page_title: Italian Somaliland
section_title: Coastal settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Italian Somaliland / History / Coastal settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: A map of the French, British, Italian, and Abyssinian [i.e., Ethiopian] Somalilands [i.e., Somalia and Djibouti] c.&#8201;1911.
context_page_description: Italian Somaliland, sometimes also referred to as Italian Somalia, was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day northeastern, central and southern Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Sultanates of Hobyo and Majeerteen, the territory was acquired in the 1880s by Italy through various treaties.
  In 1936, the region was integrated into Italian East Africa as the Somalia Governorate. This would last until Italy's loss of the region in 1941, during the East African campaign of World War II. Italian Somaliland then came under British military administration until 1950, when it became a United Nations trusteeship, the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration. On July 1, 1960, the Trust Territory of Somaliland united as scheduled with the former British Somaliland protectorate to form the Somali Republic.
context_section_description: Italy gained control of the ports of the Benadir coastal area with the concession of a small strip of land on the coast from the Sultan of Zanzibar, and over the following decades, Italian settlement was encouraged. In 1905, Italy assumed the responsibility of creating a colony in southern Somalia, after several failed attempts, following revelations that the Benadir Company had tolerated or collaborated in the perpetuation of the slave trade. The administrative regulator was Governor Mercantelli, with the six subdivisions of Brava, Merca, Lugh, Itala, Bardera, and Jumbo.
  On April 5, 1908, the Italian Parliament enacted a basic law to unite all of the parts of southern Somalia into an area called "Somalia Italiana". The colonial power was then divided between the Parliament, the metropolitan government, and the colonial government. The power of the colonial government was the only power that was changed. The civil governor controlled export rights, regulated the rate of exchange, raised or lowered native taxes, and administered all civil services and matters relating to hunting, fishing, and conservation. The governor was in control of the police force, while nominating local residents and military arrangements.
  From 5 April 1908 to 5 May 1936, the Royal Corps of Somali Colonial Troops (Regio corpo truppe coloniali della Somalia Italiana), originally called the "Guard Corps of Benadir", served as the territory's formal military corps. At the start of its establishment, the force had 2,600 Italian officers. Between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the Italo-Turkish War. Most of the troops stationed never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.
  Effective Italian control remained largely limited to the coastal areas until the early 1920s. After the collapse of Muhammad Abdullah Hassan's Dervish movement, rebellion and revolt occurred, with disputes arising between different clans in Northern Somalia. The government of the time served as a mediator while maintaining close control over the military.
caption: 1911 map of Somalia showing Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland
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