Eritrea Governorate

Eritrea Governorate (Governatorato dell'Eritrea) was one of

the six governorates of Italian East Africa. Its capital was Eritrea Governorate
Asmara. It was formed from the previously separate colony of Governatorato dell'Eritrea
Italian Eritrea, that was enlarged with parts of the conquered
Governorate of Italian East Africa
Ethiopian Empire following the Second Italo-Ethiopian
War.[1]

Contents
History
Governors Coat of Arms

Notes
Bibliography
See also

History
In 1936, after the defeat of Ethiopia, Italy created an empire in
Africa called "Africa Orientale Italiana". It lasted 6 years until
WWII and was made of 6 governorates. One of these was the
"Eritrea Governorate". The original Italian Eritrea, called even
Colonia primogenita (first colony), was enlarged of 110.000
km2 with territories ("Tigrai") taken from northern Ethiopia
that were populated mostly by ethnic Eritreans.
Eritrea within "Italian East Africa"
In 1938 the Eritrea governorate was divided in 13
"commissariati" (provinces)[2] Capital Asmara
Population  
Commissariato dell'Acchelè Guzai (capital Addì
•  ca. 1,500,000
Caièh)
Commissariato di Adigrat (capital Adigràt) History
Commissariato dell'Hamasien (capital Asmára) Government
Commissariato del Bassopiano Occidentale (capital Governor  
Agordàt) • 1936-1937 Alfredo Guzzoni
Commissariato del Bassopiano Orientale (capital • 1937 Vincenzo De Feo
Massáua) • 1937-1940 Giuseppe
Daodice
Commissariato di Cheren (capital Chéren)
• 1940-1941 Luigi Frusci
Commissariato della Dancalia (capital Ássab)
Historical era Interwar period

Commissariato di Macallè (capital Macallè)

World War II
Commissariato dei Paesi Galla (capital Allomatà)
• Created 1 June 1936
Commissariato del Seraè (capital Áddi Ugrì) • British 19 May 1941
 Commissariato del Tembien (capital Abbì Addì) occupation
Commissariato del Tigrai Occidentale (capital Ádua)
Preceded by Succeeded by
The Eritrea Governorate in 1938 had an area of 231,280 km² Italian British Military
and a population of more than 1500,000 - of which nearly Eritrea Administration
100,000 were Italian colonists concentrated in Asmara.[3] Ethiopian (Eritrea)
Empire Ethiopian
Massawa was the port of the Italian Colony of Eritrea and was Empire
hugely improved and enlarged.[4]

Eritrea was chosen by the Italian government to be the industrial center of the Africa Orientale Italiana. The
Italian government implemented agricultural reforms, primarily on farms owned by Italian colonists
(exports of coffee boomed in the 1930s).

In the region of Asmara there were in 1940 more than

2,000 small and medium sized industrial companies,
concentrated in the areas of construction, mechanics,
textiles, electricity and food processing. According to the
Italian census of 1939 the city of Asmara had a
population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were Italians. This
fact made Asmara the main "Italian town" of the Italian
empire in Africa. Furthermore, because of the Italian
architecture of the city, Asmara was called Piccola Roma
Governor's Palace, built in 1940 Asmara
(Little Rome).[5]
(current President's Palace)

In all Eritrea the Italians were more than 75,000 in that

year.[6]

Consequently, the living standard of life in Eritrea in 1939 was considered one of the best of Africa, for the
Italian colonists and for the native Eritreans. In early 1940 laws were established that enabled all the
autochthonous Eritreans in the Italian military forces to receive a "pension" with their families; no other
European colonial country granted this at that moment.

In summer 1940 the Italians conquered in British Sudan the area of Kassala, that was temporarily annexed
(the mayor of Kassala was Eritrean hero Hamid Idris Awate) until spring 1941. In those months the Allies
invaded Italian Eritrea and the last governor (Luigi Frusci) surrendered on May 19, 1941.

The British destroyed the Eritrea Governorate and created a military occupation government associated
with Ethiopia's Negus: during the East African campaign of World War II it fell under British occupation in
early 1941.

Governors
There were 5 Italian governors, under a Viceroy representing the emperor Victor Emmanuel III:

Pietro Badoglio, in May 1936

Alfredo Guzzoni, from May 1936 until April 1937
Vincenzo De Feo, from April 1937 until December 1937
Giuseppe Daodice, from December 1937 until June 1940
Luigi Frusci, from June 1940 until May 1941
Notes
1. "Untitled Document" (https://web.archive.org/
web/20100821183529/http://www.solomonic
crownheraldry.org/history_of_ethiopia_monar
chy_modern_era_part_seven.htm).
www.solomoniccrownheraldry.org. Archived
from the original (http://www.solomoniccrown
heraldry.org/history_of_ethiopia_monarchy_
modern_era_part_seven.htm) on 21 August
2010. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
2. Guida dell'Africa Orientale Italiana, CTI 1938,
p.110
3. ASMARA: I PIANI REGOLATORI
FUNZIONALISTI (1936-1939); p. 92 (https:// Map of Eritrea Governorate, enlarged with the
www.academia.edu/31388398/Borghi_città_ "Tigrai" region
Piani_regolatori_e_Paesaggi_tra_Italia_e_Ol
tremare._Il_Piano_regolatore_di_Asmara_la
_Milano_degli_Altipiani_di_Guido_Ferrazza_e_Vittorio_Cafiero_1936-1939_)
4. Italian Massawa (https://dadfeatred.blogspot.com/2018/07/italian-massaua-was-name-used-
during.html)
5. Italian architectural planification of Asmara (in Italian) p. 64-66 (http://www.fedoa.unina.it/188
1/01/Santoianni_Progettazione_Architettonica.pdf)
6. Italians in 1939 Eritrea (http://www.maitacli.it/arg_menu/italiani/elenco.htm) Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20090220153314/http://www.maitacli.it/arg_menu/italiani/elenco.htm)
2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography
Archivio Storico Diplomatico (1975), Inventario dell'Archivio Storico del Ministero Africa
Italiana (http://www.esteri.it/mae/it/ministero/servizi/uapsds/storico_diplom/inventarionline.ht
ml) (in Italian), vol. 1: Eritrea, Etiopia, Somalia (1857-1939), Rome: Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Archivio Storico Diplomatico (1977), Inventario dell'Archivio Eritrea (1880-1945) (http://www.
esteri.it/mae/it/ministero/servizi/uapsds/storico_diplom/inventarionline.html) (in Italian),
Rome: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Bandini, Franco. Gli italiani in Africa, storia delle guerre coloniali 1882-1943. Longanesi.
Milano, 1971.
Bereketeab, R. Eritrea: The making of a Nation. Uppsala University. Uppsala, 2000.
Lowe, C.J. Italian Foreign Policy 1870-1940. Routledge. 2002.
Maravigna, Pietro. Come abbiamo perduto la guerra in Africa. Le nostre prime colonie in
Africa. Il conflitto mondiale e le operazioni in Africa Orientale e in Libia. Testimonianze e
ricordi. Tipografia L'Airone. Roma, 1949.
Negash, Tekeste. Italian colonialism in Eritrea 1882-1941 (Politics, Praxis and Impact).
Uppsala University. Uppsala, 1987.

See also
List of Governors of the Eritrea Governorate
Italian Governors of Eritrea
 Italian Eritrea
Italian Eritreans
Italian Pidgin of Eritrea

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