Italian East Africa Africa Orientale Italiana
Colony of the Kingdom of Italy
←   ←   ←   ← 1936–1941 ↓
Flag Royal Coat of arms
Motto Foedere et Religione Tenemur "We are held together by Pact and by Religion"
Anthem None Royal anthem Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza "Royal March of Ordinance"
Location of Italian East Africa Green: Italian East Africa (1936) (White lines designate territorial divisions) Light Green: Absorbed in 1940 Dark gray: Other Italian possessions and occupied territory Darkest gray: Kingdom of Italy
Capital	Addis Ababa
Language(s)	Italian, Amharic, Somali
Political structure	Colony
Emperor
- 1936–1941	Victor Emmanuel III
Viceroy1
- 1936	Pietro Badoglio
- 1936–1937	Rodolfo Graziani
- 1937–1941	Amedeo Umberto
- 1941	Pietro Gazzera
- 1941	Guglielmo Nasi
Historical era	Interwar Period / WWII
- Established	09 May 1936
- Disestablished	27 November 1941
Area
- 1936	1,750,000 km2 (675,679 sq mi)
Population
- 1936 est.	10,000,000
Density	5.7 /km2  (14.8 /sq mi)
Currency	Italian East African lira
Preceded by Succeeded by Italian Eritrea Italian Somaliland Ethiopian Empire British Somaliland Trust Territory of Somalia Eritrea British Somaliland Ethiopian Empire French Somaliland
Today part of	Ethiopia  Djibouti  Somalia  Eritrea
1: Viceroy and Governor-General.

Italian East Africa (Italian: Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI) was an Italian colony established in 1936, resulting from the merger of the Ethiopian Empire (conquered during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War) with the old colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea.

In August 1940, during the Second World War, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa, which itself was conquered by British-led forces in the course of 1941. The Ethiopian Empire and British Somaliland were then re-established, while Italian Somaliland and Eritrea both came under British administration. In 1949 Italian Somaliland was reconstituted as the Trust Territory of Somalia, which was administered by Italy from 1949 until its independence in 1960. In 1952 Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia.

Territory[link]

The six governatories of Italian East Africa.

When established in 1936, Italian East Africa covered the former Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and the recently conquered Ethiopia. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of "Emperor of Abyssinia". The colony was divided into the six governorates of Italian East Africa: Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, plus four provinces of Ethiopia (Amhara, Galla-Sidamo, Scioa, Harar) each under the authority of an Italian governor, answerable to the Italian viceroy, who represented the Emperor Victor Emmanuel.

Italian East Africa briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered British Somaliland, thereby creating a single Somaliland within Italian control, although the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the British-led East African Campaign of June 1940 to November 1941 Italian East Africa was conquered.

The other Italian colony in Africa was Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI).

History[link]

The dominion was formed in 1936 during Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's government in Italy with the defeat of Haile Selassie's Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

Rule in Italian East Africa was harsh for the native peoples, especially towards Ethiopians as Fascist policy sought to integrate their culture into the Italian Empire. Eritreans integrated very well.^{[citation needed]} But Ethiopians opposed strongly: in February 1937, following an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, Graziani ordered Italian soldiers to raid the famous Ethiopian monastery Debre Libanos where the would-be assassins had briefly taken refuge and had the monks and nuns in the monastery executed.^[1] Afterwards, Italian soldiers destroyed native settlements in Addis Ababa, which resulted in 30,000 Ethiopians being killed and their homes left burned to the ground.^[1][2]

Fascist colonial policy in the AOI had a divide and conquer characteristic. In order to weaken the Orthodox Christian Amhara people who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Eritrean Tigray-Tigrinyas and Somalis was given to the Eritrea Governorate and Somalia Governorate.,^[1] Reconstruction efforts after the war in 1936, were partially focused on benefiting the Muslim peoples in the AOI at the expense of the Amhara to strengthen support by Muslims for the Italian colony.^[1]

Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize the AOI by creating agriculture and small industries there.^[1] However few Italians came to the colony, most to Eritrea. By 1940 only 3200 farmers had arrived to Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal.^[3]

Continued insurgency by native Ethiopians, lack of resources, rough terrain, and uncertainty of political and military conditions discouraged development and settlement in the countryside^[3] But Italian Eritrea enjoyed a huge development, supported by nearly 80,000 Italian colonists.^[4]

The colony proved to be extremely expensive to maintain, the AOI's budget in 1936-37 requested from Italy 19.136 billion lire to create the necessary infrastructure for the colony.^[1] At the time Italy's entire revenue that year was only 18.581 billion lire.^[1]

There was an urbanistic project for the enlargement of Addis Ababa, in order to become the state-of-the-art capital of the Africa Orientale italiana, but these architectural plans -like all the other developments- were stopped by World War II.^[5]

East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941

In 1940, the adjacent protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. The conquest was the only victory of Italy without reinforcement from German troops during World War II against the Allies. This occupation lasted around one year.

Governor-Generals of Italian East Africa[link]

Italian East Africa 100 £ note.

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Antonicelli, Franco (1961) Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945, Saggi series 295, Torino : Einaudi, 387 p. [in Italian]
• Cannistraro, Philip V. (1982) Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy, Westport, Conn.; London : Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-21317-8
• Del Boca, Angelo (1986) Italiani in Africa Orientale: La caduta dell'Impero, Biblioteca universale Laterza 186, Roma : Laterza, ISBN 88-420-2810-X [in Italian]
• Mockler, Anthony (1984). Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941, New York : Random House, ISBN 0-394-54222-3
• Sarti, Roland (1974) The Ax Within: Italian fascism in action, New York : New Viewpoints, ISBN 0-531-06498-0
• Mauri, Arnaldo (1967). Il mercato del credito in Etiopia, Milano, Giuffrè, pp. XVI, 504 [in Italian].
• Calchi Novati, Gian Carlo (2011).L'Africa d'Italia, Carrocci, Roma. [in Italian]
• Tuccimei, Ercole (1999). La Banca d'Italia in Africa, Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Laterza, Bari, ISBN 88-420-5686-3 [in Italian]

See also[link]

• Colonial heads of Italian East Africa
• Italian Governors of Addis Ababa
• Italian Governors of Amhara
• Italian Governors of Galla-Sidamo
• Italian Governors of Harar
• Italian Governors of Scioa
• Dubats
• Political history of Eastern Africa
• Italians of Ethiopia
• Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia
• Italian Africa Police
• Italian East African lira
• Augusto Turati

External links[link]

• Italian East African Armed Forces, 10 June 1940
• 1940 Colonial Brigade, 10 June 1940
• Italian East Africa Air Command, 10 June 1940
• Ascari: I Leoni di Eritrea/Ascari: The Eritrean Lions. Second Italo-abyssinian war. Eritrea colonial history, Eritrean ascari pictures/photos galleries and videos, historical atlas...

v t e Italian Eritrea Italian Governors Oreste Baratieri  · Ferdinando Martini · Giacomo De Martino · Emilio De Bono · Pietro Badoglio · Alfredo Guzzoni · Luigi Frusci  · Rodolfo Graziani (Viceroy of A.O.I.)  · Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (Viceroy of A.O.I.) General History Italian Empire · Second Italo-Abyssinian War · Italian East Africa  · East African Campaign (World War II) Articles related Italian Eritreans  · Eritrean tallero  · Asmara President's Office · Fiat Tagliero Building · Cinema Impero  · Italian Asmara  · Italian Massaua · Vincenzo Di Meglio  · Amedeo Guillet  · Francesco De Martini  · Lara Saint Paul  · Eritrean Railway  · Railway stations in Eritrea  · Roman Catholicism in Eritrea  · Asmara Cathedral  · Tour of Eritrea Military topics Battle of Dogali  · Red Sea Flotilla  · Battle of Keren  · Eritrea (ship)  · Italian guerrilla war in Eritrea Colonial troops Eritrean Ascari  · Italian 1st Eritrean Division  · Italian 2nd Eritrean Division  · Italian Africa Police · Bands · Zaptié · Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali  · Hamid Idris Awate

  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)

  East African Community

  Central African Federation (defunct)

  Geographic East Africa, including the UN subregion and East African Community

East Africa (UN subregion)

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:^[1]

• Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi – members of the East African Community (EAC). Burundi and Rwanda are sometimes considered part of Central Africa
• Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia – collectively known as the Horn of Africa^{[2][3][4][5][6]}
• Mozambique and Madagascar – often considered part of Southern Africa. Madagascar has close cultural ties to Southeast Asia and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
• Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – often included in Southern Africa, and formerly of the Central African Federation
• Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean
• Réunion and Mayotte – French overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean.

East Africa is often used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda,^{[7][8][9][10]} and, in a wider sense, also Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Somalia (including the self-declared republic of Somaliland^[11])^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Egypt and Sudan are also in the northeastern portion of the continent,^[18] but are usually included in Northern Africa.^[19]

Geography and climate[link]

Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the "big five" of elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and black rhinoceros, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly the rhino and elephant.

Image of the region between Lake Victoria (on the right) and Lakes Albert, Kivu and Tanganyika (from north to south) showing dense vegetation (bright green) and fires (red)

The geography of East Africa is often stunning and scenic. Shaped by global plate tectonic forces that have created the East African Rift, East Africa is the site of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the two tallest peaks in Africa. It also includes the world's second largest freshwater lake Lake Victoria, and the world's second deepest lake Lake Tanganyika.

The climate of East Africa is rather atypical of equatorial regions. Because of a combination of the region's generally high altitude and the rain shadow of the westerly monsoon winds created by the Rwenzori Mountains and Ethiopian Highlands, East Africa is surprisingly cool and dry for its latitude.

The lower-lying lands of northern Kenya and Greater Somalia are indeed extremely dry. In fact, on the coast of Somaliland and Puntland many years can go by without any rain whatsoever.^[20] Elsewhere the annual rainfall generally increases towards the south and with altitude, being around 400 millimetres (16 in) at Mogadishu and 1,200 millimetres (47 in) at Mombasa on the coast, whilst inland it increases from around 130 millimetres (5 in) at Garoowe to over 1,100 millimetres (43 in) at Moshi near Kilimanjaro. Unusually, most of the rain falls in two distinct wet seasons, one centred around April and the other in October or November. This is usually attributed to the passage of the Intertropical Convergence Zone across the region in those months, but it may also be analogous to the autumn monsoon rains of parts of Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Brazilian Nordeste.

West of the Rwenzoris and Ethiopian highlands the rainfall pattern is more typically tropical, with rain throughout the year near the equator and a single wet season in most of the Ethiopian Highlands from June to September - contracting to July and August around Asmara. Annual rainfall here ranges from over 1,600 millimetres (63 in) on the western slopes to around 1,250 millimetres (49 in) at Addis Ababa and 550 millimetres (22 in) at Asmara. In the high mountains rainfall can be over 2,500 millimetres (98 in).

Rainfall in East Africa is influenced by El Niño events, which tend to increase rainfall except in the northern and western parts of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, where they produce drought and poor Nile floods.^[21]

Temperatures in East Africa, except on the hot and generally humid coastal belt, are moderate, with maxima of around 25 °C (77 °F) and minima of 15 °C (59 °F) at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,921 ft). At altitudes of above 2,500 metres (8,202 ft), frosts are common during the dry season and maxima typically about 21 °C (70 °F) or less.

The unique geography and apparent suitability for farming made East Africa a target for European exploration, exploitation and colonialization in the nineteenth century. Today, tourism is an important part of the economies of Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles,and Uganda.

History[link]

Prehistory[link]

According to the theory of recent African origin of modern humans, the mainstream position held within the scientific community, all humans originate from East Africa. ^[22] Some of the earliest fossilized hominid remains have been found in East Africa, including those found in Awash Valley of Ethiopia, Koobi Fora in Kenya and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.

The southern part of East Africa was occupied until recent times by Khoisan hunter-gatherers, whilst in the Ethiopian Highlands the donkey and such crop plants as teff allowed the beginning of agriculture around 7,000 B.C.^[23] Lowland barriers and diseases carried by the tsetse fly, however, prevented the donkey and agriculture from spreading southwards. Only in quite recent times has agriculture spread to the more humid regions south of the equator, through the spread of cattle, sheep and crops such as millet. Language distributions suggest that this most likely occurred from Sudan into modern Uganda and the African Great Lakes, since the Nilotic languages spoken by these pre-Bantu farmers have their closest relatives in the middle Nile basin.

Between 2500–3000 years ago, Bantu-speaking peoples began a millennia-long series of migrations eastward from their homeland that is (modernly known as) southern Cameroon across the Rwenzori Mountains. This Bantu expansion introduced agriculture into those parts of East Africa either not reached previously by Nilo-Saharan farmers or too wet for millet. During the following fifteen centuries, the Bantu slowly intensified farming and grazing over all suitable regions of East Africa, in the process making contact with Austronesian- and Arabic-speaking sailors on the southern coastal areas. The latter also spread Islam to the coastal belt, but most Bantu never had contact with Islam and remained animists.

Arab and Portuguese eras[link]

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the region of current-day Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique by sea, Vasco da Gama having visited Mombasa in 1498. Gama's voyage was successful in reaching India and this permitted the Portuguese to trade with the Far East directly by sea, thus challenging older trading networks of mixed land and sea routes, such as the spice trade routes that utilized the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and camel caravans to reach the eastern Mediterranean.

The Republic of Venice had gained control over much of the trade routes between Europe and Asia. After traditional land routes to India had been closed by the Ottoman Turks, Portugal hoped to use the sea route pioneered by Gama to break the once Venetian trading monopoly. Portuguese rule in East Africa focused mainly on a coastal strip centred in Mombasa. The Portuguese presence in East Africa officially began after 1505, when flagships under the command of Don Francisco de Almeida conquered Kilwa, an island located in what is now southern Tanzania.

In March 1505, having received from Manuel I of Portugal the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered territory in India, he set sail from Lisbon in command of a large and powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa, but the town was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to strengthen the resources of Almeida. Attacks followed on Hoja (now known as Ungwana, located at the mouth of the Tana River), Barawa, Angoche, Pate and other coastal towns until the western Indian Ocean was a safe haven for Portuguese commercial interests. At other places on his way, such as the island of Angediva, near Goa, and Cannanore, the Portuguese built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese supremacy.

Portugal's main goal in the east coast of Africa was take control of the spice trade from the Arabs. At this stage, the Portuguese presence in East Africa served the purposes of controlling trade within the Indian Ocean and securing the sea routes linking Europe to Asia. Portuguese naval vessels were very disruptive to the commerce of Portugal's enemies within the western Indian Ocean and were able to demand high tariffs on items transported through the sea due to their strategic control of ports and shipping lanes. The construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1593 was meant to solidify Portuguese hegemony in the region, but their influence was clipped by the British, Dutch and Omani Arab incursions into the region during the 17th century.

The Omani Arabs posed the most direct challenge to Portuguese influence in East Africa and besieged Portuguese fortresses, openly attacked naval vessels and expelled the Portuguese from the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts by 1730. By this time the Portuguese Empire had already lost its interest on the spice trade sea route due to the decreasing profitability of that business. The Arabs reclaimed much of the Indian Ocean trade, forcing the Portuguese to retreat south where they remained in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) as sole rulers until the 1975 independence of Mozambique.

Omani Arab colonization of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts brought the once independent city-states under closer foreign scrutiny and domination than was experienced during the Portuguese period. Like their predecessors, the Omani Arabs were primarily able only to control the coastal areas, not the interior. However, the creation of clove plantations, intensification of the slave trade and relocation of the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1839 by Seyyid Said had the effect of consolidating the Omani power in the region.

Arab governance of all the major ports along the East African coast continued until British interests aimed particularly at ending the slave trade and creation of a wage-labour system began to put pressure on Omani rule. By the late nineteenth century, the slave trade on the open seas had been completely outlawed by the British and the Omani Arabs had little ability to resist the British navy's ability to enforce the directive. The Omani presence continued in Zanzibar and Pemba until the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, but the official Omani Arab presence in Kenya was checked by German and British seizure of key ports and creation of crucial trade alliances with influential local leaders in the 1880s.

Period of European imperialism[link]

Map of British East Africa in 1911.

Between the 19th and 20th century, East Africa became a theatre of competition between the major imperialistic European nations of the time. During the period of the Scramble for Africa, almost every country comprising present day East Africa to varying degrees became part of a European colonial empire.

Portugal had first established a strong presence in southern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean since the 15th century, while during this period their possessions increasingly grew including parts from the present northern Mozambique country, up to Mombasa in present day Kenya. At Lake Malawi, they finally met the recently created British Protectorate of Nyasaland (nowadays Malawi), which surrounded the homonymous lake on three sides, leaving the Portuguese the control of lake's eastern coast. The British Empire set foot in the region's most exploitable and promising lands acquiring what is today Uganda, and Kenya. The Protectorate of Uganda and the Colony of Kenya were located in a rich farmland area mostly appropriate for the cultivation of cash crops like coffee and tea, as well as for animal husbandry with products produced from cattle and goats, such as goat meat, beef and milk. Moreover this area had the potential for a significant residential expansion, being suitable for the relocation of a large number of British nationals to the region. Prevailing climatic conditions and the regions' geomorphology allowed the establishment of flourishing European style settlements like Nairobi, Vila Pery, Vila Junqueiro, Porto Amélia, Lourenço Marques and Entebbe.

The French settled the largest island of the Indian Ocean (and the fourth-largest globally), Madagascar along with a group of smaller islands nearby, namely Réunion and the Comoros. Madagascar – until then under British control – became part of the French colonial empire being ceded in exchange for the island of Zanzibar an important hub of spices trade, off the coast of Tanganyika. The British as well held a number of island colonies in the region. The Seychelles an extended archipelago and the rich farmland island of Mauritius, previously under the French sovereignty, were as such.

The German Empire gained control of a large area named German East Africa, comprising present-day Rwanda, Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania named Tanganyika. In 1922, the British gained a League of Nations mandate over Tanganyika which it administered until Independence was granted to Tanganyika in 1961. Following the Zanzibar Revolution of 1965, the independent state of Tanganyika formed the United Republic of Tanzania by creating a union between the mainland, and the island chain of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in a union with the mainland which is collectively and commonly referred to as Tanzania. German East Africa, though very extensive, was not of such strategic importance as the British Crown's colonies to the north: the inhabitation of these lands was difficult and thus limited, mainly due to climatic conditions and the local geomorphology.

Italy gained control of various parts of Somalia in the 1880s. The southern three-fourths of Somalia became an Italian protectorate (Italian Somaliland).

Meanwhile, in 1884, a narrow coastal strip of northern Somalia came under British control (British Somaliland). This northern protectorate was just opposite the British colony of Aden on the Arabian Peninsula. With these territories secured, Britain was able to serve as gatekeeper of the sea lane leading to British India.

In 1890, beginning with the purchase of the small port town of (Asseb) from a local sultan in Eritrea, the Italians colonized all of Eritrea.

In 1895, from bases in Somalia and Eritrea, the Italians launched the First Italo–Ethiopian War against the Orthodox Empire of Ethiopia. By 1896, the war had become a total disaster for the Italians and Ethiopia was able to retain its independence. Ethiopia remained independent until 1936 when, after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, it became part of Italian East Africa. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1941 during World War II as part of the East African Campaign.

The French also staked out an East African outpost on the route to French Indochina. Starting in the 1850s, the small protectorate of Djibouti became French Somaliland in 1897.

Language[link]

In the Horn of Africa Afro-Asiatic languages such as Amharic, Arabic, and Somali are spoken, while farther south Bantu languages are most widely spoken. Nilo-Saharan languages, such as Luo and Maasai, are spoken in lesser numbers. Swahili, with at least 80 million speakers (as a first or second language), is a regionally important trade language with official status in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. European languages such as English, Portuguese, and to a lesser extent French remain important in higher institutions, though less so than in West or Central Africa.

Conflicts[link]

Until recently, several East African countries were riven with political coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. Since the end of colonialism, the region has endured the following conflicts:

Northern East Africa

• Darfur Conflict in Sudan
• Ethiopian Civil War 1974-1991
• Eritrean War of Independence 1961-1991
• Eritrean-Ethiopian War 1998-2000
• Ogaden War 1977-1978
• Somali Civil War 1991-ongoing
• Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-2005
• South Kordofan conflict 2011-ongoing

East African Community

• Burundi Civil War 1993-2005 and the Genocide of Hutus in 1972 and genocide of Tutsis in 1993
• Uganda-Tanzania War 1978-1979
• Ugandan Bush War 1981-1986
• Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in Uganda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo ongoing
• Rwandan Civil War 1990-1993 and the Rwandan Genocide of Tutsis
• Zanzibar Revolution 1964

Outside East Africa with East African participation

• First Congo War 1996-1997 and Second Congo War 1998-2003
• Kivu Conflict (Laurent Nkunda Rebellion)

Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. However, politics have been turbulent at times, including the attempted coup d’état in 1982 and the 2007 election riots.

Tanzania has known stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania and Uganda fought the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1978–1979, which led to the removal of Uganda's despotic leader Idi Amin.

Djibouti, as well as the Puntland and Somaliland regions, have also seen relative stability.^[24][25][26]

South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by the South Kordofan conflict, particularly a dispute over the status of the Abyei Area, and both Abyei and South Kordofan's Nuba Hills remain a source of tension between Juba and Khartoum.^[27]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Africa portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: East Africa

• Ajuuraan State
• Aksumite Empire
• Arab slave trade
• British East Africa
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
• East African Campaign (World War I)
• East African Campaign (World War II)
• East African Community
• German East Africa
• Horn of Africa
• Italian East Africa
• Land of Punt

References[link]

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Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani (Urdu: سید ظہیر عباس کرمانی) (born 24 July 1947, Sialkot), popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer, regarded as one of the finest batsman produced by that country. He is widely known as the "Asian Bradman",^[1][2][3] a reference to former Australian great Sir Donald Bradman. He is among few professional cricketers who used to wear spectacles. In 1982/1983, he became the first batsman to score three consecutive centuries in one-day internationals.^[4]

Career[link]

Abbas made his Test match debut in 1969, and in his second Test he scored 274 against England, still the fourth ever highest score by a Pakistani batsman. This was the first of four double-centuries Abbas made; only ten men have scored more.^[5] The last of his four Test double-centuries was an innings of 215 against India in 1983, the first of three centuries in consecutive Tests, and his hundredth first-class century; Abbas and Geoffrey Boycott are the only two batsmen to have scored their hundredth first-class century in a Test match.^[6]

Abbas, fondly called the 'Run Machine', also had great success in first-class cricket, and is the only Asian batsman to have scored one hundred first class centuries.^[7] He had a long stint with Gloucestershire county club; joining the county in 1972, he remained there for thirteen years. During that time he scored over a thousand runs in the majority of his thirteen seasons. He also made over two thousand runs in a single season on two occasions for the club (1976 and 1981). During those thirteen years at Gloucestershire, he played 206 First Class games, scoring over 16,000 runs. He averaged 49.79, hitting 49 hundreds and 76 fifties.

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian Test captain, once said while commentating that the Indian players would often say to Zaheer, "Zaheer Ab-bas karo", which means "Zaheer, stop it now" in Urdu and Hindi, referring to Abbas' free scoring. He remains second on the list of all-time ICC ODI batting rankings.^[8]

Abbas had two stints as captain of the national team in 1981 and 1984. He retired from international cricket in 1985, and has officiated as a match referee in one Test and three ODI matches. He has also worked as the manager of the national team

One more thing about Zaheer Abbas, he is credited with ending careers of some good spinners from India. As a game plan, in 1979 and 1983, when India visited Pakistan, he adopted a attack on Indian spinners, which paid great dividends and the Indian spinners lost their rhythm and ended their career thereafter, Bishansingh Bedi, Prasanna, Duleep Doshi, these ended their career after they toured Pakistan, courtesy Zaheer Abbas and co.

Zaheer Abbas's career performance graph.

Career highlights[link]

Test centuries[link]

Zaheer Abbas's Test Centuries
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	274	2	England	Birmingham, England	Edgbaston Cricket Ground	1971
[2]	240	15	England	London, England	The Oval	1974
[3]	101	21	Australia	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	1976
[4]	176	27	India	Faislabad, Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	1978
[5]	235*	28	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1978
[6]	135	31	New Zealand	Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	1979
[7]	134	46	Sri Lanka	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1982
[8]	126	51	Australia	Faislabad, Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	1982
[9]	215	53	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1982
[10]	186	54	India	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	1982
[11]	168	55	India	Faislabad, Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	1983
[12]	168*	70	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1984

One Day International centuries[link]

Zaheer Abbas's One Day International Centuries
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	108	20	Australia	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	1981
[2]	123	26	Sri Lanka	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1982
[3]	109	31	Australia	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1982
[4]	118	34	India	Multan, Pakistan	Multan Cricket Stadium	1982
[5]	105	35	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	1982
[6]	113	36	India	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	1983
[7]	103*	42	New Zealand	Nottingham, England	Trent Bridge	1983

References[link]

External links[link]

• Player profile: Zaheer Abbas from ESPNcricinfo