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Italian Somalis

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Italian Somalians ItalySomalia
Postcard of Downtown Mogadishu in 1936. At the center the Catholic Cathedral, similar to that of Cefalu in Sicily and now destroyed. Near the Cathedral, the Arch monument to the King of Italy Umberto I.
Regions with significant populations
Mogadishu
Languages
Italian
Religion
Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Italians

Italian Somalians or Italo Somalians are Somali descendants from Italian colonists, as well as Italian long-term residents in Somalia.

History

In 1892, the Italian explorer Robecchi Bricchetti for the first time labeled as Somalia the region in the Horn of Africa then under the control of the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar (a region referred to as Benadir). 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 Somalia.

From the outset, the Italian authorities created a colonial administration (supported even by some Italian colonists) and reached agreements with the local Somali clans. 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.[2]

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 Great Britain and added to Italian Somalia.

In 1923, the fascist governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi started to assume control of the Somali lands after the progressive defeats of the then-ruling Somali Sultanates of Obbia and Migiurtinia. In 1926, after a bloody repression, southern Somalia was pacified and started to enjoy a period of economic development. The Somali colonial troops called Dubats (and the gendarmerie Zaptié) were extensively used by De Vecchi in this military campaign.

Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, founder of the main agricultural colony in Italian Somalia.

In the early 1930s, the new Italian governors, Guido Corni and Maurizio Rava, started a policy toward a friendly assimilation of the Somalis and their clans. Many Somalis were enrolled in the Italian colonial troops. Some thousands Italian colonists moved to live in Mogadishu, that become a commercial centre with some small manifacturing companies, and in some agricultural areas around the capital (like Villaggio duca degli Abruzzi).[3]

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 (like the one called "Imperial Road", from Mogasdishu to Addis Abeba) were constructed in the region, as well as new railways (114 km from Mogadishu to Jowhar) and many schools, hospitals, ports, bridges, etc.

In the first half of 1940, there were 22,000 Italians living in Somalia and the colony was one of the most developed in Africa in terms of the standard of living of the colonists and of the Somalis, mainly in the urban areas. During the same year, Franco Filippini, The Bishop of Mogadishu, declared that there were about 40,000 Somali Catholics due to the work of missionaries in the rural regions of Juba and Shebelle."[4]

In the second half of 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland[5] and ejected the British.[6] Italians even occupied the Kenian areas bordering the Jubaland around the villages of Moyale and Buna.[7] However, Britain retained control of Kenya, which included the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District[8][9][10].

In August 1940 Mussolini boasted to a group of Somalis in Rome that with the conquest of British Somalia (that he annexed to Italian Somalia) nearly all the Somali people were united, fulfilling their dream of a union of all Somalis (Greater Somalia)[11].

In the spring of 1941, Britain regained control of British Somaliland, and conquered Italian Somaliland with the Ogaden.[6] 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 Somalians on the other, the latter of whom wanted to preserve Italian rule after the end of World War II.

After WWII

In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy.[6]

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 Somalians killed in these riots[13], was the start of the process of reduction and disappearance of the Italian community in Somalia.

Italian patrolled area (with Italian flag) of Somalia under ONU mandate in 1992 and 1993

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 (HDMS) (which later became Hizbia Dastur Mustaqbal Somali 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)[1] under the mandate of the United Nations, and patrolled for nearly two years the central area of Somalia around the Shebelle river.[17]

By the early nineties, there were just a few dozen Italian colonists left, all old aged and still concentrated in Mogadishu and its surroundings.

Italian population in Somalia

The first Italians moved to Somalia at the end of the ninteenth 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. Only during the Fascism was promoted the emigration of entire families, mainly in the agricultural developments of the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi, near the Shebelle river [18]. 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 potentials of central Italian Somalia and create a colony for Italian farmers.

The area of Genale in southern Somalia (near the Juba river) was another place where Italian colonists from Torino 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.

File:Italian East Africa Map.jpg
After the conquest of Ethiopia in 1936, Italian Somalia was expanded by the Italian government with the annexation of the Ogaden region.

Italian Somalians were concentrated in the cities of Mogadishu, Merca, Baidoa, Chisimaio and the agricultural areas of the rivers Juba and Shebelle (Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi).

After World War II, the number of the 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. 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.

Of the latter, one of the most famous Italian casualties was the former Bishop of Mogadishu, Salvatore Colombo, murdered in 1989[19] (in 2006 was murdered even an Italian nun, Leonella Sgorbati).

The Italian ambassador considered the practice of frequenting concubines to be a serious problem during the colonial period. According to him, by the nineties, this practice had given rise to around 50,000 Somalis with at least one Italian grandfather or great grandfather.[1]

Italian language in Somalia

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. The Italian was official in Somalia 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 the university, which was renamed Jaamacada Ummadda Soomaliyeed (the National University of Somalia, or NUS).

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, the already widespread existence of machines and typewriters designed for its use[20] and -according to Italian author Paolo Tripodi- the influence of the Italian Somalians in Mogadishu[21], the government of Somali president Siad Barre unilaterally elected to only use the Latin script for writing the Somali language instead of the long-established Arabic script and the upstart Osmanya script.

File:Mogadiscio39bancaitalia.png
The "Banca d'Italia" Building in downtown Mogadiscio in 1939

Until 1991, there was an Italian school in Mogadishu (with courses of Middle school and Liceum), later destroyed because of the civil war. [2]

See also

Famous Italian Somalians

References

  1. ^ a b Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. p. 38
  2. ^ Laitin, David. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience Section: Italian Influence. p. 73
  3. ^ Bevilacqua, Piero. Storia dell'emigrazione italiana. p. 233
  4. ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. p. 66
  5. ^ http://books.google.it/books?id=_PwCu_D-HiUC&pg=PT1&lpg=PT1&dq=Mussolini+unleashed+1939-1941&source=web&ots=bmUFdHvwt3&sig=jC3JifKMffvOg6Ss83em2gWtQm4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA154,M1
  6. ^ a b c Federal Research Division, Somalia: A Country Study, (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2004), p.38
  7. ^ http://www.lasecondaguerramondiale.it/africa_orie_2.html The first map shows the Italian occupied areas around Moyale/Buna
  8. ^ Africa Watch Committee, Kenya: Taking Liberties, (Yale University Press: 1991), p.269
  9. ^ Women's Rights Project, The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights, (Yale University Press: 1995), p.121
  10. ^ Francis Vallat, First report on succession of states in respect of treaties: International Law Commission twenty-sixth session 6 May-26 July 1974, (United Nations: 1974), p.20
  11. ^ Antonicelli, Franco. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945. p. 47
  12. ^ Melvin Eugene Page, Penny M. Sonnenburg, Colonialism, (ABC-CLIO: 2003), p.544
  13. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA544&vq=somalia&dq=italians+in+somalia&output=html&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0/
  14. ^ Zolberg, Aristide R., et al., Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, (Oxford University Press: 1992), p.106
  15. ^ Gates, Henry Louis, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.1749
  16. ^ http://www.somalianonsolo.it/immagini2/MyWeb.htm Photos of social life of Italian Somalians during the Fifties and Sixties
  17. ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia p. 88
  18. ^ http://www.ilcornodafrica.it/rds-01emigrazione.pdf Essay on Italian emigration to Somalia (in Italian)
  19. ^ http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=23554
  20. ^ Andrew Simpson, Language and National Identity in Africa, (Oxford University Press: 2008), p.288
  21. ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. p. 94
  22. ^ http://www.worldmusic.net/wmn/news/item/saba Saba Anglana

Bibliography

  • Antonicelli, Franco. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945. Mondadori Editore. Torino, 1961.
  • Bevilacqua, Piero. Storia dell'emigrazione italiana. Donzelli Editore. Roma, 2002 ISBN 8879896555
  • Hess, Robert L. Italian Colonialism in Somalia. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1966.
  • Laitin, David. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1977 ISBN 0226467910
  • MacGregor, Knox. Mussolini unleashed 1939-1941. Cambridge Universit Press. Cambridge, 1980.
  • Mohamed Issa-Salwe,Abdisalam. The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. Haan Associates Publishers. London, 1996.
  • Page, Melvin E. Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO Ed. Oxford, 2003 ISBN 1-57607-335-1
  • Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. St. Martin's Press. New York, 1999.

External links

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