The Italian Empire (Impero Italiano) included the colonies, protectorates, and territories that were controlled by the Kingdom of Italy and its successor governments. It was initially founded in 1869 with the purchase of a port on the Red Sea coast by a commercial company, before it was taken over by the Italian government in 1882. From then onward, the Italians joined into the "Scramble for Africa" and began taking other colonies. Italy's possessions expanded to include Italian East Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, and parts of Somalia), Somaliland, and Libya in Africa, along with a small concession in Tientsin, China, and the Dodecanese Islands near Turkey. Additionally, it established a protectorate in Albania, and gained control over parts of Yugoslavia in the 1940s. Italy lost many of its colonies in the years after World War II, with the last ones becoming independent in 1960 and ending the Italian Empire.
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