Italian Cyrenaica - History

History

Italian Cyrenaica was formed in 1927, after it and Italian Tripolitania became independent colonial entities within Italian North Africa. In 1934, Italian Cyrenaica became part of Italian Libya.

In the 1920s, Cyrenaica was the scene of fighting between Italian colonial forces and Libyan rebels who were fighting for independence from colonial rule. In 1931, the rebel independence leader Omar Mukhtar was captured and executed.

Cyrenaica was populated by more than 20,000 Italian colonists in the late 1930s, mainly around the coast. As a consequence there was a large economic development effort in the second half of the 1930s. Italy did massive investment in the infrastructure of Libya but the purpose was to develop the economy for the benefit of Italy.

The Italian aim was to drive the local population to the marginal land in the interior and to resettle the Italian population in the most fertile lands of Libya. The Italians did not provide the Libyans with adequate education, the Italian population (about 10% of the total population) had 81 elementary schools in 1939-1940, while the Libyans (more than 85% of total population) had 97.

In Cirenaica were founded -for the Italian colonists- the rural villages of Baracca, Maddalena, Oberdan, D’Annunzio and Battisti in 1938, successively Mameli and Filzi in 1939. For Libyan families (who contributed with many soldiers enrolled in the two Italian-Libyan Divisions: 1st Libyan Division Sibelle and 2 Libyan Division Pescatori) were created in Cyrenaica the villages of Gedida-Nuova, Nahida-Risorta, Zahra- Fiorita and el-Fager-Alba.