Genale

Genale is a town founded by

In 1924 indeed it was started the Italian colonization of the area of Genale, in southern Somalia, forming a group of small and medium-sized farms. Most settlers consisted of old fascist militants of Turin who had followed in this Italian colony the new governor of Somalia, Cesare Maria De Vecchi. The first informal association between farmers, however, arose only in 1928.^[3] The main crop of the area was cotton and was done by small farms owned by those Italian settlers: about one hundred with an area varying between 75 and 600 hectares (with an average that oscillated about 200) with a total area of about 20,000 hectares. At least until 1931 the cotton was the main crop, later replaced by the banana production,^[4] whose harvest was sold to the Italian State, that did the marketing in Italy as a monopoly.

During the Italian colonial period Genale was the center of a vast area of agricultural concessions of 20,000 hectares for the cultivation of banana, cotton and other subsidiaries. The bananas were marketed by the Royal Banana Monopoly (abbreviated RAMB) that had, in fact, a monopoly of the export to Italy granted in order to safeguard banana production in Somalia on the Italian market. Consequently, until the 1950s all the bananas consumed in Italy came from the area of Genale.^[5]

The cultivation was made possible by a

References

• Janaale
• Video of Genale with colonists in 1938

Bibliography

• De Vecchi di Val Cismon, Cesare. Relazione sul progetto di Bilancio della Somalia Italiana per l'esercizio finanziario 1927-1928.

See also

• Mogadishu under Italian rule
• Vittorio di Africa
• Villabbruzzi
• Port of Merca
• Dam of Genale Doria

1°48′N 44°42′E / 1.800°N 44.700°E / 1.800; 44.700