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 Studies in Southern Africa Italian Studies in Southern Africa Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d’Italianistica nell’Africa Australe is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Association of Professional Italianists in South Africa/Associazione di Professori d’Italiano in Sudafrica. It is published in Italian and English and covers the field of Italian studies. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography, Bibliografia Generale della Lingua e della Letteratura Italiana, and "Italinemo". It is listed as a journal qualifying authors for research support by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and the Australian Research Council. The editor-in-chief is Anna Meda