Vittorio di Africa (originally called "Vittorio d'Affrica" or simply "Vittorio" [1] ) was a small town in southern Italian Somalia, created by Italian colonists in the late 1920s near the southern Shebelle river. [2]
Vittorio di Africa (originally called "Vittorio d'Affrica" or simply "Vittorio" [1] ) was a small town in southern Italian Somalia, created by Italian colonists in the late 1920s near the southern Shebelle river. [2]
The Genale dam on the river Shebelle, together with an extensive network of canals, was built in the south of Somalia in the late 1920s. It 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 of 20000 hectares between Genale, Merca and Vittorio d'Africa, to be given in concession to Italian colonists. [3]
One hundred of those colonists created in the south of the Genale concessions (called in Italian Concessioni agricole) a small city named "Vittorio d'Africa", that had a population of nearly 1200 inhabitants in 1940. It was located 11 km from Merca. The city was linked to the Port of Merca by a decauville railway, used to transport the huge production of bananas of the farms around Vittorio d'Africa.
Vittorio d'Africa was founded on March 5, 1928 by prince Umberto di Savoia (that in 1946 was the last King of Italy) [4] on a hill at 70 meters of altitude and nearly 15 km from the Port of Merca. It had a small hospital and buildings for processing local food products.
During the Italian colonial period Genale and Vittorio di Africa were the center of a vast area of agricultural concessions for the cultivation of banana, cotton and other subsidiaries. [5] The bananas were the main product and 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 and Vittorio. [6]
The cultivation was made possible by a large dam [7] 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 D'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/Vittorio - Villabruzzi - Mogadiscio". The center of Vittorio di Africa was a few kilometers inland from the city of Merca which is its Port of Merca. During the period dell'A.F.I.S. (Trust Territory of Somalia) in the years 1950-60, the local "Consortium of farmer-dealers" in the area 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.[6]
During WW2 in Vittorio d'Africa was done by the Italians the last battle against the British army before the Allied attacked Mogadiscio in 1941: because of this fight the small city suffered heavy damages. After the war all the Italians moved away and the farm production dwindled, reducing the city to a kind of ghost town. Actually is growing in the area of the disappeared Vittorio d'Africa a small village of Somalis, called Shalam boot.
Banaadir is an administrative region (gobol) in southeastern Somalia. It covers the same area as the city of Mogadishu, which serves as the capital. It is bordered to the northwest by the Shabelle river, and to the southeast by the Indian Ocean. Although by far the smallest administrative region in Somalia, it has the largest population, estimated at 1,650,227 in 2014.
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 Somaliland, was a 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 in the south, 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 an ancient 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 12 Koofi and 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.
Christianity is a minority religion in Muslim-majority Somalia, with an estimated 1,000 practitioners in a population of over 10 million inhabitants. Most Christian adherents come from the Bantu ethnic minority group, or are descended from Italian colonists and belong to the Evangelical and Wesleyan Church of the Nazarene. There is one Catholic diocese for the entire country, the Diocese of Mogadishu.
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.
Somalia Governorate was one of the six governorates of Italian East Africa. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Italian Somalia, enlarged by the Ogaden region of the conquered Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
Janale is a town in the southeastern Lower Shebelle region of Somalia.
The Governor's Palace was the seat of the governor of Italian Somaliland, and then the administrator of the Trust Territory of Somaliland. It was built during the colonial period in the capital city of Mogadishu, situated in present-day southern Somalia. Used as municipality building of Mogadishu, it is one of the most popular government offices in Somalia. It was the first place where the Somali flag waved.
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.
Mogadishu under Italian control was the capital of Italian Somalia during the nearly eighty years of Italy's colonial rule in Somalia. In those years the city grew from a medieval village of a few thousand inhabitants in the late 19th century to a modern capital with a population of nearly 150,000 "mogadiscians", nicknamed "the pearl of the Indian ocean" in 1960.
The Mogadiscio Circuit was formerly a car race through the main streets of Mogadiscio, Italian Somaliland, being first run in 1938.
Genale is a town founded by Italian colonists in the southeastern Lower Shebelle region of Italian Somalia. Currently it is called Janaale.
