ITALIAN SOMALILAND Italian Somaliland extends on the coast from Bandar Ziyada, a point on the Gulf of Aden intersected by E., eastward to Cape Guardafui, and thence southward to Dick's Head. Bounded north and east by the Indian ocean it is bounded south by Kenya Colony and west by Abyssinian and British Somaliland. From the east coast the protectorate extends inland from too to 300 miles.
The coast-line is largely rock-bound and little indented, and throughout its extent there is only one tolerable natural harbour, Kismayu. The coast presents a succession of hills (fringed by a narrow margin of beach) until Cape Guardafui is reached. Cape Guardafui is in t 1° 75' N., 51° 26' 32" E., and forms, as it were, the tip of the Horn of Africa. The cape, which faces north and east, presents on its northern face a nearly vertical wall of rock rising from the sea to a height of goo feet. The water is deep right to the base of the cliff, and owing to the winds and the strength of the ocean currents, navigation is dangerous. The headland is known to the Somali as Girdif or Yardaf.
Rounding Guardafui the coast trends southwards, and some 90 m. from that cape is Ras Hafun or Medudda—the most east erly point of the continent of Africa—being in io° 45' S., 51° 27' 52" E., or about II. m. east of Guardafui. Ras Hafun is a rocky peninsula rising 600 ft. above the sea, and is connected with the mainland by an isthmus 12 m. long.
The interior of the country presents, in general, the same arid aspect as the rest of Somaliland. Italian territory has a depth from the coast of 200 to 250 m., the frontiers with Abyssinia and British Somaliland being arbitrary straight lines. The most fertile districts lie between the equator and 4° N. This region includes the lower courses of the Webi-Shebeli and the Juba. The sand dunes which separate the Shebeli from the sea have already been mentioned; the land beyond, under irrigation, is very fertile.
But the most fertile region is the valley of the lower Juba, which is annually inundated. For over too m. on either bank of the river is a rich strip of land varying in width from a few hundred yards to over 4 m. at the estuary. Away from the river and in the region west of it, ceded to Italy by Great Britain in 1925, the normal scrub and thorn plains prevail.
In the interior are Bardera, on the left bank of the Juba, Lugh, a populous city also on the left bank of the Juba and about 24o m. from the coast, and further inland is Dolo at the confluence of the Daua and Ganale to form the Juba.
While the Somali carry on their usual trade in dressed skins, cattle, frankincense, myrrh and gum arabic, the Italians, since 1922, have taken up in earnest the cultivation of cotton, the sugar cane, rice, durra and maize in the Webi Shebeli and Juba regions. Some few hundreds settled on the land, the total number of Italians in the colony in 1928 being about t,000. Over tr,000 ac. were under cotton in 1927, the production being 13,000 centals. Irrigation works were carried out in the Webi Shebeli region in the hinterland of Mukdishu, wherefrom a railway was begun to aid the colonists. By 1928 some 4o m. of line had been built, the ultimate objective being Lugh. About 3,00o m. of roads had also been built. Though cotton and other crops were promising, the chief exports up to 1928 were the produce of the Somalis, as indicated and of goods from Abyssinia.
The southern part of the country had been a Crown colony under a civil governor since 91o; the northern part consisted of sultanates under Italian protection. Over this northern part direct Italian authority was imposed in 1925-26 and in 1927, with the Jubaland province transferred from Kenya, the whole of Italian Somaliland was divided into seven districts, each under a civil commissioner responsible to the governor. The colony has required constant and heavy subventions from Italy, colonial revenue (up to 1925) being scarcely a tenth of the cost of administration, which was 24,000,000 lire in History.—The Somali coast, as has been seen, early fell under Muslim influence. The towns on the eastern seaboard, of which Mukdishu and Brava were the chief, formed part of the Zenj "empire" (see ZANZIBAR) and shared its fate, being conquered in turn by the Portuguese (16th century), the imans of Muscat (17th century), and the sultans of Zanzibar (1866). By treaties with Somali sultans in 1889 and by agreements with England, Zanzibar and Abyssinia, the coast east of the British Somali pro tectorate fell within the Italian sphere of influence. (See AFRICA : History.) In Aug. 1892 the sultan of Zanzibar leased the Benadir ports of Italy for so years. They were administered first by the Filonardi company, and from 1898 by the Benadir company. By an agreement dated Jan. 13, 1905, the sultan of Zanzibar ceded his sovereign rights in the Benadir ports to Italy in return for the payment of a lump sum of £144,000. Thereafter the Italian Gov ernment assumed the direct administration of the ports. In 1905 also Great Britain leased to Italy a piece of land near Kisimayu.