In 1888, the "Scramble For Africa" was nearly over. European powers had carved out their colonies, and Imperial Russia still lacked a "place in the sun." But adventurer Nikolai Ivanovitch Achinov came up with a bizarre plan to create a Russian territory in what is now Djibouti. The following year, he and a small group of Cossacks raised their flag above the village of Sagallo. But after French objections, the tsar disowned them and the colony lasted less than a month.
Sagallo, Russia's Short-Lived Cossack Colony In Africa
![Achinov and his expedition made the front cover of the French weekly Journal Des Voyages shortly after setting off from Odesa in December 1888.](https://gdb.rferl.org/19d6cb20-d318-4684-b207-f301f372588e_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Achinov and his expedition made the front cover of the French weekly Journal Des Voyages shortly after setting off from Odesa in December 1888.
![Inside, the weekly showed their route: from Port Said they hired an Austrian steamer, landing in Sagallo in January 1889.](https://gdb.rferl.org/89c8ad67-725b-484e-acec-a9ef9cef016f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Inside, the weekly showed their route: from Port Said they hired an Austrian steamer, landing in Sagallo in January 1889.
![The Cossacks photographed in Abyssinia, 1889. They were 200 strong, including priests, women, and children.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b480edae-639d-4cb7-96d7-80f3e2a8635a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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The Cossacks photographed in Abyssinia, 1889. They were 200 strong, including priests, women, and children.
![This was the flag of Russian Somaliland -- raised over Sagallo, which was renamed New Moscow.](https://gdb.rferl.org/92d38ad3-cd48-4ca8-896f-4976c63a174d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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This was the flag of Russian Somaliland -- raised over Sagallo, which was renamed New Moscow.
![A period painting of the bay at Sagallo by German landscape artist Johann Martin Bernatz (1802-78). The village itself was an abandoned Egyptian fort, described by one historian as "a miserable collection of hovels."](https://gdb.rferl.org/abf059bf-9bf7-45ff-9d18-e4946cc45f2f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A period painting of the bay at Sagallo by German landscape artist Johann Martin Bernatz (1802-78). The village itself was an abandoned Egyptian fort, described by one historian as "a miserable collection of hovels."
![Another French news report, with a portrait of Achinov. The colony was in French East Africa. Less than a month after it was set up, French warships arrived and opened fire. The Cossacks raised the white flag.](https://gdb.rferl.org/51a05db9-f8b5-462d-99b5-995d08a2c01f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Another French news report, with a portrait of Achinov. The colony was in French East Africa. Less than a month after it was set up, French warships arrived and opened fire. The Cossacks raised the white flag.
![A contemporary photograph shows the area today. There are no visible traces of the few weeks it spent under Cossack rule.](https://gdb.rferl.org/243009fe-3321-48c2-b8cb-ef78a5f284f7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A contemporary photograph shows the area today. There are no visible traces of the few weeks it spent under Cossack rule.