But We Built Roads for Them: The Lies, Racism, and Amnesia that Bury Italy's Colonial Past

In the fiery political debates in and about Italy, silence reigns about the country’s colonial legacy. By reducing European colonial history to Britain and France, Italy has effectively concealed an enduring phenomenon in its history that lasted close to 80 years (1882 to 1960). It also blots out the history of the countries it colonized in Northeastern Africa. Italian colonial history began in 1882 with the acquisition of Assab Bay and came to a formal end only on July 1, 1960 when the Ita...