The Scioa Governorate (), also known as the Shewa Governorate, was one of the six
governorates of Italian East Africa
The Italian colony of Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana) was composed of six governorates which made up the first level of country subdivisions for the colony.
The governorates of Amhara, Galla-Sidamo, Harar and Scioa consti ...
. It was formed in 1936 from parts of the conquered
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
following the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy and Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethio ...
with its administrative capital being
Addis Abeba
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
.
History
It was originally founded as the Addis Abeba Governorate (), but on 11 November 1938 it was enlarged with parts of the
Scioa region from the bordering
Harar
Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...
,
Galla-Sidamo
Galla-Sidamo Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. It was formed in 1936 from parts of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War with the capital was Jimma. In November 1938 some territo ...
and
Amhara Governorate
Amhara Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. Its capital was Gondar. It was formed in 1936 from parts of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. It had a population of more than 2 ...
s, and the name was changed to the Scioa Governorate.
The Scioa Governorate was the only area of former Ethiopia fully pacified and rid of Ethiopian guerrilla in 1939, that allowed a huge development of infrastructures (roads like the ''Stada Imperiale'' between
Asmara
Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The c ...
and Addis Abeba, buildings, dams, etc.) with the creation of a state-of-the-art "Addis Abeba Urbanistic and Architectural Plan" and a beginning of colonization in agricultural areas assigned to
Italian colonists. Even some industrial facilities were developed in Addis Abeba and surroundings: for example at
Addis Alem a huge factory for the production of
slaked lime
Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime (calcium oxide) is mixed or slaked with water. It has m ...
was established in 1938, and in its first year of production it turned out 30,000 hundredweights of the material.
The total area of the Scioa Governorate was initially in 1936 more than 7000 km
2 (with 300000 inhabitants), but in 1939 was increased to nearly 65000 km2 and the population was more than one million and half inhabitants. Up to 85% of the 40000
Italians of Ethiopia
Italians of Ethiopia are immigrants who moved from Italy to Ethiopia starting in the 19th century, as well as their descendants. Emperor Menelik II did not allow the sale of lands belonging to Ethiopia to Italians (Eritrea) and probably allowe ...
lived in this governorate when the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
conquered in it spring 1941, along with the rest of Italian Ethiopia. In October 1939 the Italian population of Addis Abeba was 35,441 of which 30.232 were male (85,3%) and 5,209 female (14,7%): in 1939 nearly 800 Italo-Ethiopian children were born from them.
The last governor of Scioa was
Agenore Frangipani, who found himself having to counter the Allied advance without any hope in early 1941, was forced to give the Ethiopian capital to the British on 6 April 1941 without a fight. Indeed, the
Italian Viceroy Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta ordered him to surrender the city peacefully in order to forestall a massacre of Italian civilians such as what happened a few days before in
Dire Dawa
Dire Dawa ( am, ድሬዳዋ, om, Dirree Dhawaa, 3=Place of Remedy; so, Diridhaba, meaning "where Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", ar, ديري داوا,) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Oromia and Somali Re ...
.
War in Italian eastern Africa (in Italian)
/ref> Frangipani-who was prepared for a defensive battle-reluctantly accepted the order to surrender. But having on him the responsibility and dishonor of surrender, Frangipani committed suicide during the retreat from the city. His family honored his old-aristocracy feelings about not accepting surrender without combat.
See also
* List of Governors of the Scioa Governorate
*Italians of Ethiopia
Italians of Ethiopia are immigrants who moved from Italy to Ethiopia starting in the 19th century, as well as their descendants. Emperor Menelik II did not allow the sale of lands belonging to Ethiopia to Italians (Eritrea) and probably allowe ...
* History of Addis Ababa
Notes
Bibliography
*Beltrami, Vanni. "Italia d'oltremare. Storie dei territori italiani dalla conquista alla caduta." Edizioni Nuova Cultura. Roma, 2013
*Del Boca, Angelo. La nostra Africa. Neri Pozza Editore. Vicenza, 2003
{{Italian Ethiopia
Governorates of Italian East Africa