ITALIAN EAST AFRICA

ITALIAN EAST AFRICA / AFRICA ORIENTALE ITALIANA
(now Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia).

First Triennial Overseas Exhibition, Naples.
Shebelle River.
Fouth stamp in a set of 7, issued on 11.05.1940.
Face value: 50 cents of Italian lire.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 50,000 copies.
Size: 40 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 47.
- Sassone No. 30.
- Scott No. 30.
- StampWorld No. 47.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 47.
- Unificato No. 30.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 32.

Italian East Africa (Italian: Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The colony was divided into six governorates. During the Second World War, Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial units and Ethiopian guerrillas in November 1941. After the war, Italian Somalia and Eritrea came under British administration, while Ethiopia regained its independence.

The Shebelle River (Somali: Webi Shabeelle, Arabic: نهر شبيلي, Amharic: እደላ, Italian: Uebi Scebeli), about 2,050 km (1,275 mi) long, 1,150 in Ethiopia and 900 in Somalia, begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest because of the coastal dunes, and it follows the coast. South, the river becomes seasonal; during most years, the river dries up near the mouth of the Jubba River, while in seasons of heavy rainfall, the river actually reaches the Jubba and thus the Indian Ocean.

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Thanks to Vairo Gregori for his contribution (https://ternifil.org/).