Restorations of Empire in Africa

Restorations of Empire in Africa
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 318
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780192664600
ISBN-13 : 0192664603
Rating : 4/5 (603 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Restorations of Empire in Africa by : Samuel Agbamu

Download or read book Restorations of Empire in Africa written by Samuel Agbamu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The histories of Europe and Africa are closely intertwined. At times, this closeness has been emphasized, at other times, suppressed and denied. Since the nineteenth century, European imperial powers have carved up the continent of Africa among themselves, drawing borders and charting shorelines; in the process, inventing Africa. This was a project anchored in ancient Greek and Roman representations of Africa. For Italy, colonialism in Africa was a matter of consolidating its project of national unification, nominally completed in 1870 with the capture of Rome. By asserting its position as an imperial power, the young nation of Italy hoped to join the club of European nation-states and, in so doing, be rid of the perception that it was a country somewhere in between Europe and Africa. Yet, Italy's colonial endeavour in Africa was also a project with deep historical meaning. Italy posed its imperial project in Africa as a national return to territory which was rightfully Italian. Italian ideologues of imperialism based this claim on the history of Roman history on the continent. When Italian soldiers disembarked on the beaches of Libya during Italy's invasion of 1911-1912, and came across the ruins of Roman imperialism, they were, according to prominent cultural and political figures in Italy, rediscovering the traces of their ancestors. Yet, when Italian imperial ambitions set their sights on East Africa, regions that had not been conquered by Rome, how could Italy nevertheless shape its imperial project in the image of ancient Rome? This book charts this story. Beginning with Italy's first imperial endeavours on the African continent in the last decades of the nineteenth century and continuing right through to Italy's current attitudes towards Africa, this book argues that empire in Africa was a central aspect of Italian nation-building, and that this was a project which anchored itself in memories of ancient Rome in Africa. Although Fascism's invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1936) is the best-known moment of Italian imperialism in Africa, this book shows that Italian imperialism, modelled on ancient Rome, has a history which long predates Mussolini's movement, and has a legacy which continues to be acutely felt.


Restorations of Empire in Africa Related Books

Restorations of Empire in Africa
Language: en
Pages: 318
Authors: Samuel Agbamu
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-03-19 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

The histories of Europe and Africa are closely intertwined. At times, this closeness has been emphasized, at other times, suppressed and denied. Since the ninet
Restorations of Empire in Africa
Language: en
Pages: 312
Authors: Samuel Agbamu
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2024-06-28 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

The first full-length study of how Italian colonialism in Africa used the history of Roman imperialism on the continent to legitimise and promote its own imperi
A History of the European Restorations
Language: en
Pages: 345
Authors: Michael Broers
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-11-14 - Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

GET EBOOK

Europe's Restorations were characterised by their evolving dialectics. The chapters in this first volume address the key questions and controversies of Napoleon
Africa Since 1935
Language: en
Pages: 1076
Authors: Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 1999 - Publisher: Univ of California Press

GET EBOOK

The hardcover edition of volume 8 was published in 1994. This paperback edition is the eighth and final volume to be published in the UNESCO General History of
Historic Houses of South Africa
Language: en
Pages: 300
Authors: Graham Viney
Categories: Architecture
Type: BOOK - Published: 1997 - Publisher:

GET EBOOK

Specially commissioned photographs and lively text capture the spirit of 23 of South Africa's grandest houses, following a timeline of social and cultural devel