Day of Revenge settlers by the 1960s. The Italian population was concentrated in the coast around the cities of Tripoli (37 percent of its population) and Bengasi (31 percent). With the Italian defeat in World War II, Italian influence waned. After several years under British mandate, on 24 December 1951 Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya (a constitutional, hereditary monarchy under King Idris). Although many Italians had already left the former colony, many remained (primarily farmers and craftsmen). King Idris was a tolerant monarch, and generally treated the Italian population well. Libyan Jews (who had lived in Libya since
Adolph Cornelis van Bruggen impossible when the former Dutch colony declared independence on 27 December 1949. Since Dolf had a firm interest in the tropics, the van Bruggens decided to move to Africa instead. They sailed to South Africa, stopping on their way at the remote Atlantic island of St Helena, in May 1957. Dolf had to make breakneck manoeuvres to reach the shore with a ‘klepdoos’ (a sweeping separator), thought by fellow-travellers to be a Geiger counter. In South Africa, Dolf had accepted a job at the Ministry of Agriculture in Pretoria. There he was charged with the study of insects and the