Governorates of Italian East Africa

Italian East Africa was a territory occupied by Fascist Italy from 1936 to 1941 in the Horn of Africa.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} It encompassed Italian Somaliland, Italian Eritrea, and occupied Ethiopian territories, all administered by a single administrative unit, the Governo Generale dell'Africa Orientale Italiana.^[1][6] The region was governed from Addis Ababa under the authority of a Governor-General, who represented the Italian crown and exercised executive powers in the territories.

Italian East Africa was administratively divided into six governorates. Eritrea and Somalia, Italian possessions since the 1880s, were enlarged with captured Ethiopian territory and became the Eritrea and Somalia Governorates.^[7] The remainder of the occupied Ethiopian territories comprised the Harar, Galla-Sidamo, Amhara, and Scioa Governorates. At its largest extent, Italian East Africa occupied territories in British Somaliland, British Kenya, and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.^[8] By 1939, it was settled by about 165,270 Italian colonists.

The governorates were divided into governor commissariats, governed by a governor commissioner assisted by a vice commissioner. The commissariats were divided into residences, sometimes divided into vice residences. The governor commissioners were usually also the owners of the residence with headquarters in the commissariats capital. As a rule, the headquarters of the commissariats were provided with primary schools, post offices and telegraphs, infirmaries with a doctor, and runways for airplanes. The residences were equipped with a post office, telegraph and infirmary with a doctor.