Italian refugees from Libya Italy and soon most of them emigrated in the early 1950s to the Americas (mainly to Canada, Venezuela, Argentina and the United States) and to western Europe (France, Benelux, etc..). After several years under British mandate, on December 24, 1951 Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya (a constitutional, hereditary monarchy under King Idris). In 1952 started the exodus of most of the remaining Italian colonial settlers, mainly those in areas away from the main cities. Although in the late 1950s most of the 110000 Italians living in 1940 Italian Libya had already left the former colony,
Postage stamps and postal history of Italian East Africa enlarged to include all of Italian Eritrea and most of Italian Ethiopia when WW2 started. The most well known series of AOI stamps were those called "Pittoriche" issues in 1938 and 1939/1940. The "Buono Posta Aerea" of April 1941 is the only one showing the former British Somaliland annexed to A.O.I in a map of Italian East Africa. Postage stamps and postal history of Italian East Africa Postage stamps and postal history of Italian East Africa are related to the stamps and their history issued by the Kingdom of Italy between 1936 and 1941 for use in Italian East Africa,