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.

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.

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."

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.