French Somaliland

Haji Dideh, the Sultan of Zeila and prosperous Gadabuursi merchant was the pioneer of the name Côte Française des Somalis or the French Coast of the Somalis, and later French Somaliland and coined the name to the French. He also built the first mosque in what is now Djibouti which still functions today.[2][3][4] French Somaliland was formally established in 1896 after the Gadabuursi,[5] Issa[6] and Afar each signed a treaty with the French, but iterations of what will eventually become French Somaliland existed for few decades prior to the official formation. On March 11, 1862, a treaty signed by Afar Sultan Raieta Dini Ahmet in Paris ceded the territory of Obock for 10,000 thalaris, around 55,000 francs. Later on, that treaty was used by Captain Alphonse Fleuriot de Langle to colonize the south of the Bay of Tadjoura. On March 25, 1885 the French signed a treaty with the Gadabuursi, effectively making them a protectorate of France.[7] On March 26, 1885 the French signed another treaty with the Issa making the latter a protectorate under the French. No money changed hands and the Somalis did not sign away any of their land rights; the agreement was meant to protect their land from outsiders with the help of the French. However, after the French sailors of the Le Pingouin vessel were mysteriously killed in Ambado in 1886, the French first blamed the British, then the Somalis, using the incident to lay claim to the entire southern territory.[8][9][10][11] [12][13]

An attempt by Russian adventurer Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov to establish a settlement at Sagallo in 1889 was promptly thwarted by French forces after just one month.

Coast of the Somalis and dependencies

Map showing the new borders of French Somaliland following the cession of territory to Italian Eritrea in 1935

The construction of the Imperial Ethiopian Railway west into Ethiopia turned the port of Djibouti into a boomtown of 15,000[14] at a time when Harar was the only city in Ethiopia with a greater population.[15] Although the city's population fell after the completion of the line to Dire Dawa and the bankruptcy (and subsequent government bail-out) of the original company, the rail link allowed Djibouti to quickly overtake the caravan-based trade out of Zeila[16] (then in British Somaliland) and become the premier port for coffee and other goods leaving southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden through Harar. Before the French aligned with the Issa, the Gadabuursi held the position of the first Senator of the country and the first Somali head of state to lead the territory compromising Djibouti today. Djama Ali Moussa, a former sailor, pursued his political aspirations and managed to become the first Somali democratically elected head of state in French Somaliland.[17][18]

The railway continued operating after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia but following the tumult of the Second World War, the area became a French overseas territory in 1946. In 1967, French Somaliland was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas and, in 1977, became the independent country of Djibouti.

• List of governors of French Somaliland
• List of French possessions and colonies
• French colonial empire

• Imbert-Vier, Simon (2008). Frontières et limites à Djibouti durant la période coloniale (1884–1977) (PhD thesis). Université de Provence–Aix-Marseille I.
• Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). "Somaliland" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). pp. 378–384, see page 382. French Somaliland

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