The Impact of the Italian Occupation of Cyrenaica with Reference to Benghazi, 1911-1942

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the Italian colonialization on the Libyan province of Cyrenaica by studying the colonial legacy in its largest city. This study provides a description of the social and economic conditions prevailing in the Libyan city of Benghazi from 1911 until 1942. There is a lack of historical political studies about the city of Benghazi and the available historical studies about the city are mainly concerned with following certain historical events during a specific period. Therefore, the researcher turned to archives of Mahkamit Shamal Benghazi, Sijil al- Mahkama al-Shar ͑aia (MSBSM) Benghazi’s shariʽa court records, Dar al-Mahfuzat al- Tarikhiyya (DMT) Tripoli’s Libyan archives, and Markaz Dirasat al-Jihad al-Libi (MDJL) Tripoli’s Centre for Libyan Studies. The researcher used those records and documents as a primary source for this study and they offered a comprehensive insight into the social and economic life of the people of Cyrenaica and Benghazi. The researcher also relied on primary and secondary Libyan history sources written by both Italian and Libyan scholars. Additionally, the researcher consulted biographies and memoirs of colonial Italian officials. Economically, colonial Italy failed to achieve its agricultural settlements program which was operating at a deficit throughout the colonial period. The colonial educational policy was oriented to educate students to secondary school level only and by the end of the colonial rule illiteracy rate was at 90%. The Italian colonial policies in Libya affected the social institutional structure through a lengthy armed conflict that produced the Cyrenaican resistance’s alliance between the religious Sanusi Movement and the tribal leaders such events helped to reinforce the role of religion in political life as the religious Sanusi movement was being transformed into a political movement. In Libya, religion and tribal kinship still have a major role in politics