Italy+and+Africa

﻿ Italian Imperiali﻿sm of Africa During the 1800's and﻿﻿ Early 1900's __Why did Italy begin its policy of Imperialism? ﻿ __Italy began its policy of imperialism for a few reasons. Tension from the threat of war throughout Europe over Africa was growing stronger. This initially kicked off the need to take advantage of Africans untouched riches, and resources such as people, gold, copper, rubber, and ivory. Another was the fact that other nations such as Spain, France, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands had been developing and expanding their empires for hundreds of years before. One of the only unclaimed places available to Italy to imperialize was Africa. 1861 marked Italy as a newly unified country, not long after, about 1879, Italy wanted to colonize Tunisia, to start the creation of a strong overseas allie. Since Italians had been living there previously it was a logical choice to begin the race for their share of Africa there. This made it an easy decision for Italian leaders to begin their policy of imperialism with Tunisia considering these factors. __What countries, civilizations, or city-states did Italy take over? __Italy officially colonized Libya in 1912, Eritrea in 1890, and Italian Somaliland, the southern portion of modern day Somalia, in 1884 (Ellis 623). Italy attempted to invade the kingdom of Ethiopia in 1896, but King Menelik II had previously hired European officers to train the Ethiopian military, and Ethiopia became the first African nation to successfully resist colonization (Ellis 624). However, Italy still had a sizable amount of influence in Ethiopia afterward, and Ethiopia was subjected to just as much warfare in World War Two as the official Italian colonies (Palumbo 21). __Why are these territories being targeted for takeover? What are the benefits and goals? __ The territory Italy targeted, including Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Libya, were all on the coasts of Africa. Ethiopia and Somaliland were both bordering the Atlantic Ocean, and both had multiple large ports where trade was made possible. These colonies housed large ivory, copper, cotton, and slave industries, and would export goods to all over the world. The slaves taken from central Africa were marched to these ports, destined for the Middle East and India. The international ivory and cotton trades were booming, on considered a cash crop, the other as white gold. Copper was a natural resource that was, and still is, mined out of Africa. The ivory and copper that was shipped from these ports was also traded to India for newer rifles and fine cloth. Libya, up in northern Africa, borders the Mediterranean sea, and contained large ports that traded with Egypt, coastal Africa, Palestine, India, Asia, and Europe. Due to the newly dug Suez Canal, trade in that area became more efficient, and trade routes through this area more traveled.
 * During the 1800 and 1900's imperialism of Africa and Asia was the new trend in europe. Major powers such as Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britian, and Italy, were begining to realize there were valuable resources in Africa, and so the race to imperialize started..**

__What type of rule is being executed?__ During this time of imperialism, Italy was being united as a whole, free, indpepndent, republic nation under Mazzini's rule of the secret society of the Young Italy. The start of this was nationalism, in which ideas started and were built off of and reminded of by previous victories. This insprired Italy to become better and try and take over new lands, such as Somaliland, Libya, and Ethiopia. The government was different throughout different areas of Italy; some parts were under the Victor Emmanuel's monarchy, others were under the rule towards a united republic Italy. Africa was under each individual country's rule, but later was changed when taken over by outside forces, like Italy, France, Belgium, Britian, Germany, Portugual, and Spain, who used the land as help for finding resources and as an expansion to a country. They then were forced to follow that particular country's way of government or beliefs, or would end up having some sort of punishment to make sure that the people inside a country were to do as directed.

__What are the obstacles to control? __ Italy, unlike most of the imperial nations of Europe, focused on taking small, yet key territories in Africa. Italy faced many problems while trying to take and rule its colonies. In northern Africa, Italians colonized Libya, which remained under their rule until, in 1912, revolts and violence erupted from small, nationalist groups. Italy, however, managed to keep Libya under its control until, in 1942, the colonists were expelled. In the northeastern coast of Africa, Italy attempted to colonize two lands, Ethiopia and Somaliland. Italy was able to take Somaliland, but Menelik II, the ruler of Ethiopia, was able to hold them off. Menelik II had united the formerly fragmented Ethiopia, and had looked to modernize it. He used the money earned from the local ivory trade to finance the building of new roads and bridges, while setting up a western school system. He also imported the newest rifle, and found prestigious officers of Europe to train the army. At the battle of Adowa, Italy was crushed by the Ethiopians, and many of the European powers made deals with them. Menelik then went on to help free the Italian colony in Somaliland.

__What were the end results of Imperialism with regards to the territories being taken over and the country taking over? Are there any present day effects? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">The aftereffects of colonization upon the Italian colonies have been less extreme than those of other African nations. For instance, Libya, Eritrea, nor Somalia use Italian as their official language, unlike many West African nations that have continued to speak French throughout the country and government. These countries also have not experienced major genocides, like the conflict in Rwanda in 1994. Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, and Italy are now independent countries with differing histories and separate current issues. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px; text-align: left;"> One result upon the Italian-controlled countries of Africa was the change of power after World War Two. Libya was divided between Britain and France; the areas of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were given to Britain, and Fezzan was given to France. Libya gained independence in 1952, and has been under control of Muammar al-Qaddafi since 1969. Conflicts with Egypt and Chad erupted in the seventies and eighties, and several more recent terrorist attacks and nuclear developments have been linked to Libya, leading to economic sanctions in the later part of the century. However, the United States and most other countries have since restored full diplomacy (World Almanac-Libya). There really is no telling whether or not things would have been different had Italy stayed out. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px; text-align: left;"> Eritrea was also controlled by the British following World War Two, and was annexed by Ethiopia in 1962. It declared its independence as a separate country in May of 1993, but warfare continued and a peace treaty was not signed until 2000 (World Almanac-Eritrea). Perhaps if Italy had in fact conquered Ethiopia, Ethiopia would not have been powerful enough to exert control over Eritrea, or if Italy had not controlled Eritrea, the British would have never awarded it to Ethiopia in the first place. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px; text-align: left;"> Italian Somaliland became a trust territory of the United Nations after World War Two. Northern Somalia gained independence from Britain and merged with Southern Somalia (Italian Somaliland) to become the independent country of Somalia in 1960. Up to the present day, Somalia has had a very tumultuous history, including the assassination of President Abdi Rashid Ali Shirmarke, a military coup, a civil war, a territorial war with Ethiopia, and an assassination attempt (World Almanac-Somalia). Modern day pirates off of the Somali coast heightened the unrest in the country. One can conclude the dual ownership of Somalia by Italy and Britain may have lead to some of this unrest and the eventual pull towards socialism. Twentieth century events in Italy were more due to the change of power and political upheavals caused by its defeat in 1943 and switching to the Allied side for the rest of the Second World War. However, the colonies of Ethiopia and Libya claimed the right to Italian financial aid due to the war fought on their lands by being connected to Italy. Libya referenced the thousands of executions and use of concentration camps following the Arab rebellion of Sciara Sciat (Palumbo 26). Along with this, Italy was also required to give back the back the art, religious objects, and historical archives it had purloined from Ethiopia during the war (Palumbo 21). Last, Italy gave gigantic sums of money to Somalia following the war, much more than it had given to Ethiopia, Eritrea, or Libya (Palumbo 30). In the scope of things, though, these issues were dwarfed by domestic events, like Italy becoming a republic in 1946, short-lived governments, and extreme left-wing violence and assassinations connected to the Red Brigade (World Almanac-Italy). In the modern global view, Italy is, quite frankly, not known for its empire and the modern day effect of colonization is minimal at most compared to other former European empires. __<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Works Cited: __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px;">Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor, Anthony Esler, and Burton F. Beers. World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2004. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px;">Palumbo, Patrizia, ed. A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture from Post-Unification to the Present. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">Unknown. "Eritrea." The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007. 2007: 745+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 26 Nov 2010. <span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;">Unknown. "Italy." The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007. 2007: 745+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 26 Nov 2010.Unknown. "Libya." The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007. 2007: 745+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 26 Nov 2010.Unknown. "Somalia." The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007. 2007: 745+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 26 Nov 2010. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">"Imperialism, 19th-century European - Hutchinson Encyclopedia Article about Imperialism, 19th-century European." // Hutchinson Encyclopedia //. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. Imperialism, 19th-century European - Hutchinson Encyclopedia Article about Imperialism, 19th-century European." //Hutchinson Encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. [19th-century European|<http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/imperialism, 19th-century European].> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">File:Italoturcalitho.jpg." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <>