Abstract

Antonio Gandolfi, the first «civil and military governor» of the colony Eritrea, faced in general the problem of giving structure to the colonial administration and in particular the so-called «indigenous politics», for which he established a particular office, the Agency for the Tribes. The idea was to put in order the current uncertain system, to delimit the boundaries between groups clearly, and to set up a system of commands that would reach the population through the local chiefs. The essay analyzes both the impact of the colonial governmentality and the subaltern strategies put in place by the notables of the various groups to influence the decisions of and contract with the colonial power.