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 Ethiopia Italian Ethiopia Ethiopia was occupied by Italy in 1936 and became a part of the Italian colony Italian East Africa, with capital Addis Abeba. Italian Ethiopia was proclaimed in 1936 following the second Italo-Ethiopian War, with Victor Emmanuel III proclaiming himself Emperor of Ethiopia. The occupation lasted until the end of 1941, when Ethiopia was liberated from Italian control by a combination of British, Commonwealth, Free French, Free Belgian and Ethiopian forces. Since May 1936 Italian Ethiopia was part of the newly created "Africa Orientale Italiana" (AOI), or Italian East Africa, and administratively was made of four governorates: Governorate of