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
Italian East Africa at the expense of the Amhara to strengthen support by Muslims for the Italian colony. Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses. However, few Italians came to the Ethiopian colony, with most going to Eritrea and Somalia. While Italian Eritrea enjoyed some degree of development, supported by nearly 80,000 Italian colonists, by 1940 only 3,200 farmers had arrived in Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal. Continued insurgency by native Ethiopians, lack of natural resources, rough terrain, and uncertainty of political and military conditions discouraged development and