Benghazi Province

Former province of Libya

Benghazi Province, inside Italian Libya

Benghazi Province, or Provincia di Bengasi in Italian, was one of the provinces of Libya under Italian rule. It was established in 1937.

## Characteristics

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Italian Benghazi in 1940

Benghazi Province was located in northern Italian Libya, in western Cyrenaica. Its administrative center was the city of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast.

It was divided in three sections ("Circondari" in Italian) called in Italian language:

* Bengasi.[1]
* Agedabia
* Barce

The Italians conquered from the Ottomans in 1911 a region around Benghazi that was very poor and underdeveloped: it had no asphalted road, no telegraph services, no sewage systems, and no hospitals (in 1874 Benghazi had been depopulated by the bubonic plague). In ten years they built all these infrastructures and by the early 1930s a new port & airport and a railways station were created in Benghazi. Indeed in those years in Benghazi were created -for the first time in Cyrenaica's History- the first manufacturing industries, that included salt processing, oil refining, food processing, cement manufacturing, tanning, brewing and sponge and tuna fishing.

In the 1920s in the Benghazi province was created a railway between Benghazi (called Bengasi in Italian) and Barce: a 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) (later 950 mm) gauge railway was built east from Benghazi; the main route was 110 kilometres (68 mi) long to Marj and was opened in stages between 1911 and 1927. Benghazi also had a 56 kilometres (35 mi) branch to Suluq opened in 1926.[2]

In the late 1930s in the Benghazi province were settled thousands of Italians as farmers in special villages.[3] Most of the Italians were concentrated in Italian Benghazi, where they were in 1939 nearly one third of the population.

According to the 1939 Census Benghazi had 66,801 inhabitants, of whom 23,075 were Italians.[4]

In the late 1930s the province had a huge economic development, mainly in agriculture and commerce, but World War II destroyed it.

## Demographics

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According to the 1936 census, which allowed citizens to declare their ethnicity, Benghazi's native population was made up of 95.8% Arabs, 0.3% Turks, 0.3% Blacks, 0.2% Berbers, and 3.6% Others.[5]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Italian Benghazi
2. ^ History of railways in colonial Libya (in Italian) Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ "Italians in new villages in Cyrenaica" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
4. ^ Censimento 1939. TCI "Libia"
5. ^ Pan, Chia-Lin (1949), "The Population of Libya", Population Studies, 3 (1): 121, doi:10.1080/00324728.1949.10416359.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Capresi, Vittoria. I centri rurali libici. L´architettura dei centri rurali di fondazione costruiti in Libia – colonia italiana – durante il fascismo (1934-1940). Vienna University of Technology. Vienna, 2007
* Chapin Metz, Helen, ed., Libya: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987
* Guida d'Italia del TCI. Possedimenti e colonie Edizioni Touring Club. Milano, 1929

## See also

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* Tripoli Province
* Derna Province
* Misurata Province
* Territorio Sahara Libico
* Italian Libya
* Benghazi
* Italian Benghazi
* Benghazi Governorate
* Italian Cyrenaica

* v
* t
* e

Italian Libya

Governors|

* Italo Balbo
* Rodolfo Graziani
* Italo Gariboldi
* Ettore Bastico
* Giovanni Messe

General History|

* Italo-Turkish War
* Italian colonization of Libya
* Italian Libya
* Second Italo-Senussi War
* Western Desert campaign
* North African campaign
* Allied administration of Libya
* 1945 anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania
* Italian refugees from Libya

Provinces|

* Tripoli Province
* Misurata Province
* Benghazi Province
* Derna Province
* Southern Military Territory

Related articles|

* Italian settlers
* Italian Tripolitania
* Governors
* Italian Cyrenaica
* Governors
* Italian Empire
* Fascist imperialism
* Italian Libya Railways
* Railway stations in Libya
* Tripoli-Castel Benito Airport
* Italian Benghazi
* Via Balbia
* Via della Vittoria
* Arch of the Fileni
* Tripoli Grand Prix
* Tripoli International Fair
* Imperial Line
* Frontier Wire
* Italo-Turkish War
* Sciara Sciatt massacre
* Muslim Association of the Lictor
* Arab Lictor Youth
* Fort Capuzzo
* Auto-Saharan Company
* Fourth Shore
* Postage stamps
* Pidgin Italian of Libya
* Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli
* Adriano Visconti
* Rossana Podestà
* Claudio Gentile
* Franco Califano
* Lorenzo Bandini

Colonial troops|

* Italian Libyan Colonial Division
* 1st Libyan Division
* 2nd Libyan Division
* Maletti Group
* Ascari del Cielo
* Italian African Police
* Bands
* Zaptié
* Savari
* Spahis
* Royal Corps of Colonial Troops

* v
* t
* e

Italian Empire

Subdivisions|

| Western Mediterranean|

* Southeastern France
* Monaco
* Corsica

|

Balkans|

* Albania
* World War I
* World War II
* Islands of the Aegean
* Independent State of Croatia
* Dalmatia
* Greece
* Hellenic State
* Principality of the Pindus
* Ionian Islands
* Italian Province of Lubiana
* Governorate of Montenegro

Horn of Africa|

* Italian Eritrea
* Italian Somaliland
* Oltre Giuba
* Italian East Africa
* Eritrea Governorate
* Somalia Governorate
* British Somaliland
* Amhara Governorate
* Harar Governorate
* Galla-Sidamo Governorate
* Scioa Governorate
* Italian Ethiopia

Libya|

* Tripolitania
* Cyrenaica
* Italian Libya
* Tripoli Province
* Misrata Province
* Benghazi Province
* Derna Province
* Southern Military Territory

Far East|

* Italian concession of Tientsin
* Concessions & Forts of Italy in China

Planned expansion|

* Adalia
* Egypt
* Majorca
* Tentative to occupy French Somaliland
* Kenya
* Sudan
* Malta
* Ticino, Valais and Grisons
* Tunisia

The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.

Settlers and Irredentism|

| Settlers and colonists|

* Albania
* Dodecanese
* Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Libya
* Somalia

|

Irredentism|

* Corsica
* Nice
* Savoy
* Dalmatia
* Istria-Venezia Giulia
* Malta
* Switzerland
* Corfu

Architecture|

| Governmental|

* Governor's Palace (Mogadishu)
* Governor's Palace (Tripoli)
* Governor's Palace (Asmara)
* Asmara Presidential Palace (Asmara)

|

Civilian|

* Mogadishu Cathedral
* Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Asmara
* Benghazi Cathedral
* Tripoli Cathedral
* Cinema Impero
* Fiat Tagliero Building
* Marble Arch
* Asmara Theatre
* Lighthouse "Francesco Crispi" (Cape Guardafui)

Urbanism|

* Italian Tripoli
* Mogadishu under Italian rule
* Italian Benghazi
* Italian Asmara
* Italian Massaua
* Addis Abeba under Italian rule

Infrastructure|

* Mogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway
* Ethio-Djibouti Railways
* Eritrean Railway
* Asmara-Massawa Cableway
* Railway stations in Eritrea
* Rail transport in Somalia
* Via Balbia
* Via della Vittoria
* Linea dell'Impero
* Italian Libya Railways
* Libyan Railway stations
* History of Italian colonial railways

Political concepts|

* Greater Italy
* Mare Nostrum
* New Roman Empire
* Spazio vitale
* Fourth Shore
* Third Rome

Police and military|

* Italian African Police
* Bands (Italian Army irregulars)
* Zaptié
* Dubat
* Savari
* Spahis
* Royal Corps of Colonial Troops
* Eritrean Ascari
* Somali Ascari
* Ascari del Cielo
* Italian 1st Eritrean Division
* Italian 2nd Eritrean Division
* 1st Libyan Division Sibille
* 2nd Libyan Division Pescatori
* Italian Libyan Colonial Division
* Italian Somali Divisions (101 and 102)
* Maletti Group
* Legione Redenta
* Italian guerrilla units (A.O.I.)

Currencies and Stamps|

* Eritrean tallero
* Italian East African lira
* Italian Somaliland lira
* Italian Somaliland rupia
* Somalo
* Postage stamps and postal history of Italian East Africa
* Postage stamps and postal history of Oltre Giuba
* Postage stamps of Italian Libya

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