Italian Empire

This article is about the modern Italian colonial empire. For other uses, see Imperial Italy (disambiguation).
"New Roman Empire" redirects here. For other uses, see New Rome (disambiguation).
For the ancient Roman Empire, see Roman Empire.
Italian Empire
Impero italiano (Italian)
1882–1960
Italian colonies and protectorates in 1939
Italian colonies and protectorates in 1939
StatusColonial empire
King 
• 1869–1878
Victor Emmanuel II
• 1878–1900
Umberto I
• 1900–1946
Victor Emmanuel III
• 1946
Umberto II
History 
1869
1882
1887–1889
1889
1899–1901
1911–1912
1917–1920
1923–1932
1935–1937
1939–1943
1940–1941
1940–1943
1947
1950–1960
Area
• Total
3,775,294 km2 (1,457,649 sq mi)
1938[1]3,798,000 km2 (1,466,000 sq mi)
1941[2]3,824,879 km2 (1,476,794 sq mi)
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The Italian colonial empire (Italian: Impero coloniale italiano), 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, concessions and dependencies of the Kingdom of Italy. In Africa, the colonial empire included the territories of present-day Libya, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia (the last three being officially named "Africa Orientale Italiana", AOI); outside Africa, Italy possessed the Dodecanese Islands (following the Italo-Turkish War), Albania (1917–1920 and 1939–1943)[3] and also had some concessions in China.

The Fascist government that came to power under the leadership of the dictator Benito Mussolini after 1922 sought to increase the size of the Italian empire and it also sought to satisfy the claims of Italian irredentists. Systematic "demographic colonization" was encouraged by the government,[4] and by 1939, Italian settlers numbered 120,000[5]–150,000[6] in Italian Libya and 165,000[5] in Italian East Africa.

During World War II, Italy allied itself with Nazi Germany in 1940 and it also occupied British Somaliland, western Egypt, much of Yugoslavia, Tunisia, parts of south-eastern France and most of Greece; however, it then lost those conquests and its African colonies to the invading Allied forces by 1943. In 1947, Italy officially relinquished claims on its former colonies. In 1950, former Italian Somaliland, then under British administration, was turned into the Trust Territory of Somaliland until it became independent in 1960.

  1. ^ Harrison, Mark (2000). The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison. Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780521785037. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. ^ Soldaten-Atlas (Tornisterschrift des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, Heft 39). Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut. 1941. p. 32.
  3. ^ Nigel Thomas. Armies in the Balkans 1914–18. Osprey Publishing, 2001, p. 17.
  4. ^ Chapin Metz, Helen, ed., Libya: A Country Study. Chapter XIX.
  5. ^ a b Istat (December 2010). "I censimenti nell'Italia unita I censimenti nell'Italia unita Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI STATISTICA SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI DEMOGRAFIA STORICA Le fonti di stato della popolazione tra il XIX e il XXI secolo" (PDF). Annali di Statistica. XII. 2: 263. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Libya - History, People, & Government". Britannica.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.