Colonies and colonialism in the Horn of Africa: from the first millennium BC to the nineteenth century

[EN] The Horn of Africa was the scenario of different colonial encounters during the last three millennia, encounters that involved local communities and African and Arabian polities, although they have rarely been examined as such. This paper argues that there is value in distinguishing between colonies, colonialism and colonisation to explore four cases studies in the Horn: South Arabian enclaves; the expansion of the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia; the Gonga polities of southern Ethiopia; and Turco-Egyptian imperialism. It examines and compares the diverse interactions between local populations and foreigners and the role of materiality in these processes. The cases explored allow the concept of the colonial to be expanded by including relations between foreigners and indigenous communities comprised within the notions of frontier societies, stranger kingship, diasporic enclaves and religious colonisation.