| Postcard of Downtown Mogadishu in 1936. At the centre is the Catholic Cathedral, similar to that of Cefalù in Sicily and now destroyed. Near the Cathedral, the Arch monument is to commemorate King Umberto I of Italy. |
| Regions with significant populations |
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| Mogadishu |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
Italian Somalis or Italo Somalis are Somali descendants from Italian colonists, as well as Italian long-term residents in Somalia.
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In 1892, the Italian explorer Robecchi Bricchetti for the first time labeled as Somalia the region in the Horn of Africa referred to as Benadir, which was then under the joint control of the Somali Geledi Sultanate (who, also holding sway over the Shebelle region in the interior, were at the height of their power) and the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]
In 1908, the borders with Ethiopia in the upper river Uebi-Scebeli were defined, and after World War I, the area of Oltregiuba 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 December 15, 1923, the then-ruling northeastern Somali Sultanates 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.[2] Under its new leadership, Italy mounted successive military campaigns against the Somali Hobyo and Majeerteen Sultanates, 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 Jowhar (Villaggio duca degli Abruzzi).[4]
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.
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 Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi Railway (Italian: Ferrovia Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi).
During the first half of 1940, there were about 22,000 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.[5]
In the second half of 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland[6] and ejected the British.[7] The Italians also occupied areas bordering Jubaland around the villages of Moyale and Buna.[8] However, Britain retained control of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District.[9][10][11]
In the spring of 1941, Britain regained control of British Somaliland, and conquered Italian Somaliland with the Ogaden.[7] From 1941, the British started to administer Somalia, maintaining the Italian bureaucracy.
This led to resentment between Somali nationalists on the one hand, and Italian Somalis on the other, the latter of whom wanted to preserve Italian rule after the end of World War II.
In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy.[7]
As a result of this failure on the part of the Big Four powers to agree on what to do with Italy's former colonies, Somali nationalist rebellion against Italian rule culminated in violent confrontation in 1948, when a number of Italians and Somalis died in rioting in several coastal towns.[12] The direct consequence of the 52 Italian Somalis killed in these riots,[13] was the start of the process of reduction and disappearance of the Italian community in Somalia.
In November 1949, the United Nations finally opted to grant Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland, but only under close supervision and on the condition—first proposed by the Somali Youth League (SYL) and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (later Hizbia Dastur Mustaqbal Somali, or HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL), that were then agitating for independence—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years.[14][15]
Despite the initial SYL's unrests, the 1950s were something of a golden age for the nearly 10,000 remaining Italian expatriates to Somalia. With United Nations aid money pouring in and experienced Italian administrators who had come to see Somalia as their home, infrastructural and educational development blossomed. This decade passed relatively without incident and was marked by positive growth in many sectors of local life.[16]
The economy was controlled by the Bank of Italy through emissions of the Somalo shilling, that was used as money in the Italian administered region from 1950 to 1962.
In 1960, Italian Somaliland declared its independence and united with British Somaliland in the creation of modern Somalia.
In 1992, after the fall of president Siad Barre, Italian troops returned to Somalia to help restore peace during Operation Restore Hope (UNISOM I & II) under the mandate of the United Nations, and patrolled for nearly two years the central area of Somalia around the Shebelle river.[17][18]
By the early nineties, there were just a few dozen Italian colonists left, all old aged and still concentrated in Mogadishu and its surroundings.
The first Italians moved to Somalia at the end of the nineteenth century. However, it wasn't until after World War I that their number increased to about one thousand, a presence that primarily concentrated in the towns of Mogadishu and Merca in the Benadir region of Somalia.
The colonial emigration toward Somalia was limited initially mostly to men alone. The emigration of entire families was promoted only during the Fascist period, mainly in the agricultural developments of the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi, near the Shebelle River.[19] In 1920 the Societa Agricola Italo-Somala (SAIS) was founded by the Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, in order to explore the agricultural potential of central Italian Somalia and create a colony for Italian farmers.
The area of Genale in southern Somalia (near the Jubba River) was another place where Italian colonists from Turin developed a group of farms, under governor De Vecchi, that were successful for cotton and after 1931 for banana exports.
In 1940, there were 22,000 Italians in Somalia, of whom 10,000 in the capital Mogadishu (called Mogadiscio in Italian), for whom the Italian government opened some Italian schools like a Liceum.
Italian Somalis were concentrated in the cities of Mogadishu, Merca, Baidoa, Kismayo and the agricultural areas of the rivers Jubba and Shebelle (Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi).
After World War II, the number of Italians in Somali territory started to decrease and by the time of the Somali republic's independence in 1960, their numbers had dwindled to less than 10,000. Most Italian settlers returned to Italy, while others settled United States, United Kingdom, Finland, and Australia. By 1989, they were only 1,000 in total. Since the Somali civil war and the fall of Somali president Siad Barre's government in 1991, in Somalia remain only a handful of the old colonists. Many Italian Somalis left for United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Middle East.
Of the latter, one of the better known Italian casualties was the former Bishop of Mogadishu, Salvatore Colombo, murdered in 1989.[20] This was followed by the murder of an Italian nun, Leonella Sgorbati, in 2006. With the disappearance of Italians from Somalia, Roman Catholicism was reduced from a record high of 8500 parishioners in 1950 (0.7% of Mogadishu's population) to just 100 individuals in 2004.[21]
Prior to the Somali civil war, the legacy of Italian influence in Somalia was evinced by the relatively wide use of the Italian language among the country's ruling elite. Up until World War II, the Italian language was the only official language of Italian Somaliland. Italian was official in Italian Somaliland during the Fiduciary Mandate, and the first years of independence.
In 1954, the Italian government established the post-secondary institutions of law, economics, and social studies in Mogadishu. These institutions were satellites of the University of Rome, which provided all the instruction material, faculty, and administration.
All the courses were presented in Italian. In 1964, the institutions offered two years of study in Somalia, followed by two years of study in Italy. After a military coup in 1969, all foreign entities were nationalized, including Mogadishu's principal university, which was renamed Jaamacadda Ummadda Soomaliyeed (Somali National University).
In 1972, the Somali language was officially declared the only national language of Somalia, though it now shares that distinction with Arabic. Due to its simplicity, the fact that it lent itself well to writing Somali since it could cope with all the sounds in the language, and the already widespread existence of machines and typewriters designed for its use,[22] the government of Somali president Mohamed Siad Barre, following the recommendation of the Somali Language Committee that was instituted shortly after independence with the purpose of finding a common orthography for the Somali language, unilaterally elected to only use the Latin script for writing Somali instead of the long-established Arabic script and the upstart Osmanya script.[23]
Until 1991, there was an Italian school in Mogadishu (with courses of Middle school and Liceum), later destroyed because of the civil war.[24]
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