Genale is a town founded by Italian colonists in the southeastern Lower Shebelle (Shabeellaha Hoose) region of Italian Somalia. [1] Currently it is called Janaale. [2]
Genale is a town founded by Italian colonists in the southeastern Lower Shebelle (Shabeellaha Hoose) region of Italian Somalia. [1] Currently it is called Janaale. [2]
Genale was created in 1924 by a group of settlers from the Italian city of Torino, with the supervision of the Italian governor of the colony. Near the Genale of the colonists and separated by the Shebelle river, soon grew a bigger city populated by Somalis (working as cheap labor force in the plantations): the actual Janaale. After WW2 remained only Janaale, while Genale disappeared when the defeated Italians moved away from Somalia.
In 1924 indeed it was started the Italian colonization of the area of Genale, in southern Somalia, forming a group of small and medium-sized farms. Most settlers consisted of old fascist militants of Turin who had followed in this Italian colony the new governor of Somalia, Cesare Maria De Vecchi. The first informal association between farmers, however, arose only in 1928. [3] The main crop of the area was cotton and was done by small farms owned by those Italian settlers: about one hundred with an area varying between 75 and 600 hectares (with an average that oscillated about 200) with a total area of about 20,000 hectares. At least until 1931 the cotton was the main crop, later replaced by the banana production, [4] whose harvest was sold to the Italian State, that did the marketing in Italy as a monopoly.
During the Italian colonial period Genale was the center of a vast area of agricultural concessions of 20,000 hectares for the cultivation of banana, cotton and other subsidiaries. The bananas were marketed by the Royal Banana Monopoly (abbreviated RAMB) that had, in fact, a monopoly of the export to Italy granted in order to safeguard banana production in Somalia on the Italian market. Consequently, until the 1950s all the bananas consumed in Italy came from the area of Genale. [5]
The cultivation was made possible by a large dam [6] in the river Shebelle, and by a vast network of canals built between 1924 and 1926. Given the importance of the area it was created, from the administrative point of view, the Vicecommissariato di Genale with "Vittorio di Africa" as capital (currently "Scialambod"), where industrial activities were focused also for the processing of agricultural products.
It is noteworthy to pinpoint that in 1939 Italian Somalia nearly all the development was concentrated in the triangle "Genale-Villabruzzi-Mogadiscio".
Indeed the Italians -settling in huge numbers after WW1- italianised the capital Mogadiscio (that in 1940 was called the "White Pearl of Indian Ocean" and was practically a fully Italianised city with over 40% of inhabitants being Italians or descendants of italians) and the 3 main cities in the Shebelle river farm area (Villabruzzi with 3000 colonists, Genale with 700 and Vittorio with 400). But little communities of Italian colonists existed also in the Benadir cities of Merca (250 Italians), Brava (150), Chisimaio (120), Baidora (300) and Itala (50), where they lived in small areas that were the only fully modern & developed sections of these little cities.
The center of Genale is a few kilometers inland from the city of Merca which is its port (being Janaale landlocked). During the period dell'A.F.I.S. (Trust Territory of Somalia) in the years 1950-60, the "Consortium of farmer-dealers" was reinforced, but in the late 1970s started to lose importance and in the 1990s disappeared.
The late Aden Abdullah Osman Daar (Adan Cadde), Somalia's first president, had a farm in the town. [7]
In the Italian Genale there were in 1940 nearly 500 Italian Somalis, but after WWII nearly all of them moved away and since the 1980s no one has remained. The city actually has 8000 inhabitants (of whom nearly one thousand are descendants from Italians and Somalian girls) and is predominantly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Dir Biimaal Clanwell-represented.
The Jubba River or Juba River is a river in southern Somalia which flows through the autonomous region of Jubaland. It begins at the border with Ethiopia, where the Dawa and Ganale Dorya rivers meet, and flows directly south to the Somali Sea, where it empties at the Goobweyn juncture. The Jubba basin covers an area of 749,000 km2 (289,000 sq mi). The Somali regional state of Jubaland, formerly called Trans-Juba, is named after the river.
Italian Somalia, was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Sultanates of Hobyo and Majeerteen in the north, and the Hiraab Imamate and Geledi Sultanate and the Biimaal Sultanate leading a resistance against the colonials in southern Somalia for decades. The territory was acquired in the 1880s by Italy through various treaties.
The Shebelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal. During most years, the river dries up near the mouth of the Jubba River, while in seasons of heavy rainfall, the river actually reaches the Jubba and thus the Somali Sea.
Merca is a historic port city in the southern Lower Shebelle province of Somalia. It is located approximately 109 km (68 mi) to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal clan and was the center of the Bimal Revolt or Merka Revolt.
The Catholic Church in Somalia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Economic history of Somalia is related to the development of Somalia's economy in the last two centuries.
Italian Somalis are Somali descendants from Italian colonists, as well as long-term Italian residents in Somalia.
The Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi Railway is an historical railway system that ran through southern Somalia. It was constructed between 1914 and 1927 by the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland. The railway connected the capital city Mogadishu with Afgooye, and subsequently with Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi - usually called "Villabruzzi". The line was later dismantled by British troops during World War II. Plans for re-establishing the railway were made in the 1980s by the Siad Barre administration, but were aborted after the regime's collapse.
Railway transport in Somalia consisted of the erstwhile Mogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway and secondary tracks. The system was built during the 1910s by the authorities in Italian Somaliland. Its track gauge was 950 mm, a gauge favoured by the Italians in their colonies in the Horn of Africa and North Africa. The railway was dismantled in the 1940s by the British during their military occupation of Italian Somaliland, and was subsequently never rehabilitated.
Mogadishu Cathedral is a ruined Roman Catholic cathedral located in Mogadishu, Somalia. Between 1928 and 1991, it served as the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mogadiscio. Built in 1928 by Italian colonial authorities, much of the building was destroyed in 2008 by al-Shabaab. In 2013, the diocese announced plans to refurbish the building.
Janale is a town in the southeastern Lower Shebelle region of Somalia.
The Railway Stations in Somaliland were served by the Mogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway of 114 km.
The Port of Merca, also known as Merca Port, is the official seaport of Merca, situated in southeastern Somalia. It is classified as a jetty class port. It has a harbour as well as a pier which juts into the Somali Sea.
Ganale Doria is a dam located near Genale on the river Shabelle. It was built in the south of Somalia in the 1920s along with an extensive network of canals. The dam was strongly promoted by Cesare Maria De Vecchi - Italian governor of Italian Somalia from 1924 to 1928 - in order to provide water for irrigation of a vast territory between Genale, Merca and Vittorio di Africa, to be given in concession to colonists.
Guido Corni was a colonial governor of Italian Somaliland.
The Mogadiscio Circuit was formerly a car race through the main streets of Mogadiscio, Italian Somaliland, being first run in 1938.
The Italian colonial railways started with the opening in 1888 of a short section of line in Italian Eritrea, and ended in 1943 with the loss of Italian Libya after the Allied offensive in North Africa and the destruction of the railways around Italian Tripoli. The colonial railways of the Kingdom of Italy reached 1,561 kilometres (970 mi) before WWII.
Vittorio di Africa was a small town in southern Italian Somalia, created by Italian colonists in the late 1920s near the southern Shebelle river.
Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi was a village that was founded as an agricultural settlement in Italian Somalia.
