1.
Italian East Africa
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Italian East Africa was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somaliland, Italian Eritrea, during the Second World War, Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial and Ethiopian units. After the war, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea came under British administration, in 1949, Italian Somaliland was reconstituted as the Trust Territory of Somaliland, which was administered by Italy from 1950 until its independence in 1960. When established in 1936, Italian East Africa consisted of the old Italian possessions in the Horn of Africa, Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, and the recently annexed Empire of Ethiopia. Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of Emperor of Ethiopia, although having not been recognized by any other than Nazi Germany. Italian East Africa was briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered British Somaliland, however, the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the East African Campaign the colony was occupied by British forces. Italian East Africa, in Italian Africa Orientale Italiana, was acronymed in official documents as AOI, historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Other historians such as Pietro Pastorelli have argued that the invasion was launched as part of an expansionist program to make Italy the main power in the Red Sea area, Italys forces were far superior to the Abyssinian forces, especially in air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee the country, with Italian forces entering the city, Addis Ababa, to proclaim an empire by May 1936. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were also vulnerable to invasion, in the summer of 1940, Italy was far from ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa. Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force at Wajir in the East Africa Protectorate, in August 1940, the protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. This occupation lasted around six months, by early 1941, Italian forces had been largely pushed back from Kenya and Sudan. On 6 April 1941, Addis Ababa was occupied by the 11th Division, makonnen Endelkachew was named as Prime Minister and on 19 December 1944, the final Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed. Eritrea was placed under British military administration for the duration, and in 1950, after 1945, Britain controlled both Somalilands, as protectorates. British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, the Trust Territory of Somalia became independent on 1 July 1960, the colony was administered by a Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa, appointed by the Italian monarch. The dominion was divided for administrative purposes into six Governorates. Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a divide and conquer characteristic, Italys Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses
2.
Italian Empire
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The Italian Empire comprised the colonies, protectorates, concessions, dependencies and trust territories of the Kingdom of Italy and, after 1946, the Italian Republic. The genesis of the Italian colonial empire was the purchase, in 1869 and this was taken over by the Italian government in 1882, becoming Italys first overseas territory. Over the next two decades the pace of European acquisitions in Africa increased, causing the so-called Scramble for Africa. By the start of the First World War in 1914, Italy had acquired in Africa alone a colony on the Red Sea coast, outside of Africa, Italy possessed a small concession in Tientsin in China and the Dodecanese Islands off the coast of Turkey. During the First World War, Italy occupied southern Albania to prevent it falling to Austria-Hungary. In 1917, it established a protectorate over Albania, which remained in place until 1920, the Fascist government that came to power with Benito Mussolini in 1922 sought to increase the size of the Italian empire and to satisfy the claims of Italian irredentists. In 1935–36, in its invasion of Ethiopia Italy was successful. In 1939, Italy invaded Albania and incorporated it into the Fascist state and it was forced in the final peace to relinquish sovereignty over all its colonies. It was granted a United Nations trust to administer former Italian Somaliland in 1950 under United Nations supervision, when Somalia became independent in 1960, Italys eight-decade experience with colonialism ended. The unification of Italy brought with it a belief that Italy deserved its own empire, alongside those of the other powers of Europe. Italy had long considered the Ottoman province of Tunisia, where a community of Tunisian Italians lived. It did not consider annexing it until 1879, when it became apparent that Britain, Italys search for colonies continued until February 1886, when, by secret agreement with Britain, it annexed the port of Massawa in Eritrea on the Red Sea from the crumbling Egyptian Empire. Italian annexation of Massawa denied the Ethiopian Empire of Yohannes IV an outlet to the sea, at the same time, Italy occupied territory on the south side of the horn of Africa, forming what would become Italian Somaliland. However, Italy coveted Ethiopia itself and, in 1887, Italian Prime Minister Agostino Depretis ordered an invasion and this invasion was halted after the loss of five hundred Italian troops at the Battle of Dogali. Depretiss successor, Prime Minister Francesco Crispi signed the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889 with Menelik II, the new emperor. This treaty ceded Ethiopian territory around Massawa to Italy to form the colony of Eritrea, Relations between Italy and Menelik deteriorated over the next few years until the First Italo-Ethiopian War broke out in 1895, when Crispi ordered Italian troops into the country. Outnumbered and poorly equipped, the result was a defeat for Italy at the hands of Ethiopian forces at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. On 7 September 1901, a concession in Tientsin was ceded to the Kingdom of Italy by Imperial China and it was administered by the Italian consul in Tientsin
3.
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
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The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a colonial war that started in October 1935, after a battle on 5 December 1934, and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire. The war resulted in the occupation of Ethiopia. Politically, like the Mukden Incident in 1931, the Abyssinia Crisis in 1935 is often seen as a demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. Italy and Ethiopia were member nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia when Italy clearly violated Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the victory also brought Mussolini unprecedented popularity within Italy. Shortly after the war, Ethiopia was consolidated with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into Italian East Africa, the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast. In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis in the Ogaden, the fort at Welwel was well beyond the twenty-one league limit and the Italians were encroaching on Ethiopian territory. In November 1934, Ethiopian territorial troops, escorting the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission, the British members of the commission soon withdrew to avoid embarrassing Italy. Italian and Ethiopian troops remained encamped in close proximity, in early December 1934, the tensions on both sides erupted into what was known as the Wal Wal incident. The resultant clash left approximately 110 Ethiopians and between 30 and 50 Italians and Somalis dead and led to the Abyssinia Crisis at the League of Nations, on 4 September 1935, the League of Nations exonerated both parties for the Wal Wal incident. The United Kingdom and France, keen to keep Italy as an ally against Germany, Italy soon began to build its forces on the borders of Ethiopia in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. To this end, on 7 January 1935, France signed an agreement with Italy giving them essentially a hand in Africa to secure Italian co-operation. Next, in April, Italy was further emboldened by being a member of the Stresa Front, in June, non-interference was further assured by a political rift that had developed between the United Kingdom and France following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. His comments stirred up a furor inside Japan, where there had been popular affinity for the African Empire, with an attack appearing inevitable, Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a general mobilization of the Army of the Ethiopian Empire. His new recruits consisted of around 500,000 men, some of whom were armed with nothing more than spears, many soldiers carried more modern weapons, including rifles, but many of these were from before 1900 and were outdated. Haile Selassies Mobilization Order stated, All men and boys able to carry a spear go to Addis Ababa, every married man will bring his wife to cook and wash for him. Every unmarried man will bring any unmarried woman he can find to cook, women with babies, the blind, and those too aged and infirm to carry a spear are excused. Anyone found at home after receiving this order will be hanged, according to Italian estimates, on the eve of hostilities the Ethiopians had an army of 350, 000–760,000 men
4.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
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Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he claimed the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia and King of the Albanians, during his long reign, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two World Wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism, Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went in exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year. He was called by the Italians Il Re soldato for having led his country during both the wars, and, after Italys victory in the First World War Il Re vittorioso. He was also nicknamed Sciaboletta due to his height of 1.53 m, Victor Emmanuel was born in Naples, Italy. He was the child of Umberto I, King of Italy. Margherita was the daughter of the Duke of Genoa, from birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of the Prince of Naples. On 24 October 1896, Prince Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena of Montenegro, on 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded to the throne upon his fathers assassination. The only advice that his father Umberto ever gave his heir was Remember, to be a king, all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper, and mount a horse. His early years showed evidence that, by the standards of the Savoy monarchy, indeed, even though his father was killed by an anarchist, the new King showed a commitment to constitutional freedoms. Though parliamentary rule had been established in Italy, the Statuto Albertino, or constitution. For instance, he had the right to appoint the Prime Minister even if the individual in question did not command majority support in the Chamber of Deputies, when World War I began, Italy at first remained neutral, despite being part of the Triple Alliance. However, in 1915, Italy signed several secret treaties committing her to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente, most of the politicians opposed war, however, and the Italian Chamber of Deputies forced Prime Minister Antonio Salandra to resign. At this juncture, Victor Emmanuel declined Salandras resignation and personally made the decision for Italy to enter the war and he was well within his rights to do so under the Statuto. Popular demonstrations in favor of the war were staged in Rome, with 200,000 gathering on 16 May 1915 and it was at this time, the period of World War I, that the King enjoyed the genuine affection of the majority of his people. Still, during the war he received about 400 threatening letters from people of social background. The economic depression which followed World War I gave rise to much extremism among Italys sorely tried working classes and this caused the country as a whole to become politically unstable
5.
Emperor of Ethiopia
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The Emperor of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The Emperor was the head of state and head of government, with executive, judicial. A National Geographic Magazine article called imperial Ethiopia nominally a constitutional monarchy, the title of King of Kings, often rendered imprecisely in English as Emperor, dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, but was used in Axum by King Sembrouthes. However, Yuri Kobishchanov dates this usage to the following the Persian victory over the Romans in 296-297. The consort of the Emperor was referred to as the ətege, empress Zauditu used the feminized form nəgəstä nägäst to show that she reigned in her own right, and did not use the title of ətege. At the death of a monarch any male or female relative of the Emperor could claim succession to the throne, sons, brothers. Practice favoured primogeniture but did not always enforce it, Ethiopian traditions do not all agree as to exactly when the custom started of imprisoning rivals to the throne on a Mountain of the Princes. Taddesse Tamrat argues that this began in the reign of Wedem Arad. The potential royal rivals were incarcerated at Amba Geshen until Ahmed Gragn captured that site in 1540 and destroyed it, then, from the reign of Fasilides until the mid-18th century, rumors of these royal mountain residences were part of the inspiration for Samuel Johnsons short story, Rasselas. His claim to the throne was also helped by his marriage to that kings daughter, while the surviving records of these kings fail to shed light on their origins, this genealogical claim is first documented in the 10th century by an Arab historian. Interpretations of this vary widely. Some accept it as evident fact, at the other extreme, others understand this as an expression of propaganda, attempting to connect the legitimacy of the state to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some scholars take an approach in the middle, attempting to find a connection between Axum and the South Arabian kingdom of Saba, or between Axum and the pre-exilic Kingdom of Judah. Due to lack of materials, it is not possible as of 2006 to determine which theory is the more plausible. The restored Solomonic dynasty, which claimed descent from the old Aksumite rulers, ruled Ethiopia from the 13th century until 1974, the most significant usurper was Kassa of Kwara, who in 1855 took complete control over Ethiopia and was crowned Tewodros II. After his defeat and demise, another Solomonic dynasty, Dejazmatch Kassai took over as Yohannes IV, however, the most famous post-Theodorean Emperors were Yohannes IV, Menelik II and Haile Selassie. Emperor Menelik II achieved a military victory against Italian invaders in March 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Menelik lost Eritrea to Italy and Djubouti to France, after Menelik, all monarchs were of distaff descent from Solomonics
6.
Gideon Force
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The leader and creator of the force was Major Orde Wingate. The force operated in country at the end of a long and tenuous supply-line. Gideon Force and the Arbegnoch ejected the Italian forces under General Guglielmo Nasi, the campaign took six weeks and captured 1,100 Italian and 14,500 Ethiopian troops, twelve guns, many machine-guns, rifles and ammunition and over 200 pack animals. On 9 May 1936, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed Africa Orientale Italiana, formed from the newly occupied Ethiopia, during the First Italo-Abyssinian War, the Regio Esercito had been defeated by the forces of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia at the Battle of Adowa. During the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in October 1935, the Italians invaded Ethiopia from Italian Somaliland, on 10 June 1940, when Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, Italian forces in Africa became a potential threat to British supply routes along the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The Kingdom of Egypt remained neutral during World War II but the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed the British to occupy Egypt to defend the Suez Canal, Egypt included the Sudan as a condominium known as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were vulnerable to an Italian invasion but Mussolini looked forward to propaganda triumphs in the Sudan and British East Africa. Comando Supremo had planned for a war after 1942 and in the summer of 1940, was not prepared for a war or the occupation large areas of Africa. The British had based forces in Egypt since 1882 but these were reduced by the terms of the treaty of 1936. A small British and Commonwealth force garrisoned the Suez Canal and the Red Sea route, in mid-1939, Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the new Middle East Command, over the Mediterranean and Middle East theatres. Until the Franco-Axis Armistice of 22 June 1940, French divisions in Tunisia faced the Italian 5th Army on the western Libyan border. In Libya, the Regio Esercito had about 215,000 men and in Egypt, Wavell had about 86,000 troops at his disposal for Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran and East Africa. Faced with frontiers guarded by eight men to 1 mi. Wavell resolved to conduct the delaying actions recommended in Operations Against Italian East Africa by his Operations Section of August 1940, the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden convened a conference in Khartoum at the end of October 1940, with the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and others. Later that month, the replacement cypher for the Regia Aeronautica Italian Air Force) was broken by the Combined Bureau, Middle East. In August 1939, Wavell had ordered a plan covertly to encourage the rebellion in the western Ethiopian province of Gojjam, that the Italians had never been able to repress. In September, Colonel D. A. Sandford arrived to run the project but until the Italian declaration of war, Mission 101 was formed to co-ordinate the activities of the Ethiopian resistance. In June 1940, Selassie arrived in Egypt and in July, went to Sudan to meet Platt and discuss plans to re-capture Ethiopia, in July, the British recognised Selassie as emperor and in August, Mission 101 entered Gojjam province to reconnoitre
7.
Free France
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It was set up in London in June 1940 and also organised and supported the Resistance in occupied France. On 27 October 1940, the Empire Defense Council was constituted to organise the rule of the territories in central Africa and it was replaced on 24 September 1941 by the French National Committee. After the reconquest of North Africa, this was in turn merged with de Gaulles rival general Henri Girauds command in Algiers to form the French Committee of National Liberation. Exile officially ended with the capture of Paris by the 2nd Armoured Free French Division and Resistance forces on 25 August 1944, the Free French fought Axis and Vichy regime troops and served on battlefronts everywhere from the Middle East to Indochina and North Africa. The Free French Navy operated as a force to the Royal Navy and, in the North Atlantic. Free French units also served in the Royal Air Force, Soviet Air Force, the French Army of Africa switched allegiance to Free France, and this caused the Axis to occupy Vichy in reaction. On 1 August 1943, LArmée dAfrique was formally united with the Free French Forces to form LArmée française de la Liberation. By mid-1944, the forces of this army numbered more than 400,000, and they participated in the Normandy landings, the Free French government re-established a provisional republic after the liberation, preparing the ground for the Fourth Republic in 1946. Historically, an individual became Free French by enlisting in the military units organised by the CFN or by employment by the arm of the Committee. In many sources, Free French describes any French individual or unit that fought against Axis forces after the June 1940 armistice, postwar, to settle disputes over the Free French heritage, the French government issued an official definition of the term. Under this ministerial instruction of July 1953, only those who served with the Allies after the Franco-German armistice in 1940, between 27 May and 4 June, around 200,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French troops were evacuated from the beaches to safety in England. General Charles de Gaulle was a minister in the French cabinet during the Battle of France, as France was overwhelmed by the stunning German victory, he found himself part of a small group of politicians who argued against a negotiated surrender to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. That same day, the new French President of the Council, former First World War Marshal Philippe Pétain, De Gaulle briefly travelled to Bordeaux to continue the fight but, realising that Pétain would surrender, he returned to London on 17 June. On 18 June, General de Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio, urging French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis and she has a great empire behind her. Together with the British Empire, she can form a bloc that controls the seas and she may, like England, draw upon the limitless industrial resources of the United States. In Vichys case those reasons were compounded with ideas of a Révolution nationale about stamping out Frances republican heritage. On 22 June 1940, Marshall Pétain signed an armistice with Germany, followed by a one with Italy on 24 June. After a parliamentary vote on 10 July, Pétain became leader of the newly established authoritarian regime known as Vichy France, despite de Gaulles call to continue the struggle, few French forces, at least initially, pledged their support
8.
Free Belgian forces
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The Free Belgian forces were soldiers from Belgium and its colonies who fought as part of the Allied armies during World War II, after the official Belgian surrender to Nazi Germany. It is distinct from the Belgian Resistance which existed in German-occupied Belgium, in 1940, Belgian pre-war émigrés and former soldiers who had escaped occupied Belgium were formed into units within the British military which later fought in the European and Mediterranean Theatres. These included a formation, which later became the Brigade Piron, as well as Commando. Belgians also served in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, significant numbers of soldiers from the Belgian Congo fought on the Allied side against the Italians in East Africa. After the liberation of Belgium in September 1944, the Free Belgian forces formed the backbone for the newly reorganized Belgian army, Belgian involvement in World War II began when German forces invaded Belgium, which had been following a policy of neutrality, on 10 May 1940. After 18 days of fighting, Belgium surrendered on 28 May and was placed under German occupation, during the fighting, between 600,000 and 650,000 Belgian men had served in the military. Most were made prisoners of war and detained in Germany, though some were released before the end of the war. Leopold III, king and commander in chief of the army, also surrendered to the Germans on 28 May along with his army and remained a prisoner for the rest of the war. The Belgian government fled first to Bordeaux in France, and then to London in the United Kingdom where it formed an government in exile in October 1940. By July 1940, the camp numbered 462 Belgians, and nearly 700 by August and 900 by November, the same report noted the possible need for a Belgian Legion. In February 1941, a Belgian artillery battalion was formed, Belgian volunteers continued to join the Free Belgian forces throughout the war, most crossing through occupied and Vichy France, as well as Francoist Spain. Because the French refused to provide any form of visa to Belgians of military age, many of those arriving in England tended to be old and to have already had long military careers. This created a problem for the Free Belgian forces, which was generally top heavy. In 1940, the Belgian government-in-exile decided to raise a unit from pre-war Belgian émigrés. The original forces were known as the 1st Fusilier Battalion A 2nd Fusilier Battalion was formed in Canada from Belgian émigrés in the Americas, the unit not only included motorized infantry, armoured cars and artillery but also various logistics and medical support units. In March 1944, a battery of four 25 pounder guns operated by troops from Luxembourg was added to the brigades artillery unit. 80 Luxembourgers were serving with the Brigade Piron by August 1944 when the Brigade landed in Normandy, the brigade arrived in Normandy on 8 August 1944 and was involved in the fighting in Northern France alongside British and Canadian units. The brigade was one of the first Allied units to enter Belgium, the following day, the brigade was the second Allied unit to enter Brussels
9.
Governorates of Italian East Africa
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The governorates of Italian East Africa formed the first level of country subdivision. The territory was divided into 6 Governments, existed until 1938 the Governorate of Addis Ababa, whose territory was integrated in the new government of Shoa, with a municipal administration. The governments were ruled by a governor assisted by a Governing Council, the Governments of Amhara, Galla and Sidamo, Harar and Shoa constituting the Italian Empire of Ethiopia, who was about half of the Ethiopian state until 1936. The commissioners were divided into residences, sometimes divided into Vice Residences, as a rule, the seat of the High Commissioner was provided with primary schools, post office and telegraph, infirmary with a doctor, runway for airplanes. The residences’s locations were equipped with a post office, telegraph and infirmary with a doctor
10.
Gondar
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Gondar or Gonder is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Tana Lake on the Lesser Angereb River and it has a latitude and longitude of 12°36′N 37°28′E with an elevation of 2133 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the Gondar Zuria woreda, Gondar previously served as the capital of both the Ethiopian Empire and the subsequent Begemder Province. The city holds the remains of royal castles, including those in Fasil Ghebbi. One exception to rule was Debre Berhan, founded by Zara Yaqob in 1456. Beginning with Emperor Menas in 1559, the rulers of Ethiopia began spending the season near Lake Tana. These encampments, which flourished as cities for a time, include Emfraz, Ayba, Gorgora. Gondar was founded by Emperor Fasilides around the year 1635, and grew as an agricultural, there was a superstition at the time that the capitals name should begin with the letter Gʷa, which also contributed to Gorgoras growth in the centuries after 1600. Tradition also states that a buffalo led the Emperor Fasilides to a pool beside the Angereb, Fasilides had the pool filled in and built his castle on that same site. The emperor also built a total of seven churches, the first two, Fit Mikael and Fit Abbo, were built to end local epidemics, the five emperors who followed him also built their palaces in the town. In 1668, as a result of a council, the Emperor Yohannes I ruled that the inhabitants of Gondar are to be segregated by religion. This caused the Muslims to move into their own quarter, Islamge or Islam Bayt and this quarter came to be known as Addis Alem. During the seventeenth century, the population is estimated to have exceeded 60,000. Many of the buildings from this period survive, despite the turmoil of the eighteenth century, although Gondar was by any definition a city, it was not a melting pot of diverse traditions, nor Ethiopias window to the larger world, according to Donald Levine. It served rather as an agent for the development of the Amharas own culture. And thus it became a focus of national pride, not as a hotbed of alien custom and immorality, as they often regard Addis Ababa today, but as the most perfect embodiment of their traditional values. As Levine elaborates in a footnote, it was a pattern of development. Abdallahi ibn Muhammad sacked Gondar when he invaded Ethiopia June 1887, Gondar was ravaged again on 23 January in the next year, when Sudanese invaders set fire to almost every one of the citys churches
11.
Harar
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Harar, formerly written as Harrar or Harer and known to its inhabitants as Gēy, is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It was formerly the capital of Hararghe and now the capital of the modern Harari Region of Ethiopia, the city is located on a hilltop in the eastern extension of the Ethiopian Highlands, about five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa at an elevation of 1,885 meters. Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Harar had a total population of 122,000. According to the census of 1994, on which estimate is based. Harar Jugol, the old walled city, was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2006 by UNESCO in recognition of its cultural heritage and it is sometimes known in Arabic as مدينة الأَوْلِيَاء the City of Saints. According to UNESCO, it is considered the holy city of Islam with 110 mosques. The Fath Madinat Harar records that the cleric Abadir Umar ar-Rida, Harar was later made the new capital of the Adal Sultanate in 1520 by the Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad. The city saw a decline during the ensuing Emirate of Harar. During the Ethiopian Empire, the city decayed while maintaining a certain cultural prestige, today, it is the seat of the Harari Region. It is likely the inhabitants of the region were the Harla people. The Argobba and the ancestors of the Harari people are believed to be founders of the city, called Gēy by its inhabitants, Harar emerged as the center of Islamic culture and religion in the Horn of Africa during end of the Middle Ages. Abadir was met by the Harla, Gaturi and Argobba, abadirs brother Fakr ad-Din subsequently founded the Sultanate of Mogadishu. According to the 14th century chronicles of Amda Seyon I, Gēt was an Arab colony in Harla country, during the Middle Ages, Harar was part of the Adal Sultanate, becoming its capital in 1520 under Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad. The sixteenth century was the citys Golden Age, the local culture flourished, and many poets lived and wrote there. It also became known for coffee, weaving, basketry and bookbinding and his successor, Emir Nur ibn Mujahid, built a protective wall around the city. Four meters in height with five gates, this structure, called Jugol, is intact and is a symbol of the town to the inhabitants. Silte, Wolane and Harari, lived in Harar while the two moved to the Gurage region. Following the death of Emir Nur, Harar began a decline in wealth
12.
Jimma
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Jimma, also spelled Jima, is the largest city in south-western Ethiopia. It is a zone of the Oromia Region and is surrounded by Jimma Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of 7°40′N 36°50′E, the town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a special Zone, herbert S. Lewis states that in the early 1960s it was the greatest market in all of south-western Ethiopia. On a good day in the dry season it attracts up to thirty thousand people, what is now Jimmas northern suburb of Jiren was the capital of a large Oromo kingdom until the late 19th century. The present town was developed on the Awetu River by the Italian colonial regime in the 1930s. At that time, with the goal of weakening the native Ethiopian Church, the Italians intended to make Jimma an important center of Islamic learning, and founded an academy to teach fiqh. In the East African fighting of World War II after their main force was defeated, in the end,24 students were killed, more arrested, and the local zemacha camps closed. Days before the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in May 1991, the loan would cover 64% of the 1270.97 million Birr budgeted for this project. Jimma has a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification and it features a long annual wet season from March to October. Temperatures at Jimma are in a range, with the daily mean staying between 20 °C and 25 °C year-round. Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, with an area of 50.52 square kilometers, Jimma has a population density of 2,394.30 all are urban inhabitants. A total of 32,191 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 3.76 persons to a household, and 30,016 housing units. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Jimma were the Oromo, the Amhara and the Dawro, amharic was spoken as a first language by 41. 58% and 39. 96% spoke Afan Oromo, the remaining 18. 46% spoke all other primary languages reported. The national 1994 census reported this town had a population of 88,867. Some buildings survive from the time of the Jimma Kingdom, including the Palace of Abba Jifar, the city is home to a museum, Jimma University, several markets, and an airport. Also of note is the Jimma Research Center, founded in 1968, the Center specializes in agricultural research, including serving as the national center for research to improve the yield of coffee and spices. King Abba Jifar I King Abba Jifar II Cities of Ethiopia, Jimma by John Graham Jimma University Jimma Times
13.
Addis Ababa
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Addis Ababa or Addis Abeba, is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It has a population of 3,384,569 according to the 2007 population census and this number has been increased from the originally published 2,738,248 figure and appears to be still largely underestimated. As a chartered city, Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state and it is where the African Union is and its predecessor the OAU was based. It also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa is therefore often referred to as the political capital of Africa for its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent. The city is populated by people from different regions of Ethiopia and it is home to Addis Ababa University. The Federation of African Societies of Chemistry and Horn of Africa Press Institute are also headquartered in Addis Ababa, Entoto is one of a handful of sites put forward as a possible location for a medieval imperial capital known as Barara. Dubbed the Pentagon, the 30 hecatre site incorporates a castle with 12 towers, the site of Addis Ababa was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul and the city was founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II. His interest in the area grew when his wife Taytu began work on a church on Mount Entoto, and Menelik endowed a second church in the area. However, the area did not encourage the founding of a town for lack of firewood and water. Initially, Taytu built a house for herself near the Filwoha hot mineral springs, other nobility and their staff and households settled in the vicinity, and Menelik expanded his wifes house to become the Imperial Palace which remains the seat of government in Addis Ababa today. The name changed to Addis Ababa and became Ethiopias capital when Menelik II became Emperor of Ethiopia, the town grew by leaps and bounds. One of Emperor Meneliks contributions that is visible today is the planting of numerous eucalyptus trees along the city streets. Following all the engagements of their invasion, Italian troops from the colony of Eritrea entered Addis Ababa on 5 May 1936. Along with Dire Dawa, the city had been spared the aerial bombardment practiced elsewhere, the city was liberated by Major Orde Wingates Sudanese and Ethiopian Gideon Force in time to permit Emperor Haile Selassies return on 5 May 1941, five years to the day after he had left. Following reconstruction, Haile Selassie helped form the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, the OAU was dissolved in 2002 and replaced by the African Union, also headquartered in Addis Ababa. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa also has its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa was also the site of the Council of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in 1965. Ethiopia has often called the original home of mankind because of various humanoid fossil discoveries like the Australopithecine Lucy. After analysing the DNA of almost 1,000 people around the world, geneticists, the research indicated that genetic diversity decreases steadily the farther ones ancestors traveled from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
14.
Negus
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NEGas redirects here, for the former North Eastern gas board see North Eastern Gas Board Negus is a royal title in the Ethiopian Semitic languages. It denotes a monarch, such as the Bahri Negus of the Medri Bahri in pre-1890 Eritrea, the title has subsequently been used to translate the words king or emperor in Biblical and other literature. Negus is a derived from the Ethiopian Semitic root ngś. In more recent times, it was used as a title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces, Gojjam, Welega. The Negus was crowned as a sovereign of Ethiopia, emperor of Ethiopia RoyalArk – Ethiopia. Archived from the original on 2008-05-28
15.
Banknote
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A banknote is a type of negotiable instrument known as a promissory note, made by a bank, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by banks, who were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank. These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks, national banknotes are generally legal tender, meaning that medium of payment is allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Historically, banks sought to ensure that they could always pay customers in coins when they presented banknotes for payment and this practice of backing notes with something of substance is the basis for the history of central banks backing their currencies in gold or silver. Today, most national currencies have no backing in precious metals or commodities and have value only by fiat, with the exception of non-circulating high-value or precious metal issues, coins are used for lower valued monetary units, while banknotes are used for higher values. The idea of using a durable light-weight substance as evidence of a promise to pay a bearer on demand originated in China during the Han Dynasty in 118 BC, the first known banknote was first developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, starting in the 7th century. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty, as merchants, during the Yuan Dynasty, banknotes were adopted by the Mongol Empire. In Europe, the concept of banknotes was first introduced during the 13th century by such as Marco Polo. Counterfeiting, the forgery of banknotes, is an inherent challenge in issuing currency and it is countered by anticounterfeiting measures in the printing of banknotes. Fighting the counterfeiting of banknotes and cheques has been a driver of security printing methods development in recent centuries. Paper currency first developed in the Tang Dynasty China during the 7th century, although true paper money did not appear until the 11th century, the usage of paper currency later spread throughout the Mongol Empire. European explorers like Marco Polo introduced the concept in Europe during the 13th century, napoleon issued paper banknotes in the early 1800s. Paper money originated in two forms, drafts, which are receipts for value held on account, and bills, the perception of banknotes as money has evolved over time. Originally, money was based on precious metals, Banknotes were seen as essentially an I. O. U. or promissory note, a promise to pay someone in precious metal on presentation. With the gradual removal of precious metals from the system, banknotes evolved to represent credit money. Notes or bills were referred to in 18th century novels and were often a key part of the plot such as a note drawn by Lord X for £100 which becomes due in 3 months time. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty, as merchants, before the use of paper, the Chinese used coins that were circular, with a rectangular hole in the middle
16.
Benito Mussolini
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Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy, known as Il Duce, Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism. In 1912 Mussolini was the member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support for the stance on neutrality in World War I. He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917, Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014, within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943, a few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy, he held this post until his death in 1945. Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942, however, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France and the United Kingdom and starting World War II. In the summer of 1941 Mussolini sent Italian forces to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and war with the United States followed in December. On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, on 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north and his body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a town in the province of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883. During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed Duces town, pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace of Mussolini. His father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a Socialist, while his mother, Benito was the eldest of his parents three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed, as a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy. His fathers political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, in 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldis death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptized at birth, as a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, in 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military service
17.
League of Nations
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The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organisation whose mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, at its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, however, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them, after a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Germany withdrew from the League, as did Japan, Italy, Spain, the onset of the Second World War showed that the League had failed its primary purpose, which was to prevent any future world war. The League lasted for 26 years, the United Nations replaced it after the end of the Second World War on 20 April 1946 and inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the League. As historians William H. Harbaugh and Ronald E. Powaski point out, the organisation was international in scope, with a third of the members of parliaments serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its aims were to encourage governments to solve disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were held to help refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure consisted of a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League, at the start of the 20th century, two power blocs emerged from alliances between the European Great Powers. It was these alliances that, at the start of the First World War in 1914 and this was the first major war in Europe between industrialised countries, and the first time in Western Europe that the results of industrialisation had been dedicated to war. By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, the war had had an impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of Europe. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world, the First World War was described as the war to end all wars, the causes identified included arms races, alliances, militaristic nationalism, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, a British political scientist, coined the term League of Nations in 1914, together with Lord Bryce, he played a leading role in the founding of the group of internationalist pacifists known as the Bryce Group, later the League of Nations Union. The group became more influential among the public and as a pressure group within the then governing Liberal Party. In Dickinsons 1915 pamphlet After the War he wrote of his League of Peace as being essentially an organisation for arbitration and conciliation
18.
Expanding bullet
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Expanding bullets are projectiles designed to expand on impact, increasing in diameter to limit penetration and/or produce a larger diameter wound for faster incapacitation. Therefore, they are used for hunting and by police departments. Two typical designs are the hollow-point bullet and the soft-point bullet, expanding bullets are designed to expand on impact, sometimes as much as twice the diameter. This will slow the bullet down and more of its energy will be transferred to the target. For this reason expanding bullets are used in hunting because their stopping power increases the chance of a quick kill. There are a number of used for hunting different game. Bullets used for medium and large game need better penetration, which means bullets designed to maintain integrity, the velocities at which the bullets hit affect their expansion and penetration. Expanding bullets are less likely to pass through the target, and this reduces the risk of accidental shootings. For this reason, and to maximize the effect, law enforcement organizations use expanding bullets. Even then some penetration is needed, e. g. to penetrate a windshield or heavy clothing, expanding bullets were given the name Dum-dum, or dumdum, after an early British example produced in the Dum Dum Arsenal, near Calcutta, India by Captain Neville Bertie-Clay. There were several expanding bullets produced by this arsenal for the.303 British cartridge, including soft point and these were not the first expanding bullets, however, hollow point expanding bullets were commonly used for hunting thin skinned game in express rifles as early as the mid-1870s. The use of the term Dum-dum, applied to expanding bullets other than the early.303 designs, is considered slang by most ammunition and ballistics sources. Manufacturers have many terms to describe the construction of the various types of expanding bullets. The expansion itself is sometimes called mushrooming, another early name was General Tweedies mushroom bullet, cited in the New York Times in 1892. Early bullets were made in the form of spheres of nearly pure lead. These would often flatten upon impact with the target, causing a larger wound than the diameter of the ball. The adoption of rifling allowed the use of longer, heavier bullets, in this case expansion was a side effect of materials, and there is no evidence that the bullets were designed to expand upon impact. The earliest examples of bullets designed to expand on impact were those fired by express rifles
19.
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907
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The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. The First Hague Conference was held in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907, along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the body of secular international law. A third conference was planned for 1914 and later rescheduled for 1915, the 1874 Brussels Declaration listed 56 articles that drew inspiration from the Lieber Code. Much of the regulations in the Hague Conventions were borrowed heavily from the Lieber Code, both conferences included negotiations concerning disarmament, the laws of war and war crimes. This effort, however, failed at both conferences, instead a voluntary forum for arbitration, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, was established, the peace conference was proposed on 24 August 1898 by Russian Tsar Nicholas II. Nicholas and Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, his minister, were instrumental in initiating the conference. The conference opened on 18 May 1899, the Tsars birthday, the treaties, declarations, and final act of the conference were signed on 29 July of that year, and they entered into force on 4 September 1900. Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land This voluminous convention contains the laws to be used in all wars on land between signatories, inhabitants of occupied territories may not be forced into military service against their own country and collective punishment is forbidden. The section was ratified by all major powers mentioned above and it too was ratified by all major powers. The declaration was ratified by all the powers mentioned above, except the United Kingdom. Ratified by all major powers, except the United States and this directly banned soft-point bullets and cross-tipped bullets. It was ratified by all major powers, except the United States, the second conference, in 1907, resulted in conventions containing only few major advancements from the 1899 Convention. However, the meeting of powers did prefigure later 20th-century attempts at international cooperation. The second conference was called at the suggestion of U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, the Second Peace Conference was held from 15 June to 18 October 1907. The intent of the conference was to expand upon the 1899 Hague Convention by modifying some parts and adding new topics, in particular, the 1907 conference had an increased focus on naval warfare. The British attempted to secure limitation of armaments, but these efforts were defeated by the powers, led by Germany. Germany also rejected proposals for compulsory arbitration, however, the conference did enlarge the machinery for voluntary arbitration and established conventions regulating the collection of debts, rules of war, and the rights and obligations of neutrals. The treaties, declarations, and final act of the Second Conference were signed on 18 October 1907, Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land This convention confirms, with minor modifications, the provisions of Convention of 1899
20.
Geneva Protocol
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It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929 and it prohibits the use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices and bacteriological methods of warfare. This is now understood to be a prohibition on chemical weapons and biological weapons. Later treaties did cover these aspects — the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, the main elements of the protocol are now considered by many to be part of customary international law. In the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the use of chemical agents were outlawed. In spite of this, the First World War saw large-scale chemical warfare, following this, a chemical arms race began, with the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, and Italy joining France and Germany in the use of chemical weapons. This resulted in the development of a range of horrific chemicals affecting lungs, skin, some were intended to be lethal on the battlefield, like hydrogen cyanide, and efficient methods of deploying agents were invented. At least 124,000 tons were produced during the war, in 1918, about one grenade out of three was filled with dangerous chemical agents. Around 1.3 million casualties of the conflict were attributed to the use of gas, as protective equipment developed, the technology to destroy such equipment also became a part of the arms race. The use of poison gas was not only limited to combatants in the front. Civilians living in towns rarely had any warning systems about the dangers of poison gas as well as not having access to gas masks. The use of weapons employed by both sides had inflicted an estimated 100, 000-260,000 civilian casualties during the conflict. Tens of thousands of more died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, in the year 1920 alone, over 40,000 civilians and 20,000 military personnel died from the chemical weapons effects. The Treaty of Versailles included some provisions that banned Germany from either manufacturing or importing chemical weapons, similar treaties banned the First Austrian Republic, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Hungary from chemical weapons, all belonging to the losing side, the Central powers. Russian bolsheviks and Britain continued the use of weapons in the Russian Civil War. At the 1925 Geneva Conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the French suggested a protocol for non-use of poisonous gases, the Second Polish Republic suggested the addition of bacteriological weapons. It was signed on 17 June, several countries have deployed or prepared chemical weapons in spite of the treaty. In the Second World War, the U. S, there was an accidental release of mustard gas in Bari, Italy causing many deaths when a U. S. ship carrying CW ammunition was sunk in the harbor during an air raid
21.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
22.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
23.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
24.
Slavery
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A slave is unable to withdraw unilaterally from such an arrangement and works without remuneration. Many scholars now use the chattel slavery to refer to this specific sense of legalised. In a broader sense, however, the word slavery may also refer to any situation in which an individual is de facto forced to work against his or her will. Scholars also use the generic terms such as unfree labour or forced labour. However – and especially under slavery in broader senses of the word – slaves may have some rights and/or protections, Slavery began to exist before written history, in many cultures. A person could become a slave from the time of their birth, capture, while slavery was institutionally recognized by most societies, it has now been outlawed in all recognized countries, the last being Mauritania in 2007. Nevertheless, there are still more slaves today than at any point in history. The most common form of the trade is now commonly referred to as human trafficking. Chattel slavery is still practiced by the Islamic State of Iraq. An older interpretation connected it to the Greek verb skyleúo to strip a slain enemy, there is a dispute among historians about whether terms such as unfree labourer or enslaved person, rather than slave, should be used when describing the victims of slavery. Chattel slavery, also called traditional slavery, is so named because people are treated as the chattel of the owner and are bought, although it dominated many societies in the past, this form of slavery has been formally abolished and is very rare today. Even when it can be said to survive, it is not upheld by the system of any internationally recognized government. Indenture, otherwise known as bonded labour or debt bondage is a form of labour under which a person pledges himself or herself against a loan. The services required to repay the debt, and their duration, debt bondage can be passed on from generation to generation, with children required to pay off their parents debt. It is the most widespread form of slavery today, debt bondage is most prevalent in South Asia. This may also include institutions not commonly classified as slavery, such as serfdom, conscription, Human trafficking primarily involves women and children forced into prostitution. And is the fastest growing form of forced labour, with Thailand, Cambodia, India, Brazil, in 2007, Human Rights Watch estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 children served as soldiers in current conflicts. A forced marriage may be regarded as a form of slavery by one or more of the involved in the marriage
25.
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta
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Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta was the third Duke of Aosta and a first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa, Amedeo was born in Turin, Piedmont, to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta and Princess Hélène. His great-grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, making him a member of the House of Savoy and he was known from birth by the courtesy title of Duke of Apulia. Amedeo was a tall man. According to Amedeo Guillet, he was referred to by a journalist as your highness. The Duke replied in jest,198 centimetres, Amedeo was educated at St Andrews School in England. He cultivated British mannerisms, spoke Oxford English, and even enjoyed the pastimes of fox hunting, Amedeo entered the Italian Royal Army and fought with distinction in the artillery during World War I. He left the army in 1921 and traveled widely in Africa, Amedeo subsequently rejoined the Italian armed forces and became a pilot. In 1932, he joined the Italian Royal Air Force, Amedeo served under Marshall Rodolfo Graziani and Libyan Governor Pietro Badoglio during later stages of the pacification of Libya. Amedeo and his fellow airmen harried the Senussi forces of Omar Mukhtar from the sky, on 4 July 1931, upon the death of his father, Amedeo became the Duke of Aosta. In 1937, after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and it was generally conceded that he was a vast improvement over Graziani. As Viceroy and Governor-General, the Duke of Aosta was also the Commander-in-Chief of all Italian military forces in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France on 10 June 1940 and he oversaw the initial Italian advances into the Sudan and Kenya and, in August, he oversaw the Italian invasion of British Somaliland. In January 1941, the British launched a counter-invasion and the Italians went on the defensive in East Africa, but, after fierce resistance, the Battle of Keren ended in Italian defeat, the rest of Eritrea, including the port of Massawa, fell quickly. On 31 January, the Duke of Aosta reported that the Italian military forces in East Africa were down to 67 operational aircraft with limited fuel stocks. With supplies running low and with no chance of re-supply, the Duke of Aosta opted to concentrate the remaining Italian forces into several strongholds, Gondar, Amba Alagi, Dessie and he himself commanded the 7,000 Italians at the mountain fortress of Amba Alagi. Due to the gallant resistance of the Italian garrison, the British allowed them to surrender with honours of war, shortly after his surrender, the Duke of Aosta was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya. He was placed in command of his prisoners, but never saw the end of World War II
26.
Italian Somaliland
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Italian Somaliland, also known as Italian Somalia, was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day northeastern, central and southern Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Majeerteen Sultanate and the Sultanate of Hobyo, in 1936, the region was integrated into Italian East Africa as part of the Italian Empire. This would last until 1941, during World War II, Italian Somaliland then came under British military administration until 1949, when it became a United Nations trusteeship, the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration. On July 1,1960, the Trust Territory of Somaliland united as scheduled with the former British Somaliland protectorate to form the Somali Republic, the late 19th century had a huge impact on developments occurring in the Horn of Africa. Italy also had a shortage of capital and other serious economic problems. Cesare Correnti organized an expedition under the Società Geografica Italiana in 1876, the next year, the travel journal L’Esploratore was established by Manfredo Camperio. The Società di Esplorazioni Commerciali in Africa was created in 1879, the Club Africano, which three years later became the Società Africana D’Italia, was also established in Somalia in 1880. In late 1888, Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid entered into a treaty with the Italians and his rival Boqor Osman Mahamuud was to sign a similar agreement vis-a-vis his own Majeerteen Sultanate the following year. In signing the agreements, the rulers also hoped to exploit the rival objectives of the European imperial powers so as to more effectively assure the independence of their territories. The terms of each treaty specified that Italy was to clear of any interference in the Sultanates respective administrations. In return for Italian arms and a subsidy, the Sultans conceded to a minimum of oversight. The Italians also agreed to dispatch a few ambassadors to both the Sultanates and their own interests. The new protectorates were thereafter managed by Vincenzo Filonardi through a chartered company, the last piece of land acquired by Italy in Somalia in order to form Italian Somaliland was the Jubaland region. Britain ceded the territory in 1925 as a reward for the Italians having joined the Allies in World War I, the British retained control of the southern half of the partitioned Jubaland territory, which was later called the Northern Frontier District. In January 1887 Italian troops from Somalia fought a battle against Ras Alula Engida’s militia in Dogali, Eritrea, the Prime Minister, Agostino Depretis, resigned because of this defeat in July 1887. Francesco Crispi replaced him as Prime Minister, on May 2,1889, the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II and Italy signed a peace treaty. The administrative regulator was Governor Mercantelli, with the six subdivisions of Brava, Merca, Lugh, Itala, Bardera, on April 5,1908 the Italian Parliament enacted a basic law to unite all of the parts of southern Somalia into an area called Somalia Italiana. The colonial power was divided between the Parliament, the metropolitan government, and the colonial government
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Massawa
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Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa, Miṣṣiwa), Batsiʿ, is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea located at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. Massawa was the capital of the Italian Colony of Eritrea until this was moved to Asmara in 1897. Massawa was originally a seaside village, lying in lands coextensive with the Kingdom of Axum in antiquity. Following the fall of Axum in the 8th century, the area around Massawa, the Beja people would also come to rule within Massawa during the Beja Kingdom of Eritrea from AD740 to the 14th century. Massawa was sited between the sultanates of Qata, Baqulin, and Dahlak, midri-Bahri, an Eritrean kingdom, gained leverage at various times and ruled over Massawa. The port city would come under the supreme control of the Balaw people. At this time, the Sheikh Hanafi Mosque, Eritreas oldest mosque, was built on Massawa Island, the port was a major site for the Arab slave trade and Venetian merchants were said to have lived in Massawa and nearby Suakin in the 15th century. Massawa became prominent when it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1557, the Ottomans made it the capital of Habesh Eyalet. Under Özdemir Pasha, Ottoman troops then attempted to conquer the rest of Eritrea and these buildings and the old town of Massawa remain to this day, having withstood both earthquakes and wars with aerial bombardment. In 1846, Massawa, and later much of the Northeast African coast of the Red Sea, following Egypts defeat at the Battle of Gura, Egyptian control of the port withered. With the help of the British, the city came under Italian control. Italian colonists started to settle in the area in the early 1890s. At the end of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Italy created a port in Massawa for their newly acquired colony of Eritrea. From 1885–1897, Massawa served as the capital of the region, the Italian colony suffered repeated earthquakes. Most of the city was destroyed by the 1921 earthquake, it took until 1928 to fully restore the port. Massawa became the largest and safest port on the east coast of Africa, between 1887 and 1932, they expanded the Eritrean Railway, connecting Massawa with Asmara and then Bishia near the Sudan border, and completed the Asmara-Massawa Cableway. At 75 km long, it was the longest ropeway conveyor in the world at the time. In 1938, Massawa had 15,000 inhabitants, of which almost 2,000 were Italians, during World War II Massawa was the homeport for the Red Sea Flotilla of the Italian Royal Navy
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Mogadishu
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Mogadishu, known locally as Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. Located in the coastal Banaadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for millennia, tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia, including the Mogadishu area, was historically inhabited by hunter-gatherers. These were later joined by Cushitic-speaking agro-pastoralists, who would go on to establish local aristocracies, during its medieval Golden Age, Mogadishu was ruled by the Muzaffar dynasty, a vassal of the Ajuran Sultanate. It subsequently fell under the control of an assortment of local Sultanates and polities, the city later became the capital of Italian Somaliland in the colonial period. After the Somali Republic became independent in 1960, Mogadishu became known, the ICU thereafter splintered into more radical groups, notably al-Shabaab, which fought the Transitional Federal Government and its African Union Mission to Somalia allies. With a change in administration in late 2010, government troops, Mogadishu has subsequently experienced a period of intense reconstruction. As Somalias capital city, many important national institutions are based in Mogadishu and it is the seat of the Federal Government of Somalia established in August 2012, with the Somalia Federal Parliament serving as the governments legislative branch. Yusuf Hussein Jimaale has been the Mayor of Mogadishu since October 2015, villa Somalia is the official residential palace and principal workplace of the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. In May 2012, the First Somali Bank was established in the capital, the establishment of a local construction yard has also galvanized the citys real-estate sector. Arbaa Rukun Mosque is one of the oldest Islamic places of worship in the capital, the Mosque of Islamic Solidarity in Mogadishu is the largest masjid in the Horn region. Mogadishu Cathedral was built in 1928 by the authorities in Italian Somaliland in a Norman Gothic style. The National Museum of Somalia is based in Mogadishu and holds many important artefacts. The National Library of Somalia is undergoing a $1 million Somali federal government funded renovation, Mogadishu is home to a number of scholastic and media institutions. As part of the urban renewal program,100 schools across the capital are scheduled to be refurbished and reopened. The Somali National University was established in the 1950s, and professors from the university founded the non-governmental Mogadishu University. Benadir University was established in 2002 with the intention of training doctors, various national sporting bodies have their headquarters in Mogadishu, including the Somali Football Federation and the Somali Olympic Committee. Mogadishu Stadium was constructed in 1978 during the Siad Barre administration and it hosts football matches with teams from the Somali First Division and the Somalia Cup. Additionally, the Port of Mogadishu serves as a national seaport and is the largest harbour in Somalia
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Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
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Syracuse, Sicily
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Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture and this 2, 700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, the city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, described by Cicero as the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all, it equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC. It later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire, after this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860, in the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people, the inhabitants are known as Siracusans. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28,12 as Paul stayed there, the patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy, she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucys Day, is celebrated on 13 December. Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, there are many attested variants of the name of the city including Συράκουσαι Syrakousai, Συράκοσαι Syrakosai and Συρακώ Syrako. The nucleus of the ancient city was the island of Ortygia. The settlers found the fertile and the native tribes to be reasonably well-disposed to their presence. The city grew and prospered, and for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean, colonies were founded at Akrai, Kasmenai, Akrillai, Helorus and Kamarina. The descendants of the first colonists, called Gamoroi, held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the former, however, returned to power in 485 BC, thanks to the help of Gelo, ruler of Gela. Gelo himself became the despot of the city, and moved many inhabitants of Gela, Kamarina and Megera to Syracuse, building the new quarters of Tyche, the enlarged power of Syracuse made unavoidable the clash against the Carthaginians, who ruled western Sicily. In the Battle of Himera, Gelo, who had allied with Theron of Agrigento, a temple dedicated to Athena, was erected in the city to commemorate the event. Syracuse grew considerably during this time and its walls encircled 120 hectares in the fifth century, but as early as the 470s BC the inhabitants started building outside the walls. The complete population of its territory approximately numbered 250,000 in 415 BC, Gelo was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who fought against the Etruscans at Cumae in 474 BC. His rule was eulogized by poets like Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides and Pindar, a democratic regime was introduced by Thrasybulos
31.
Benghazi
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Benghazi /bɛnˈɡɑːzi/ is the second most populous city in Libya and the largest in Cyrenaica. The city was also provisional capital of the National Transitional Council and this creates a constant atmosphere of rivalry and sensitivities between Benghazi and Tripoli, and between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. The population was 670,797 at the 2006 census, on 15 February 2011, an uprising against the government of Muammar Gaddafi occurred in the city. The revolts spread by 17 February to Bayda, Tobruk, Ajdabya, Al Marj in the East and Zintan, Zawiya in the West, Benghazi was taken by Gaddafi opponents on 21 February, who founded the National Transitional Council. The ancient Greek city that existed within the modern day boundaries of Benghazi was founded around 525 BC, at the time, Euesperides was most likely founded by people from Cyrene or Barce, which was located on the edge of a lagoon which opened from the sea. At the time, this area may have been enough to receive small sailing vessels. The oldest coins minted in the city back to 480 BC. One side of coins has an engraving of Delphi. The other side is an engraving of a plant, once the symbol of trade from Cyrenaica because of its use as a rich seasoning. The city was in territory and was surrounded by inhospitable tribes. One of the Cyrenean kings whose fate is connected with the city is Arcesilaus IV and this proved ineffective, since when the king fled to Euesperides during the anticipated revolution, he was assassinated, thus terminating the almost 200-year rule of the Battiad dynasty. After the marriage around the middle of the 3rd century BC of Ptolemy III to Berenice, daughter of the Cyrenean Governor Magas, Euesperides became Berenice and the change of name also involved a relocation. Its desertion was probably due to the silting up of the lagoons, Berenice, the Greek colony had lasted from the 6th to the mid-3rd centuries BC. Modern Benghazi, on the Gulf of Sidra, lies a little southwest of the site of the ancient Greek city of Berenice or Berenicis or Bernici, the new city was later given the name Hesperides, in reference to the Hesperides, the guardians of the mythic western paradise. The name may have referred to green oases in low-lying areas in the nearby coastal plain. Benghazi later became a Roman city and prospered for 600 years, in its more prosperous period, Berenice became a Christian bishopric. The first of its bishops whose name is recorded in extant documents is Ammon, dathes was at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, and Probatius at a synod held in Constantinople in 394. No longer a residential bishopric, Berenice is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, in the 13th century, the small settlement became an important player in the trade growing up between Genoese merchants and the tribes of the hinterland
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Cairo
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Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Cairo has long been a center of the political and cultural life. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the worlds second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, with a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution, Cairos metro, one of only two in Africa, ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the citys importance for the country. In Coptic the city is known as Kahire, meaning Place of the Sun, possibly referring to the ancient city of Heliopolis, the location of the ancient city is the suburb of Ain Shams. The ancient Egyptian name for the area is thought to be Khere-Ohe, The Place of Combat, sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro. The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance and this fortress, known as Babylon, remained the nucleus of the Roman, and, later, the Byzantine, city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, many of Cairos oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. Following the Muslim conquest in 640 AD the conqueror Amr ibn As settled to the north of the Babylon in an area became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tented camp Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt, in 750, following the overthrow of the Ummayad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became their capital. This was known as al-Askar as it was laid out like a military camp, a rebellion in 869 by Ahmad ibn Tulun led to the abandonment of Al Askar and the building of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qattai, to the north of Fustat and closer to the river, Al Qattai was centred around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of ibn Tulun. In 905 the Abbasids re-asserted control of the country and their returned to Fustat
33.
Wadi Halfa
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Wādī Ḥalfā is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia. It is the terminus of a line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferries going down the lake. As of 2007, the city had a population of 15,725, the modern town of Wadi Halfa was founded in the 19th century, when it became a port on the Nile for steamers from Aswan, such as the Nubia. During the Turko-Egyptian conquest of 1820, Wadi Halfa was used as a point for troops headed south. Communications developed in the half of the 19th century, with a telegraph line to Egypt connected in 1866. In 1885, Wadi Halfa entered a period of turmoil after falling under the Mahdist War regime, conflicts frequently broke out on the border, and in 1889, Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdis army entered the town on the way to the Battle of Tushki. Wadi Halfa was briefly the headquarters of the British-led Egyptian and British forces under Kitchener seeking to defeat the forces of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi from 1895 to 1898. The rail line up the Nile was originally begun in 1897 to support this military buildup, it extends, via Atbara, to El Obeid and beyond into southern and western Sudan. A railroad hotel was built in the town during the 20th century, by 1956, the town had grown to a population of 11,000. The government was quick to suppress the agitation, placing Wadi Halfa under martial law, protests in Khartoum, mainly by students, led to the temporary closure of the Khartoum campus of Cairo University and about 50 arrests. The old town was destroyed after the construction of the Aswan High Dam due to flooding in 1964. Most of the town was relocated, and by 1965 the population of New Halfa was just 3,200, during the 1970s, the area was under intense scrutiny by archaeologists working to protect ancient Nubian monuments. Wadi Halfa was featured in part 4, entitled Shifting Sands, in 2005 a museum and interactive Nubian village were planned for Wadi Halfa but by 2014 nothing had been done. Wadi Halfa has a hot climate typical of the Nubian Desert. Wadi Halfa receives each year the highest mean amount of bright sunshine, in addition to this, the town receives a mean annual amount of rainfall of 0.5 mm and many years usually pass without any rainfall falling on the ground. Wadi Halfa experiences long, hot summers and short, warm winters, the annual mean temperature is about 27 °C. From May to September, inclusively, the averages highs exceed 40 °C, the annual mean rate of potential evaporation is also among the highest found throughout the world, with as much as 5,930 mm. Agriculture played an important role in local economy. The Chinese have invested in a processing plant in the town
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Khartoum
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Khartoum is the capital and second largest city of Sudan and the state of Khartoum. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing north from Lake Victoria, the location where the two Niles meet is known as al-Mogran. The main Nile continues to north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. The origin of the word, Khartoum, is uncertain, one theory argues that khartoum is derived from Arabic khurṭūm, probably referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles. Some scholars speculate that the word derives from the Nubian word, Agartum, other Beja scholars suggest Khartoum is derived from the Beja word, Hartoom. Additionally, the dream interpreting magicians in Genesis 41,8 are referred to as חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י, suggesting that in ancient times the word already existed. In 1821, Khartoum was established 24 kilometres north of the ancient city of Soba, by Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Egypts ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who had just incorporated Sudan into his realm. Originally, Khartoum served as an outpost for the Egyptian Army and it also became a focal point for the slave trade. Later, it became the center of Sudan and official capital. On 13 March 1884, troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad started a siege of Khartoum, the siege ended in a massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison. On 26 January 1885, the damaged city fell to the Mahdists. On 2 September 1898, Omdurman was the scene of the bloody Battle of Omdurman, in 1973, the city was the site of an anomalous hostage crisis in which members of Black September held 10 hostages at the Saudi Arabian embassy, five of them diplomats. The US ambassador, the US deputy ambassador, and the Belgian chargé daffaires were murdered, a 1973 United States Department of State document, declassified in 2006, concluded, The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat. In 1977, the first oil pipeline between Khartoum and the Port of Sudan was completed, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Khartoum was the destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflicts in neighboring nations such as Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Many Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees assimilated into society, while others settled in large slums at the outskirts of the city, since the mid-1980s, large numbers of refugees from South Sudan and Darfur fleeing the violence of the Second Sudanese Civil War and Darfur conflict have settled around Khartoum. In 1991, Osama bin Laden purchased a house in the affluent al-Riyadh neighborhood of the city and he lived there until 1996, when he was banished from the country. The destruction of the factory produced diplomatic tension between the U. S. and Sudan, the factory ruins are now a tourist attraction. The sudden death of SPLA head and vice-president of Sudan, John Garang, the riots finally died down after Southern Sudanese politicians and tribal leaders sent strong messages to the rioters
35.
Kassala
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Kassala is the capital of the state of Kassala in eastern Sudan. Its 2008 population was recorded to be 419,030, built on the banks of the Gash River, it is a market town and is famous for its fruit gardens. Many of its inhabitants are from the Hadendoa group, with others being of Rashaida origin. It was formerly a hub, however, as of 2006 there was no operational railway station in Kassala and much of the track leading to. Kassalas location along the main Khartoum-Port Sudan highway makes it an important trade center, the city was originally created as a military camp for the Ottoman soldiers of Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali in 1840 during his military offensive into Sudan. In 1885, Kassala was subsequently captured by the Mahdists, in 1894, after the Battle of Kassala the Italians captured the city. In 1897, the Kingdom of Italy returned Kassala to the Kingdom of Egypt, in 1899, Kassala fell under the purview of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan until Sudanese independence in 1956. In July 1940, during the East African Campaign, Italian forces advancing from Italian East Africa forced a small British garrison to withdraw from Kassala, the Italians then occupied the city with a brigade-sized unit. In mid-January 1941, the Italians withdrew from the city and a British garrison returned, in 1956, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan became the Republic of the Sudan. Since the 1960s, the city has been the destination of large numbers of Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees fleeing conflict and war. Since the beginning of the Second Sudanese Civil War in the 1980s, it has also been refuge of internally displaced Sudanese fleeing conflicts in the Nuba Mountains, about 160,000 of these IDPs settled on the outskirts of the town. The Kassala region now has a mortality rate twice that of the Darfur region. The city is home to Kassala University, a university established in 1990 to replace the East University. Asmara, Eritrea Keren, Eritrea 2007 Sudan floods Railway stations in Sudan Kassala program, Ockenden International
36.
Asmara
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Asmara, known locally as Asmera, is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea. Home to a population of just over 1,000,000 inhabitants, the city is located at the tip of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Eritrean highlands and the Great Rift Valley in neighbouring Ethiopia. Asmara is situated in Eritreas central Maekel Region and it is known for its well-preserved colonial Italian modernist architecture. These towns were attacked by clans from the low land. Until the women of each clan decided that to defeat their common enemy, the men accepted, hence the name Arbate Asmera. Arbate Asmara literally means, in the Tigrinya language, the four made them unite, eventually Arbate was dropped and it has been called Asmara which means they made them unite. There is still a district called Arbaete Asmara in the Administrations of Asmara and it is now called the Italianized version of the word Asmara. The westernized version of the name is used by a majority of non-Eritreans, while the inhabitants of Eritrea and neighboring peoples remain loyal to the original pronunciation. The missionary Remedius Prutky passed through Asmara in 1751, and described in his memoirs that a church there by Jesuit priests 130 years before was still intact. Asmara started to grow in a way when it was occupied by Italy in 1889 and was made the capital city of Italian Eritrea in preference to Massawa by Governor Martini in 1897. In the early 20th century, a line was built to the coast, passing through the town of Ghinda. In both 1913 and 1915 the city suffered only slight damage in large earthquakes, in the late 1930s the Italians changed the face of the town, with a new structure and new buildings, Asmara was called Piccola Roma. Asmara was populated by a large Italian community and consequently the city acquired an Italian architectural look, the city of Asmara had a population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were Italian according to the Italian census of 1939. This fact made Asmara the main Italian town of the Italian empire in Africa, in all of Eritrea the population of Italians was only 75,000 in total in that year, making Asmara by far their largest centre. Many industrial investments were made by Italy in Asmara, but the beginning of World War II stopped the blossoming industrialization of the area, in 1952, the United Nations resolved to federate the former colony under Ethiopian rule. During the federation, Asmara was no longer the capital city, the capital was now Addis Ababa, over 1,000 kilometres to the south. The national language of the city was replaced from Tigrinya language to the Ethiopian Amharic language. In 1961, emperor Haile Selassie I ended the federal arrangement, ethiopias biggest ally was the United States
37.
Dire Dawa
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Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia. It is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper and the woreda of Gurgura. According to the Futuh Al Habasha, Conquest of Abyssinia, the area or settlement was only called Dir after the major Somali clan around 5 centuries ago. Dire Dawa lies in the part of the nation, on the Dechatu River. At a latitude and longitude of 9°36′N 41°52′E, it is the second largest city in Ethiopia, the city is an industrial centre, home to several markets and the Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma International Airport. Haramaya University is 40 kilometres away, the company was already having financial difficulty and Ilg received permission from Emperor Menelik II not to complete the expensive climb to nearby Harar at its higher elevation. Instead, Addis Harar served as the terminus for the line linking the area with the French port at Djibouti, harars governor Ras Makonnen then linked the two cities with a new road. Dire Dawas first governor was Ato Mersha Nahusenay, who was instrumental in the construction of the first railway. The imperial railway company played a key role in the development of the city, particularly Gezira. The Dire Dawa-Harar road was improved in 1928, shortening the time to only a few hours. The Italian army entered the country from the colonies of Eritrea in the north, following all major engagements of the war, Dire Dawa was the location of the meeting of the two Italian forces. They were met by two French armed cars, the railway remained under French administration and they had remained to protect the French interests. The next day, the first train under Italian control left Addis Ababa, it brought Italys 46th Infantry Regiment, the occupation of the town was more or less a formality, although resistance fighters known as Arbegnoch continued to operate throughout the conflict. It was officially known by its Italian spelling Dire Daua during the occupation, following the restoration of the empire in 1941, Dire Dawa was among the early provincial towns to have its own soccer league. Around 1947, their team—the Taffari—participated in the Ethiopian Championship series and that same year, the Railroad Workers Syndicate of Dire Dawa, a labor union, was formed for welfare purposes. In 1955, a public system was installed in the central square to receive. The Ethiopian revolution affected the city in many ways, starting March 1974, there was some worker unrest, six people were wounded when police opened fire on demonstrating railwaymen and students on 17 April. Many Europeans, Yemeni Arabs, and Indians left Dire Dawa, on 3 February 1975, the Derg announced that the Cotton Company of Ethiopia was among 14 textile enterprises to be fully nationalized
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Ethio-Djibouti Railways
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Ethio-Djibouti Railways, also known as the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Enterprise, is a railway company based in the Horn of Africa. It was established in 1981 as the successor to the Franco-Ethiopian Railway, the railway links Addis Ababa, the capital of landlocked Ethiopia, to the Port of Djibouti in Djibouti City. Maintenance shops along the line are located in Dire Dawa, which grew up as the depot for nearby Harar. The railroad is abandoned between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Through trains have not run since 2008, service is available between Dire Dawa and Djibouti. The parallel Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, a standard gauge railway. It was built and is operated by Chinese state-owned companies, the single track 781 km railway has a 1,000 mm gauge, most of it on Ethiopian territory, and about 100 km in Djibouti. There are 187 bridges along the route, but only one tunnel at Gol du Harr, the Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia was a firm founded in 1894 to build and operate a railway across eastern Ethiopia from the port of Djibouti to the capital of Addis Ababa. It was founded by Alfred Ilg and Léon Chefneux and headquartered in Paris, the firm failed in 1906 when political discord halted construction, and it failed to obtain any new capital. The portion it had completed ran from Djibouti to just short of Harar, during the era of Emperor Menelik II the Somali clans Issa and Gadabursi were among the railway workers when the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway was under construction and greatly benefited from it. Also Its terminus evolved into the city of Dire Dawa, today a city than Harar itself. Discussion of an Ethiopian railway was initiated by Alfred Ilg, an advisor to Emperor Menelek II, when Menelek acceded to the throne in 1889, negotiations began anew and a decree was granted on February 11,1893, to study the construction of rail line. Ilg, a Swiss citizen, and a number of French associates put together a firm and received a charter on March 9,1894. Furthermore, the firm was obliged to construct a line along the route. It took until 1897 before the permission from French authorities was received. The emperor himself was irate at the involvement of the French government, which had offered to fund the line, there was also opposition from the British legation in Addis Ababa, which feared a reduction in traffic to the port of Zeila in British Somaliland. The firm also had difficulty selling its shares in Europe. All in all, the stock offering only earned 8,738,000 francs of the 14 million projected
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Djibouti
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Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, the remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti occupies an area of just 23,200 km2. In antiquity, the territory was part of the Land of Punt and then the Sabean, nearby Zeila was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. It was subsequently renamed to the French Territory of the Afars, a decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence. This officially marked the establishment of the Republic of Djibouti, named after its capital city, Djibouti joined the United Nations the same year, on 20 September 1977. In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict, Djibouti is a multi-ethnic nation with a population of over 846,687 inhabitants. Arabic and French are the two official languages. About 94% of residents adhere to Islam, a religion that has been predominant in the region for more than 1,000 years, the Somali Issa and Afar make up the two largest ethnic groups. Both speak Afroasiatic languages, which serve as recognized national languages, Djibouti is strategically located near some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It serves as a key refueling and transshipment center, and is the principal port for imports from. A burgeoning commercial hub, the nation is the site of various military bases. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional body also has its headquarters in Djibouti City, the Djibouti area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during this period from the familys proposed urheimat in the Nile Valley, other scholars propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there. Pottery predating the mid-2nd millennium has been found at Asa Koma, the sites ware is characterized by punctate and incision geometric designs, which bear a similarity to the Sabir culture phase 1 ceramics from Malayba in Southern Arabia. Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho. Handoga, dated to the fourth millennium BP, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths, additionally, between Djibouti City and Loyada are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape that are flanked by vertical slabs, the Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol
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French Somaliland
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French Somaliland was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1883 and 1967 and it was established between 1883 and 1887, after the ruling Somali and Afar sultans signed the land away in various treaties with the French. The name of French Somaliland, “Cote Francaise des Somalis” is said to have proposed by Mohamed Haji Dide of the Mahad Ase branch of the Gadabuursi. He himself before the arrival of the French was prosperous merchant of Zayla and he came on to build the first Mosque in Djibouti Gami ar-Rahma in 1891. On the other side of the Bab el Mandeb strait, the French held a small peninsula in the Aden territory. The construction of the Imperial Ethiopian Railway west into Ethiopia turned the port of Djibouti into a boomtown of 15,000 at a time when Harar was the city in Ethiopia to exceed that. The railway continued to operate following the Italian conquest of Ethiopia but, following the tumult of the Second World War, in 1967, French Somaliland was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas and, in 1977, it became the independent country of Djibouti. List of governors of French Somaliland List of French possessions and colonies French colonial empire Imbert-Vier, frontières et limites à Djibouti durant la période coloniale
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Italians of Ethiopia
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Italians of Ethiopia are the emigrants and colonists from Italy who moved to live in Ethiopia as far back as the 19th century, and their descendants. King Menelik II did not allowed the sale of lands belonging to Ethiopia to Italians, however, the relationship was often marked by the fact that under various treaties written in both Amharic and Italian, the Italian version always referred to Ethiopia as a protectorate of Italy. Most of the Italians moved to Ethiopia after the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1936, from then on, the Kingdom of Italy had traded and set up large tracts of farm land up to the borders with Ethiopia. Conflicts between the two resulted in the Battle of Adwa in 1896, whereby the Ethiopians defeated Italy and remained independent. It should be noted that at the time, Italy had only been unified for less than a few decades, anti-war riots and demonstrations broke out across Italy and in the city of Pavia the population came out to blockade the railroad to prevent Italian troops from leaving for Ethiopia. Italy and Ethiopia signed a treaty of peace on 26 October 1896. Shortly after the Fascist government under Benito Mussolini forcibly came to power, in October 1935, Mussolini launched the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and invaded Ethiopia. Victory was announced on 9 May 1936 and Mussolini declared the creation of the Italian Empire, the Italians merged Eritrea, Italian Somalia, and newly captured Ethiopia into Italian East Africa. Among the war committed under the orders of Mussolini was the robbing of one of the so-called Axum Obelisks. Although at the time it had been toppled for centuries, the Fascist army shipped it to Italy to be reassembled in front of the Ministry for Italian Africa across from the Circus Maximus. It was officially unveiled on October 28,1937 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Fascists March on Rome, the operation was coordinated by Ugo Monneret de Villard. The Italian King Victor Emmanuel III added Emperor of Ethiopia to his titles, according to official statistics of the Italian government, in October 1939 the Italian Ethiopians were 35.441, of whom 30.232 male and 5209 female, most of them living in urban areas. Only 3,200 Italian farmers moved to farm areas. Ethiopia was part of the Italian Empire from 1936 to 1941, the Italians constructed huge and expensive infrastructure projects, that drained the Italian economy but reduced in those years the unemployment in the Kingdom of Italy. They did 18,794 km of new roads asphaltated, in 1940 Addis Ababa was connected by roads to Asmara. There was a project for the enlargement of Addis Ababa. Some Italian civilians participated in the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia until 1943 and this Italian doctor was a woman who became an active member of the Fronte di Resistenza, an Italian organization which fought the Allies in a guerrilla war from December 1941 until summer of 1943. In August 1942 she managed to enter inside the ammunition depot of the British Army in Addis Ababa and blow it up
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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