pro-imperialist colonial lobbyists such as the Alldeutscher Verband , Francesco Crispi and Jules Ferry , argued that sheltered overseas markets in Africa would solve

9434-712: The threat to German rule was quickly defeated once large-scale reinforcements from Germany arrived, with the Herero rebels in German South West Africa being defeated at the Battle of Waterberg and the Maji-Maji rebels in German East Africa being steadily crushed by German forces slowly advancing through the countryside, with the natives resorting to guerrilla warfare . German efforts to clear

9540-428: The time, this depopulation had four main causes: "indiscriminate war", starvation, reduction of births and diseases. Sleeping sickness ravaged the country and must also be taken into account for the dramatic decrease in population; it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably. As

9646-517: The town is known to have survived until the sixth century. Mount Emba Soira , Eritrea's highest mountain, and a small successor village lies near the site. Qohaito is often identified as the town Koloe described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , a Greco-Roman document dated to the end of the first century, which thrived as a stop on the trade route between Adulis and Aksum . It

9752-463: The tree". Tigrinya is a North Ethiopic language . It is the most widely spoken language in Eritrea, and the fourth most spoken language in Ethiopia after Amharic . Tigrinya dialects differ phonetically, lexically, and grammatically. The oldest settled pastoral and agricultural community lived in Ona (the villages and towns around Asmara ) around 800 BC. It was the oldest known indigenous culture in

9858-538: The tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa , one of the last regions of the world largely untouched by "informal imperialism", was attractive to business entrepreneurs. During a time when Britain's balance of trade showed a growing deficit, with shrinking and increasingly protectionist continental markets during the Long Depression (1873–1896), Africa offered Britain, Germany, France, and other countries an open market that would garner them

9964-404: The unity of the nation state which provided citizenship to its population. Thus, a tension between the universalist will respect human rights of the colonized people, as they may be considered as "citizens" of the nation-state, and the imperialist drive to cynically exploit populations deemed inferior began to surface. Some, in colonizing countries, opposed what they saw as unnecessary evils of

10070-399: The workforce at 30,000, but others estimate that 120,000 workers died over the ten years of construction from malnutrition, fatigue, and disease, especially cholera . Shortly before its completion in 1869, Khedive Isma'il borrowed enormous sums from British and French bankers at high rates of interest. By 1875, he was facing financial difficulties and was forced to sell his block of shares in

10176-695: Was a diversion from the "blue line of the Vosges " mountains, that is revanchism and the patriotic urge to reclaim the Alsace-Lorraine region which had been annexed by the German Empire with the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt . Clemenceau made Jules Ferry 's cabinet fall after the 1885 Tonkin disaster . According to Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), this expansion of national sovereignty on overseas territories contradicted

10282-498: Was a prime example of the period. Rhodes sent two expeditions to Msiri in 1890 led by Alfred Sharpe , who was rebuffed, and Joseph Thomson , who failed to reach Katanga. Leopold sent four expeditions. First, the Le Marinel expedition could only extract a vaguely worded letter. The Delcommune expedition was rebuffed. The well-armed Stairs expedition was given orders to take Katanga with or without Msiri's consent. Msiri refused,

10388-594: Was already under British control. This "red line" through Africa is made most famous by Cecil Rhodes. Along with Lord Milner , the British colonial minister in South Africa, Rhodes advocated such a "Cape to Cairo" empire, linking the Suez Canal to the mineral-rich South Africa by rail. Though hampered by the German occupation of Tanganyika until the end of World War I, Rhodes successfully lobbied on behalf of such

10494-521: Was established as a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in 1889. The colonial period saw a large influx of Italians to the country, particularly during the fascist period . However, despite the substantial Italian Eritrean community, mixed-race Eritreans were uncommon, as Italians and Africans were prohibited from marrying or having sexual relations under the Italian racial laws . Eritrea was under British administration from 1941 to 1952, at which point it

10600-560: Was exploring the Congo on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, the Franco-Italian marine officer Pierre de Brazza travelled into the western Congo Basin and raised the French flag over the newly founded Brazzaville in 1881, thus occupying today's Republic of the Congo . Portugal, which also claimed the area because of old treaties with the Kingdom of Kongo, made a treaty with Britain on 26 February 1884 to block off Leopold's access to

10706-486: Was federated with Ethiopia. The Eritrean War of Independence began on September 1, 1961, with the Battle of Adal , and ended on May 24, 1991. Eritrea officially gained independence in 1993; since then it has been governed by Isaias Afwerki , whose regime has been defined by an extremely poor human rights record . Diaspora displaced by the Eritrean War of Independence and seeking refuge from human rights violations by

10812-515: Was shot, and his head was cut off and stuck on a pole as a "barbaric lesson" to the people. The Bia River expedition finished the job of establishing an administration of sorts and a "police presence" in Katanga. Thus, the half million square kilometres of Katanga came into Leopold's possession and brought his African realm up to 2,300,000 square kilometres (890,000 sq mi), about 75 times larger than Belgium. The Congo Free State imposed such

10918-566: Was sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther to the port of Agadir in July 1911. Germany had started to attempt to match Britain's naval supremacy —the British navy had a policy of remaining larger than the next two rival fleets in the world combined. When the British heard of the Panther ' s arrival in Morocco, they wrongly believed that the Germans meant to turn Agadir into

11024-430: Was supposed to legitimise Italy's imperialism by a mixture of socialism with nationalism: We must start by recognizing the fact that there are proletarian nations as well as proletarian classes; that is to say, there are nations whose living conditions are subject...to the way of life of other nations, just as classes are. Once this is realised, nationalism must insist firmly on this truth: Italy is, materially and morally,

11130-419: Was the foreign policy adopted by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890, intending to transform Germany into a global power through aggressive diplomacy, and the development of a large navy. Germany became the third-largest colonial power in Africa, the location of most of its 2.6 million square kilometres of colonial territory and 14 million colonial subjects in 1914. The African possessions were Southwest Africa, Togoland,

11236-590: Was under political pressure to build up lucrative markets in India, Malaya , Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it wanted to secure the key waterway between East and West – the Suez Canal , completed in 1869. However, a theory that Britain sought to annex East Africa during 1880 onwards, out of geo-strategic concerns connected to Egypt (especially the Suez Canal), has been challenged by historians such as John Darwin (1997) and Jonas F. Gjersø (2015). The scramble for African territory also reflected concern for

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