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Italian Somalis () are Somali-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were
Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...
who emigrated to Somalia during the
Italian diaspora The Italian diaspora (, ) is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended ...
, or Italian-born people in Somalia. Most of the Italians moved to Somalia during the Italian colonial period.


History

In 1892, the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti for the first time labeled as ''Somalia'' the region in the
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
referred to as '' Benadir''. The area was at the time under the control of the Somali Geledi Sultanate.


Italian Somaliland

In April 1905, the Italian government acquired control (from a private Italian company called ''SACI'') of this coastal area around
Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
, and created the colony of
Italian Somaliland Italian Somaliland (; ; ) was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia, which was ruled in the 19th century by the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate in the north, and by the Hiraab Imamate and ...
. From the outset, the Italians signed
protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...
agreements with the local Somali authorities.Mariam Arif Gassem, ''Somalia: clan vs. nation'', (s.n.: 2002), p.4 In doing this, the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...
was spared bloody rebellions like those launched by the Dervish king Diiriye Guure and their emir 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 British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...
. In 1908, the borders with
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
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 Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
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
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
es 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 Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
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 Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
. Following its establishment, Crowned Prince Umberto II made his first publicized visit to Mogadishu. In 1929 the '' Corriere della Somalia'', the first newspaper of the colony, began publication. It was initially written in Italian. Crowned Prince Umberto I would make his second publicized visit to Italian Somaliland in October 1934. In 1936, Italy then integrated
Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
, 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 Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
were constructed in the region, as were new schools, hospitals, ports and bridges. New railways were also built, such as the 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), and 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 British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...
and ejected the British. The Italians also occupied areas bordering
Jubaland Jubaland (; ; ), or the Juba Valley (), is a States and regions of Somalia, Federal Member State in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies no more than east of the Jubba River, stretching from Dolow to the Indian Ocean, while its western si ...
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 British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...
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.


After World War II

During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Britain occupied Italian Somaliland and militarily administered the territory as well as British Somaliland. Faced with growing Italian political pressure inimical to continued British tenure and Somali aspirations for independence, the Somalis and the British came to see each other as allies. The first modern Somali political party, the Somali Youth Club (SYC), was subsequently established in Mogadishu in 1943; it was later renamed the Somali Youth League (SYL).I. M. Lewis, ''A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa'', (LIT Verlag Münster: 1999), p. 304. In 1945, the Potsdam conference was held, where it was decided not to return Italian Somaliland to Italy.Federal Research Division, ''Somalia: A Country Study'', (Kessinger Publishing, LLC: 2004), p.38 and that the territory would be under British Military Administration (BMA). 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 the Italian colonial administration culminated in violent confrontation in 1948. 24 Somalis and 51 Italians died in the ensuing political riots in several coastal towns. 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.Zolberg, Aristide R., et al., ''Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World'', (Oxford University Press: 1992), p.106Gates, Henry Louis, ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'', (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.1749 Despite the initial unrest, the 1950s were something of a golden age for the nearly 40,000 remaining Italian people in Italian Somaliland. With United Nations funds pouring in and experienced Italian administrators who had come to see the territory as their home, infrastructural and educational development blossomed. Relations between the Italian settlers and the Somalis were also generally good. This decade passed relatively without incident and was marked by positive growth in many sectors of local life. The economy was controlled by the
Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian language, Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', , informally referred to as ''Bankitalia'') is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Italy within the Eurosystem. It was the Italian central bank from ...
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 Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
. In 1992, after the fall of the
Siad Barre Mohammed Siad Barre (, Osmanya script: , ''Muhammad Ziād Barīy''; 6 October 1919 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 Janu ...
administration, Italian troops returned to Somalia to help restore peace during
Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF), also known as Operation Restore Hope, was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational military force deployed to Somalia from 5 December 1992 to 4 May 1993. It was established to replace United ...
(UNISOM I & II). Operating under a United Nations mandate, they patrolled for nearly two years the southern riverine area around the Shebelle River. By the early nineties, there were just a few dozen Italian colonists left. All were elderly and still concentrated in Mogadishu and its surroundings. The last Italian colonist, Virginio Bresolin, died in Merka in early 2010.


Italian population in Somalia

The first Italians moved to Somalia at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1923, there were fewer than a thousand Italians in Italian Somaliland. However, it was not until after World War I that this number rose, with the settlers primarily concentrated in the towns of Mogadishu, Kismayo, Brava, and other cites in the south-central Benadir region. The colonial period emigration to Italian Somaliland initially mainly consisted of men. Emigration of entire families was only later promoted during the Fascist period, mainly in the agricultural developments of the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi ( Jowhar), near the Shebelle River. 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 Somaliland and create a colony for Italian farmers. The area of Janale in southern Somalia (near the Jubba River) was another place where Italian colonists from
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
developed a group of farms. Under governor De Vecchi, these agricultural areas cultivated cotton, and after 1931, also produced large quantities of banana exports. In 1935, there were over 50,000 Italians living in Italian Somaliland. Of those, 20,000 resided in Mogadishu (called '' Mogadiscio'' in Italian), representing around 40% of the city's 50,000 residents. Other Italian settler communities were concentrated in the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi, Adale (''Itala'' in Italian), Janale, Jamame, and Kismayo. The same year, during the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Fascist Italy, Italy against Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is oft ...
, there were more than 220,000 Italian soldiers stationed in Italian Somaliland. By March 1940, over 30,000 Italians lived in Mogadishu, representing around 33% of the city's total 90,000 residents. They frequented local Italian schools that the colonial authorities had opened, such as the Liceum. Italian Somalis were concentrated in the cities of Mogadishu, Merca, Baidoa, Kismayo and the agricultural areas of the riverine Jubba and Shebelle valleys (around Jowhar/Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi). After World War II, the number of Italians in Somali territory started to decrease vastly. By 1960 and the establishment of the Somali Republic, their numbers had dwindled to less than 10,000. Most Italian settlers returned to Italy, while others settled in the United States, United Kingdom, Finland and Australia. In 1972, there were 1,575 Italians remaining in Somalia, down from 1,962 in 1970. This decline was largely due to the nationalization policy adopted by the
Siad Barre Mohammed Siad Barre (, Osmanya script: , ''Muhammad Ziād Barīy''; 6 October 1919 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 Janu ...
administration. By 1989, there were only 1,000 of the settlers left, with fewer after the start of the
civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
and the fall of the Barre regime in 1991. Many Italian Somalis had by then departed for other countries. With the disappearance of Italians from Somalia, the number of
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
adherents dropped from a record high of 8,500 parishioners in 1950 (0.7% of Mogadishu's population) to just 100 individuals in 2004. ''The Italian Somali population in Somalia, from 1914 to 1989. It was concentrated in the area around the triangle
Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
MercaJowhar (the most developed region in those decades).''


Italian language in Somalia

Prior to the
Somali civil war The Somali Civil War (; ) is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed ...
, the legacy of Italian influence in Somalia was evinced by the relatively wide use of the
Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...
among the country's ruling elite. Until World War II, the Italian language was the only official language of Italian Somaliland (and all newspapers and magazines were only in Italian, like in the Corriere della Somalia). Italian was official in Italian Somaliland during the ''Fiduciary Mandate'', and the first years of independence. By 1952, the majority of Somalis had some understanding of the language. In 1954, the Italian government established 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. By the end of the trust period in 1960, over 200,000 people in the nascent Somali Republic spoke 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). Until 1967, all schools in central and southern Somalia taught Italian. In 1972, the
Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...
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, 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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
script for writing Somali instead of the long-established
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
script and the upstart Osmanya script.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.73 During this period, Italian remained among the languages used in higher education. In 1983, nine out of the twelve faculties in the Somali National University used Italian as the language of instruction. Until 1991, there was also an Italian school in Mogadishu (with courses of Middle school and Liceum), later destroyed because of the civil war. The Somali language also contains a few Italian loanwords that were retained from the colonial period. The most widely used is ''ciao'', meaning ''goodbye''. As part of a broader governmental effort to ensure and safeguard the primacy of the Somali language, the post-independence period in Somalia saw a push toward replacement of such foreign loanwords with their Somali equivalents or neologisms. To this end, the Supreme Revolutionary Council during its tenure officially prohibited the borrowing and usage of Italian and English terms. Alongside English, Italian was declared a second language of Somalia by the Transitional Federal Government in the Transitional Federal Charter adopted in 2004. Somali (Maay and Maxaa-tiri) and Arabic were the official national languages. Following the adoption of the Provisional Constitution in 2012 by the Federal Government of Somalia, Somali and Arabic were retained as sole official languages.According to article 5 o
Provisional Constitution
: ''The official language of the Federal Republic of Somalia is Somali (Maay and Maxaa-tiri), and Arabic is the second language.''


Notable Italian Somalis

* Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, mountaineer and explorer; member of the royal
House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...
* Annalena Tonelli, lawyer and social activist * Cristina Ali Farah, writer and poet * Jonis Bashir, actor and musician * Elisa Kadigia Bove, activist and voice and film actress * Saba Anglana, actress and international singer * Luciano Ceri, singer-songwriter, journalist and radio host * Zahra Bani, athletic champion (
javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...
) * Salvatore Colombo, Bishop of
Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
* Leonella Sgorbati, Catholic nun * Fabio Liverani, football player and football manager *Maria Carbone, actress


See also

* Italian East Africa *
Italian Somaliland Italian Somaliland (; ; ) was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia, which was ruled in the 19th century by the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate in the north, and by the Hiraab Imamate and ...
* Italian Mogadishu * Italian Eritreans * Roman Catholic Diocese of Mogadishu * Italy–Somalia relations


References


Bibliography

*Antonicelli, Franco. ''Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915–1945''. Mondadori Editore. Torino, 1961. *Bevilacqua, Piero. ''Storia dell'emigrazione italiana''. Donzelli Editore. Roma, 2002 *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 *MacGregor, Knox. ''Mussolini unleashed 1939–1941''. Cambridge University 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 *Tripodi, Paolo. ''The Colonial Legacy in Somalia''. St. Martin's Press. New York, 1999.


External links


Interview with Italian Somalis in Italy: Part One (in Italian)Interview with Italian Somalis in Italy: Part Two (in Italian)Reunion of Italian Somalis in Italy (largely in Italian and Somali)Website of Italian Somalis in Italy (in Italian)Blog of Italian Somalis (in Italian)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090413113147/http://www.somalianonsolo.it/introduzione.htm Website of the exiled Italians of Somalia, with photos of the colonial era (in italian)br>Photos of the destroyed Catholic Cathedral of Mogadiscio, similar to a Norman Cathedral in Sicily
{{authority control Ethnic groups in Somalia
Somalis The Somali people (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic languages, East ...
Somalis The Somali people (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic languages, East ...
Italy–Somalia relations