Italian Libya

Libya
Libia (Italian)
ليبيا (Arabic)
Lībyā
1934–1943
Motto: Per l'onore d'Italia
"For the honour of Italy"
Anthem: Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza
"Royal March of Ordinance"
Marcia Reale
Italian Libya in 1941:
  Libya
  Italian-controlled territory
  Kingdom of Italy
StatusColony of Italy[1]
CapitalTripoli
Common languagesItalian, Arabic (official)
Libyan Arabic, Berber languages, Domari
Religion
Islam, Coptic Orthodoxy, Judaism, Catholicism
GovernmentColonial administration
Monarch 
• 1934–1943
Victor Emmanuel III
Governor-General 
• 1934–1940
Italo Balbo
• 1940–1941
Rodolfo Graziani
• 1941
Italo Gariboldi
• 1941–1943
Ettore Bastico
• 1943 (acting)
Giovanni Messe
History 
• Unification of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica
1 January 1934
9 January 1939
13 May 1943
10 February 1947[a]
Area
1939[2]1,759,541 km2 (679,363 sq mi)
Population
• 1939[2]
893,774
CurrencyItalian lira
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Italian Tripolitania
Italian Cyrenaica
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
French Equatorial Africa
British Military
Administration
French Military
Administration
Today part ofLibya
Chad
Niger

Libya (Italian: Libia; Arabic: ليبيا الايطالية, romanized: Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, which had been Italian possessions since 1911.[3]

From 1911 until the establishment of a unified colony in 1934, the territory of the two colonies was sometimes referred to as "Italian Libya" or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI). Both names were also used after the unification, with Italian Libya becoming the official name of the newly combined colony. It had a population of around 150,000 Italians.[3]

The Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were taken by Italy from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, and run by Italian governors. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Senussi Order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya, mainly in Cyrenaica.[4] The rebellion was put down by Italian forces in 1932, after the pacification campaign, which resulted in the deaths of a quarter of Cyrenaica's population.[5] In 1934, the colonies were unified by governor Italo Balbo, with Tripoli as the capital.[6]

During World War II, Italian Libya became the setting for the North African Campaign. Although the Italians were defeated there by the Allies in 1943, many of the Italian settlers still remained in Libya. Libya was administered by the United Kingdom and France until its independence in 1951, though Italy did not officially relinquish its claim until the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty.[7]

  1. ^ "History of Libya". HistoryWorld.
  2. ^ 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: 269. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Libya - History, People, & Government". Britannica.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. ^ “Italian Hopes in Africa,” The Times of London, November 12 1923.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mann, 309 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "International Boundary Study No. 3 (Revised) – December 15, 1978 Chad – Libya Boundary" (PDF). The Geographer Office of the Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26.
  7. ^ Robert Hartley. "Recent population changes in Libya: economic relationships and geographical patterns". Durham University, 1968 ([1])


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