The Royal Banana Monopoly (, RAMB) was a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

founded in

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 ...

in 1935, to transport and market bananas harvested in

Italian Somalia 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 an ...

throughout the rest of the

Italian Empire The Italian colonial empire (), also known as the Italian Empire (''Impero italiano'') between 1936 and 1941, was founded in Africa in the 19th century. It comprised the colonies, protectorates, concession (territory), concessions and depende ...

, directly under the control of the Colonial Ministry. Even if the last transport of bananas to Italy happened in early 1940, it survived the first years of

WW2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

– and officially lasted until 1946.

History

When the price of cotton plummeted after 1929, bananas became the most profitable crop in the empire. The RAMB had a small fleet of seven ships, including four newly commissioned

banana boats A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them f ...

which transported bananas quickly from 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), ...

to Europe. The RAMB worked directly with Italian banana producers in Giuba and

Genale Genale was a town founded by Italian colonists in the southeastern Lower Shabelle region of Italian Somaliland. It is now called Janale. History Genale was created in 1924 by a group of Italian settlers from the Italian city of Torino, with the ...

, who were represented by the Federation of Banana Growers of Somalia (FEBAS). In 1939, 450000 tn of bananas were transported to Italy by the four RAMB ships ("

Ramb I The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946), Italian ship ''Ramb I'' was a Interwar period, pre-war "banana boat (ship), banana boat" converted to an auxiliary cruiser in World War II. ''Ramb I'' operated as an armed merchant in the Red Sea and was ordered ...

, "

Ramb II The Italian auxiliary cruiser ''Ramb II'' was a pre-war banana boat built at Monfalcone by the CRDA in 1937. She briefly served as an auxiliary cruiser with early in World War II before becoming an auxiliary transport with the Imperial Japanes ...

", "

Ramb III The Italian auxiliary cruiser ''Ramb III'' was built at Genoa by Ansaldo in 1938. ''Ramb III'' was the third of four sister reefer ships all built to the same design. The other ships were the , the , and the . The four ships were built for the ...

","

Ramb IV Ramb IV was an Italian hospital ship, built at Monfalcone by the United Yards of the Adriatic (''Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico'', CRDA) in 1938. ''Ramb IV'' was the last of four sister ships all built to the same design. The other ships wer ...

") and 3 other cargo ships (the "Capitan Cecchi", the "Capitan Bottego" and the "Duca degli Abruzzi"). Following Italy's entry into

World War II 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 ...

, the banana boats were reclassified for naval use and saw service off the coast of Africa and in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. Of its seven ships, only

survived the war and was converted to a personal yacht for

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

, president of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. After Italy regained administrative control of Somalia in 1950, the government reactivated the Banana Monopoly as the ''Azienda Monopolio Banana'' (AMB) with the intent of revitalizing the heavily damaged agricultural industry. The AMB continued to regulate the price and marketing of bananas in Somalia until its dissolution in 1964, four years after the country gained independence.

Fleet

References

Bibliography

* ''Guida dell'Africa Orientale'', C.T.I., Milano 1938. * Calendario Atlante De Agostini, Novara 1960. * ''Banane Fasciste: breve storia della banana italica ai tempi dell'autarchia'', Sergio Salvi, Affinità Elettive ed., Ancona 2018. {{Authority control Italian Somaliland Banana production Government-owned companies of Italy Italian companies established in 1935 Agriculture companies of Italy 1935 establishments in Italian Somaliland Defunct companies of Somalia Companies based in Mogadishu