2.+Summary+of+Colonialism


 * __Summary of Colonialism__**

The Berlin Conference in 1884 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa. Ethiopia was becoming more modernized during this time. Italy was competing with Great Britain for influence and control of regions bordering Ethiopia. An Italian company bought Asseb, a port near the southern entrance to the Red Sea, from an Afar sultan. The Afar were an ethnic group who resided in the Danakil Desert in the Afar region of Ethiopia. This port gave the Italians a trade advantage and led to the founding of the Italian colony of Eritrea in 1890. There were ongoing conflicts between Italy and Ethiopia. The Battle of Adwa, between Ethiopia and Italy, occurred in 1896. The Ethiopians defeated Italy and remained independent under the rule of Menelik II.

The Second Italo-Abyssinian War was a war between the Ethiopian Empire and the Italian armed forces. It began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936.The war resulted in the Italian Army taking over Ethiopia and calling it the new colony of Italian East Africa. Italy occupied Ethiopia from 1936 until 1941. The war demonstrated that the League of Nations was very weak because it was not able to control Italy’s aggression or protect Ethiopia. Following Italy’s entrance into World War II, the British Empire joined with Ethiopian fighters to free Ethiopia from Italian occupation during the East African Campaign in 1941. The East African Campaign were battles fought in East Africa during World War II. From 1941 until 1943, an Italian guerilla war continued in Ethiopia. Remnants of Italian troops continued to fight in Ethiopia following Italy’s defeat in the East African Campaign. The Anglo – Ethiopian Agreement signed in 1944 between Britain and Ethiopia reestablished Ethiopian independence. The Ethiopians never surrendered or gave up in their fight for independence. The Italian government did not respect Ethiopia’s right to exist as an independent nation. The conflicts and struggles between Ethiopia and Italy began in the 1800’s with the Italian aspiration to control Ethiopian land and continued until after the conclusion of World War II.



In 1935 Italy attacked Ethiopia. Since Ethiopia had a weak military Italy soon took over becoming the empire. The indigenous people hated the Italians and fought them for five years.

There was a lot of resistance from the Ethiopians. For years they fought Italy over and over. There were also looting and riots. By 1941 they were able to defeat Italy causing and regain their independence.

The Italians actually ended up helping the Ethiopian economy. During the short period were the were in control they built dozens of of European style offices, shops, flats, and houses. They also made road throughout the city and empire. The Italians also changed their method of trade. They kicked well-patronized Indian and French business out of the city and banned Ethiopians from central market area making a new market called Addis Merkato.

The independence of Ethiopia was interrupted by the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and Italian Occupation. During this time of attack, Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations in 1935, delivereing an address that made him a worldwide figure, and the 1935 "Time" magazine Man of the Year. Following the entry of Italy into World War 2, the British Empire forces together with patriot Ethiopian fighters liberated Ethiopia in the course of the East African Campaign in 1941.

In 1977, there was the Ogaden War, when Somalia captured the whole of the Ogaden region, but Ethiopia was able to recapture the Ogaden after serious problems, thanks to a massive influx of Soviet military hardware and a Cuban military presence coupled with East Germany and South Yemen the following year.

Hundreds of thousands were killed as a result of the red terror, forced deportations, or from the use of hunger as a weapon under Mengistu's rule. The Red Terror was carried out in response to what the government termed "White Terror", supposedly a chain of violent events, assassinations and killings carried by the opposition.



In the beginning of the 1980's, a series of famines hit Ethiopia that affected around 8 million people, with 1 million of them dead. The 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia was a widespread famine affecting the inhabitants of today's Eritrea and Ethiopia. Ethiopians provinces; Gojjam, Hararghe, Tigray, and Wollo, all received low rainfall in those years. The effects of this low rainfall were exacerbated by lack of adequate government preparations, as well as the increasing drain on government revenues by various insurgencies.