Somalia Governorate

Italian Somaliland Governorate coat of arms.

Somalia Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa.

History

Italian East Africa in 1936. British Somaliland later annexed in 1940.

The Somalia Governorate lasted from 1936 until 1941. Its administrative capital was Mogadishu. In 1936, the capital had a population of 50,000 inhabitants, of which nearly 20,000 were Italian Somalis.[1]

By 1941, 30,000 Italians lived in Mogadishu, representing around 33% of the city's total 90,000 residents.[2] They frequented local Italian schools that the colonial authorities had opened, such as the "Liceum".

The Italian authorities in 1937 began construction of a paved highway from Mogadishu to Addis Ababa, which was completed in 1940. Other roads were started in 1939, from Mogadishu to the northern Somali coast and to the British Kenya Colony to the south.[3]

Additionally, there was a project to connect Mogadishu with the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, and another to start the construction of an airport on the outskirts of the city. The ports of the capital and of Kismayo further south were also slated for enlargement in 1941. However, the outbreak of World War II put a halt to these plans.

In the summer of 1940, Italian forces invaded British Somaliland and incorporated it into the Somalia Governorate. British troops later re-seized the territory in March 1941.

Governorates of Italian East Africa

English Italian Capital Total population Italians[4] Tag Coat of Arms
Amhara Governorate Amara Gondar 2,000,000 11,103 AM
Eritrea Governorate Eritrea Asmara 1,500,000 72,408 ER
Galla-Sidamo Governorate Galla e Sidama Jimma/Gimma 4,000,0000 11,823 GS
Harrar Governorate Harar Harrar 1,600,000 10,035 HA
Shewa Governorate [5] Scioà Addis Abeba 1,850,000 40,698 SC
Somalia Governorate [5] Somalia Mogadishu 1,150,000 19,200 SOM

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Italian architecture in Somalia (in Italian)
  2. ↑ Alexander Hopkins McDannald. "Yearbook of the Encyclopedia Americana". Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  3. ↑ Roads built by the Italians in the AOI (in italian)
  4. ↑ "Istat 1940"
  5. 1 2 Apis Networks - Engineered Hosting

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.