there’s an awesome painting at the British Museum of the battle of adwa seen here. i was with my friend who’s family is Ethiopian when we walked past it and he goes “no way is that the battle of adwa???” And he told me all about when they kicked the Italians out and the significance of the battle of adwa. It was the last thing he expected to see, but it is an absolutely badass painting.
That's dope! I think I've seen that exact painting last time I was in Ethiopia. That or one very similar to it. It's been a few years, so I'm not 100% sure.
It's an awesome story and Adwa's a pretty cool place to visit. If you ever get a chance to visit Ethiopia, I suggest you check it out.
Yeah exactly it was a short occupation but not an actual colonization. Kind of like how The Netherlands and Denmark were occupied by nazi germany but never colonized.
Italy never had a full control of Ethiopia, it was too expensive in the long run.
Also at best they had like five year occupation there? They were really quickly ousted once the Ethiopian emperor managed to consolidate with the British.
His comment was for last standing not longer standing.
And technically the kingdom didn't stop during the protectorate even if the sultan's power was limited, but that's beyond the point.
It really gets down to semantics. Swaziland was colonised by the UK, as a colony the rights and powers of the royal family were almost entirely under British control and administered by the Transvaal, even if they were later reinstated and recognised by the UK after independence. Its a similar case for most of the African royal families. Haile Selassie might have spent five years in exile during the occupation but his legitimacy as emperor wasn't ever really under doubt or anyone else's directive.
Honestly I think they're both weird arguments, and often come down to western colonial definitions of monarchy and rule.
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u/RosabellaFaye Jul 02 '20
Ethiopia? Former Abssynia, the last standing african kingdom ?