French Somaliland

French Somaliland was a French colony in the Horn of Africa, existing from 1896 until 1967, when it became the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas. France had signed treaties with local Somali clans in the 1880s, and the colony was formally established in 1896 after agreements with the Issa. Its capital was Djibouti, a port that grew rapidly with the construction of the railway to Addis Ababa, overtaking the caravan trade of Zeila and becoming the main outlet for Ethiopian coffee and other goods. The colony was administered by a governor with a council that gave limited representation to French and local notables. The railway and port made the colony strategically important to France. After the Second World War it was represented in the French parliament, and in 1967 a referendum rejected independence in favour of continued association with France. The territory became independent in 1977 as the Republic of Djibouti.