page_title: Italian Somalis
section_title: Italian Somaliland
hierarchical_section_title: Italian Somalis / History / Italian Somaliland
caption_attribution_description: Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (1873 - 1933), Italian mountaineer and explorer
context_page_description: Italian Somalis are Somali descendants from Italian colonists, as well as long-term Italian residents in Somalia.
context_section_description: In April 1905, the Italian government acquired control (from a private Italian company called SACI) of this coastal area around Mogadishu, and created the colony of Italian Somaliland.
  From the outset, the Italians signed protectorate agreements with the local Somali authorities. In doing this, the Kingdom of Italy was spared bloody rebellions like those launched by the Dervish leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (the so-called "Mad Mullah") over a period of twenty-one years against the British colonial authorities in northern Somalia, an area then referred to as British Somaliland.
  In 1908, the borders with Ethiopia in the upper river Shebelle River (Uebi-Scebeli in Italian) were defined, and after World War I, the area of Oltregiuba (l"Beyond Juba") was ceded by Britain and annexed to Italian Somaliland.
  The dawn of Fascism in the early 1920s heralded a change of strategy for Italy. With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, the then-ruling northeastern Somali Sultanes were soon to be forced within the boundaries of La Grande Somalia. Italy hitherto had access to these areas under various protection treaties, but not direct rule. Under its new leadership, Italy mounted successive military campaigns against the Somali Sultanate of Hobyo and Majeerteen Sultanate, eventually defeating the Sultanates' troops and exiling the reigning Sultans. The colonial troops called dubats and the gendarmerie zaptié were extensively used by De Vecchi in this military campaign.
   
  In the early 1930s, the new Italian governors, Guido Corni and Maurizio Rava, started a policy of assimilation of the local populace, enrolling many Somalis in the Italian colonial troops. Some thousands of Italian settlers also began moving to Mogadishu as well as agricultural areas around the capital, such as Genale and the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi.
  In 1928, the Italian authorities built the Mogadishu Cathedral (Cattedrale di Mogadiscio). It was constructed in a Norman Gothic style, based on the Cefalù Cathedral in Cefalù, Sicily. Following its establishment, Crowned Prince Umberto II made his first publicized visit to Mogadishu.
  Crowned Prince Umberto I would make his second publicized visit to Italian Somaliland in October 1934.
  In 1936, Italy then integrated Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland into a unitary colonial state called Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), thereby enlarging Italian Somaliland from 500,000 km2 to 700,000 km2 with the addition of the Ogaden and so creating the Somalia Governorate.
  From 1936 to 1940, new roads such as the "Imperial Road" from Mogadishu to Addis Abeba were constructed in the region, as were new schools, hospitals, ports and bridges. New railways were also built, such as the famous Mogadishu-Villabruzzi Railway (Italian: Ferrovia Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi).
  During the first half of 1940, there were about 50,000 Italians living in Italian Somaliland. In urban areas, the colony was one of the most developed on the continent in terms of standard of living. In the late 1930s the triangle area between Italian Mogadiscio, Merca and Villabruzzi was fully developed in agriculture (with a growing export of bananas to Europe), but was even experiencing an initial industrial development thanks to the presence of asphalted roads, railways, and a new international airport & port in the capital.
  In the second half of 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland and ejected the British. The Italians also occupied areas bordering Jubaland around the villages of Moyale and Buna. However, Britain retained control of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District.
  In the spring of 1941, Britain regained control of British Somaliland and conquered Italian Somaliland with the Ogaden after some months of bloody fighting in all Italian East Africa. However, until the summer of 1943, there was an Italian guerrilla war in all the areas of the former Italian East Africa.
caption: Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, founder of the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi, the main agricultural settlement in Italian Somaliland.
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