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The land today known as Djibouti has history stretching back
thousands of years with traders from the area exchanging animal
skins for perfumes and spices from the far east including India
and China. It is easier to
think of the history of Djibouti by its people rather than its
land. Part of the Abyssinian Empire, the area was settled by the Issas of Somalia and the Afars of the Ethiopian
Danakils ethnic group with the Afars being the minority group. French interest in the area began with Rochet d'Hericourt's
expedition of Shoa between 1839-42 and later expeditions by the French
Consular Agent at Aden, Henri Lambert, and another by Captain Fleuriot de Langle. This interest was spurred to some
degree by growing British influence in Egypt and led to a treaty
of friendship between France and the Afar Sultans of Raheita,
Tadjourah, and Gobaad who ruled parts of Djibouti in the
nineteenth century.
In 1862 the French consolidated their
position with the purchase of Obock and, having established a naval base there, they formally annexed the territory in
1884 as part of the Scramble for Africa and in 1892
their administrative capital was moved from Obock to the present day 'City' of Djibouti. Four years later in 1896 the territory was named French Somalialand, broadly reflecting Djibouti's current boundaries as
marked out in 1897 by France and Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.
(These boundaries were confirmed by agreements with Emperor
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
in 1945 and 1954.) At the end of the Second World War, the colony was declared
a French overseas territory and in 1958 the French held a
referendum there to ascertain whether its people
wanted to remain with France or join the soon to be independent
Republic of Somalia.
In what was considered a rigged vote
after many Somalians were ejected from Djibouti creating a 'stay
with France' outcome, the territory was renamed in 1967 as the
French Territory of the Afars and Issas. The history of Djibouti
recorded growing ethnic tensions in the area with the French
widely perceived to favour the Afars, with the Issas pressing
for independence altogether. Ten years later, after the formation of the Ligue Populaire
Africaine pour L'independance (LPAI) ~ a unified political
movement that led calls for independence ~ the
territory finally gained its independence as the Republic of Djibouti, named after its capital.
Following independence, the first president Hassan Gouled Aptidon, installed a Issa led one-party
state and he continued to serve in that role until 1999 when his nephew was installed in the position.
Afar unrest was prevalent during the 1990s and has been
described as civil war between 1991-1994, a civil war that drove
off much needed foreign investment and deprived the country of
making much needed infrastructure improvements, however a peace
treaty was signed in 2000 and since then there have been
multi-party elections, even if the current president, Aptidon's nephew, has won all of them with over 90% of the vote not least because of opposition boycotts. For more about the history of
Djibouti independence check out the articles below and if you love
history take time to follow the 'Old Djibouti' link also below to see
images of Djibouti between the two world wars in a series
of picture postcard images, a wonderful insight into life in
colonial Djibouti. The video (below) also chronicles the ancient history of the country.
Djibouti History: Volunteer in Djibouti
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Djibouti History: Djibouti Independence
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Djibouti Profile: Colonial Djibouti
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Djibouti History: Child Sponsor Djibouti
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Djibouti History: Djibouti Country Profile
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