Italian Colonial Interests in Anatolia and the Caucasus, Between Scientific Vocation and “International” Relationships

Abstract

The contribution of Italian explorers, geographers and scholars made possible, at the dawn of the 20th century, to expand the geographical, physical, and anthropic knowledge of the territories of Asia Minor and the southern Caucasus area. Behind the scientific interests lay, as with many technical-scientific works of the time, special geopolitical concerns that aimed at extending Italian political and economic interests in strategic areas. The aim of this contribution is to highlight the contributions that responded to interests of a geo-strategic nature, which derived from Italy’s pressing colonialist drive determined to confront the great powers of the time and nationalist aspirations for control of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the scientific ferment of the time, combined with the dynamism of the western powers on the colonial expansion front, the Italian Geographical Society also played an important role, within which figures from different backgrounds and institutional positions worked. The work of the scholars and explorers followed the trajectory of Italian interest, starting with Lamberto Vannutelli’s missions, passing through the exploratory missions in Asia Minor of the Salesian Giuseppe Capra, up to Vittorio Novarese’s contribution to the Italian missions in the Caucasus after World War I. This article aims at providing an interpretation of the work of these figures in the light of the broader context of Italian foreign policy.