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Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia,
Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea ( it, Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in ...
, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Italian East Africa was divided into six governorates. Eritrea and Somalia, Italian possessions since the 1880s, were enlarged with captured Ethiopian territory and became the
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
and
Somalia Governorate Somalia Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Italian Somalia, enlarged by the Ogaden region of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian ...
s. The remainder of " Italian Ethiopia" consisted the Harar,
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 ...
, Amhara, and Scioa Governorates. Fascist colonial policy had a
divide and conquer Divide and rule policy ( la, divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their terr ...
characteristic, and favoured the
Oromos The Oromo (pron. Oromo: ''Oromoo'') are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya, who speak the Oromo language (also called ''Afaan Oromoo'' or ''Oromiffa''), which is part of the Cushitic br ...
, the Somalis and other Muslims in an attempt to weaken their ties to the
Amharas Amharas ( am, አማራ, Āmara; gez, ዐምሐራ, ʾÄməḥära) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group which is indigenous to Ethiopia, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly inhabiting the Amhara ...
who had been the ruling ethnic group in the Ethiopian Empire. During the Second World War, Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial units and Ethiopian guerrillas in November 1941. After the war, Italian Somalia and Eritrea came under British administration, while Ethiopia regained its independence. In 1950, occupied Somalia became the United Nations Trust Territory of Somaliland, administered by Italy from 1950 until its independence in 1960. Occupied Eritrea became an autonomous part of Ethiopia in 1952, and was later annexed by the Ethiopian Empire in 1962.


History


Conquest of Ethiopia

Historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Some Italian
historians A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
such as Franco Catalano and Giorgio Rochat argue that the invasion was an act of
social imperialism As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that enga ...
, contending that the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
had badly damaged
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's prestige, and that he needed a foreign war to distract public opinion. Other historians such as Pietro Pastorelli have argued that the invasion was launched as part of an expansionist program to make Italy the main power in the Red Sea area and the Middle East. A middle way interpretation was offered by the American historian
MacGregor Knox MacGregor Knox is an American historian of 20th-century Europe, and was from 1994 to 2010 the Stevenson Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. He is the son of the British-born classical scholar and historian Bernard ...
, who argued that the war was started for both foreign and domestic reasons, being both a part of Mussolini's long-range expansionist plans and intended to give Mussolini a foreign policy triumph that would allow him to push the Fascist system in a more radical direction at home. Unlike forty years earlier, Italy's forces were far superior to the Ethiopian forces, especially in air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee the country, with Italian forces entering the capital city, Addis Ababa, to proclaim an " Italian Empire of Ethiopia" by 5 May 1936. Some Ethiopians welcomed the Italians and collaborated with them in the government of the newly created Italian Empire, like Ras
Seyoum Mengesha Seyoum Mengesha KBE (Amharic: ሥዩም መንገሻ; 21 June 1887 – 15 December 1960) was an army commander and a member of the royal family of the Ethiopian Empire. Early life ''Le'ul'' ''Ras'' Seyoum Mengesha was born on 24 June 18 ...
, Ras
Getachew Abate Getachew Abate (1895–1952) was an army commander and a member of the nobility of the Ethiopian Empire. Getachew Abate was the son of ''Lique Mekwas'' Abate Ba-Yalew. He had a church education followed by language training at the Menelik Sch ...
and Ras Kebbede Guebret. In 1937 the friendship of Seyoum Mengesha with the Italian Viceroy Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta enabled this Ras to play an influential role in securing the release of 3,000 Ethiopian POWs being held in Italian Somaliland. The Italian victory in the war coincided with the zenith of the international popularity of Mussolini's
Fascist regime Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, during which colonialist leaders praised Mussolini for his actions. Mussolini's international popularity decreased as he endorsed the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, beginning a political tilt toward Germany that eventually led to the downfall of Mussolini and the Fascist regime in Italy in World War II. Italian East Africa was formed on 1 June 1936, shortly after the conquest, by merging the pre-existing colonies of Italian Somaliland and
Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea ( it, Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in ...
with the newly conquered territory. The maintenance and creation of Ethiopian colonies was very costly.


Second World War and dissolution

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in Libya a threat to Egypt and those in the Italian East Africa a danger to the British and French territories in the
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the
Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...
, Red Sea and the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
. (The Kingdom of Egypt remained neutral during World War II, but the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed the British to occupy Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.) Egypt, the Suez Canal,
French Somaliland French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Ter ...
and
British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate ( so, Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka), was a British Empire, British protectorate in present-day Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Soma ...
were also vulnerable to invasion, but the '' Comando Supremo'' (Italian General Staff) had planned for a war after 1942. In the summer of 1940, Italy was far from ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa. Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force (237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF) at Wajir in the East Africa Protectorate (Kenya). In August 1940, the protectorate of
British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate ( so, Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka), was a British Empire, British protectorate in present-day Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Soma ...
was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. This occupation lasted around six months. By early 1941, Italian forces had been largely pushed back from Kenya and Sudan. On 6 April 1941, Addis Ababa was occupied by the
11th (African) Division 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...
, which received the surrender of the city. The remnants of the Italian forces in the AOI surrendered after the
Battle of Gondar The Battle of Gondar or Capture of Gondar was the last stand of the Italian forces in Italian East Africa during the Second World War. The battle took place in November 1941, during the East African Campaign. Gondar was the main town of Amhara in ...
in November 1941, except for groups that fought an Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia against the British until the
Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...
(3 September 1943) ended hostilities between Italy and the Allies. In January 1942, with the final official surrender of the Italians, the British, under American pressure, signed an interim Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement with Selassie, acknowledging Ethiopian sovereignty. Makonnen Endelkachew was named as Prime Minister and on 19 December 1944, the final Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed. In the peace treaty of February 1947, Italy officially renounced sovereignty over its African colonies. Eritrea was placed under British military administration for the duration, and in 1950, it became part of Ethiopia. After 1945, Britain controlled both Somalilands, as protectorates. In November 1949, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland under close supervision, on condition that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, the
Trust Territory of Somalia The Trust Territory of Somaliland, officially the "Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration" ( it, Amministrazione fiduciaria italiana della Somalia), was a United Nations Trust Territory situated in present-day Somalia. Its ca ...
(ex-Italian Somaliland) became independent on 1 July 1960 and the territories united as the Somali Republic.


Colonial administration

The colony was administered by a Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa, appointed by the Italian king. The dominion was further divided for administrative purposes into six governorates, further divided into forty ''commissariati.''


Territory

When established in 1936, Italian East Africa consisted of the old Italian possessions in the
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
:
Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea ( it, Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in ...
and Italian Somaliland, combined with the recently conquered Empire of Ethiopia. Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of "
Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...
", although this was not recognized by any country other than Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The territory was divided into the six governorates:
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
and Somalia, consisting of the respective former colonies, enlarged with territory from Ethiopia. The remainder of " Italian Ethiopia" consisted of the Harar,
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 ...
, Amhara, and Addis Abeba Governorates. The Addis Abeba Governorate was enlarged into the Scioa Governorate with territory from neighboring Harar, Galla-Sidamo and Amhara in November 1938. Italian East Africa was briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces
invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate ( so, Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka), was a British Empire, British protectorate in present-day Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Soma ...
, thereby bringing all Somali territories, aside from the small colony of
French Somaliland French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Ter ...
, under Italian administration. However, the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the East African campaign the colony was occupied by British forces.


Economic development

Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a
divide and conquer Divide and rule policy ( la, divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their terr ...
characteristic. To weaken the Orthodox Christian
Amhara people Amharas ( am, አማራ, Āmara; gez, ዐምሐራ, ʾÄməḥära) are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group which is indigenous to Ethiopia, traditionally inhabiting parts of the northwest Highlands of Ethiopia, particularly inhabiting the Amhara ...
who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Eritrean Tigray-Tigrinyas and Somalis was given to the
Eritrea Governorate Eritrea Governorate () was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. Its capital was Asmara. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Italian Eritrea, which was enlarged with parts of the conquered Ethiopian Empire followin ...
and
Somalia Governorate Somalia Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Italian Somalia, enlarged by the Ogaden region of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian ...
. Reconstruction efforts after the war in 1936 were partially focused on benefiting the Muslim peoples in the colony at the expense of the Amhara to strengthen support by Muslims for the Italian colony. Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses. However, few Italians came to the Ethiopian colony, with most going to Eritrea and Somalia. While Italian Eritrea enjoyed some degree of development, supported by nearly 80,000 Italian colonists, by 1940 only 3,200 farmers had arrived in Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal. Continued insurgency by native Ethiopians, lack of natural resources, rough terrain, and uncertainty of political and military conditions discouraged development and settlement in the countryside. The Italians invested substantively in Ethiopian infrastructure development. They created the "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and
Massaua Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...
, Addis Ababa and Mogadishu and Addis Ababa -
Assab Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches an ...
. 900 km of railways were reconstructed or initiated (like the railway between Addis Ababa and
Assab Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches an ...
), dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private companies were established in the underdeveloped country. The most important were: "Compagnie per il cotone d'Etiopia" (Cotton industry); "Cementerie d'Etiopia" (Cement industry); "Compagnia etiopica mineraria" (Minerals industry); "Imprese elettriche d'Etiopia" (Electricity industry); "Compagnia etiopica degli esplosivi" (Armament industry); "Trasporti automobilistici (Citao)" (Mechanic & Transport industry). Italians even created new airports and in 1936 started the world famous ''Linea dell'Impero'', a flight connecting Addis Ababa to Rome. The line was opened after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and was followed by the first air links with the Italian colonies in Africa Orientale Italiana (Italian East Africa), which began in a pioneering way since 1934. The route was enlarged to 6,379 km and initially joined Rome with Addis Ababa via
Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...
,
Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
, Cairo,
Wadi Halfa Wādī Ḥalfā ( ar, وادي حلفا) is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia near the border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferr ...
, Khartoum, Kassala,
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 ...
,
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 ...
. There was a change of aircraft in
Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
(or sometimes in
Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
). The route was carried out in three and a half days of daytime flight and the frequency was four flights per week in both directions. Later from Addis Ababa there were three flights a week that continued to Mogadishu, capital of Italian Somalia. The most important railway line in the African colonies of the Kingdom of Italy, the 784 km long Djibouti-Addis Ababa, was acquired following the conquest of the Ethiopian Empire by the Italians in 1936. The route was served until 1935 by steam trains that took about 36 hours to do the total trip between the capital of Ethiopia and the port of Djibouti. In 1938 following the Italian conquest, train speed was increased with the introduction of four high capacity railcars "type 038" derived from the model ''Fiat ALn56''. These diesel trains were able to reach 70 km/h and so the time travel was cut in half to just 18 hours: they were used until the mid 1960s. At the main stations there were some bus connections to the other cities of Italian Ethiopia not served by the railway. Additionally, near the Addis Ababa station was created a special unit against fire, that was the only one in all Africa. However Ethiopia and Africa Orientale Italiana (AOI) proved to be extremely expensive to maintain, as the budget for the fiscal year 1936-37 had been set at 19.136 billion lira to create the necessary infrastructure for the colony. At the time, Italy's entire yearly revenue was only 18.581 billion lira. The architects of the Fascist regime had drafted grandiose urbanistic projects for the enlargement of Addis Ababa, in order to build a state-of-the-art capital of the ''Africa Orientale Italiana'', but these architectural plans -like all the other developments- were stopped by World War II.


Education

Prior to Fascism, education in Italian East Africa had primarily been the responsibility of both Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries. With Mussolini's rise to power, government schools were created which eventually incorporated the Catholic missionaries' educational programmes while those of the Protestant missionaries became marginalised and circumscribed. Andrea Festa, who was made director of the central office governing primary education in Eritrea in November 1932, declared in 1934 that Fascist efforts in education needed to ensure that native Africans were "acquainted with a little of our civilisation" and that they needed to "know Italy, its glories, and ancient history, in order to, become a conscious militia man in the shade of our flag." Such education initiatives were designed to train Africans in a variety of practical tasks useful to the Fascist regime as well as to indoctrinate them with the tenets and lifestyle of Fascist ideology with the aim of creating citizens obedient and subservient to the state. Their propagandistic nature was especially apparent in history textbooks issued to African children, which entirely omitted any discussion of events such as Italian disunity, Giuseppe Mazzini's "Young Italy" movement, the revolutions of 1848, or Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand and instead stressed the "glories" of the Roman Empire and those of the Italian state that claimed to be its successor. Glorification and lionisation of Mussolini and his "great work" likewise pervaded them, while periods during which Libya and other then-Italian possessions had been controlled by older, non-Italian empires, such as the Ottoman Empire, were portrayed through an unflattering lens. Use of the Fascist salute was mandatory in schools for African children, who were constantly encouraged to become "little soldiers of the Duce", and every day there was morning ceremony at which the Italian flag was hoisted and patriotic songs were sung. Italian children, whose education the Fascist government prioritised over that of Africans, received education similar to that in Fascist Italy's metropole, though with some aspects of it tailored to the local situation in East Africa. Fascist Italy sought to neutralise any educational institutions which provided instruction to Africans beyond the level expected by Fascist ideology, in particular the secondary education network that prior to the Italian invasion had prepared and enabled a relatively small but significant amount of Ethiopians to study abroad at universities in Europe. In February 1937, following an attempt on the life of
Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's ''Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during ...
, educated Ethiopians, already having been distrusted by colonial government authorities and many having already been placed in concentration camps, became victims of state-sponsored mass murder, with much of the
intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
of Ethiopia being executed and the remainder exiled to penal colonies on Italian-controlled islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Fascist education in the colony proved to be a failure in the end, with only one twentieth of Italian colonial soldiers possessing any literacy. During World War II, which saw the liberation of Italian East Africa from Fascism, few Africans displayed any loyalty to the Fascist state that the state's schools had so fervently tried to instill, and Ethiopia post-World War II found itself impoverished of skilled workers due to the very limited and propagandistic education provided to its non-Italian inhabitants under Mussolini's rule.


Demographics

In 1939, there were 165,267 Italian citizens in the Italian East Africa, the majority of them concentrated around the main urban centres of Asmara, Addis Ababa and Mogadishu. The total population was estimated around 12.1 million, with a density of just over . The distribution of population was, however, very uneven. Eritrea, with an area of , had a population estimated in about 1.5 million, with a population density of ; Ethiopia with an area of and a population of some 9.5 million, had a resulting density of ; sparsely populated Italian Somaliland finally, with an area of and a population of just 1.1 million, had a very low density of .


Italian atrocities

In February 1937, following many murders of Italian and Eritrean soldiers and an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's Viceroy, Marshal
Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (; 11 August 1882 – 11 January 1955), was a prominent Italian military officer in the Kingdom of Italy's ''Regio Esercito'' ("Royal Army"), primarily noted for his campaigns in Africa before and during ...
, Italian soldiers raided the famous Ethiopian monastery Debre Libanos, where the assassins were believed to have taken refuge, and executed the monks and nuns. Afterwards, Italian soldiers destroyed native settlements in Addis Ababa, which resulted -according to Ethiopian estimates- in nearly 30,000 Ethiopians being killed and their homes left burned to the ground. The massacre has come to be known as
Yekatit 12 Yekatit 12 () is a date in the Ge'ez calendar which refers to the massacre and imprisonment of Ethiopians by the Italian occupation forces following an attempted assassination of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Marquis of Negele, Viceroy of Italian Ea ...
. After the massacres, Graziani became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia". He was subsequently removed by Mussolini and replaced by Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, who followed a more conciliatory policy towards the natives, obtaining a huge success in pacifying Ethiopia. By the eve of the Italian entry into the Second World War (January/February 1940) the Ethiopian guerrillas were still in control of some areas of Harar and the Galla-Sidamo Governorate. Amedeo's conciliatory efforts obtained that Abebe Aregai, then the last leader of the " Arbegnoch" (as the guerrilla fighters were called in Ethiopia) made a surrender proposal to the Italians in the spring of 1940 (after the 1939 surrender of Ethiopian leaders Zaudiè Asfau and Olonà Dinkel).Bahru Zewde, "A History of Modern Ethiopia", second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 172f The Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 and British influence blocked the surrender proposal.


See also

* List of governors-general of Italian East Africa * List of governors of the governorates of Italian East Africa * Dubats *
Political history of Eastern Africa The following is a list of the political history of East Africa. Antiquity *25th century BC: Earliest recorded Egyptian expedition to the Land of Punt in the Horn of Africa organized by Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty. *c. 800 BC: Foundation ...
* Italian Ethiopia * Italians of Ethiopia * Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia *
Italian African Police 140px, Badge The Italian African Police (Italian: ''Polizia dell'Africa Italiana'', or PAI), was the police force of Italian North Africa and Italian East Africa from 1 June 1936 to 1 December 1945. Characteristics Towards the end of the war ...
* Italian East African lira *
Augusto Turati Augusto Turati (16 April 1888 – 27 August 1955) was an Italian journalist and Fascist politician. Born in Parma, after moving to Brescia as a young man, Turati worked on newspapers and became one of the editors at the liberal ''Provincia ...
*
Languages of Africa The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* Antonicelli, Franco (1961) ''Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945'', Saggi series 295, Torino : Einaudi, p. 387
n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Brioni, Simone and Shimelis Bonsa Gulema, eds. (2017) ''The Horn of Africa and Italy: Colonial, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Encounters'', Oxford : Peter Lang, * Calchi Novati, Gian Carlo (2011).''L'Africa d'Italia'', Carrocci, Roma.
n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Del Boca, Angelo (1986) ''Italiani in Africa Orientale: La caduta dell'Impero'', Biblioteca universale Laterza 186, Roma : Laterza,
n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Mauri, Arnaldo (1967). ''Il mercato del credito in Etiopia'', Milano, Giuffrè, pp. XVI, 504
n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
* Mockler, Anthony (1984). ''Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935–1941'', New York : Random House, * Tuccimei, Ercole (1999). ''La Banca d'Italia in Africa'', Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Laterza, Bari,
n Italian N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...


External links


Italian East African Armed Forces, 10 June 1940



Ascari: I Leoni di Eritrea/Ascari: The Eritrean Lions

Geographic map of Italian business community in Africa (December 2012)
{{Coord, 9.0272, N, 38.7369, E, source:wikidata, display=title Former colonies in Africa
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...
.East Africa East Africa Horn of Africa History of Ethiopia History of Eritrea . . . . . . Former Italian-speaking countries Former countries of the interwar period Italian military occupations World War II occupied territories Ethiopia–Italy relations Eritrea–Italy relations Italy–Somalia relations States and territories established in 1936 States and territories disestablished in 1941 1936 establishments in Africa 1941 disestablishments in Africa 1936 establishments in the Italian Empire 1941 disestablishments in the Italian Empire 20th century in Eritrea 20th century in Ethiopia 20th century in Somalia 20th century in Africa Real unions Client states of Fascist Italy