There are two countries in Africa that some scholars believe have never been colonized: Ethiopia and Liberia .
However, the fact is that the short-lived varying degrees of foreign control in its early history makes it the subject of debate whether Liberia and Ethiopia truly remain completely independent.
Key points
- Ethiopia and Liberia are widely regarded as the only two African countries that have never been colonized.
- Their geographical location, economic feasibility and solidarity helped Ethiopia and Liberia avoid colonization.
- After decisively defeating the invading Italian army in the Battle of Adva, Ethiopia was officially recognized as an independent state in 1896. During the brief military occupation during World War II , Italy never established colonial control over Ethiopia.
- Although Liberia was established by the United States in 1821 as a place to send its free black residents, Liberia never became a colony after gaining full independence in 1847.
1 Between 890 and 1914, the so-called "fight for Africa" led to rapid colonization of most parts of the African continent by European powers. By 1914, about 90% of Africa was under the control of Europeans.
However, Ethiopia and Liberia avoid colonization due to their geographical location, economic and political status.
What does colonization mean?
The process of colonization is the discovery, conquest and placement of another political group. This is an ancient art. Bronze and Iron Age Assyrian , Persian , Greek and Roman Empire are all practicing, not to mention the post-colonial empires of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
But the most extensive, most studied, and arguably the most destructive colonial action is what scholars call Western colonization, Portugal, Spain, the Dutch Republic, France, Britain, and finally the efforts of European maritime countries such as Germany, Italy and Belgium , conquering other parts of the world. This began in the late 15th century, and by the time of World War II, two-fifths of the world's land area and one-third of its population were colonized; another one-third of the world's territory was once colonized, but is now an independent country. Moreover, many independent countries were composed primarily of descendants of colonists, so the influence of Western colonization had never really reversed.
has never colonized?
There are a few countries that have not been annexed by Western colonial rulers, including Turkey , Iran, China and Japan.
In addition, countries with longer history or higher development levels before 1500 often were colonized later or not at all. The characteristics that determine whether a country is colonized by the West appear to be the difficulty of reaching them, the relative navigation distance from Northwest Europe and the lack of secure land access to landlocked countries.
In Africa, these countries can be said to include Liberia and Ethiopia.
Considering this is crucial to the success of its economy, the imperialist European countries avoided the complete colonization of Liberia and Ethiopia - they believed that these two African countries were viable in the trade-based world economy .
However, as a reward of ostensibly "independence", Liberia and Ethiopia were forced to abandon their territory, agree to varying degrees of European economic control, and become participants in the European sphere of influence.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, is one of the oldest countries in the world. The region dates back to around 400 BC and is recorded in the King James Bible as Kingdom of Aksum . Together with Rome , Persia and China, Aksum is considered one of the four powers of that era.Over its thousands of years of history, the will of the country’s people – from peasants to kings – combined with its geographical isolation and economic prosperity, helped Ethiopia achieve a decisive victory over a range of global colonialist forces.
Ethiopia is considered “never colonized” by some scholars, although Italy occupied it between 1936 and 1941 because it did not lead to lasting colonial rule.
In order to expand its already vast colonial empire in Africa, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1895. In the following first Italian-Ethiopian War (1895-1896), the Ethiopian army defeated the Italian army in the Battle of Adva on March 1, 1896 to achieve an overwhelming victory on October 23, 1896, Italy agreed to the Treaty of Addis Ababa, ended the war, and recognized Ethiopia as an independent state.
1935 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered a second invasion of Ethiopia on October 3, 2019. On May 9, 1936, Italy successfully annexed Ethiopia. On June 1 of the same year, the country merged with Eritrea and Italian Somalia to form Africachml4 Orientale Italiana (AOI or Italian East Africa ).
11936 Emperor Haile Selasi issued an inspiring appeal to the League of Nations for assistance in expelling Italians and re-establishing independence, and gaining support from the United States and Russia. But many members of the League of Nations, including Britain and France, recognize Italian colonial rule.
It was not until May 5, 1941 that Selasi restored the throne of Ethiopia and Ethiopia resumed independence.
Liberia
Soviet state Liberia is often described as never colonized because it was just established in 1847.
Liberia was founded by the Americans in 1821 and was under their control for more than 17 years before it was announced on April 4, 1839 to achieve partial independence by the announcement of the establishment of the Federation.
is truly independent of the announcement eight years later on July 26, 1847. From the middle of the 1400s to the late 17th century, Portugal, Dutch and British merchants maintained a rich trading post in the region, which was known as the "Cece Coast" for its abundant jalapeno kernels.
American Free Colonial Society of People of Color (ACS for short) is an association originally managed by white Americans who believe that the United States has no foothold for free blacks. They believe that the federal government should pay for free blacks to return to Africa, and eventually its administration was taken over by free blacks.
ACS created the Cape Mesurado Colony on 15 December 1821 on the Grain Coast. On August 15, 1824, the colony was further expanded into a Liberian colony.
By the 1840s, the colony had become the ACS and the U.S. government. Furthermore, since Liberia is neither a sovereign state nor a recognized colony of sovereign states, it faces political threats from Britain. As a result, the ACS ordered the Liberians to declare independence in 1846. However, even after gaining full independence a year later, European countries continued to view Liberia as a colony of the United States, thus avoiding it in the battle for Africa in the 1880s.
However, some scholars believe that Liberia's 23-year-long American rule before its independence in 1847 made it qualified to be considered a colony.
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