The Colonization of Africa in the late 19th century

1869 marked the opening of the Suez Canal, and beginning of competition between Egypt, France, and Italy. The Suez Canal opened up the scramble for coastal ports along eastern Africa. Italian acquisition of ports of Assab dramatically changed the nature of European presence in the Red Sea and elevated this body of water from a backwater to an important waterway linking the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, Europe to Asia. The subsequent ports acquired by Italy were crucial to colonial expansion on the continent driven by a meeting in Berlin where Italy emerged as a new imperialist power on par with Britain, France, and Germany (Abraham, 2007). In Berlin, the men who ultimately decided how to divide Africa were those who held positions of state power. As a result, 14 European countries drew lines on a map of Africa to divide it among themselves at the Berlin Conference between 1884 and 1885. Prior to the meeting, Europeans controlled only about 10% of Africa, with the remaining 90% ruled by indigenous and traditional rulers.

The Italians used various strategies in the pursuit of their colonial ambition including: persuading the public about the benefits of the colonial rule, encouraging the newly annexed southern regions to the rebel against Emperor Menelik II, and intensifying the competition between regional leaders by supplying weapons (Abraham, 2007). After Italy acquired the ports of Assab and Massawa, the groundwork began for Italian movements into the interior of Ethiopia. Although Italians begins sending scouting missions to the interior before Assab, it wasn't until they acquired Massawa that colonial ambitions began. Famine and disease facilitated the Italian advance into the highlands of the Merb--Me lash in 1889 and precipitated the Battle of Adwa (Plebano, 1902).