Italian Fascist Governorate of Italian East Africa Administrator Badge

Rare aluminum badge with pin-pack fastener, produced by the A. Binda company of Milan, for officials/employees of the Governorate of Italian East Africa. Dimensions approximately 60mm by 50mm. In very good condition. The surface is a combination of high-polish and matte finish which the pictures do not do justice.

Italian East Africa (Italian: Africa Orientale Italiana, A.O.I.) was a short-lived colonial possession of Fascist Italy from 1936 to 1941 in the Horn of Africa. It was established following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, which led to the military occupation of the Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia). It encompassed Italian Somaliland, Italian Eritrea and the acquired Ethiopian territories, all governed by a single administrative unit, the Governo Generale dell’Africa Orientale Italiana. Its establishment contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War by exposing the weaknesses of the League of Nations.