Ethiopia was different from most other African countries in its experience with European imperialism because it successfully resisited colonization from the Europeans in the XIX century. After the Napier expedition in 1868, when the British Empire invaded the country to release its subject held captive by Ethiopian empereror Teowodros and the Egyptian invasions of 1875 and 1876, it was Italy the foreign power which wanted to colonize Ethiopia.
After Italy took the region of Massawa, they tried to conquer the entire country and declared it the colony of Eritrea. However they were repeatedly defeated by the Ethiopian forces commanded by the Emperor Menelik. The Italians were completely defeated in the Battle of Adwa in 1896.
