| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Pulp Libya

Page history last edited by Michael 2 years, 5 months ago

 

 

 

Tripolitania and Cyrenaica

 

AREA: Tripolitania, est., 350,000 square miles; Cyrenaica, 290,000 square miles.

POPULATION: census of Tripolitania, 552,663, including 29,749 Europeans, of which 18,093 were Italians; Cyrenaica estimated 165,000, including 19,000 Europeans, mainly Italians. In all Italian Libya the population is 30 per cent Arabs, 40 per cent Negroes, 23 per cent Jews, 7 per cent Europeans.

CAPITALS: Tripoli, pop. Aug. 31, 1930, 68,984 and Benghazi, pop. 1929, 33,794.

Governor, Marshal Pietro Badoglio (Dec. 1928) .... Marshal Italo Balbo (Dec. 1933)

 

Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, or Italian Libya in North Africa, extend along the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt on the east to Tunis (French) on the west. On the south they extend into the desert, to French West Africa, and the Sudan, the 22° parallel being the boundary line. The boundary on the east bgins at El Sollum, Egypt, a somewhat irregular line south to a point 30 miles west of Siwa oasis, thence due south on the 25° east meridian, as arranged with Egypt in 1925.

 

Tripoli, formerly one of the Barbary States and independent since 1714, was reconquered by Turkey in 1835. During the Turko-Italian War of 1911-12, Italy proclaimed the annexation of Tripoli, which was recognized by the great powers in the Treaty of Ouchy, Oct. 18, 1912.

 

The [Berber] tribes in the interior have been turbulent since 1912, requiring the presence of a large garrison, but on Jan. 26, 1932, Marshal Badoglio the Military Governor reported officially that the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica had now been entirely pacified and asked for "a more vigorous policy towards civil progress in the two colonies."

 

The territory was divided into two independent districts for administrative purposes May 17, 1919. In both provinces natives had equal rights with Italians and there was a certain amount of local autonomy by elected local Parliaments, but on March 9, 1927, the organic law of 1919 was repealed. The legislative power is reserved to Rome, and the governors have purely administrative functions. Italian courts have final jurisdiction.

 

The prevailing religion is Mohammedan, and Arabic is generally spoken [in the Maghrebi dialect].

 

The country is rather barren, but has date palm orchards, olive groves, lemon, almond and fig trees, and vineyards. In 1929-31, two million trees were planted in a reforestation plan. Some cereals, chiefly barley, are grown. Pasturage is abundant in Cyrenaica. Sponge fishing is important; the value of the export in 1931 was 6,604,970 lire [about $300,000]. There is considerable caravan trade to the south.

 

Italy dominates the foreign trade of the colonies wich in thousands of lire was:

 

            Tripolitania.         Cyrenaica.
         Imports.   Exports.   Imports.  Exports.
1928..   256,375    28,393     260,943   24,896
1929..   249,733    35,438     138,228   21,254
1930..   215,266    36,136     151,652   21,249
1931..   185,083    29,711     146,946   19,315

 

The budget estimates for 1932-33 were: Tripolitania--Colonial revenue, 80,000,000 lire; State contribution, 167,500,000 lire; special administation, 2,266,537 lire; expenditure, civil, 94,148,537 lire; military, 155,618,000 lire. Cyrenaica, Colonial revenue, 48,680,000 lire; State contribution, 182,600,000 lire; expenditure, civil, 93,287,000 lire; military, 137,992,000 lire. [61% of budget goes to military, almost $15 million in 1933.]

 

Trade of Italian Africa with the United States was:

 

Cal. Year.               Imports.    Exports.
1928......................$80,476    $22,010
1929.......................65,187     75,767
1930.......................64,997     63,459
1931.......................72,211    109,672
1932......................195,805     54,335

 

-- from the 1934 World Almanac and Book of Facts; conversions and comments in italic brackets

 

 


 

 

TRIPOLI, Libya

Population 90,000

 

 

Hotels for Officers. CENTRAL (best and newest), Lungomare Badoglio, rooms L. 50. GRAND (good, most convenient), Lungomare Conte Volpi, American plan, L. 50. MEHARI (tourist), Lungomare Badoglio, rooms L. 15.-- from the Seaman's Handbook for Shore Leave, Eighth Edition, 1944

 

Seamen's Banks. American Vice-Consulate (will not assume responsibility).

 

Legal Aid. American Vice-consulate.

 

Veneral Disease Clinics. General Dispensary (free). Practitioner: Dott. Alfredo Serra, Piazza Banco Roma 23, tel. 1544 (11 a.m. to 12 m., 3 to 4, 7 to 8 p.m.).

 

Physicians. Comm. Renzo Testori, Via Roma, tel. 1589. Giacomo Fried, Via Lazio 137, tel. 1384. Dott. Prof. Comm. Rafaele Onorato, Via Lazio 115, tel. 2123.

 

Dentist. Cav. Domenico Modugno, Galleria De Bono, tel. 2211.

 

Laundry. Lavanderia Economica, Sciara Zavia 12.

 

Amusements. Moving pictures: Miramare, Lungomare, one block from the Castello; Alhambra, Piazza d'Italia.

 

Points of Interest. Bey's Castle (open to public on Sunday). Mosques of Caramanli and Gurgi (admission on application to guardian). Bazaar Quarter (silversmiths, weavers, and tailors). The Lungomare (seafront promenade).

 

Excursions. Sabratha, Roman excavations (one day, L. 150). Leptis Magna, more important Roman excavations (one day, L. 300). Tegrina and Garian, troglodyte dwellings (one day, L. 160). Parties get lower rates.

 

Note. No work to be had ashore. American vessels rarely call and deserters are jailed. Police very strict.

 

Consulates. American Vice-Consulate, Corso Sicilia, tel. 2104. British Consulate.

 

 

-- from the Seaman's Handbook for Shore Leave, Eighth Edition, 1944

 

 

[Three gates provided access to the old town section of Tripoli: Bab Zanata in the west, Bab Hawara in the southeast and Bab al-Bahr in the north wall. The city walls are still standing and can be climbed for good views of the city. The Bazaar is also known for its traditional ware; fine jewellery and clothes can be found in the local markets.] 

 

Sea Travel To Libya

 

Lloyd Triestino (to the Adriatic, Athens, and Constantinople), and the Italia Flotte Riunite (Italia Line) both operate scheduled service from Europe to Tripoli.

Italia Line mail steamers run as follows: Syracuse (Sicily) to Tripoli, three times a week; Syracuse (Sicily) to Benghazi, twice a week; Palermo (Sicily) to Trapani (Sicily) to Tripoli, once a week; Genoa to Sicily to Malta to Tunis to Tripoli, once a week. Ships from this line (most often the SS Roma) will call every month or so on "tourist" cruises each year.

 

Lloyd Triestino operates a weekly fast service, Venice to Malta to Tripoli.

 

Thus in general, a ship is departing Tripoli bound for Italy every day but one.

 

A coastal service is operated by the Colonial administration, between Tripoli and Benghazi, every other day; otherwise, only freighters under contract, or tramp vessels, call at Libya.

 

Ports at which deep-water vessels may berth are, west to east: Tripoli, Homs, Marsa el-Brega, Benghazi, Derna, Tobruk, and Bardia.

 

Air Travel To and Within Libya

  

The Italian airline SAM (Societa Aerea Mediterranea) flies from Sicily to Tripoli, using Savoia-Marchetti S.66 seaplanes. SANA operates Dornier 'Wal' seaplanes on a prestige mail route: Rome to Syracuse (Sicily) to Tripoli to Benghazi to Alexandria all in one long day (starting before dawn from Rome, and arriving at sunset in Alexandria), and onward via various stops to Mogadishu in a couple more days. Planes depart Rome four days a week; the fare for Rome to Tripoli is about L. 2000 (about $100).

 

In 1934 SANA and SAM will be merged (with other companies) into Ala Littoria, a national Italian airline; the routes into and through Libya will be busier, with more modern aircraft. Ala Littoria will build a very nice hotel in Benghazi, the Berenice, for passengers to spend the night in; air fares and hotel rooms will cost 30% less for persons travelling on Italian government business once Ala Littoria is in charge.

 

Within Libya, daily passenger flights are available between Tripoli and Benghazi, using a Fokker F VIIb trimotor; the trip takes about 4 hours (the plane flies once each way, each day, and normally stays overnight in Tripoli).

 

Civil airfields exist at Tripoli, Benghazi, and Tobruk. The main base for military aircraft is at Mellaha, just east of Tripoli, built in 1923, and much later known as Wheelus AFB.

 

 


 

 

 

Military Situation

  

The Italian Navy normally has a division of four destroyers and a couple of small torpedo boats based at Tobruch (better known as Tobruk); Tripoli and Benghazi, although larger cities, do not supply naval stores, and naval vessels do not spend much time at those ports.

 

Three squadrons of aircraft (Fiat CR.30 fighters, and Caproni CA.101 trimotor bombers) and a division of "colonial" infantry, are based in Libya. The "Divisione Libia" consists of three infantry regiments (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regg. Fanteria Libica, each of two battalions), a the "X Btg. Libico" battalion of "native" (African, non-Arabic) troops, and the 1st Regg. Artiglieria Libica (with four batteries of 75mm guns mounted on trucks, and four batteries of 105mm mle 1913 field guns). Some tanks were used in Libya during the suppression of the Senussi rebels; I don't know if they are still present; they'd likely be a mix of Renault light tanks, and CV29 tankettes; potentially also the new CV33 tankettes. There are certainly lots of small and medium trucks given a light amount of armor, and a machine gun, to patrol the roads and deserts. General Guglielmo Nasi is vice-Governor of Cyrenaica, and commander of the Libyan Division; regarded as relatively moral and ethical when compared with most Fascist officers, and skillful in dealing with tribal cultures.

 

Telegraphic communication is available, via Syracuse in Sicily, from Tobruk, Tripoli, Benghazi, and several other coastal towns.

 

Resistance to Italian rule is centered in Cyrenaica -- specifically around the town of al-Jaghbub, headquarters of the Senussi, a sufi Islamic group. Beginning in 1930, the Fascist government began moving more than 100,000 Cyrenaican Libyans (about half the population) to concentration camps (in the Boer War sense of the term) on the coast, where tens of thousands of them died due to squalid conditions. The Italian army heavily patroled the Egyptian border, and bombed rebel camps (and recalcitrant villages) from aircraft. In September of 1931, Omar al-Mukhtar, the leader of the Senusi rebels, was captured, tried and executed; by the end of that year, resistance had ended. The concentration camps have been disbanded, but many Senusite rebels remain in Italian prisons. See the film The Lion of the Desert for a depiction of Omar Mukhtar's career.

 

Libya is often referred to in Italian propaganda as "Italy's Fourth Shore" (quarta sponda).

 


 

 

In the Libyan (Maghrebi) dialect of Arabic, there are three "clicks" used as interjections: one for 'yes' (considered vulgar), one for 'no' (sounds like 'tsk'), and one for 'alas' (used by women).

 

Remember: there are two cities with the name 'Tripoli' in the Mediterranean: the one in Libya, and the other in Lebanon!

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.