During the early colonization of Somalia, there was a competition between multiple countries to seize Somalian territory. In the early 19th century England, France, Italy, Ethiopia, and Egypt all seized land from this country for their own agendas. This is similar to what happened in the Americas. Where there were three main countries Spain, England, and France that claimed territories and even fought wars over them, as seen in the French and Indian War. Egypt was the first player to seize territory in Somalia in 1875.
However, 5 years later the British and French players pushed the Egyptians out of Somalia. This is also seen with the French who originally wanted a portion of Egypt for a coal station in order to strengthen international relations with China. However, they were unable to receive the territory so they occupied a portion of Somalia instead.
The French region was around Djibouti known as Côte Françcaise des Somalis and remained a colony until they gained their independence in 1977 becoming the Republic of Djibouti. This again is very similar to what happened in the Americas the colonies that were set by the occupying countries later became states, or in the case of South America and Canada, they became countries.
After France had taken their portion it was between Italy, Britain, and Ethiopia to claim their portions. Ethiopia like every other African country was excluded from the Berlin Conference of 1884 and England and Italy divided the country. The English took the north and the Italians took the south. The English occupied the territory to the north in order to safeguard their trade route through the Suez Canal that had been opened in 1869. This was a strategic location for their ships going back and forth from Asia. The Italians took a similar approach because they needed a foothold along the Indian Ocean Coast. During colonization in both the Americas and Africa, occupation of key terrain is seen a lot. The European countries were not only trying to take from the countries they were colonizing but also competing against other European countries by blocking them off from territories or forcing them out.
The other country that had its hand in the colonization of Somalia was Ethiopia. During the colonization period, Ethiopia remained free from European occupation. The two countries shared the east and west borders, which allowed Ethiopia to gain power over Somalia and become a threat to European Nations. Their leader Emperor Menelik II competed with Britain and Italy over Somalia territory claiming that it was part of Ethiopia. Emperor Menelik prevailed and received small divisions of the land that they competed over. A similar comparison to this would be that of the Native Americans during the early colonization of the United States. In the 1700s the Natives fought against the Europeans and continued resistance later as the colonist pushed west through their lands.
The one thing that Somalians weren’t affected by, that most countries in Africa during the colonization period, was slavery. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, going to Somalia for slaves was a waste of recourses for the Western countries, because of the distance they would have to travel to collect them. Instead could go to closer locations to receive their slaves. The second reason was religion slavery was primarily based on racism. However, the Somali people were already engaged to Islam, so they shared the same religious beliefs as the Arabic countries which made them less acceptable to being enslaved. In conclusion, Somalia and the Americas share many similarities in their colonization processes. It can be seen from the distribution of areas on the continent that later became states and countries to the defensive stance of the natives in those countries.
Somalia’s thirty years of civil war bear the indelible mark of the region’s former colonial powers, who imposed modern physical and cultural boundaries which became fault lines for conflict. In this respect, the Somali civil war has elements in common with other post-colonial African conflicts that produced mass atrocities in Rwanda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in northern Uganda.
Histories of Somalia are prone to two generalizations: one, that the Somali people have always formed one unified nation that was only recently divided by colonialism; the second, that Somali clan-based violence is a manifestation of ancient, primordial tribalism. On examination, both accounts are inaccurate.
Spread throughout the Horn of Africa, the Somali people are comprised of numerous clans and sub-clans. Traditionally, Somali society has been marked by nomadic pastoralism in the north and agricultural pastoralism in the south. Lacking a unitary government, the Somali ‘territory’ was partitioned by the European colonial powers after the late 19th century. Parts of the north were administered as British Somaliland, while much of the South became Italian Somalia.
There were stark differences in the colonial economic policies of Italy and Britain, which tended to amplify regional traditions. While Italy developed a comprehensive economic plan for the more agrarian southern Somalia, the largely nomadic British Somaliland remained neglected. This situation produced lasting disparities in wealth and infrastructure. Under this colonial economic order, the clans evolved into political identities tied to economic benefits or disadvantages. The rivalry was inevitable, particularly once the end of colonialism produced the first unified Somali state.
A Post-Colonial Experiment: 1960-1969
In 1960, southern Italian Somalia and northern British Somaliland merged to form the Somali Republic. In the new political order, the South obtained de facto hegemony over the underdeveloped North. These regional rivalries had a broad impact on clan politics. The prestigious Isaaq clan—once the majority in Somaliland— became a national minority. The Darood clan— once a minor player in the north— rejoined Darood from the south to form a powerful new entity. The tension between the clans meant a fractious parliamentary system, as the clans aligned themselves with competing political parties.
Despite the contentious clan relations, the 1960-1969 Somali Republic was considered a model post-colonial state. Political participation outpaced many Western democracies. Suffrage was extended to women in 1963. All this ended in 1969 when a bodyguard assassinated President Sharmarke and the army intervened and seized power.
Major General Siad Barre became the head of a military regime aligned with the Soviet Union and espoused the principles of ‘Scientific Socialism’ and expansionist Somali nationalism. Under Barre’s rule, the military regime would attempt to impose a monolithic centralized state on a Somali civil society that had never formed a single homogeneous nation-state. This unstable political form—maintained only through violence—would prove to be a pressure cooker for conflict
