Russian attempts to colonize Africa

Russia has historically had special relations with the African continent, from suggestions of an alliance with Abyssinia in the 17th century to the failed attempts of establishing Russian colonies on the Madagascar.

In 1674, under the suggestion of the Wettin dynasty, leading Saxe-Gotha at the time, an alliance was proposed between Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) and Russia. The reasoning for such an alliance stemmed from Western Europe's animosity towards the Ottoman Empire, to which the house of Wettin had sought to mediate.^[1] Western Europe, under the belief of how similar both Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) and Muscovy, sharing Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity, had expected both to come together cordially, bringing Abyssinia into their common struggle against the Ottomans. However, at the time, Russia had little to no interest in such an endeavour^[2], viewing it as a distinctly Catholic problem for Western Europe to deal with. In 1683, a renewed interest in such an alliance between Russia and Abyssinia had rekindled, this time, under the mediation of London, by Hiob Ludolf. However, said attempt had also failed, as Russia at the time still had little to no interest in such an undertaking.^[3] It wouldn't be until the reign of Peter the Great to which Russia would develop an interest in establishing influence in Africa.

Russia, under Peter the Great, has historically sought to established presence on the island of Madagascar as a stepping stone towards India. In 1723, two ships were sent by Peter the Great from Reval to the island, in hopes of establishing trade relations with the supposed "king of the island of Madagascar" and intending to set up a colony on the island,^[4][5] yet no said king was ever present on the island to which relations could be established.

At the same time, in 1721, Sweden had also sought to establish presence on the island to serve the purpose of conducting trade with the interior of Africa, however they couldn't financially afford such undertaking and was promptly abandoned after.

• Russian colonization of North America
• Schäffer affair

• Blakely, Allison (1986). Russia and the Negro, "Blacks in Russian History and Thought". Washington DC: Howard University Press. ISBN 0-88258-146-5
• Yakobson, Sergius (1939). Russia and Africa, "The Slavonic and East European Review", "17"(51), 623-637. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4203525