Alessandro De Cola

The article focusses on transformations in the military labour regimes brought about by the recruitment of African soldiers during the early years of the Italian colony of Eritrea, by analysing colonial reports, correspondence and official regulations. On the one hand, it demonstrates that the lack of complete political control forced the Italians to adapt to the local multiple currency system for the building and maintenance of the indigenous corps. On the other hand, it shows that money was employed in colonial discourse and practice as a tool to facilitate the regularisation of indigenous soldiers.

The monetary instability brought by the First World War produced a shortage of currency all over Africa. The conversion of European economic systems to war production forced the Vienna Mint to stop the production of Maria Theresa thalers: silver coins fuelling the regional trade in the Red Sea since the mid-nineteenth century. The shortage of this coin during the war provoked the concern of Italian authorities in the colony of Eritrea that produced an unprecedented number of documents by regional commissioners and bank agents at work to face the crisis. These documents are useful to show how the exceptional monetary policies implemented in the colony at that time had a different impact on different actors: those capable of exploiting regional networks, such as caravan leaders and traders, benefited from speculation in currency exchange and smuggling, while those who were more dependent on the colonial monetary system, such as the ascari (African colonial soldiers), suffered the most. The chapter confirms the importance of the Maria Teresa thaler for the fuelling of regional trade, which represented one of the reasons for the Italian failures in building a colonial monetary system. This case shows that colonial attempts did not produce a swift currency revolution, but rather a non-linear monetary transition in which a multiple-currencies system resisted.

The monetary instability brought by the First World War produced a shortage of currency all over Africa. The conversion of European economic systems to war production forced the Vienna Mint to stop the production of Maria Theresa thalers: silver coins fuelling the regional trade in the Red Sea since the mid-nineteenth century. The shortage of this coin during the war provoked the concern of Italian authorities in the colony of Eritrea that produced an unprecedented number of documents by regional commissioners and bank agents at work to face the crisis. These documents are useful to show how the exceptional monetary policies implemented in the colony at that time had a different impact on different actors: those capable of exploiting regional networks, such as caravan leaders and traders, benefited from speculation in currency exchange and smuggling, while those who were more dependent on the colonial monetary system, such as the ascari (African colonial soldiers), suffered the most. The chapter confirms the importance of the Maria Teresa thaler for the fuelling of regional trade, which represented one of the reasons for the Italian failures in building a colonial monetary system. This case shows that colonial attempts did not produce a swift currency revolution, but rather a non-linear monetary transition in which a multiple-currencies system resisted.

This thesis focuses on the building of a colonial monetary system in Eritrea under the rule of Italian colonialism, as well as its impact on local societies and the reasons for the failure of Italian monetary policies. In answering the principal research questions, the “monetary angle” will allow an investigation into other aspects of Italian colonialism in Eritrea, such as the construction of a “colonial knowledge”, the introduction of military wage labour, and the establishment of new financial institutions. Framed against the background of the literature on African monetary history, the thesis is thematically organised into three chapters, each having its own periodisation. The first chapter deals with the construction of a “colonial knowledge” regarding the Eritrean monetary system, and the reasons behind the failure of the Italian attempts to introduce a colonial currency. The second chapter analyses the introduction of military wage labour and the strategies employed by the indigenous veterans to store their wealth. The third chapter discusses the role of banking in Eritrea in supporting Italian attempts to control the monetary system during the First World War currency crisis. At the same time, this chapter sheds light on the manner in which different local actors were affected by these policies, suffered their consequences, or took advantage of the situation. Finally, the third chapter also clarifies the positioning of Eritrea in the regional trade network and the important role of the Maria Theresa thaler in its multiple currency system. The central argument of the study is that the introduction of colonial currencies and the employment of monetary policies did not produce a swift change in local trade networks and economic practices. In fact, the changes were non-linear and were configured as a slow transition that entailed the introduction of different economic and financial devices.

La tesi tratta delle strategie che il potere coloniale inglese ha messo in atto per estendere il proprio dominio sul Nord dell’attuale Ghana. Nel corso della trattazione vengono analizzati da vicino alcuni strumenti del potere coloniale. Nel primo capitolo i resoconti degli esploratori coloniali costruiscono una “geografia morale” dei popoli incontrati, mentre le mappe frutto della produzione cartografica di fine ‘800, esprimono . Nel secondo capitolo sono le “tradizioni inventate”, unite alla
capacità di alcuni individui di manipolarle, a condurre alla costruzione di un sistema gerarchico di governo indiretto. Nel terzo capitolo la fondazione dei mercati viene letta come espressione del “potere organizzativo”, ovvero il potere di circoscrivere le azioni degli altri all’interno di contesti definiti. In questo capitolo si cerca inoltre di definire la natura degli scambi economici in epoca pre-coloniale sulla base di evidenze successive e attraverso l’utilizzo del concetto di “conversione asimmetrica”, per poi descrivere il passaggio dallo scambio come momento performativo della conversione a “riduzione ad una particolare logica sistemica” all’interno dei mercati coloniali.
Il periodo preso in considerazione va dall’arrivo degli inglesi nell’area verso la fine del XIX secolo, alla fine degli anni Trenta del Novecento.
Questa dissertazione è il risultato di un lavoro iniziato durante una prima permanenza a Bolgatanga, che si è arricchito, oltre che di un successivo periodo di ricerca sul campo, anche di alcune visite presso tre archivi nazionali ghanesi e un archivio della Casa Generalizia dei Missionari d'Africa, che hanno abitato i Northern Territories del Ghana dai primi anni del ‘900. Nella conclusione della tesi si mostra come i conflitti politici che riguardano attualmente l'area presa in considerazione si giocano su alcune delle questioni introdotte nel periodo coloniale, ma si arricchiscono di nuovi fattori derivanti dal processo di globalizzazione. Allo stesso tempo la ricostruzione della storia diventa un processo condiviso grazie alle nuove reti che collegano il nord-est del Ghana alla società globale.