 | The Colonial Period | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GEOGRAPHY | HISTORY | ||
| Cultural Regions | Economic Data | 1. Origins | 2. Colonial Period |
| Physical Geography | Maps | 3. Independence | 4. Somalia Today |
These patterns changed during the colonial period. Somalia was first affected by Portuguese and Omani colonizers, who burned and destroyed several major Somali trading cities. In the nineteenth century, Somalia was colonized by Ethiopia, Italy, France, and Britain.
During the European "Scramble for Africa," European powers showed interest in the country as it lay on the route to India and Indochina. Britain sought meat supplies for its garrison in Aden and in 1884 occupied Zeila and Berbera; later declaring the British protectorate of Somaliland. France, seeking better trade facilities, moved to Tadjoura and declared French Somalia simultaneously. Italy also declared its own protectorate called Italian Somalia. The English gave the Somali Ogaden region to Ethiopia.
Colonizers were troubled because Somalis, unlike other colonized peoples, refused to show respect for their new masters. During the colonial period, clan rivalries were deliberately encouraged, and political power was given to various "tribes." Somalia still feels the bitter effects of these policies.
The first serious resistance to colonial rule in Somalia was led in the north by the Somali freedom fighter Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, known to the English as the "Mad Mullah," and by the Biyomaal tribes in the south. Sayid Mohamed's resistance to European colonizers also lasted for 20 to 30 years from 1891 to 1920 and was eventually crushed by a series of British air attacks against him and his army.
During World War II, Britain occupied Italian Somalia and administered the territory from 1941 to 1950. The British occupation of Italian Somalia had profound political consequences. In fact, it was during this period (1943) that the Somali Youth League (SYL), the first nationalist party, was formed. The SYL succeeded in uniting all Somali clans under its banner and led the country to independence.
In 1950, Italian Somalia was returned to Italy as a United Nations Trust Territory for ten years.