ITALIAN SOMALILAND

ITALIAN SOMALILAND / SOMALIA ITALIANA.

Airmail definitive stamp.
Shebelle River.
Fifth stamp in a set of 10, issued on 24.03.1950.
Face value: 90 Italian Somaliland centesimi.
Design: G. Salvini.
Printed by I.P.F., Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Officina Carte-Valori, Roma.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 593,368 copies.
Size: 40 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 259.
- Sassone No. A5.
- Scott No. C21.
- StampWorld No. 249.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 248.
- Unificato No. A5.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA 34.

Italian Somaliland (Italian: Somalia italiana; Arabic: الصومال الإيطالي‎; Somali: Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Sultanates of Hobyo and Majeerteen in the north, and Hiraab Imamate and Geledi in the south, the territory was acquired in the 1880s by Italy through various treaties. In 1936, the region was integrated into Italian East Africa as the Somalia Governorate. This would last until Italy's loss of the region in 1941, during the East African campaign of World War II. Italian Somalia then came under British military administration until 1950, when it became a United Nations trusteeship under Italian administration. On July 1, 1960, the Trust Territory of Somaliland united with the former British Somaliland protectorate to form the Somali Republic.

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/).