Italian invasion On August 3, 1889, Italian troops took advantage of Alula’s absence, the power vacuum left as a result of Emperor Yohannes’ death, and the havoc wreaked by three years of famine and took over the small city.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 34 They built their fort on a hill in the village of Beit Mekae, forcing the inhabitants of this village to resettle elsewhere . At the time of General Baldisera’s arrival, the small town had 3000 inhabitants and consisted of traditional mud huts, Agdos and Hidmos. Above all, the military fort at Beit Mekae was a strategic point when it came to controlling the local population; it also served as a military strongpoint from which local uprisings, which were largely directed against the government’s power of eminent domain, could be suppressed.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 5 Eritrea officially became an Italian colony in 1890 and Massawa – already the seat of the colonial administration since 1885 – was declared the capital. At this time, because of the danger of insurrection in the highlands, Asmara was not even in the running to become the capital of the new colony. Furthermore, Bizzon explains that Asmara was not developed enough to serve as the capital: “Politically, militarily, and even logistically, the distance between Massawa and Asmara is greater than the distance between Italy and Massawa.”Bizzoni: L’Eritrea – nel passato e nel presente (Quoted in: Denison et al.: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 24) The lack of an infrastructural link to Massawa prevented Asmara from developing quickly. [[File:Fort_Baldisera_(Asmara)_overlooking_the_Hamasien_plateau.jpg|alt=|Fort Baldisera (Asmara) overlooking the Hamasien plateau].] That, despite all of this, Asmara rose to significance has to do with the goals of Italian colonization. The interest in the occupation of Eritrea lay, on the one hand, in the settlement of Italian citizens who were able to strengthen the economy of their motherland through development of the colony, and on the other hand, to use Eritrea as a military base from which the expansion of the colony could take place.Almedom: Re-reading the Short and Long-Rigged History of Eritrea 1941–1952: Back to the Future?, pg. 108 The Ethiopian Empire was one of the last uncolonized regions of Africa, and the vision of a strong, modern Italian nation after the successes of the Risorgimento, would require the acquisition of colonies if the country to become a European superpower, and to affirm the autonomy of the young kingdom.Fuller: Italy's Colonial Futures: Colonial Inertia and Postcolonial Capital in Asmara, pg. 2 Colonial politics brought about the government’s claim to eminent domain as well as the realization of many noteworthy infrastructure projects. As a result of the takeover of Asmara by foreign militaries and because of the employment opportunities within infrastructure projects throughout Eritrea, the population of Asmara itself shrunk from 5000 to 800 inhabitants during the first five years of the Italian occupation  . However, it remained an important market town on the Hamasien Plateau. The construction of the Massawa-Asmara-Railroad as well as a funicular railroad built along the same stretch that could transport heavy loads, finally allowed the Italians to use Asmara as a new base in the highlands. Becoming the Capital of Eritrea alt=|Map of Asmara in 1895 With the arrival of the first governor, Ferdinando Martini, in 1897 and after advances in the invasion of the highlands, Asmara was declared the capital of the colony of Eritrea. Asmara offered a strategic military position in the highlands opposite Massawa, fortifications at the residences of Alula and Baldissera, and an increase in the quality and quantity of transportation connections in the region. The potential that the city could become a cultural-historical hub did not play any role in the decision to make Asmara into the capital. Only a few modern buildings like the Commissariato, a small jail, the troop commanders’ Villa, a club for Italian officers, and several houses  were built before 1900.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 41 Racial Segregation and the First City Plan The first city plan for Asmara was introduced under Martini in 1902. At the center of the plan was a grid system, even though the topography of the city was not ideal for such a road system, as the following report describes:“I say the ‘flat ground’ of the city, but instead it is anything else but flat. Light undulations, little hills, mounds, bumps, dips and little valleys in the ground bring a truly picturesque variety to the buildings and to the streets, which therefore never appear similar to one another. They offer suitable areas and remarkable positions in which to make public buildings prominent. In short, it is a ground so made that it would be the torment of a builder from Turin, the horror of an engineer from America, but would be dreamt of by an architect who is truly artistic, a lover of the picturesque, and an enemy of uniformity.”The visitor was R. Paoli. A translation of a selection from his travel logs can be found in Denison et al.: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 33Nevertheless, Italian planners chose to implement a grid system for Asmara’s roads. It would be a symbol of how the “civilized” brought order to the organically developed neighborhoods of the natives,The fact that the local districts would emerge "organically" was less of an urban strategy than a neglect of the Eritreans by the Italian colonial administration (See Asmara — Africa's Secret Modernist City, pg. 33) and would, in this way, highlight the so-called superiority of the colonizers. Urban Plan for Asmara in 1913 Above all, the first city plans should be seen as an expression of the power relations between two groups. The plan from 1902 had already divided the city into three zones: a zone for Italians which included the city center, a zone centered on the traditional market meant for other European groups like Greeks and Jews, and an unplanned zone for indigenous folks, located outside of the northern city border.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 42 A fourth zone for industry was envisaged in the next plan of 1908.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 6 Additional plans by planner Cavagniari, which were decided upon in 1913 and 1916 respectively, strengthened the principle of racial separation, which then became increasingly more rigid during the beginning of the fascist era in the 1920s.Rodwell: Asmara: Conservation and Development in a Historic City, pg. 5 The plans saw Asmara first and foremost as a new home for qualified skilled laborers from Italy. The spatial model of the garden city would be applied to the new European quarter, and would include broad, tree-lined boulevards, residential streets, and houses situated behind Bougainvillea hedges, built so that they did not crowd one another. Similarly, Asmara became an Italian city, prompting Eritrean journalist Emanuel Sahle to say: “Now Eritrean mothers who travel to Rome to see their relatives there wonder at how the citizens of Rome dared imitate ‘our dear and beautiful Asmera [sic].’” The fact that Eritreans could express appropriation and affection in this way may  sound astonishing, as Asmara was not only predominantly Italian, but Eritreans themselves could only make limited use of the capital. The institutionalized racial separation central to Italian colonial politics was not designed to account for the indigenous population, who would be displaced as the expansion of the industrial zone reached the unplanned quarters to the north.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 7 Eritreans who owned property in the city center, or the European quarter, were forced to move out and sell their land. In 1908, the Governor issued a decree that, in the interest of promoting and maintaining “public order”, declared that the first zone was meant only for Italians and citizens from other European countries, whereas the sudditi coloniali, or the “colonial subjects”, were only allowed in the indigenous quarter and the mixed Market zone.Chelati Dirar: From warriors to urban dwellers: Ascari and the military factor in the urban development of colonial Eritrea, pg. 533 Only the Askari, indigenous soldiers who served in colonial troops, were allowed to build their huts in areas near the Italian residences, where conditions were better than those endured by their compatriots.The campi-famiglia directive allowed each Askari to build their own house. Under the supervision of Italian engineers, the soldier was to build the house with local building materials. In: Chelati Dirar: From warriors to urban dwellers: Ascari and the military factor in the urban development of colonial Eritrea, pg. 533 The untypical proximity of the Askari to the Italians illustrates the deep trust of the Italian administration in the indigenous troops. In 1926, colonial minister, Luigi Federzoni, described the Eritrean regiments as “the most solid, effective and safe pillar of our military might in all our African colonies.”From a letter from Federzoni to Mussolini, dated November 24, 1926. Source: Palumbo: A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture, pg. 88 This relationship lasted throughout the Italian occupation of Eritrea, and is more than likely an important factor in determining the good-naturedness of Eritreans toward Italians today. alt=|Asmara Theatre in the 1920s The first plans led to a phase of intensive building, which ultimately resulted in an increase of Asmara’s population from between 800 and 1,900 peopleTesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 39 to more than 8,500 people in 1905, of which around 1,500 were white. This dramatic population increase exacerbated both a growth in trade and a rise in employment opportunities, as well as an upsurge in the number of  people moving from rural areas to cities. In 1910, the city’s population had grown to around 37,000 people.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 44 During this period of growth, many important buildings cropped up, including the Palast des Gouverneurs (today the residence of the president), the first Italian school, the cathedral, the theater, and the high court, all of which are located on the centralized Corso del Re, later known as the Viale Mussolini, and even later as Harnet Avenue. Asmara’s road system and the important connections between Asmara and the cities of Keren and Decamhare were also built during this time period, along with the Massawa-Asmara-Railroad Line, which was finally finished in 1911.
Italian invasion On August 3, 1889, Italian troops took advantage of Alula’s absence, the power vacuum left as a result of Emperor Yohannes’ death, and the havoc wreaked by three years of famine and took over the small city.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 34 They built their fort on a hill in the village of Beit Mekae, forcing the inhabitants of this village to resettle nearby . At the time of General Baldisera’s arrival, the small town had 3000 inhabitants and consisted of traditional mud huts, Agdos and Hidmos. Above all, the military fort at Beit Mekae was a strategic point when it came to controlling the local population; it also served as a military strongpoint from which local uprisings, which were largely directed against the government’s power of eminent domain, could be suppressed.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 5 Eritrea officially became an Italian colony in 1890 and Massawa – already the seat of the colonial administration since 1885 – was declared the capital. At this time, because of the danger of insurrection in the highlands, Asmara was not even in the running to become the capital of the new colony. Furthermore, Bizzon explains that Asmara was not developed enough to serve as the capital: “Politically, militarily, and even logistically, the distance between Massawa and Asmara is greater than the distance between Italy and Massawa.”Bizzoni: L’Eritrea – nel passato e nel presente (Quoted in: Denison et al.: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 24) The lack of an infrastructural link to Massawa prevented Asmara from developing quickly. [[File:Fort_Baldisera_(Asmara)_overlooking_the_Hamasien_plateau.jpg|alt=|Fort Baldisera (Asmara) overlooking the Hamasien plateau].] That, despite all of this, Asmara rose to significance has to do with the goals of Italian colonization. The interest in the occupation of Eritrea lay, on the one hand, in the settlement of Italian citizens who were able to strengthen the economy of their motherland through development of the colony, and on the other hand, to use Eritrea as a military base from which the expansion of the colony could take place.Almedom: Re-reading the Short and Long-Rigged History of Eritrea 1941–1952: Back to the Future?, pg. 108 The Ethiopian Empire was one of the last uncolonized regions of Africa, and the vision of a strong, modern Italian nation after the successes of the Risorgimento, would require the acquisition of colonies if the country to become a European superpower, and to affirm the autonomy of the young kingdom.Fuller: Italy's Colonial Futures: Colonial Inertia and Postcolonial Capital in Asmara, pg. 2 Colonial politics brought about the government’s claim to eminent domain as well as the realization of many noteworthy infrastructure projects. As a result of the takeover of Asmara by foreign militaries and because of the employment opportunities within infrastructure projects throughout Eritrea, the population of Asmara itself shrunk from 1500 to 800 inhabitants during the first five years of the Italian occupation (but since then has always increased, mainly when the Italian Eritreas's capital was moved from Massawa) . However, it remained an important market town on the Hamasien Plateau. The construction of the Massawa-Asmara-Railroad as well as a funicular railroad built along the same stretch that could transport heavy loads, finally allowed the Italians to use Asmara as a new base in the highlands. Becoming the Capital of Eritrea alt=|Map of Asmara in 1895 With the arrival of the first governor, Ferdinando Martini, in 1897 and after advances in the invasion of the highlands, Asmara was declared the capital of the colony of Eritrea. Asmara offered a strategic military position in the highlands opposite Massawa, fortifications at the residences of Alula and Baldissera, and an increase in the quality and quantity of transportation connections in the region. The potential that the city could become a cultural-historical hub did not play any role in the decision to make Asmara into the capital. Only a few modern buildings like the Commissariato, a small jail, the troop commanders’ Villa, a club for Italian officers, and several houses and roads were built before 1900.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 41 The First City Plan The first city plan for Asmara was introduced under Martini in 1902. At the center of the plan was a grid system, even though the topography of the city was not ideal for such a road system, as the following report describes:“I say the ‘flat ground’ of the city, but instead it is anything else but flat. Light undulations, little hills, mounds, bumps, dips and little valleys in the ground bring a truly picturesque variety to the buildings and to the streets, which therefore never appear similar to one another. They offer suitable areas and remarkable positions in which to make public buildings prominent. In short, it is a ground so made that it would be the torment of a builder from Turin, the horror of an engineer from America, but would be dreamt of by an architect who is truly artistic, a lover of the picturesque, and an enemy of uniformity.”The visitor was R. Paoli. A translation of a selection from his travel logs can be found in Denison et al.: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 33Nevertheless, Italian planners chose to implement a grid system for Asmara’s roads. It would be a symbol of how the “civilized” brought order to the organically developed neighborhoods of the natives,The fact that the local districts would emerge "organically" was less of an urban strategy than a neglect of the Eritreans by the Italian colonial administration (See Asmara — Africa's Secret Modernist City, pg. 33) and would, in this way, highlight the so-called superiority of the colonizers. Urban Plan for Asmara in 1913 Above all, the first city plans should be seen as an expression of the power relations between two groups. The plan from 1902 had already divided the city into three zones: a zone for Italians which included the city center, a zone centered on the traditional market meant for other European groups like Greeks and Jews, and an unplanned zone for indigenous folks, located outside of the northern city border.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 42 A fourth zone for industry was envisaged in the next plan of 1908.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 6 Additional plans by planner Cavagniari, which were decided upon in 1913 and 1916 respectively, strengthened the principle of racial separation, which then became increasingly more rigid during the beginning of the fascist era in the 1920s.Rodwell: Asmara: Conservation and Development in a Historic City, pg. 5 The plans saw Asmara first and foremost as a new home for qualified skilled laborers from Italy. The spatial model of the garden city would be applied to the new European quarter, and would include broad, tree-lined boulevards, residential streets, and houses situated behind Bougainvillea hedges, built so that they did not crowd one another. Similarly, Asmara became an Italian city, prompting Eritrean journalist Emanuel Sahle to say: “Now Eritrean mothers who travel to Rome to see their relatives there wonder at how the citizens of Rome dared imitate ‘our dear and beautiful Asmera [sic].’” The fact that Eritreans could express appropriation and affection in this way may now sound astonishing, as Asmara was not only predominantly Italian, but Eritreans themselves could only make limited use of the capital. The institutionalized "nationalistic" separation central to Italian colonial politics was not designed to account for the indigenous population, who would be displaced as the expansion of the industrial zone reached the unplanned quarters to the north.Gebremedhin: Asmara – Africa’s Secret Modernist City, pg. 7 Eritreans who owned property in the city center, or the European quarter, were forced to move out and sell their land. In 1908, the Governor issued a decree that, in the interest of promoting and maintaining “public order”, declared that the first zone was meant only for Italians and citizens from other European countries, whereas the sudditi coloniali, or the “colonial subjects”, were only allowed in the indigenous quarter and the mixed Market zone.Chelati Dirar: From warriors to urban dwellers: Ascari and the military factor in the urban development of colonial Eritrea, pg. 533 Only the Askari, indigenous soldiers who served in colonial troops, were allowed to build their huts in areas near the Italian residences, where conditions were better than those endured by their compatriots.The campi-famiglia directive allowed each Askari to build their own house. Under the supervision of Italian engineers, the soldier was to build the house with local building materials. In: Chelati Dirar: From warriors to urban dwellers: Ascari and the military factor in the urban development of colonial Eritrea, pg. 533 The untypical proximity of the Askari to the Italians illustrates the deep trust of the Italian administration in the indigenous troops. In 1926, colonial minister, Luigi Federzoni, described the Eritrean regiments as “the most solid, effective and safe pillar of our military might in all our African colonies.”From a letter from Federzoni to Mussolini, dated November 24, 1926. Source: Palumbo: A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture, pg. 88 This relationship lasted throughout the Italian occupation of Eritrea, and is more than likely an important factor in determining the good-naturedness of Eritreans toward Italians today. alt=|Asmara Theatre in the 1920s The first plans led to a phase of intensive building, which ultimately resulted in an increase of Asmara’s population from between 800 and 1,900 peopleTesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 39 to more than 8,500 people in 1905, of which around 1,500 were white. This dramatic population increase exacerbated both a growth in trade and a rise in employment opportunities, as well as an upsurge in the number of native people moving from rural areas to cities. After only a few years, in 1910, the city’s population had grown to around 37,000 people.Tesfagiorgis: Eritrea – Africa in Focus, pg. 44 During this period of growth, many important buildings cropped up, including the Palazzo del Governatore (today the residence of the president), the first Italian school, the cathedral, the theater, and the high court, all of which are located on the centralized Corso del Re, later known as the Viale Mussolini, and even later as Harnet Avenue. Asmara’s road system and the important connections between Asmara and the cities of Keren and Decamhare were also built during this time period, along with the Massawa-Asmara-Railroad Line, which was finally finished in 1911.
R
elsewhere
nearby
R
5000
1500
A
(but since then has always increased, mainly when the Italian Eritreas's capital was moved from Massawa)
A
and roads
R
Racial Segregation and the
The
A
now
R
racial
"nationalistic"
A
native
R
In
After only a few years, in
R
Palast des Gouverneurs
Palazzo del Governatore