Italian Somalis Italian : Italo-somali are Somali -born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Somalia during the Italian diaspora , or Italian-born people in Somalia. Most of the Italians moved to Somalia during the Italian colonial period. The area was at the time under the joint control of the Somali Geledi Sultanate who, also holding sway over the Shebelle region in the interior, was at the height of its power and the Omani Sultan of Zanzibar.
From the outset, the Italians signed protectorate agreements with the local Somali authorities. The dawn of Fascism in the early s heralded a change of strategy for Italy. Italy hitherto had access to these areas under various protection treaties, but not direct rule. In the early s, 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 as well as agricultural areas around the capital, such as Genale and the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi.
In the Corriere della Somalia , the first newspaper of the colony, began publication. It was initially written in Italian. In , 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 , km2 to , km2 with the addition of the Ogaden and so creating the Somalia Governorate.
From to , new roads such as the "Imperial Road" from Mogadishu to Addis Ababa were constructed in the region, as were new schools, hospitals, ports and bridges. During the first half of , there were about 50, 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 second half of , Italian troops invaded British Somaliland [ 12 ] and ejected the British. In the spring of , Britain regained control of British Somaliland and conquered Italian Somaliland with the Ogaden [ 13 ] after some months of bloody fighting in all Italian East Africa.
