Colonialism on the Margins of Africa

Jan Záho?ík, Linda Piknerová, Jan Záho?ík

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351710527
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia africana

Colonial rule shaped the map of Africa like no other event in history. New borders were delineated; explorers and colonial armies were getting into the interior of the continent in order to grab the "magnificent cake of Africa."

Colonialism on the Margins of Africa examines less known and smaller or peripheral areas of Africa which played a significant role in the process of colonization of Africa by European powers. Due to diverse socio-economic, religious, ethno-linguistic, as well as political factors, places like the Somali-speaking territories, the Gambia, or Swaziland were divided between or surrounded by various administrative and political systems with different economic opportunities shaping the way to different futures in the post-colonial period.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African history and colonial and postcolonial politics.

1
Ethiopia and the colonial discourse

Jan Záhořík

Introduction

Colonialism in Africa is somewhat automatically related to the European domination that was marked by the Scramble for Africa. At the end of the nineteenth century, almost the whole continent was divided between European powers such as Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. Since that time, African states have always been discussed in regard to their colonial legacies and consequent postcolonial issues including ethnic and religious rivalries, border disputes, separatism, nationalism, authoritarianism, or socio-economic challenges.

When considering the colonial past, Ethiopia usually stands alone as a unique example of an African society that was able to defeat a European power and thus maintain its independence, at least in territorial sense. However, Ethiopia itself was a political unit, like any other, that in previous centuries was constantly changing the size of its territory in regard to foreign threats and internal challenges.¹ The most turbulent period occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century, which brought Ethiopia into an era of territorial expansion southwards, westwards, and eastwards to a landscape that was not conquered by any foreign power and thus enjoyed relative independence.² Ethiopia’s territory, however, was a matter of constant changes and modifications throughout centuries, and the nineteenth century was not different. Non-Christian, Islamic, and other areas inhabited by dozens of societies speaking numerous languages began to be continuously incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire, at that time known as Abyssinia.

In the twentieth century, historical research on Ethiopia became politicized due to the nineteenth-century expansion of the Ethiopian Empire. Harold Marcus, one of the most prominent historians and scholars on Ethiopia, once began one of his papers with the following words: “The primacy of politics in Africa has led to serious distortions of the historical record, nowhere more evident than in Ethiopian studies. The misrepresentation commenced with the student activism of the 1960s.”³ It is true that since the period of revolutionary changes in Ethiopia we can observe a change in interpretation of Ethiopian history and its politicization. This chapter thus focuses on the so-called colonial discourse in regard to modern history of Ethiopia and how this discourse changes and perhaps complicates our understanding of the Ethiopian past. Moreover, it can also show us how the past is influencing the present in academic debates over the Ethiopian history.

Ethiopian history is a history of cultural interaction, religious diversity, conquests, migrations, integration, and assimilation. Still, the most politically sensitive debates occur along Amhara-Oromo line, as if these are some two homogeneous blocs. From the sixteenth century, the Oromo people began to migrate to the Ethiopian Highlands and settle in such diverse areas as Wellegga, Gojjam, and Wällo. In the following centuries, the process of assimilation and integration began as the Oromo interacted not only with the Ethiopian state, but primarily with their neighboring societies, where multiple languages were spoken. Even today, the modern history of Ethiopia, as well as of the Oromo people, remains a subject of sensitive debate, politicized opinions, and numerous publications of varying degrees of quality. While some authors (or, to be more accurate, political activists) tend to portray Oromo history as the history of a unified nation, fighting for centuries in order to gain independence from the Ethiopian Empire, more erudite scholars usually provide a more balanced picture of the turbulent developments in what is now Ethiopia.⁴ First of all, Oromo society is divided into numerous groups and sub-groups, such as the Macha, the Tulama, the Arsi, and the Guji. In the nineteenth century, there existed several Oromo monarchies, mainly in South-West Ethiopia. The monarchies competed with each other and with their neighbors.⁵ These groups lived in different ecological and social settings, religious environments, and political units; in some cases, they fought each other. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to perceive the history of the Oromo people (as is also the case of other peoples) as the history of a homogeneous unit. The same goes with any other ethnic group in what is now Ethiopia. Furthermore, Ethiopia is also a country of religious diversity, and religion has certainly played a very important role in last centuries crossing “real” or “alleged” ethnic lines. As shown by various authors, religion is challenging ethnic identity and changing relationships in many parts of Ethiopia.⁶

Ethiopia’s modernization period

While the end of the nineteenth century was marked by enormous territorial expansion, the first decades of the twentieth century saw Ethiopia in the modernization period.⁷ The late nineteenth century was also characterized by territorial expansion of Ethiopia and the quest for hegemony in the Horn of Africa that included several European powers (Italy, France, Great Britain). Expansion of Ethiopian territory into South, West, and East of what is now Ethiopia was a successful military event that until nowadays serves as one of the main problems of Ethiopian history. The question that many scholars tend to raise is “Was Ethiopia a colonial power?” and “Shall Ethiopia be decolonized?”

Mixing the idea of modernization with biblical ethos and ancient heritage combined with religious clash between Orthodox Christians on one hand and Muslims and pagans on the other, the so-called Abyssinian Empire saw itself as the main hegemony in the Horn of Africa.⁸ Sudan, a neighbor to Ethiopia, played a similar role, trying to gain hegemony in the region. Both states were based on centralization and historical legitimacy, either Christian or Muslim. However, both were far from homogeneous in terms of ethnicity and religion.

While the Sudan under the Mahdists was a relatively short-lived entity, Ethiopia became a rival to European powers in the Horn of Africa and especially two events gained her an image of an exceptional unit in the “black continent.” Historically, it was the victorious battle of Adowa in 1896 that brought Ethiopia on the map of the modern world and into the forefront of foreign interest at least for a short period of time.⁹ Secondly, the Italian invasion to Ethiopia in 1935 and the subsequent war of 1935–1936 put Ethiopia into the category of a victim that had to face militarized, violent aggressor destroying a peaceful land of ancient civilization. Ethiopia resonated strongly especially among the African-American community in the United States and, according to Aric Putnam, was “reinvented as a figure of racially heterogeneous community, a community bound together through shared experience in political and mythical time.”¹⁰

Each of these two events showed Ethiopia as opposed to European colonialism and thus to colonialism as such as this historical period was marked by dominance of a few European powers over large parts of non-European world, primarily Africa. However, it has established Ethiopia as a regional power dominated by Abyssinian elites who were, in the twentieth century, labeled by nationalist authors as “oppressive,” “racist,” or “terrorist” while promoting the idea of a “White, Christian, ethnocentric, occidental hegemonic power.”¹¹

Ethiopia, European powers, and expansionism

The year 1855 is usually taken as the beginning of (re)unification process of the Ethiopian state. The word (re)unification itself causes the same troubles as the word colonialism in regard to Ethiopia. Some scholars claim that there was no unified state before 1855 so we can hardly speak about reunification. Others have an opposite opinion and use the word reunification to describe the process of stabilization of the state fragmented during the period of zemane mesafint (the Era of Princes) in 1769–1855. Already in the nineteenth century, European travelers began to explore the Ethiopian Highlands and encounter local people, customs, habits, and languages. Ethiopia had an image of a noble country “in the possession of the Christians of Eastern Africa [that] is blessed with a climate that may, perhaps, challenge a comparison with any in the world.”¹² However, beyond the core of the Ethiopian state, disunity was rather prevalent and occasional revolts against the state occurred primarily in Southern Ethiopia, where peasants were not so well armed but still resisted the pressure from the landowners.¹³

There are, obviously, manifold ways in which Ethiopian history is portrayed but two main branches of academic discourse compete with each other. The first can be called statist and perceives the history of Ethiopia as a history of united territory with all its shortcomings, advantages, and disadvantages, historical wins and losses, victims and winners, rights and wrongs. The second branch can be called an anti-state discourse which sees Ethiopia as an enemy to ethno-nationalist aspirations, as an oppressor ruled by one group of the rest of population, as a colonial power comparable to other colonial powers like France, Italy, Great Britain, etc.¹⁴ The first gives attention to unification processes and positive developments in Ethiopia while the second is devoted to the study of “suffering,” “inferiority,” “subjugation,” and “negative stereotypes” that accompany Ethiopian historiography ever since.¹⁵

The decisive point was the socialist revolution in 1974 which completely changed mentality and curriculum of Ethiopian schools and students who were then taught to hate the state because it was based on rotten feudal roots which put diverse ethnic groups into categories of second-class citizens at best.¹⁶ However, this was the result of a long process that had its roots already in the 1950s and 1960s at the latest when students from Ethiopia began to travel abroad where they gained (beside other things) Marxist education. The rise of Marxism coincides with the development of nationalist movements in Africa. Despite many differences between Ethiopia and the rest of Africa (under colonial rule), several similarities can be found. For instance, many of the nationalist movements in Africa began as student movements or were formed around the workers’ and trade unions, teachers and student associations. Primarily in West Africa, the situation after the World War II led to a continuous development of the middle-class, educated elites, allowed the young generation to study in Europe and gain education outside the country in order to contribute to the socio-economic development of its homeland after their return. French colonialism after the war was based on creation of ‘Europeanized’ Africa with a modern African working class as a crucial element.¹⁷ Before 1941, education in Ethiopia was conducted in French language and many Ethiopians studied in France and thus it was no surprise that for many young Marxist intellectuals in Ethiopia, the French Revolution served at least as an inspiration. New elites of intellectuals saw in Marxism “a principled way to reject the West that had supported Haile Selassie and hence Ethiopia’s backwardness.”¹⁸

Past and present

As can be seen so far, the discourse on modern history of Ethiopia is strongly influenced by politicization, accent on ethnicity, and idealization of the past in various contexts and backgrounds. But how can we distinguish between what is our genuine understanding of the past and what is the idealized understanding of the past?¹⁹

As examined by several authors, expansion of the Ethiopian state into territories south from what is now Addis Ababa had very different intensity and were undertaken in diverse areas against diverse populations or enemies. As retold by some, many of the people that were conquered by the Abyssinian military forces, simply lacked any kind of coherence including the Oromo (then pejoratively labeled as the Galla tribes), who were “rarely united since they were unfriendly with each other.”²⁰ Such accounts can be observed in many primary materials written by mostly European observers.²¹ The Oromo people form a significant part of Ethiopian society and thus an important part of Ethiopia’s history. Since the sixteenth century, they have been known to the broader public as the people who migrated to the Ethiopian Highlands during and after the famous Ahmad Gragn invasion of the central part of what is now Ethiopia. This historical event changed the historical development of the Ethiopian Highlands and helped to establish the Oromo population as a significant, powerful, and decisive force.²² Later, in the nineteenth century, many Oromo political units/states came into being, such as those of the Gibe region, including, for instance, Jimma Abba Jifar and Limmu Ennarea.

The so-called Oromo invasion of the Ethi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Introduction
• 1 Ethiopia and the colonial discourse
• 2 The great imperial game in the Horn of Africa and its impact on current political processes in Somalia
• 3 Small but strategic: foreign interests, railway, and colonialism in Djibouti
• 4 A small piece of Africa: creating the British colony of the Gambia
• 5 The French protectorate in Tunisia: a visitor’s insight
• 6 Ruanda-Urundi under Belgian control: demography, labor force, and migration
• 7 British colonial policy toward Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland: real periphery of peripheries or the Suez of the South?
• Bibliography
• Index