Italian colonialism in African countries. An analysis of British and Italian sources.

Italian colonization in the African continent started in 1869, shortly after the creation of the unitary state of Italy, under the government of Federico Menabrea and continued with the following liberal governments and afterwards with the government of the fascist dictatorship until the end of World War Two. Among European colonialism, Italian colonialism is characterized by peculiar features being amid the last European countries to start a colonization program, which influenced the content of the expansionist propaganda and regions where colonialism was addressed. Also, the socio-economic situation of Italy, in comparison with other European colonizer countries, influenced how colonialism was accomplished. The countries in the African continent that were occupied by Italian forces were Eritrea, Somalia, Libya and Ethiopia. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the history of Italian colonialism in these four countries through the comparison of Italian and British sources. This paper analyses the different points of view of the various authors and the differences and similarities between the two literatures with regards to the topics treated in their works or the topics that were omitted. This thesis consists in four chapters, one for each African country colonized by Italy: the first chapter examines Eritrea, the second chapter Somalia, the third chapter Libya, and the fourth chapter Ethiopia. Every chapter examines Italian colonialism and its administration in the countries through the economic situation, the social aspects, the liberation and partisan movements of native population and the acts of aggressions and violence perpetrated by Italian forces and its administration. Moreover, each chapter studies the analogies and the differences of Italian colonialism during the first phase of liberal governments and the following phase during fascism.