Asmara

**Asmara** is the capital city of Eritrea. It is the largest settlement in the country. Asmara has a population of about 579,000 people. Textiles and clothing, meat, beer, shoes, and ceramics are the major industrial products of the city.

## History

Asmara grew from four villages founded in the twelfth century. It is said that there were four clans living in the Asmara area. The women of these tribes told them men to join together to fight bandits who had been attacking the area.  After they defeated the bandits, a new name was given to the place, _Arbaete Asmara_. This name, in the Tigrinya language, meant _the four females united_. _Arbaete_ was later dropped and the name was made Asmara.

In 1889, Asmara became an Italian colony. It was made the capital of the country in 1897 and was called _Asmara italiana_. The city was damaged during earthquakes in 1913 and 1915. During the 1930s, the Italians made many changes to how Asmara looked. Many new buildings were created during this time and the city was mainly populated by Italian colonists (in 1940 there were 57000 Italian residents on a total population of 98000).

These buildings were built in the same style as Italian buildings. This gave Asmara the look of an Italian city. Today many of the buildings and stores in Asmara still have Italian names.

During World War II, after the defeat of Italy in Africa, Asmara was under British rule. In 1952, the United Nations placed the country and Asmara under Ethiopian control. In the 1960s, the Eritrean people started fighting for independence from Ethiopia.

This bloody war lasted until 1991. Asmara was given back to the Eritrean people on May 24, 1991.

In July 2017 Asmara has been declared _World Heritage Site_ by the UNESCO.

## Related pages

- Eritrea
- Piccola Roma
- Italian Mogadiscio

## Bibliography

- Francesca Calace. _Restituiamo la Storia – dagli archivi ai territori. Architetture e modelli urbani nel Mediterraneo orientale_ Gangemi editorial Rome, 2012 ISBN 978-88-492-2364-4
- Giovanni Godoli. _Asmara: immagine di una città. Architettura e Potere da Ferdinando Martini all'Impero_. Universita' di Firenze. Florence, 2012 (https://www.academia.edu/2322273/Asmara_immagine_di_una_citt%C3%A0._Architettura_e_potere_da_Ferdinando_Martini_allImpero)
- Jochen Visscher. _Asmara - The Frozen City_ Jovis ed. Berlin, 2006  ISBN 978-3-936314-61-8 (https://www.jovis.de/en/books/asmara.html)

## Infobox (unesco world heritage site)

- **child**: yes
- **official name**: Asmara: a Modern architecture, Modernist City of Africa
- **id**: 1550
- **year**: 2017
- **criteria**: Cultural: ii, iv
- **area**: 481 ha
- **buffer zone**: 1,203 ha


## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Asmara
- **native name**: ኣስመራ _Asmera_
- **settlement type**: Capital city, Capital
- **image skyline**: Asmara2.jpg
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **shield size**: 250px
- **pushpin map**: Eritrea#Africa
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in Eritrea and Africa
- **pushpin relief**: yes
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Eritrea
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of Eritrea, Region
- **subdivision type2**: Districts of Asmara, Districts
- **subdivision type3**: Demonym
- **subdivision name1**: Central Region (Eritrea), Central
- **subdivision name2**: 13
- **subdivision name3**: Asmarino
- **leader title**: Mayor of Asmara
- **leader name**: Semere Russom
- **leader title1**: Mayor of Zoba
- **leader name1**: Tewelde Kelati
- **area total km2**: 45
- **elevation m**: 2325
- **elevation ft**: 7628
- **population total**: 804,000
- **population as of**: 2017
- **population density km2**: 17867
- **population metro**: 1,258,001
- **timezone**: East Africa Time, EAT
- **utc offset**: +3
- **blank name**: Köppen climate classification, Climate
- **blank info**: Semi-arid climate#Cold semi-arid climates, BSk