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Royal Banana Monopoly facts for kids

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Royal Banana Monopoly
RAMB
Native name
Italian: Regia Azienda Monopolio Banane
Founded 2 December 1935
Defunct 1946 (reestablished 1950)
Headquarters ,
Italian Somaliland
Area served
Italian Empire

The Royal Banana Monopoly (Italian: Regia Azienda Monopolio Banane, RAMB) was a state-owned enterprise founded in Mogadishu in 1935 to transport and market bananas harvested in Italian Somalia throughout the rest of the Italian Empire, directly under the control of the Colonial Ministry. Even if the last transport of bananas to Italy happened in early 1940, it survived the first years of WW2 - and officially lasted until 1946.

History

When the price of cotton plummeted after 1929, bananas became the most profitable crop in the empire. The RAMB had a small fleet of seven ships, including four newly commissioned banana boats which transported bananas quickly from the Horn of Africa to Europe. The RAMB worked directly with Italian banana producers in Giuba and Genale, who were represented by the Federation of Banana Growers of Somalia (FEBAS).

In 1939 were transported 450000 tn of bananas to Italy by the four RAMB ships ("Ramb I, "Ramb II", "Ramb III","Ramb IV") and 3 other cargo ships (the "Capitan Cecchi", the "Capitan Bottego" and the "Duca degli Abruzzi").

Following Italy's entry into World War II, the banana boats were reclassified for naval use and saw service off the coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean. Of its seven ships, only Ramb III survived the war and was converted to a personal yacht for Josip Broz Tito, president of SFR Yugoslavia.

After Italy regained administrative control of Somalia in 1950, the government reactivated the Banana Monopoly as the Azienda Monopolio Banana (AMB) with the intent of revitalizing the heavily damaged agricultural industry. The AMB continued to regulate the price and marketing of bananas in Somalia until its dissolution in 1964, four years after the country gained independence.

Fleet

Caption text
Image Name Commissioned GRT Notes
RAMB I varo2
Ramb I 6 December 1937 3,666 Sunk, 27 February 1941
RAMB II in Adriatic
Ramb II 6 September 1937 3,676 Sunk, 12 January 1945
RAMB III 2
Ramb III 1937 3,675 Refloated post-war and reclassified as Yugoslav training ship Galeb
RambIV
Ramb IV 1937 3,667 Sunk, 10 May 1942
Duca degli Abruzzi 1933 2,314 Scuttled, May 8, 1942
Capitano Bottego 1933 2,316 Sunk, April 6, 1941
Capitano A. Cecchi 1934 2,320 Sunk, May 8, 1941
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