THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



ABYSSINIA, an empire in eastern Africa, 

 over which Italy claims a protectorate by virtue 

 of a treaty made on May 2, 1889, with Menelek 

 II before he was established in power as the suc- 

 cessor of the Negus Johannes II. A convention 

 for mutual protection, signed on Sept. 29 of the 

 same year, was interpreted by the Italian Gov- 

 ernment as confirming the protectorate, but this 

 the Negus in August, 1893, refused to prolong. 

 The protectorate was duly notified to the powers 

 in conformity with the general act of Berlin, 

 and in 1891 a delimitation between the British 

 and Italian spheres was agreed upon. The em- 

 pire of Abyssinia, otherwise called Ethiopia, em- 

 bracing Tigre, Lasta, Amhara. Gojam, Shoa, 

 Kaffa, and Harrar, has an estimated area . of 

 190,000 square miles and about 5,000,000 inhab- 

 itants. The dependent Somali and Galla terri- 

 tories, as delimited in the Anglo-Italian agree- 

 ment, have an area of 300,000 square miles and 

 600,000 inhabitants : the territories of the Habab, 

 Bogos, Beni Amer, and other tribes in the north 

 have an area of 18,000 square miles and 200,000 

 inhabitants ; and the territory of Danakil has an 

 area of 34,000 square miles, inclusive of the sul- 

 tanate of Aussa, with 200,000 inhabitants. The 

 Italians actually occupy the seaport of Masso- 

 wah with the country around it, the upland dis- 

 tricts of Keren and Asmara, and the Dahlak 

 archipelago. In September, 1893, they assumed 

 the administration of the seaports on the Somali 

 coast, which, by arrangement with England, the 

 Sultan of Zanzibar had ceded to Italy in August, 

 1892. The Italian colony in the north of Abys- 

 sinia, including Massowah, is officially called 

 Erythria. The littoral on the Red Sea extends 

 from Cape Kasar to Raheita, on the strait of 

 Bab-el-Mandeb, 670 miles. The total popula- 

 tion is estimated at 450,000, mostly consisting of 

 nomadic tribes. Massowah has a resident popu- 

 lation of about 16,000. The head of the civil 

 administration is a governor general. The mili- 

 tary force in 1893 consisted of 222 officers, of 

 whom 33 were natives, and 4,192 native and 

 1,906 European soldiery. The Italian Govern- 

 ment expended on its African possessions, from 

 the occupation of Massowah in 1887 to the end 

 of 1892, the sum of 125,327,315 lire. The colo- 

 nial budget for 1893 was 2,376,082 lire, exclusive 

 of military expenditures borne by the mother 

 VOL. xxxiv. 1 A 



country, which amounted to 15,898,262 lire. The 

 imports of Massowah in 1891 amounted to 12,- 

 542,933 lire, and in 1892 to 10,903.015 lire. 



The Egyptian Government at the instance of 

 England acquiesced in the Italian occupation of 

 Massowah and the adjacent Red Sea coast by 

 Italy, whereas Turkey, the legal suzerain power, 

 objected. The French representative at the 

 Brussels Antislavery Conference in 1890 raised 

 a protest against Italy's protectorate over Ethio- 

 pia, and it never has been recognized by Russia, 

 which asserts a certain right of tutelage over 

 Abyssinia on the gKmnd of the historic affilia- 

 tion between the Greek Orthodox Church and 

 the Alexandrian rite, which is the national re- 

 ligion of Abyssinia. 



Taking of Kassala. The capital of the for- 

 mer Egyptian province of Taka, Kassala, once 

 the center of trade between the Nile and Abys- 

 sinia, has been in the possession of the dervishes 

 since the surrender of the Egyptian garrison in 

 October, 1885. The dervishes have committed 

 frequent depredations on the Abyssinian prov- 

 ince of Tigre, and have harassed the tribes in Ital- 

 ian territory. In 1890 the Italian Government, 

 when discussing with the British Government 

 the boundary of Erythria, desired that Kassala 

 should be included in its territory. To this the 

 Egyptians, and Sir Evelyn Baring as the repre- 

 sentative of their interests, strongly objected, 

 and the negotiations were broken off : but when 

 they were renewed at Rome by Lord Dufferin 

 it was agreed, in a protocol signed April 15, 1891, 

 that Italy might occupy Kassala as a military 

 measure on the understanding that it should be 

 restored to Egypt as soon as the Egyptians were 

 in a position to hold it. The dervishes, toward 

 the end of 1893, advanced against the Italian 

 position, and a severe battle was fought near 

 Fort Agordat, in which 3,000 or 4,000 of them 

 were killed, including their leader, Hamed Ali, 

 and his 4 emirs. A few months later they re- 

 newed their aggressions. In July. 1894. they 

 raided the large village of Karkabat, on the 

 bank of the Baraka, killing many of the in- 

 habitants and carrying off the rest as slaves. 

 The Governor General, Col. Baratieri, heard of 

 the incursion while the Soudanese horsemen 

 were still harrying the inhabitants of the sur- 

 rounding country. Hastening from Keren, on 



