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{{Short description|Italian colony in the Horn of Africa from 1936 to 1941}}
{{Infobox Former Country
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
|native_name = ''Africa Orientale Italiana''
{{Infobox country
|conventional_long_name = Italian East Africa
| native_name = {{native name|it|Africa Orientale Italiana}}<br />{{native name|om|Xaaliyaanii Baha Afrikaa}}<br />{{native name|so|Talyaaniga Bariga Afrika}}<br />{{native name|ar|شرق أفريقيا الإيطالية}}<br><small>(''Sharq 'afriqya al'iitalia'')</small><br />{{native name|am|የጣሊያን ምሥራቅ አፍሪካ}}<br><small>(''Yet’alīyani miširak’i āfirīka'')</small><br />{{native_name|ti|ኢጣልያ ምብራቕ ኣፍሪቃ}}
|common_name = Italian East Africa
|continent = Africa
| conventional_long_name = Italian East Africa
|region = Horn of Africa
| common_name = Italian East Africa
|era =
| era = [[Interwar period]] to [[World War II]]
|status_text = [[Colony]] of [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Italy]]
| status_text = [[Italian Empire|Colony]] of [[Fascist Italy|Italy]]
|status = Colony
| status = [[Colony]]
|empire = Italy
| empire = Italy
| event_pre = [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italian Ethiopia proclaimed by Italy]]
|year_start = 1936
|year_end = 1941
| date_pre = 9 May 1936
| event_start = Italian Ethiopia declared part of Italian East Africa
|life_span = [[1936]] - [[1941]]
|p1 = Ethiopian Empire
| year_start = 1936
| date_start = 1 June
|flag_p1 = Flag_of_Ethiopia_(1897).svg
| event1 = [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War#Subsequent operations|Second Italo-Ethiopian War ends]]
|p2 = Eritrea
| date_event1 = 19 February 1937
|flag_p2 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg
|p3 = Italian Somalia
| event2 = [[British Somaliland]] [[Italian invasion of British Somaliland|annexed]]
| date_event2 = 19 August 1940
|flag_p3 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg
| event3 = [[East African campaign (World War II)|Allied occupation]]
|s1 = Ethiopian Empire
| date_event3 = 27 November 1941
|flag_s1 = Flag_of_Ethiopia_(1897).svg
| event_end = {{nowrap|[[Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied Powers|Relinquished by Italy]]}}
|s2 = Eritrea
|flag_s2 = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
| year_end = 1947
|s3 = Trust Territory of Somalia
| date_end = 10 February
|flag_s3 = Flag of Italy.svg
| life_span = 1936–1941
| p1 = Italian Eritrea{{!}}'''1936:'''<br />Italian Eritrea
|image_flag = Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg
| flag_p1 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
|image_coat = Italian East Africa.jpg|30px
| p2 = Italian Somaliland
|image_map = Italian East Africa - 1936-1940.svg|thumb|right|300px
| flag_p2 = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
|capital = [[Addis Ababa]]
| p3 = Ethiopian Empire
|title_leader = [[List of colonial heads of Italian East Africa|Viceroy]]&sup1;
| flag_p3 = Flag of Ethiopia (1897–1974).svg
|leader1 = Pietro Badoglio
|p4 = Sultanate of Aussa{{!}}'''1937:'''<br />Sultanate of Aussa
|year_leader1 = 1936
|leader2 = Rodolfo Graziani
|flag_p4 = Red flag.svg
| p5 = British Somaliland{{!}}'''1940:'''<br />British Somaliland
|year_leader2 = 1936-1937
| flag_p5 = Flag of British Somaliland (1903–1950).svg
|leader3 = Prince [[Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta|Amedeo]]
| s1 = British Military Administration (Eritrea){{!}}Military Administration in Eritrea
|year_leader3 = 1937-1941
|leader4 = Pietro Gazzera
| flag_s1 = Flag of UK.svg
| s2 = British Military Administration (Somaliland){{!}}Military Administration in Somaliland
|year_leader4 = 1941
|leader5 = Guglielmo Nasi
| flag_s2 = Flag of UK.svg
| s3 = Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (Ethiopia){{!}}Military Administration in Ethiopia
|year_leader5 = 1941 (acting)
| flag_s3 = Flag of UK.svg
|footnotes = &sup1; Viceroy and Governor-General
| s4 = Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement#British Ogaden{{!}}Military Administration in Ogaden
| flag_s4 = Flag of UK.svg
| s5 = British Somaliland
| flag_s5 = Flag of British Somaliland (1903–1950).svg
| image_flag = Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg
| image_coat = COA of Italian East Africa (Wiki Style).svg
| symbol_type = Coat of arms
| image_map = Italian East Africa (1938–1941).svg
| image_map_caption =
| image_map2 = Italian East Africa.png
| image_map2_caption = Italian East Africa in 1941:
{{plainlist | style = padding-center: 0.6em; text-align: left |
:::: {{Legend|#336432|Italian East Africa}}
:::: {{Legend|#54A754|[[Italian invasion of British Somaliland|Conquered in 1940]]}}
:::: {{Legend|#666666|[[Italian Empire|Italian controlled territory]]}}
:::: {{Legend|#333333|[[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Kingdom of Italy]]}}
}}
| capital = [[Addis Ababa]]
| national_motto = ''[[FERT]]''<br />(Motto for the [[House of Savoy]])
| national_anthem = {{center|''[[Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza]]''<br />{{small|"Royal March of Ordinance"}}<br/>[[File:Marcia Reale.ogg]]}}
| common_languages = [[Italian language|Italian]] (official), [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Oromo language|Oromo]], [[Amharic language|Amharic]], [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]], [[Somali language|Somali]], [[Tigre language|Tigre]]
| leader1 = {{nowrap|[[Victor Emmanuel III]]}}
| year_leader1 = 1936–1941
| title_leader = [[Emperor of Ethiopia|Emperor]]
| representative1 = [[Pietro Badoglio]]
| representative2 = [[Rodolfo Graziani]]
| representative3 = [[Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta|Amedeo di Aosta]]
| representative4 = [[Pietro Gazzera]]
| representative5 = [[Guglielmo Nasi]]
| year_representative1 = 1936
| year_representative2 = 1936–1937
| year_representative3 = 1937–1941
| year_representative4 = 1941 {{small|(acting)}}
| year_representative5 = 1941 {{small|(acting)}}
| title_representative = [[List of governors-general of Italian East Africa|Governor-General]]{{efn|The full title was ''Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=Melvin E |last2=Sonnenburg |first2=Penny M |title=Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural and Political Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781576077627 |page=1054 |language=en |oclc=690378095}}</ref>}}
| currency = [[Italian East African lira]]
| stat_year1 = 1939<ref name="Istat 2010">{{cite journal |last=Istat |author-link=National Institute of Statistics (Italy) |title=I censimenti nell'Italia unita I censimenti nell'Italia unita Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI STATISTICA SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI DEMOGRAFIA STORICA Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo |journal=Annali di Statistica |date=December 2010 |volume=2 |series=XII |page=263 |url=http://www3.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20120911_00/Annali_serie_XII_vol_2_anno_141_I_Censimenti_nell'Italia_unita_bis.pdf |access-date=24 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803195051/http://www3.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20120911_00/Annali_serie_XII_vol_2_anno_141_I_Censimenti_nell'Italia_unita_bis.pdf |archive-date=3 August 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| stat_area1 = 1725000
| stat_pop1 = 12,100,000
| today = [[Eritrea]]<br/>[[Somalia]]<br />[[Ethiopia]]<br />[[Somaliland]]
| footnotes =
| symbol_type_article= :it:Stemma_dell'Africa_Orientale_Italiana
| demonym =
| area_km2 =
| area_rank =
| GDP_PPP =
| GDP_PPP_year =
| HDI =
| HDI_year =
}}
}}


'''Italian East Africa''' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: ''Africa Orientale Italiana'', ''AOI'') was a short-lived (1936-1941) Italian colony in [[Africa]] consisting of [[Ethiopia]] (recently occupied after the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]]) and the colonies of [[Italian Somaliland]] and [[Eritrea]] held in the name of [[Victor Emmanuel III]] of the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]]. In [[August]] [[1940]], [[British Somaliland]] was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa.
'''Italian East Africa''' ({{langx|it|Africa Orientale Italiana}}, AOI)<ref name="italian colonialism"/> was an [[Italian Empire|Italian colony]] in the [[Horn of Africa]]. It was formed in 1936 after the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] through the merger of [[Italian Somaliland]], [[Italian Eritrea]], and the newly [[Italian Ethiopia|occupied Ethiopian Empire]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html#Italian-East-Africa |title=Italian East Africa |publisher=World Statesmen |language=en |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214091331/http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Ethiopia.html#Italian-East-Africa |url-status=live }}</ref>


Italian East Africa was divided into [[governorates of Italian East Africa|six governorates]]. Eritrea and Somalia, Italian possessions since the 1880s, were enlarged with captured Ethiopian territory and became the [[Eritrea Governorate|Eritrea]] and [[Somalia Governorate]]s. The remainder of "[[Italian Ethiopia]]" comprised the [[Harar Governorate|Harar]], [[Galla-Sidamo Governorate|Galla-Sidamo]], [[Amhara Governorate|Amhara]], and [[Scioa Governorate]]s.
== Territory ==

In 1936, Italian East Africa covered all of present-day [[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]] and most of [[Somalia]] with the exception of the territory which presently composes the ''de facto'' independent [[Republic of Somaliland]]. The colony was divided into six provinces: [[Amhara|Amara]], [[Eritrea]], Galla-Sidamo, [[Harar]], [[Showa|Scioa]] and [[Somalia]], each run by an Italian [[governor]]. Each [[governor]] was answerable to the Italian [[viceroy]].The colonial divisions were important in the Fascist regime's attempt to permanently destroy the former Ethiopian state, by granting former Ethiopian land to its rival Muslim neighbours in Italian administered Eritrea and Somalia. Italian East Africa briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered [[British Somaliland]], thereby creating a single Somali provincial entity within Italian control, though this and the colony itself would be broken apart one year later as Italian East Africa was occupied by British forces.
During the [[East African campaign (World War II)|Second World War]], Italian East Africa was occupied by a [[British Empire in World War II|British]]-led force including colonial units and [[Arbegnoch|Ethiopian guerrillas]] in November 1941.<ref name=LOC>{{cite web |last=Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry |first=Thomas P. |title=Ethiopia in World War II |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+et0030) |work=A Country Study: Ethiopia |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=11 January 2014 |archive-date=29 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041029171751/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+et0030) |url-status=live }}</ref> After the war, Italian Somalia and Eritrea came under British administration, while Ethiopia regained its independence. In 1950, [[British Military Administration (Somaliland)|occupied Somalia]] became the [[United Nations]] [[Trust Territory of Somaliland]], administered by [[Italy]] from 1950 until its independence in 1960. [[British Military Administration (Eritrea)|Occupied Eritrea]] became an [[Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea|autonomous part of Ethiopia]] in 1952, and was later annexed by the [[Ethiopian Empire]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Metaferia |first=Getachew |date=2001 |title=Review of Eritrea and Ethiopia: The Federal Experience |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193981 |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=287–293 |jstor=45193981 |issn=8755-3449 |access-date=18 March 2023 |archive-date=18 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318115939/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193981 |url-status=live }}</ref> It would remain annexed by [[Ethiopia]] until it gained independence as [[Eritrea]].


==History==
==History==
=== Conquest of Ethiopia ===
{{main|Second Italo-Ethiopian War}}
[[File:RAS Abissini Pd-italy-005.jpg|thumb|Abyssinian nobles [[Seyoum Mengesha]], [[Getachew Abate]] and [[Kebbede Guebret]] submit to [[Benito Mussolini]] in February 1937.]]

Historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Some Italian [[historians]] such as Franco Catalano and Giorgio Rochat argue that the invasion was an act of [[social imperialism]], contending that the [[Great Depression]] had badly damaged dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]'s prestige, and that he needed a foreign war to distract public opinion.<ref name="Kallis, Aristotle page 124">{{cite book |last1=Kallis |first1=Aristotle A |title=Fascist Ideology: Territory and Expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922-1945 |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9780203170373 |page=124 |language=en |oclc=48139682}}</ref> Other historians such as Pietro Pastorelli have argued that the invasion was launched as part of an [[Expansionism|expansionist]] program to make Italy the main power in the [[Red Sea]] area and the [[Middle East]].<ref name="Kallis, Aristotle page 124"/> A middle way interpretation was offered by the American historian [[MacGregor Knox]], 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 [[Italian fascism|Fascist]] system in a more radical direction at home.<ref name="Kallis, Aristotle page 124"/>

Unlike [[First Italo-Ethiopian War|forty years earlier]], Italy's forces were far superior to the Ethiopian forces, especially in air power, and they were victorious. Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] was forced to flee the country, with Italian forces entering the capital city, [[Addis Ababa]], to proclaim an "[[Italian Ethiopia|Italian Empire of Ethiopia]]" by 5 May 1936.<ref name="Red">{{Cite news |url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/5RUHGM?OpenDocument&View=defaultBody&style=custo_print |publisher=icrc.org |title=Ethiopia 1935–36 |date=8 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201235400/http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/5RUHGM?OpenDocument&View=defaultBody&style=custo_print |archive-date=1 December 2006}}</ref> Some Ethiopians welcomed the Italians and collaborated with them in the government of the newly created [[Italian Empire]], like Ras [[Seyoum Mengesha]], Ras [[Getachew Abate]] 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]].

Mussolini's international popularity decreased as he endorsed the [[Anschluss|annexation of Austria]] by [[Nazi Germany]], beginning a political tilt toward Germany that eventually led to the [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|downfall of Mussolini and the Fascist regime in Italy]] in [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNHxISN-dmQC&q=%22H.+James+Burgwyn%22&pg=PA138 |title=Italian Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918–1940 |access-date=24 May 2015 |isbn=9780275948771 |last1=James Burgwyn |first1=H. |year=1997 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |archive-date=3 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203092629/https://books.google.com/books?id=PNHxISN-dmQC&q=%22H.+James+Burgwyn%22&pg=PA138 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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]] with the newly conquered territory.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://stampaday.wordpress.com/2017/03/10/italian-east-africa-1-1938/ |title=Italian East Africa #1 (1938) |last=Jochim |first=Mark |date=10 March 2017 |website=A Stamp A Day |language=en |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-date=29 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129053350/https://stampaday.wordpress.com/2017/03/10/italian-east-africa-1-1938/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The maintenance and creation of Ethiopian colonies was very costly.

=== Second World War and dissolution ===
{{main|East African campaign (World War II)}}
[[File:Map Eritrean Campaign 1941-en.svg|thumb|150px|East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941]]

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and [[French Third Republic|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]]. 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]], [[Red Sea]] and the [[Suez Canal]]. (The [[Kingdom of Egypt]] remained [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutral]] during World War II, but the [[Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936]] allowed the British to occupy Egypt and [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]].)<ref name=playfair>{{cite book |last1=Playfair |first1=Ian Stanley Ord |last2=Molony |first2=Chartres James Chatterton |last3=Stitt |first3=George Marquis Stewart |last4=Toomer |first4=Sydney Edward |title=The Mediterranean and Middle East |date=1954 |language=en |oclc=504230580}}</ref>{{rp|6–7, 69}} Egypt, the Suez Canal, [[French Somaliland]] and [[British Somaliland]] 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.<ref name=playfair/>{{rp|38–40}}

Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of [[No. 237 Squadron RAF|1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force]] (237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF) at [[Wajir]] in the [[East Africa Protectorate]] (Kenya). In August 1940, the [[protectorate]] of [[Italian conquest of British Somaliland|British Somaliland]] 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]], which received the surrender of the city.<ref name=playfair/>{{rp|421–422}} The remnants of the Italian forces in the AOI surrendered after the [[Battle of Gondar]] in November 1941, except for groups that fought an [[Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia]] against the British until the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] (3 September 1943) ended hostilities between Italy and the Allies.<ref>[http://www.centrorsi.it/notizie/images/stories/casssa/cassa%20nastro%20azzurro117.jpg Italian Map showing with green lines the territories conquered in 1940 by the Italians in Sudan and Kenya. British and French somaliland are shown in white, as part of the A.O.I. (Africa Orientale Italiana). It also shows the last areas of Italian stand before surrender in 1941]</ref>

In January 1942, with the final official surrender of the Italians, the British 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 [[Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947|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 [[protectorate]]s. In November 1949, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of [[Italian Somaliland]] under close supervision, on condition that Somalia achieve independence within ten years.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zolberg |first1=Aristide R |last2=Aguayo |first2=Sergio |last3=Suhrke |first3=Astri |title=Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World |date=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=106 |isbn=9780195079166 |language=en |oclc=718241912}}</ref> British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the [[State of Somaliland]], the [[Trust Territory of Somalia]] (ex-Italian Somaliland) became independent on 1 July 1960 and the territories united as the [[Somali Republic]].<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2002 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |location=Chicago |edition=15th |isbn=978-0-85229-787-2}}</ref>{{rp|835}}

==Colonial administration==
{{main|List of governors-general of Italian East Africa|List of governors of the governorates of Italian East Africa}}
[[File:ItalianEastAfricaP2b-100Lire-1939-donatedms b.jpg|thumb|Italian East African 100 [[Italian East African lira|lira]] banknote]]
[[File:Ethiopian electric power corporation Addis Abeba.jpg|thumb|The Italian-era Ethiopian electric power corporation building, [[Addis Ababa]]]]

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

===Territory===
{{main|Governorates of Italian East Africa|}}
When established in 1936, Italian East Africa consisted of the old Italian possessions in the [[Horn of Africa]]: [[Italian Eritrea]] and [[Italian Somaliland]], combined with the recently conquered [[Empire of Ethiopia]].<ref name="italian colonialism">{{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=Mia |editor1-last=Ben-Ghiat |editor1-first=Ruth |title=Italian Colonialism. |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=9781403981585 |language=en |oclc=961059564}}</ref> [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]] consequently adopted the title of "[[Emperor of Ethiopia]]", although this was not recognized by any country other than [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]]. The territory was divided into the [[governorates of Italian East Africa|six governorates]]: [[Eritrea Governorate|Eritrea]] and [[Somalia Governorate|Somalia]], consisting of the respective former colonies, enlarged with territory from Ethiopia. The remainder of "[[Italian Ethiopia]]" consisted of the [[Harar Governorate|Harar]], [[Galla-Sidamo Governorate|Galla-Sidamo]], [[Amhara Governorate|Amhara]], and [[Addis Abeba Governorate]]s. 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 [[Italian invasion of British Somaliland|invaded]] [[British Somaliland]], thereby bringing all Somali territories, aside from the small colony of [[French Somaliland]], under Italian administration. However, the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African campaign]] the colony was occupied by British forces.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge history of Africa. Vol. 8, From c. 1940 to c. 1975 |last=Clapham |first=Christopher |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Crowder, Michael, 1934-1988. |year=1984 |isbn=9781139054621 |editor-last=Crowder |editor-first=Michael |location=Cambridge |pages=460 |chapter=The Horn of Africa |oclc=317592773}}</ref>

===Economic development===
[[File:Italian communications in Ethiopia, April 1941.jpg|thumb|250px|Map showing in red the new roads (like the "Imperial road", and those in construction in 1941) created by the Italians in Ethiopia and AOI<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rEBLu-P3-_2Jrg1GTPmrwoZoQcW-gA5g8cxqhf5B3fxuKA7GmUpIl1esaOL3NmUWYP2huGNHT-1jabIo64vzn7iBBYkPG19c0cC0q_y_KSNDwXnVH8L3stlJAhiN0daRa6Aia1-ApMG_WQSG4nIOi6M3qdLGJJ7UK_IRGuA48XXZZVktAKlEeqlAug/s1023/piano%20stradale%20AOI.jpg |title=More detailed map |access-date=26 August 2023 |archive-date=24 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824142059/https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rEBLu-P3-_2Jrg1GTPmrwoZoQcW-gA5g8cxqhf5B3fxuKA7GmUpIl1esaOL3NmUWYP2huGNHT-1jabIo64vzn7iBBYkPG19c0cC0q_y_KSNDwXnVH8L3stlJAhiN0daRa6Aia1-ApMG_WQSG4nIOi6M3qdLGJJ7UK_IRGuA48XXZZVktAKlEeqlAug/s1023/piano%20stradale%20AOI.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a [[Divide and rule|divide and conquer]] characteristic. To weaken the Orthodox Christian [[Amhara people]] who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Eritrean [[Tigrinya people|Tigray-Tigrinyas]] and [[Somalis]] was given to the [[Eritrea Governorate]] and [[Somalia Governorate]].<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}} Reconstruction efforts after the war in 1936 were partially focused on benefiting the Muslim peoples in the colony at the expense of the [[Amhara people|Amhara]] to strengthen support by [[Muslims]] for the Italian colony.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}}

[[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Italy's Fascist regime]] encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}} 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 Eritreans|Italian colonists]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dankalia.com/history/04503.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429102012/http://www.dankalia.com/history/04503.htm |url-status=dead |title=Italian industries and companies in Eritrea |archive-date=29 April 2009}}</ref> by 1940 only 3,200 farmers had arrived in Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal.<ref name="cann">{{cite book |last1=Cannistraro |first1=Philip V |title=Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy |date=1982 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=9780313213175 |language=en |oclc=185703605 |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00tion}}</ref>{{rp|6}} 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.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|6}}

The Italians invested substantively in Ethiopian infrastructure development. They created the "[[imperial road]]" between Addis Ababa and [[Massaua]], Addis Ababa and [[Mogadishu]] and Addis Ababa - [[Assab]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://media.tecnici.it/file/novecento/autocamionale_assab_addis-abeba.pdf |title=1940 Article on the special road Addis Abeba-Assab and map (in Italian) |access-date=22 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402195204/http://media.tecnici.it/file/novecento/autocamionale_assab_addis-abeba.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 900&nbsp;km of railways were reconstructed or initiated (like the railway between Addis Ababa and [[Assab]]), dams and [[Hydroelectricity|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 [[Imperial Line|''Linea dell'Impero'']], a flight connecting Addis Ababa to [[Rome]]. The line was opened after the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|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&nbsp;km and initially joined [[Rome]] with [[Addis Ababa]] via [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], [[Benghazi]], [[Cairo]], [[Wadi Halfa]], [[Khartoum]], [[Kassala]], [[Asmara]], [[Dire Dawa]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.treccani.it//enciclopedia/africa_res-2a855323-8b74-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_(Enciclopedia-Italiana) |title=AFRICA in "Enciclopedia Italiana" |website=www.treccani.it |access-date=3 July 2019 |archive-date=6 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606102458/http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/africa_res-2a855323-8b74-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/ |url-status=live }}</ref> There was a change of aircraft in [[Benghazi]] (or sometimes in [[Tripoli-Castel Benito Airport|Tripoli]]). 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]].

[[File:AsmaraStazione.jpg|thumb|Asmara station on the [[Eritrean Railway]] in 1938, with passengers boarding a ''Littorina'']]
The most important railway line in the [[Colonisation of Africa|African colonies]] of the Kingdom of Italy, the 784&nbsp;km long [[Ethio-Djibouti Railways|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 City|Djibouti]]. In 1938 following the Italian conquest, train speed was increased with the introduction of four high capacity [[Railcar|railcars]] "type 038" derived from the model ''Fiat ALn56''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/autorails_fiat_cfe/pages/image/imagepage15.html |title=LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN |website=www.train-franco-ethiopien.com |access-date=1 July 2018 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224195122/http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/autorails_fiat_cfe/pages/image/imagepage15.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

These diesel trains were able to reach 70&nbsp;km/h and so the time travel was cut in half to just 18 hours: they were used until the mid 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/autorails_fiat_cfe/pages/image/imagepage30.html |title=LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN |website=www.train-franco-ethiopien.com |access-date=1 July 2018 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802002823/http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/autorails_fiat_cfe/pages/image/imagepage30.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the main stations there were some bus connections to the other cities of Italian Ethiopia not served by the railway.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/gare_diredawa_cfe/pages/image/imagepage15.html |title=LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN |website=www.train-franco-ethiopien.com |access-date=1 July 2018 |archive-date=24 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724022558/http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/photos_cfe/gare_diredawa_cfe/pages/image/imagepage15.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, near the Addis Ababa station was created a special unit against fire, that was the only one in all Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.storiavvf.it/Articolo%20Addis%20Abeba.htm |title="Pompieri ad Addis Abeba" (in Italian) |access-date=20 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104191728/http://www.storiavvf.it/Articolo%20Addis%20Abeba.htm |archive-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}} At the time, Italy's entire yearly revenue was only 18.581 billion lira.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}}

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.architesi.polito.it/pdf/MorettiS_EN.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722045033/http://www.architesi.polito.it/pdf/MorettiS_EN.pdf |url-status=dead |title=Addis Abeba 1939 Urbanistic and Architectural Plan |archive-date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

===Education===
Prior to Fascism, education in Italian East Africa had primarily been the responsibility of both Roman Catholic and Protestant [[Missionary|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 Testa|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 [[Indigenous peoples of Africa|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|Giuseppe Mazzini's]] "Young Italy" movement, the [[revolutions of 1848]], or [[Giuseppe Garibaldi|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]], 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]] 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pankhurst |first1=Richard |year=1972 |title=Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Fascist Occupation (1936-1941) |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=361–396 |doi=10.2307/217091 |jstor=217091}}</ref>

===Demographics===

[[File:CH-NB - Italienisch-Ostafrika, Massana (Massawa, Massaua)- Hafen - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-23-129.jpg|thumb|Italian settlers in Massawa]]
[[File:Italian East Africa map 1936.jpg|thumb|Administrative subdivisions of Italian East Africa]]


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 {{convert|18|PD/sqmi|order=flip}}. The distribution of population was, however, very uneven. Eritrea, with an area of {{cvt|90,000|sqmi|km2|order=flip}}, had a population estimated in about 1.5 million, with a population density of {{cvt|16.7|PD/sqmi|order=flip}}; Ethiopia with an area of {{cvt|305,000|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} and a population of some 9.5 million, had a resulting density of {{cvt|31|PD/sqmi|order=flip}}; sparsely populated Italian Somaliland finally, with an area of {{cvt|271,000|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} and a population of just 1.1 million, had a very low density of {{cvt|4|PD/sqmi|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Royal Institute of International Affairs |title=Italian Possessions in Africa: II. Italian East Africa |journal=Bulletin of International News |date=24 August 1940 |volume=17 |issue=17 |pages=1065–1074}}</ref>
The dominion was formed in 1936 during Italian [[Fascist]] dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]'s government in [[Italy]] with the defeat of Ethiopia in the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]].


{| class="wikitable sortable"
Rule in Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland) was harsh for the native peoples, especially towards [[Ethiopians]] as Fascist policy sought to destroy their culture. In February 1937, the AOI's [[Viceroy]] [[Rodolfo Graziani]] ordered Italian soldiers to pillage native settlements in [[Addis Ababa]], which resulted in hundreds of [[Ethiopians]] being killed and their homes left burned to the ground.<ref>Sarti, p191.</ref>
|- "
! English!! Capital !! Total population<ref name="Istat 2010"/>!! Italians<ref name="Istat 2010"/> !! Tag!! Coat of Arms
|-
| [[Amhara Governorate]] || [[Gondar]] || 2,000,000 || 11,103 || AM || [[File:Arms of the Amhara governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|-
| [[Eritrea Governorate]] || [[Asmara]] || 1,500,000 || 72,408 || ER || [[File:Arms of the Eritrea governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|-
| [[Galla-Sidamo Governorate]] || [[Jimma]] || 4,000,000 || 11,823|| GS || [[File:Arms of the Galla-Sidamo governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|-
| [[Harar Governorate]] || [[Harar]] || 1,600,000 || 10,035 || HA || [[File:Arms of the Harar governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|-
| [[Scioa Governorate]] || [[Addis Ababa]] || 1,850,000 || 40,698 || SC || [[File:Arms of the Scioa governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|-
| [[Somalia Governorate]] || [[Mogadishu]] || 1,150,000 || 19,200 || SOM || [[File:Arms of the Italian Somaliland governorate.svg|center|40px]]
|}


=== Italian atrocities ===
In June [[1940]], at the beginning of Italy's involvement in World War II, the AOI potentially constituted a dangerous menace to British interests in Africa. From one perspective, a successful Italian attack from the AOI through the [[Sudan]] and the establishment of a connection to Italian-held [[Libya]] would have isolated vital British positions in [[Egypt]] and the [[Suez Canal]]. However, from a different perspective, the AOI itself was isolated from [[Italy]] and surrounded by British forces in the Sudan, [[Kenya]], and [[British Somaliland]]. British forces in [[Aden]] could provide critical air and naval support against Italian naval forces operating in the [[Red Sea]]. Italian maritime transport was cut off by the British at the Suez Canal. What supplies did arrive in the AOI were generally from the air and in small quantities.


In February 1937, following many murders of Italian and Eritrean soldiers and an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's [[Viceroy]], Marshal [[Rodolfo Graziani]], Italian soldiers raided the famous Ethiopian monastery [[Debre Libanos]], where the assassins were believed to have taken refuge, and executed the monks and nuns.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}} Afterwards, Italian soldiers destroyed native settlements in [[Addis Ababa]], which resulted -according to Ethiopian estimates- in nearly 30,000 [[People of Ethiopia|Ethiopians]] being killed and their homes left burned to the ground.<ref name="cann"/>{{rp|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sarti |first1=Roland |title=The Ax Within: Italian Fascism in Action |year=1974 |publisher=New Viewpoints |isbn=978-0-53-106367-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/axwithinitalianf0000sart/page/191 191] |language=en |oclc=600764772 |url=https://archive.org/details/axwithinitalianf0000sart/page/191}}</ref> The massacre has come to be known as [[Yekatit 12]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Ian |title="Yekatit" 12 Revisited: New Light on the Strike Against Graziani |journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies |year=2007 |volume=40 |issue=1/2 |pages=135–154 |issn=0304-2243 |jstor=41988224}}</ref>
At the beginning of the [[East African Campaign (World War II)|East African Campaign]], the Italian troops amounted to 291,000 men including native troops. Training of the native troops was poor, the Italian garrisons were too spread out, due to the extremely poor state of roads, and were essentially reduced to a static role without enough ammunitions and [[oil reserves]] (which allowed the Allies to liberate AOI in 1941).
[[Image:EritreaCampaign1941 map-en.svg|thumb|right|150px|East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941]]
In 1940, the adjacent [[protectorate]] of [[Italian conquest of British Somaliland|British Somaliland]] was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. The conquest was the only victory of [[Italy]], without reinforcement from German troops, during WWII against the [[Allies]]. This occupation lasted around one year.


After the massacres, Graziani became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mockler |first1=Anthony |title=Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1939–1941 |year=1985 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-39-454222-5 |language=en |oclc=516514436}}</ref> He was subsequently removed by [[Benito Mussolini|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Knox |first1=MacGregor |title=Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War |year=2005 |publisher=ACLS History E-Book Project |page=150 |language=en |oclc=278096179}}</ref>
On [[March 27]], [[1941]] the stronghold of [[Keren]] was captured by the British troops after a strenuous defence from general [[Orlando Lorenzini]]. After the surrender of [[Massaua]] ([[April 8]]), Eritrea was lost for Italy. The war was lost on May 1941, when the last stand on [[Amba Alagi]] under [[Viceroy]] [[Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Savoia|Amedeo di Savoia]], [[Duke of Aosta]], at Amba Alagi ended honourably in face of overwhelming Allied troops. [[November 28]] of the same year, general [[Guglielmo Nasi]] and the last Italian occupants of [[Gondar]] surrendered.


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).<ref>Bahru Zewde, "A History of Modern Ethiopia", second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 172f</ref> The Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 and British influence blocked the surrender proposal.
Many Italians fought a guerrilla war in the "Africa Orientale Italiana", after the surrender at Gondar of the last regular Italian forces in November 1941.
From November 1941 to September 1943 there was an [[Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia|Italian guerrilla force]] made up of 7000 Italians who had not accepted surrender to the [[Allies]]. They were waiting for the possible arrival of the Italo-German army of [[Rommel]] from [[Egypt]] and the Mediterranean (called in 1942 by Mussolini "the [[Italian Mare Nostrum]]"), but after the [[Battle of El Alamein]] the momentum of this resistance slowly faded away.


==Sources==
==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]]
* [[Italian Ethiopia]]
* [[Italians of Ethiopia]]
* [[Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia]]
* [[Italian African Police]]
* [[Italian East African lira]]
* [[Augusto Turati]]
* [[Languages of Africa]]
* Armed Forces of Italian Empire in "Africa Orientale italiana"


==Notes==
* Antonicelli, Franco. ''Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945 (in Italian)''. Mondadori ed. Torino, 1961.
{{notelist}}
* Del Boca, Angelo. ''Italiani in Africa Orientale: La caduta dell'Impero (in Italian)''. Laterza. Roma-Bari, 1986. ISBN 884202810X
* Mockler, Anthony. ''Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941''. Random House. New York, 1984. ISBN 0-394-54222-3
* Sarti, Roland. ''The Ax Within: Italian Fascism in Action.'' New Viewpoints. New York. 1974.


== Notes ==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Reflist}}


==See also ==
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Antonicelli |first=Franco |year=1961 |title=Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915-1945 |location=Turin |publisher=Einaudi |page=387 |language=it}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Brioni |editor-first1=Simone |editor-last2=Gulema |editor-first2=Shimelis Bonsa |year=2017 |title=The Horn of Africa and Italy: Colonial, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Encounters |location=Oxford |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-1-78707-993-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Calchi Novati |first=Gian Carlo |year=2019 |title=L'Africa d'Italia |publisher=Carrocci |location=Rome |language=it |isbn=978-8843096589}}
* {{cite book |last=Mauri |first=Arnaldo |year=1967 |title=Il mercato del credito in Etiopia |location=Milan |publisher=Giuffrè |pages=XVI, 504 |language=it}}
* {{cite book |last=Mockler |first=Anthony |year=1984 |title=Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935–1941 |location=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-394-54222-3}}
* Tuccimei, Ercole (1999). ''La Banca d'Italia in Africa'', Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Laterza, Bari, {{ISBN|88-420-5686-3}} [in Italian].
* {{cite book |last=Di Lalla |first=Fabrizio |title=Le italiane in Africa Orientale. Storie di donne in colonia |publisher=Solfanelli Editore |location=Chieti |year=2014 |language=it |isbn=978-8874978342}}
* {{cite book |last=Di Lalla |first=Fabrizio |title=Sotto due bandiere. Lotta di liberazione etiopica e resistenza italiana in Africa Orientale |publisher=Solfanelli Editore |location=Chieti |year=2016 |language=it |isbn=978-8874979325}}


==External links==
*[[Colonial heads of Italian East Africa]]
* [http://niehorster.org/019_italy/40-06-10_army/army_aoi.html Italian East African Armed Forces, 10 June 1940]
*[[Italian Governors of Addis Ababa]]
* [http://niehorster.org/019_italy/40_organ/brig_aoi_40.html 1940 Colonial Brigade, 10 June 1940]
*[[Italian Governors of Amhara]]
* [http://blog.libero.it/wrnzla/ Ascari: I Leoni di Eritrea/Ascari: The Eritrean Lions]
*[[Italian Governors of Galla-Sidamo]]
* [http://namesorts.com/2013/01/07/monitoring-western-investments-in-africa-12-a-mapping-of-italian-vs-portuguese-director-names/ Geographic map of Italian business community in Africa (December 2012) ]
*[[Italian Governors of Harar]]
*[[Italian Governors of Scioa]]
*[[Dubats]]
*[[Political history of Eastern Africa]]
*[[Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia]]


{{Italian colonial empire|state=collapsed}}
== External links ==
{{Eritrea italiana (Colonia Primigenia)}}
* [http://www.niehorster.orbat.com/019_italy/40-06-10_army/army_aoi.html Italian East African Armed Forces, 10 June 1940]
{{Italian Ethiopia}}
*[http://www.niehorster.orbat.com/019_italy/40_organ/brig_aoi_40.html 1940 Colonial Brigade, 10 June 1940]
{{Somalia italiana (Colonia)}}
* [http://www.niehorster.orbat.com/019_italy/40-06-10_airforce/aaoi.html Italian East Africa Air Command, 10 June 1940]
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:History of Ethiopia]]


[[Category:Italian East Africa| ]]
[[cs:Italská východní Afrika]]
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[[Category:History of the Horn of Africa]]
[[hr:Talijanska Istočna Afrika]]
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[[Category:1940s in Eritrea|.]]
[[no:Italiensk Øst-Afrika]]
[[Category:1940s in Ethiopia|.]]
[[pl:Włoska Afryka Wschodnia]]
[[Category:1940s in Somalia|.]]
[[pt:África Oriental Italiana]]
[[Category:Former Italian-speaking countries]]
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[[Category:Former countries of the interwar period]]
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[[Category:Italian military occupations]]
[[Category:World War II occupied territories]]
[[Category:Ethiopia–Italy relations]]
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[[Category:20th century in Ethiopia]]
[[Category:20th century in Somalia]]
[[Category:20th century in Africa]]
[[Category:Real unions]]
[[Category:Victor Emmanuel III]]

Latest revision as of 22:01, 18 November 2024

Italian East Africa
Africa Orientale Italiana (Italian)
Xaaliyaanii Baha Afrikaa (Oromo)
Talyaaniga Bariga Afrika (Somali)
شرق أفريقيا الإيطالية (Arabic)
(Sharq 'afriqya al'iitalia)
የጣሊያን ምሥራቅ አፍሪካ (Amharic)
(Yet’alīyani miširak’i āfirīka)
ኢጣልያ ምብራቕ ኣፍሪቃ (Tigrinya)
1936–1941
Flag of Italian East Africa
Flag
Coat of arms of Italian East Africa
Coat of arms
Motto: FERT
(Motto for the House of Savoy)
Anthem: 
Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza
"Royal March of Ordinance"
Italian East Africa in 1941:
  Italian East Africa
StatusColony of Italy
CapitalAddis Ababa
Common languagesItalian (official), Arabic, Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, Tigre
Emperor 
• 1936–1941
Victor Emmanuel III
Governor-General[a] 
• 1936
Pietro Badoglio
• 1936–1937
Rodolfo Graziani
• 1937–1941
Amedeo di Aosta
• 1941 (acting)
Pietro Gazzera
• 1941 (acting)
Guglielmo Nasi
Historical eraInterwar period to World War II
9 May 1936
• Italian Ethiopia declared part of Italian East Africa
1 June 1936
19 February 1937
19 August 1940
27 November 1941
10 February 1947
Area
1939[2]1,725,000 km2 (666,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1939[2]
12,100,000
CurrencyItalian East African lira
Preceded by
Succeeded by
1936:
Italian Eritrea
Italian Somaliland
Ethiopian Empire
1937:
Sultanate of Aussa
1940:
British Somaliland
Military Administration in Eritrea
Military Administration in Somaliland
Military Administration in Ethiopia
Military Administration in Ogaden
British Somaliland
Today part ofEritrea
Somalia
Ethiopia
Somaliland

Italian East Africa (Italian: Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI)[3] was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 after the Second Italo-Ethiopian War through the merger of Italian Somaliland, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire.[4]

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 and Somalia Governorates. The remainder of "Italian Ethiopia" comprised the Harar, Galla-Sidamo, Amhara, and Scioa Governorates.

During the Second World War, Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial units and Ethiopian guerrillas in November 1941.[5] 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.[6] It would remain annexed by Ethiopia until it gained independence as Eritrea.

History

[edit]

Conquest of Ethiopia

[edit]
Abyssinian nobles Seyoum Mengesha, Getachew Abate and Kebbede Guebret submit to Benito Mussolini in February 1937.

Historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Some Italian historians such as Franco Catalano and Giorgio Rochat argue that the invasion was an act of social imperialism, contending that the Great Depression had badly damaged dictator Benito Mussolini's prestige, and that he needed a foreign war to distract public opinion.[7] 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.[7] A middle way interpretation was offered by the American historian MacGregor Knox, 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.[7]

Unlike forty years earlier, Italy's forces were far superior to the Ethiopian forces, especially in air power, and they were 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.[8] Some Ethiopians welcomed the Italians and collaborated with them in the government of the newly created Italian Empire, like Ras Seyoum Mengesha, Ras Getachew Abate 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.

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.[9] 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 with the newly conquered territory.[10] The maintenance and creation of Ethiopian colonies was very costly.

Second World War and dissolution

[edit]
East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941

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. 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, Red Sea and the Suez Canal. (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.)[11]: 6–7, 69  Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland 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.[11]: 38–40 

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 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, which received the surrender of the city.[11]: 421–422  The remnants of the Italian forces in the AOI surrendered after the Battle of Gondar in November 1941, except for groups that fought an Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia against the British until the Armistice of Cassibile (3 September 1943) ended hostilities between Italy and the Allies.[12]

In January 1942, with the final official surrender of the Italians, the British 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.[13] British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, the Trust Territory of Somalia (ex-Italian Somaliland) became independent on 1 July 1960 and the territories united as the Somali Republic.[14]: 835 

Colonial administration

[edit]
Italian East African 100 lira banknote
The Italian-era Ethiopian electric power corporation building, Addis Ababa

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

[edit]

When established in 1936, Italian East Africa consisted of the old Italian possessions in the Horn of Africa: Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, combined with the recently conquered Empire of Ethiopia.[3] Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of "Emperor of Ethiopia", although this was not recognized by any country other than Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The territory was divided into the six governorates: Eritrea and Somalia, consisting of the respective former colonies, enlarged with territory from Ethiopia. The remainder of "Italian Ethiopia" consisted of the Harar, Galla-Sidamo, 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 British Somaliland, thereby bringing all Somali territories, aside from the small colony of French Somaliland, 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.[15]

Economic development

[edit]
Map showing in red the new roads (like the "Imperial road", and those in construction in 1941) created by the Italians in Ethiopia and AOI[16]

Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a divide and conquer characteristic. To weaken the Orthodox Christian Amhara people who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Eritrean Tigray-Tigrinyas and Somalis was given to the Eritrea Governorate and Somalia Governorate.[17]: 5  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.[17]: 5 

Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses.[17]: 5  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,[18] by 1940 only 3,200 farmers had arrived in Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal.[17]: 6  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.[17]: 6 

The Italians invested substantively in Ethiopian infrastructure development. They created the "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua, Addis Ababa and Mogadishu and Addis Ababa - Assab.[19] 900 km of railways were reconstructed or initiated (like the railway between Addis Ababa and Assab), 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 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, Benghazi, Cairo, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Kassala, Asmara, Dire Dawa.[20] There was a change of aircraft in Benghazi (or sometimes in Tripoli). 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.

Asmara station on the Eritrean Railway in 1938, with passengers boarding a Littorina

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.[21]

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.[22] At the main stations there were some bus connections to the other cities of Italian Ethiopia not served by the railway.[23] Additionally, near the Addis Ababa station was created a special unit against fire, that was the only one in all Africa.[24]

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.[17]: 5  At the time, Italy's entire yearly revenue was only 18.581 billion lira.[17]: 5 

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.[25]

Education

[edit]

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, 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 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.[26]

Demographics

[edit]
Italian settlers in Massawa
Administrative subdivisions of Italian East Africa

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 6.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (18/sq mi). The distribution of population was, however, very uneven. Eritrea, with an area of 230,000 km2 (90,000 sq mi), had a population estimated in about 1.5 million, with a population density of 6.4/km2 (16.7/sq mi); Ethiopia with an area of 790,000 km2 (305,000 sq mi) and a population of some 9.5 million, had a resulting density of 12/km2 (31/sq mi); sparsely populated Italian Somaliland finally, with an area of 700,000 km2 (271,000 sq mi) and a population of just 1.1 million, had a very low density of 1.5/km2 (4/sq mi).[27]

English Capital Total population[2] Italians[2] Tag Coat of Arms
Amhara Governorate Gondar 2,000,000 11,103 AM
Eritrea Governorate Asmara 1,500,000 72,408 ER
Galla-Sidamo Governorate Jimma 4,000,000 11,823 GS
Harar Governorate Harar 1,600,000 10,035 HA
Scioa Governorate Addis Ababa 1,850,000 40,698 SC
Somalia Governorate Mogadishu 1,150,000 19,200 SOM

Italian atrocities

[edit]

In February 1937, following many murders of Italian and Eritrean soldiers and an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's Viceroy, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Italian soldiers raided the famous Ethiopian monastery Debre Libanos, where the assassins were believed to have taken refuge, and executed the monks and nuns.[17]: 5  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.[17]: 5 [28] The massacre has come to be known as Yekatit 12.[29]

After the massacres, Graziani became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia".[30] 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.[31]

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).[32] The Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940 and British influence blocked the surrender proposal.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The full title was Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Page, Melvin E; Sonnenburg, Penny M (2006). Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural and Political Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 1054. ISBN 9781576077627. OCLC 690378095.
  2. ^ a b c Istat (December 2010). "I censimenti nell'Italia unita I censimenti nell'Italia unita Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI STATISTICA SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI DEMOGRAFIA STORICA Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo" (PDF). Annali di Statistica. XII. 2: 263. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b Fuller, Mia (2016). Ben-Ghiat, Ruth (ed.). Italian Colonialism. Palgrave Macmillan US. ISBN 9781403981585. OCLC 961059564.
  4. ^ "Italian East Africa". World Statesmen. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  5. ^ Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, Thomas P. "Ethiopia in World War II". A Country Study: Ethiopia. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 29 October 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  6. ^ Metaferia, Getachew (2001). "Review of Eritrea and Ethiopia: The Federal Experience". Journal of Third World Studies. 18 (2): 287–293. ISSN 8755-3449. JSTOR 45193981. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Kallis, Aristotle A (2000). Fascist Ideology: Territory and Expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922-1945. London: Routledge. p. 124. ISBN 9780203170373. OCLC 48139682.
  8. ^ "Ethiopia 1935–36". icrc.org. 8 January 2008. Archived from the original on 1 December 2006.
  9. ^ James Burgwyn, H. (1997). Italian Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918–1940. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780275948771. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  10. ^ Jochim, Mark (10 March 2017). "Italian East Africa #1 (1938)". A Stamp A Day. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Playfair, Ian Stanley Ord; Molony, Chartres James Chatterton; Stitt, George Marquis Stewart; Toomer, Sydney Edward (1954). The Mediterranean and Middle East. OCLC 504230580.
  12. ^ Italian Map showing with green lines the territories conquered in 1940 by the Italians in Sudan and Kenya. British and French somaliland are shown in white, as part of the A.O.I. (Africa Orientale Italiana). It also shows the last areas of Italian stand before surrender in 1941
  13. ^ Zolberg, Aristide R; Aguayo, Sergio; Suhrke, Astri (1992). Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World. Oxford University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780195079166. OCLC 718241912.
  14. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica (15th ed.). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. ISBN 978-0-85229-787-2.
  15. ^ Clapham, Christopher (1984). "The Horn of Africa". In Crowder, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge history of Africa. Vol. 8, From c. 1940 to c. 1975. Crowder, Michael, 1934-1988. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 460. ISBN 9781139054621. OCLC 317592773.
  16. ^ "More detailed map". Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cannistraro, Philip V (1982). Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy. Greenwood. ISBN 9780313213175. OCLC 185703605.
  18. ^ "Italian industries and companies in Eritrea". Archived from the original on 29 April 2009.
  19. ^ "1940 Article on the special road Addis Abeba-Assab and map (in Italian)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  20. ^ "AFRICA in "Enciclopedia Italiana"". www.treccani.it. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  21. ^ "LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN". www.train-franco-ethiopien.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  22. ^ "LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN". www.train-franco-ethiopien.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  23. ^ "LE CHEMIN DE FER FRANCO ETHIOPIEN ET DJIBOUTO ETHIOPIEN". www.train-franco-ethiopien.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  24. ^ ""Pompieri ad Addis Abeba" (in Italian)". Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  25. ^ "Addis Abeba 1939 Urbanistic and Architectural Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011.
  26. ^ Pankhurst, Richard (1972). "Education in Ethiopia during the Italian Fascist Occupation (1936-1941)". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 5 (3): 361–396. doi:10.2307/217091. JSTOR 217091.
  27. ^ Royal Institute of International Affairs (24 August 1940). "Italian Possessions in Africa: II. Italian East Africa". Bulletin of International News. 17 (17): 1065–1074.
  28. ^ Sarti, Roland (1974). The Ax Within: Italian Fascism in Action. New Viewpoints. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-53-106367-5. OCLC 600764772.
  29. ^ Campbell, Ian (2007). ""Yekatit" 12 Revisited: New Light on the Strike Against Graziani". Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 40 (1/2): 135–154. ISSN 0304-2243. JSTOR 41988224.
  30. ^ Mockler, Anthony (1985). Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1939–1941. Random House. ISBN 978-0-39-454222-5. OCLC 516514436.
  31. ^ Knox, MacGregor (2005). Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. ACLS History E-Book Project. p. 150. OCLC 278096179.
  32. ^ Bahru Zewde, "A History of Modern Ethiopia", second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 172f

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Antonicelli, Franco (1961). Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915-1945 (in Italian). Turin: Einaudi. p. 387.
  • Brioni, Simone; Gulema, Shimelis Bonsa, eds. (2017). The Horn of Africa and Italy: Colonial, Postcolonial and Transnational Cultural Encounters. Oxford: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-78707-993-9.
  • Calchi Novati, Gian Carlo (2019). L'Africa d'Italia (in Italian). Rome: Carrocci. ISBN 978-8843096589.
  • Mauri, Arnaldo (1967). Il mercato del credito in Etiopia (in Italian). Milan: Giuffrè. pp. XVI, 504.
  • Mockler, Anthony (1984). Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935–1941. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-54222-3.
  • Tuccimei, Ercole (1999). La Banca d'Italia in Africa, Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Laterza, Bari, ISBN 88-420-5686-3 [in Italian].
  • Di Lalla, Fabrizio (2014). Le italiane in Africa Orientale. Storie di donne in colonia (in Italian). Chieti: Solfanelli Editore. ISBN 978-8874978342.
  • Di Lalla, Fabrizio (2016). Sotto due bandiere. Lotta di liberazione etiopica e resistenza italiana in Africa Orientale (in Italian). Chieti: Solfanelli Editore. ISBN 978-8874979325.
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9°2′48″N 38°45′28″E / 9.04667°N 38.75778°E / 9.04667; 38.75778