 Eritrea was placed under British military administration after the Italian surrender in World War II.The Italians in Eritrea started to move away from the country after the defeat of the Kingdom of Italy by the Allies, and Asmara in the British census of 1949 already had only 17,183 Italian Eritreans on a total population of 127,579.Most Italian settlers left for Italy, with others to United States, Middle East, and Australia.