Siege of Saïo the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, proclaimed the colony of "Africa Orientale Italiana" (AOI, Italian East Africa), formed from Ethiopia (after the Italian victory in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, fought 3 October 1935 – May 1936) and the existing Italian possessions of Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in Libya a threat to Egypt and those in Italian East Africa a danger to the British and French colonies in East Africa. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes
Mississippi-in-Africa of Liberia on the African continent. This Society bought a portion of land for the colony, which was known as Mississippi-in-Africa. They believed that free blacks threatened the stability of slave societies, and Mississippi's population had a majority of slaves, outnumbering whites by a three-to-one ratio. Isaac Ross provided for manumission of his slaves in his will, if they agreed to relocation to West Africa. His plantation was to be sold to provide funds for transportation and for supplies for the pioneer settlers. A grandson contested the will, but it was upheld by Mississippi's High Court of Errors and Appeals