Italian Libya

Libya Libia (Italian) ليبيا (Arabic) Lībyā
1934–1943
Flag Coat of Arms (1940–1943)
Motto: Per l'onore d'Italia "For the honour of Italy"
Anthem: Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza "Royal March of Ordinance"
Italian Libya in 1941:   Libya   Italian-controlled territory   Kingdom of Italy
Status	Colony of Italy[1]
Capital	Tripoli
Common languages	Italian, Arabic (official) Libyan Arabic, Berber languages, Domari
Religion	Islam, Coptic Orthodoxy, Judaism, Catholicism
Government	Colonial administration
Monarch
• 1934–1943	Victor Emmanuel III
Governor-General
• 1934–1940	Italo Balbo
• 1940–1941	Rodolfo Graziani
• 1941	Italo Gariboldi
• 1941–1943	Ettore Bastico
• 1943 (acting)	Giovanni Messe
History
• Unification of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica	1 January 1934
• Coastal regions part of metropolitan Italy	9 January 1939
• End of Italian rule	13 May 1943
• Relinquished by Italy	10 February 1947[a]
Area
1939[2]	1,759,541 km2 (679,363 sq mi)
Population
• 1939[2]	893,774
Currency	Italian lira
Preceded by Succeeded by Italian Tripolitania Italian Cyrenaica Anglo-Egyptian Sudan French Equatorial Africa British Military Administration French Military Administration
Today part of	Libya Chad Niger

Libya (Italian: Libia; Arabic: ليبيا الايطالية, romanized: Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, which had been Italian possessions since 1911.^[3]

From 1911 until the establishment of a unified colony in 1934, the territory of the two colonies was sometimes referred to as "Italian Libya" or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI). Both names were also used after the unification, with Italian Libya becoming the official name of the newly combined colony. It had a population of around 150,000 Italians.^[3]

The Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were taken by Italy from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, and run by Italian governors. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Senussi Order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya, mainly in Cyrenaica.^[4] The rebellion was put down by Italian forces in 1932, after the pacification campaign, which resulted in the deaths of a quarter of Cyrenaica's population.^[5] In 1934, the colonies were unified by governor Italo Balbo, with Tripoli as the capital.^[6]

During World War II, Italian Libya became the setting for the North African Campaign. Although the Italians were defeated there by the Allies in 1943, many of the Italian settlers still remained in Libya. Libya was administered by the United Kingdom and France until its independence in 1951, though Italy did not officially relinquish its claim until the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty.^[7]

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