Giorgio Sorrentino
Giorgio Sorrentino (born on 9 May 1847 in San Giorgio a Cremano (Napoli) and died on 1 February 1919 in Napoli) was an Italian military commander and politician, who was the colonial governor/commissioner of Italian Somaliland from 1897 to 1898.
Giorgio Sorrentino | |
|---|---|
| Italian Commissioner-Governor of Somalia | |
| In office 1897–1898 | |
| Preceded by | Emilio Dulio |
| Succeeded by | Emilio Dulio |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1847 S.Giorgio a Cremano (Napoli) |
| Died | 1919 Napoli |
| Nationality | Italian |
Life
Giorgio Sorrentino was born near Napoli in 1847 and went to a Navy school in 1862, being promoted to " guardia-marina" (assistant captain) in 1866.
Giorgio Sorrentino was a captain of the Italian Navy who was appointed "Commissioner" of the Italian Benadir possessions (later called Italian Somalia). He was only nominally in charge of the Italian colony, because all the administrative activities were done by Emilio Dulio, the manager of the private company "Societa' per il Benadir".[1]
Dulio was the next colonial commissioner on May 25, 1898 and was officially named "first governor" of the Italian colony the next year.
When consul Antonio Cecchi on November 1896 was killed with other 85 Italians and Eritrean Ascari in Lafolè, near Mogadishu, Giorgio Sorrentino was sent in the area -with his ship () "Staffetta"[2]- and attacked in retaliation the villages of Nimo e Gezira. He was able to control the area of the Benadir since then: because of this accomplishment he was appointed "Royal Commissioner" in 1897.
He then denounced the slave problem in Mogadishu, pinpointing that of a population of 6700 inhabitants, in this city more than 2000 (or 31%) were still slaves, while another 4 per cent included in the free population who had been liberated since I894 (when the Italians took full control of the city).[3]
In 1898 Sorrentino returned to Italy and later was commander of the ironclad battleship Ruggero di Lauria. Sorrentino retired to Napoli, where in 1912 published Ricordi del Benadir about his memories when he was governing the Benadir.[4]
He died in 1919, receiving full military honors.
Bibliography
- Marco Scardigli (1995). "Il provinciale d'Africa. Il Benadir e l'epistolario di Emilio Dulio (1885-1903)". Studi Piacentini. pp. 201–257.
- Gustavo Chiesi; Ernesto Travelli (1904). Le questioni del Benadir. Milan: Bellini.
- Vanni Beltrami (2011). Italia d'oltremare. Storie dei territori italiani dalla conquista alla caduta. Rome: Edizioni Nuova Cultura. ISBN 9788861347021.