African Response to Colonial Rule
Senior 4 · History
African Response to Colonial Rule
Lesson 2 of 3
25 min
On 2 May 1889 Menelik II of Ethiopia and Count Pietro Antonelli, for Italy, signed the Treaty of Wuchale. It was written in Amharic and in Italian. Article 17 in the Amharic text reads, in English translation:
"His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia can use the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy for all business with other powers or governments."
Treaty of Wuchale, Article 17, Amharic version, as translated on Wikipedia.
The Italian text said that Ethiopia must conduct all its foreign affairs through Italy. In October 1889 Italy told the other European governments that Ethiopia was now an Italian protectorate.
Analyse it. One verb made the difference between a choice ("can") and an obligation ("must"), between an independent ally and a protectorate. Menelik rejected the Italian reading. Notice that his resistance began with diplomacy and documents, not with war: he denied the claim and refused Italian protection, while his armies acquired modern rifles from France and Russia. Only when Italy tried to impose its version by force did the war come, and it ended at Adwa.
Definition
Resistance: opposing colonial conquest or rule. Active (armed) resistance: fighting, in open battles or by guerrilla war. Passive resistance: opposing without open war, for example refusing taxes or labour, non-cooperation, flight or keeping banned beliefs. Diplomatic resistance: using negotiation, letters, envoys and treaties to defend independence.
Guerrilla war: small, mobile groups attacking and retreating, using knowledge of the land. Spirit medium: a person believed to speak for a spirit, often a leader of resistance in Zimbabwe and in the Nyabingi movement of the Great Lakes. Awaj: an Ethiopian proclamation, such as Menelik's call to arms of September 1895.
By late 1895 Italian forces had advanced deep into Tigray. In September 1895 Menelik issued an awaj calling the whole country to arms, and provincial armies gathered under him, Empress Taytu and the great nobles. On 1 March 1896 the Italian commander, General Oreste Baratieri, under pressure from Rome to act, advanced on the Ethiopian camp near Adwa through difficult country. His brigades lost touch with each other and were attacked one by one.
More than 6,000 Italian and colonial soldiers were killed and about 3,800 captured; Ethiopian losses were also heavy, an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 killed. Italy signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa recognising Ethiopia as an independent state. Why did Ethiopia succeed? Unity under Menelik; numbers; modern rifles; knowledge of the terrain; leadership; and Italian errors, including advancing with poor reconnaissance and supplies that would run out in less than five days.
The British South Africa Company occupied Mashonaland in 1890 and conquered the Ndebele kingdom in the war of 1893 to 1894 (lesson 1 of unit 5). In March 1896 the Ndebele rose, and the Shona joined them in June. Drought, locusts and the cattle disease rinderpest had hit the country, and the spiritual leader known as the Mlimo blamed the almost 4,000 settlers. The timing was chosen well: most company troops had left for the failed Jameson Raid. The Mlimo promised that the settlers' bullets would turn to water.
In Mashonaland, spirit mediums led the rising: Nehanda Nyakasikana, Kaguvi Gumboreshumba and Mukwati, together with chiefs such as Mashayamombe. The company brought reinforcements and Maxim guns against each stronghold in turn. The Ndebele laid down their arms after Rhodes went unarmed to talk with them in their stronghold in the Matobo Hills; the Shona fought on into 1897, and Nehanda and Kaguvi were captured and executed in 1898. Zimbabwe's war of independence, from 1964 to 1979, is also known as the Second Chimurenga.
Nyabingi was a spirit honoured in northern Rwanda and south-western Uganda. Its mediums had great influence. According to some Rwandan sources, the medium Muhumusa was Muserekande, a widow of Mwami Kigeli IV Rwabugiri, who fled north after the Rucunshu coup of 1896. Claiming that her son Biregeya was Rwabugiri's rightful heir, she rallied followers in the north against Musinga's court and told them to pay tribute to her instead.
This case shows how tangled responses could be: the same German presence was an ally for the Mwami's court (collaboration, lesson 1) and an enemy for the northern resisters.
| Form | Methods | Examples in this lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Diplomatic | Rejecting treaties, writing to European governments, sending envoys, playing rivals against each other | Menelik and Article 17; Lobengula's letters and envoys to Queen Victoria (1889) |
| Active: conventional war | Large armies, open battle, modern rifles and artillery | Ethiopia at Adwa (1896) |
| Active: guerrilla war and risings | Surprise attacks, strongholds in hills and caves, raids on settlers and posts | Ndebele and Shona (1896 to 1897); Muhumusa and Basebya (1911) |
| Religious mobilisation | Spirit mediums uniting people across clans; promises of protection | Mlimo, Nehanda, Kaguvi; the Nyabingi mediums |
| Passive | Refusing taxes or labour, flight, keeping banned beliefs and rituals | Followers who paid tribute to Muhumusa instead of the court; Nyabingi beliefs that survived her capture |
Warning
Do not dismiss religious promises such as "bullets will turn to water" as foolishness. Faith united people across clans and gave them courage against a terrible weapon, which is why spirit mediums led so many risings, from Zimbabwe to northern Rwanda. When the promise failed under machine-gun fire, it helps to explain the defeat, but it does not explain why people rose in the first place.
Tip
Three forms, one question. Diplomatic, Active, Passive: "DAP". For each case, also ask who resisted whom: in northern Rwanda, Muhumusa resisted both the colonisers and the Mwami's court.
Important
Discuss. Adwa is celebrated across Africa as proof that Africans could defeat a European army. Yet most resistance in this lesson ended in defeat. Was resistance that failed still worth it? Think about what it cost, and about what it meant for later generations, such as Zimbabwe's war of independence (1964 to 1979), also called the Second Chimurenga.
The Armchair Historian, "How did Italy Lose to Ethiopia? (1895)", an animated history. Watch for the dispute over the Treaty of Wuchale, the size and weapons of Menelik's army, and the mistakes in the Italian advance at Adwa.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the chart, the tables and the exercises. This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Article 17 of the Treaty of Wuchale said Ethiopia "can" use Italy in Amharic but "must" in Italian. Why did this matter so much?
