Colonialism in Somalia
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Colonialism in Somalia
The social and economic motives of colonialism in Africa have been presented through history in different versions. Colonial governments and their apologists have made an argument for colonialism that paints itself as a civilizing, developing and emancipating force designed to hasten the incorporation of the backward regions of the world into the realm of modernity (Mudimbe, 1988, Bayart, 1993). The other side of the argument, and the one that should be forcefully propagated in this article, is that colonialism was a planned response to specific historical and socio-economic moment of the Western world with the paramount objective of acquiring new lands and exploiting them (Rodney, 1974; Mudimbe, 1988). In terms of the historical trajectory of colonialism, Cesaire reminds us:
The great historical tragedy of Africa has not been so much that it was too late in making contact with the rest of the world, as the manner in which that contact was brought about; that Europe began to propagate at a time when it has fallen into the hands of the most unscrupulous financiers and captains of industry. (Cesaire, 1978, cited in Mudimbe (1988,p. 2))
Colonialism in Somalia, although quantitatively less ambitious than many experiences in many parts of Africa, was nevertheless, qualitatively a conformist in the general scheme of appropriation of resources and the subsequent exploitation of peoples and lands. Lyons & Samatar (1995) contextualize the familiar theme of colonial interests, and how these had crept into Somalia:
Interests in India led the British to occupy the port of Aden in Yemen in 1839-40 as a strategically vital point of contact with the sub-continent. Then Aden’s needs, particularly for meat supplies, soon brought the adjacent northern Somali coast with its abundance of sheep, goats, camels and cattle to London’s attention. Later, the British also claimed territory inhabited by Somalis in Northeastern Kenya. (p. 11)
The British were followed by the French who captured former French Somaliland (now the Republic of Djibouti), the Italians who completed their colonization of southern Somalia in 1893, and the Ethiopian emperor, Menelik annexing western Somalia with the consent of the European powers in the late 19th century (Habte-Selassie, 1987; Sauldie, 1987; Lyons & Samatar, 1995).
The great historical tragedy of Africa has not been so much that it was too late in making contact with the rest of the world, as the manner in which that contact was brought about; that Europe began to propagate at a time when it has fallen into the hands of the most unscrupulous financiers and captains of industry. (Cesaire, 1978, cited in Mudimbe (1988,p. 2))
Colonialism in Somalia, although quantitatively less ambitious than many experiences in many parts of Africa, was nevertheless, qualitatively a conformist in the general scheme of appropriation of resources and the subsequent exploitation of peoples and lands. Lyons & Samatar (1995) contextualize the familiar theme of colonial interests, and how these had crept into Somalia:
Interests in India led the British to occupy the port of Aden in Yemen in 1839-40 as a strategically vital point of contact with the sub-continent. Then Aden’s needs, particularly for meat supplies, soon brought the adjacent northern Somali coast with its abundance of sheep, goats, camels and cattle to London’s attention. Later, the British also claimed territory inhabited by Somalis in Northeastern Kenya. (p. 11)
The British were followed by the French who captured former French Somaliland (now the Republic of Djibouti), the Italians who completed their colonization of southern Somalia in 1893, and the Ethiopian emperor, Menelik annexing western Somalia with the consent of the European powers in the late 19th century (Habte-Selassie, 1987; Sauldie, 1987; Lyons & Samatar, 1995).