Derna (Italian province) (Italian: Provincia di Derna) was a province of Italian Libya, created in 1937 by Italian authorities with the official name:Commmissariato Generale Provinciale di Derna. It lasted until 1943, during World War I.
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Derna Province was located in northern Italian Libya, next to Egypt. It was a semi-arid area near the Mediterranean coast, with a fertile plateau around ancient Cyrene (but in the interior it was a desert). Its administrative center was the small city of Derna on the Mediterranean coast.
It was divided in three "circondari" (sections):
The province from 1939 was considered officially part of the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)|Kingdom of Italy, with the same laws. It was one of the four new Italian provinces of the so called Quarta Sponda ("Fourth Shore" in English). Indeed on 9 January 1939, the colony of Italian Libya was incorporated into "Metropolitan Italy" and thereafter considered an integral part of the Italian state (the French, in 1848, had incorporated French Algeria in the same manner).
In the coast of the province was built in 1937-1938 the eastern section of the Litoranea Balbia, that went from Tripoli to the border of Egypt.
The car tag for the Italian province of Derna was DE. [1]
In the province of Derna thousands of Italians (called "ventimilli") moved to live in 1938 and 1939 and founded some agricultural villages (like "Beda Littoria", "Razza", "Battisti", "Luigi di Savoia", "Berta", etc..).[2] Even for the Arab population were built ex-novo a few villages.
According to the 1939 Italian Census of Libya[3], these were the main population data:
| CITY | INHABITANTS | ITALIANS | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beda Littoria | 16.238 pop. | 1.533 | Italians nearly 9,5% |
| Cyrene | 494 pop. | 222 | Italians nearly 45% |
| Bardia | 5,491 pop. | 216 | Italians nearly 4%; it was even called "Porto Bardia" |
| Derna | 16,609 pop. | 3,250 | Italians 20% |
| Tobruk | 11,284 pop. | 1,756 | Italians nearly 16% |
| Giarabub | 215 pop. | - | oasis with military garrison |
| Apollonia | 3,313 pop. | 449 | Italians 14% |
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