Somalia Pre and Post Colonialism

Somalia Pre and Post Colonialism

Somalia's population stands, by some estimates, at 4.5 million people, comprising one of the largest ethnic blocks in Africa, even though the number of people counted as residents of the country is comparatively small to that of other African nations (Lewis, I.M., 1988, p. 1). They occupy a 400,000 squares of the northeast portion of the "Horn" of Africa, facing Saudi Arabia (Lewis, 1988, p. 1). Not unlike other post colonial African countries, a large area of Somalia, Jibuti, formed its own sovereign nation. Describing the geographical span of Somalia, author I.M. Lewis describes it this way:

From the region of the Awash Valley in the north-west, this often and territory occupied by the Somali stretches round the periphery of the Ethiopian highlands and along the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean coasts down to the Tana River in northern Kenya. This region forms a well-defined geographical and ethnic unit which Somalis see as a natural base for a sovereign state, although today it is split up into four separate parts (p. 1)."

Those four parts, or that any section of the country stands separate, is as a result of Somalia's history of French colonialism. That part which stands separate from the rest of the nation is Jibuti, which declared its independence in 1977, and is a former French Republic (Lewis, p. 1). Because of its location and the opportunity the country presented by its location and access to seafaring routes and the Middle East, people of Somali heritage are scattered throughout the region from the Ethiopia to Kenya and throughout the Middle East (Lewis, p. 1). Today, Somalia stands under the influence of its colonial past, a country that in post colonial times has been, for the most part, one of civil war and chaos, unable to stabilize itself in a way that would allow it harness its economic or leadership potential that exists in its location, natural resources, and by virtue of the fact that it is indeed the largest ethnic block in Africa today (Peterson, Scott, 2000, p. 1)

Somalia has gone the way of Rwanda (former Belgium colony), Zimbabwe (former English colony), and, today, South Africa in a post colonial/apartheid environment. This paper attempts to study, in brief, Somalia's Imperial past, present state of civil war and unrest, and its future.

Imperial Somalia

The exploitation of Somalia by colonial Imperial powers commenced in 1860, and is considered by historians to represent the beginning of the "first phase" of partitioning the country (Lewis, 1988, p. 40).

IN the YEARS following the middle of the nineteenth century, Somalia was rapidly drawn into the theatre of colonial competition between Britain, France, and Italy. On the African continent itself, Egypt was also involved; and later Abyssinia, expanding and consolidating her realm in this period. By 1897 the partition of Somaliland was virtually complete; and though subsequent adjustments occurred, the frontiers of the new Somali territories had been defined, at least theoretically. Such gaps as remained in the division were later adjusted in subsequent colonial consolidation. Only the frontiers remained to be demarcated, a practical step which turned out to be infinitely more difficult than could have been envisaged in 1897 (Lewis, 1988, p. 40)."

Britain's interest in Somalia was because of Aden, and its link as a route to India (p. 40). Britain took the area by force for that reason in 1839. The second phase occurred between 1900 and 1920, when Somali attempted to free itself from Imperial French and British control (Lewis, 1988, p. 63). The next phase was 1940-1950, when the British and Italians restored colonialism, and subsequently came entirely under the British flag until 1950-1960, when it was under "trust" to Italy, until its independence in 1969(Lewis, 1988, p. 139-226).