The Economic Prospects of the Kingdom of Italy in the East from the Opening of the Suez Canal to the Settlement of the Colony of Assab (1865-1882)

Abstract

The inauguration of the Suez Canal effectively transformed the Red Sea into the main communication route between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean; the government of post-unification Italy launched a series of studies and prospecting both to strengthen its infrastructure, particularly ports and railways and to identify territory to be used as a colony, for reasons of international prestige. Substantial, largely unpublished archival documentation, at present the Historical Archives of the Italian Geographical Society and the Fondo Bixio at the University of Genoa, allows us to sketch a much more complex context regarding Italy’s early expansionist initiatives. At the time, Italian executives were more interested in expanding their trade networks to the East, while the East African coast was considered inappropriate for establishing a colony there; moreover, the very type of colony being based was the subject of intense political debate, with proposals for founding penal establishments or commercial outposts. The article analyzes the geopolitical tensions of the European Powers in the Red Sea area, comparing Italian, British, Spanish, German, and French expansionist initiatives from a global perspective to understand the causes and vicissitudes that led the Italian government in 1882 to purchase Assab Bay from the Rubattino Company, officially initiating expansionism in Africa.