Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1887-1902 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 volume
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
In the late 19th century European powers including Italy sought to extend their influence in east Africa. Italy extended its influence sufficiently to proclaim the colony of Eritrea in the 1880s. Dispute over the meaning of a treaty signed by Menelik II (d 1913) of Ethiopia with Italy (1889), whereby Italy claimed it had been given a protectorate over Ethiopia, led to an Italian invasion in 1895 which resulted in Italy being defeated. Under the Treaty of Addis Ababa (1896) Italy recognized the independence of Ethiopia, but retained its Eritrean colonial base.
Nafka is a town in north-western Eritrea, a commercial centre of the Habab people and the site of an Italian Residenza.
Archival history
The documents appear to have been collected together and bound into a volume by an unidentified Italian officer. They were located by Anthony D'Avray in 1943 in the archives of the Italian Residenti of the Nafka district (the last of whom had left his post following Italian defeat in 1941).
GB 0102 MS 380714 1887-1902 Collection (fonds) 1 volume Unknown
In the late 19th century European powers including Italy sought to extend their influence in east Africa. Italy extended its influence sufficiently to proclaim the colony of Eritrea in the 1880s. Dispute over the meaning of a treaty signed by Menelik II (d 1913) of Ethiopia with Italy (1889), whereby Italy claimed it had been given a protectorate over Ethiopia, led to an Italian invasion in 1895 which resulted in Italy being defeated. Under the Treaty of Addis Ababa (1896) Italy recognized the independence of Ethiopia, but retained its Eritrean colonial base.
Nafka is a town in north-western Eritrea, a commercial centre of the Habab people and the site of an Italian Residenza.
The documents appear to have been collected together and bound into a volume by an unidentified Italian officer. They were located by Anthony D'Avray in 1943 in the archives of the Italian Residenti of the Nafka district (the last of whom had left his post following Italian defeat in 1941).
Deposited in SOAS Library by Anthony D'Avray in 2000.
Volume of 83 collected documents, 1887-1902, comprising notes, reports, memoranda and dispatches, relating to the Habab and related societies of the Red Sea littoral, Italian colonization, and colonial administration during the period of Italian rule of Eritrea.
Closed pending conservation. Readers should use the published version.
Not permitted during closure.
Italian
Database.
Published unabridged, with commentary, as The Nakfa documents: the despatches, memoranda, reports and correspondence describing and explaining the stories of the feudal societies of the Red Sea littoral from the Christian-Muslim wars of the sixteenth century to the establishment 1885-1901 of the Italian colony of Eritrea, ed Anthony d'Avray in collaboration with Richard Pankhurst (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2000). The documents were also among the sources for Anthony D'Avray, Lords of the Red Sea: the history of a Red Sea Society from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1996).
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. Aug 2002 African cultures Asian cultures Colonial administration Colonial countries Colonization East Africa Eritrea Europe Italy Middle East Nafka National cultures Political systems Western Europe
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited in SOAS Library by Anthony D'Avray in 2000.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Volume of 83 collected documents, 1887-1902, comprising notes, reports, memoranda and dispatches, relating to the Habab and related societies of the Red Sea littoral, Italian colonization, and colonial administration during the period of Italian rule of Eritrea.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Closed pending conservation. Readers should use the published version.
Conditions governing reproduction
Not permitted during closure.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Italian
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Database.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
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Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English