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Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. (2025). 9781741044362, Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781741044362 It has been a historically important port for many centuries. Massawa has been ruled or occupied by a succession of polities during its history, including the Dahlak Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire, the Khedivate of Egypt and the Kingdom of Italy.
Massawa was the capital of the Italian Italian Eritrea until the seat of the colonial government was moved to Asmara in 1897.
Massawa has an average temperature of nearly , which is one of the highest experienced in the world, and is "one of the hottest marine coastal areas in the world."
From the 14th century onward, Massawa attracted increased interest from Christian highland rulers. During periods of political consolidation, Ethiopian rulers expanded their influence up to Massawa, competing with the ruler of Dahlak. War songs of Emperor Yeshaq I mention campaigns to Massawa, where he subdued the deputy of Dahlak. Emperor Zara Yaqob, after consolidating control over the nearby highlands, appears to have reached Massawa in the mid-15th century. He fortified the Gerer peninsula, opposite of the island city, according to a chronicle of Addi Néýammén. It is also reported that both Massawa and Dahlak were pillaged by the Abyssinians in 1464/65, during which "the qadi" was killed (likely a powerful chief official of Massawa).
Massawa only irregularly paid tribute to the Abyssinian rulers of the adjacent highlands, such as the Bahr Negash or the governor of the coastal provinces, but it remained connected to the ruler of Dahlak, who himself was a vassal of the Sultan in Aden.
In June 1855, Emperor Tewodros II informed the British Consul, Walter Plowden, of his intention to occupy Tigray Province and make himself master of "the tribes along the coast", he also informed Frederick Bruce that he was determined to seize the port because it was being used by the Turks as "a deposit for kidnapped Christian children" who were being exported as slaves. Both Bruce and Plowden were sympathetic to the Emperor, but the Foreign Office, who considered the Ottomans to be a useful British ally, refused to support the proposed Ethiopian annexation.
In May 1865, Massawa, and later much of the Northeast African coast of the Red Sea, came under the rule of the Khedive of Egypt with Ottoman consent. The Egyptians originally had a poor opinion of Massawa. Many of the buildings were in a poor state of repair and the Egyptian troops were forced to stay in tents. Sanitary conditions were likewise poor and cholera was endemic. Such considerations caused the Egyptians to contemplate abandonment of the port in favour of nearby Zula. However, the Egyptian governor, Werner Munzinger, was determined to improve the conditions of the port and began a programme of reconstruction. Work began in March 1872 when a new government building and customs house was constructed, and by June a school and a hospital was also established by the Egyptians. Causeways were also constructed to connect the islands and the coast.
Egyptian control of Massawa was threatened following the defeat at the Battle of Gura. After the Egyptian-Ethiopian War, Emperor Yohannes IV reportedly demanded that the Egyptians should cede both Zula and Arkiko and pay Ethiopia two million pounds in reparations or, failing this sum, grant him the port of Massawa. The Egyptians refused these demands and Yohannes ordered Ras Alula with 30,000 men to advanced on the port. The population was said to have been "much alarmed" at the Ethiopian show of force, however Alula soon returned to the highlands and the Egyptian control of the coastline remained unbroken.
Many buildings in Massawa were designed and constructed by the Italians, who made a conscious effort to preserve the city's architectural heritage. Although most old structures had to be rebuilt or repaired, they retained their original scale and physical characteristics, as seen in the old Grand Mosque, Gami’ al-Khulafa ar-Rashidin. The Italians also maintained the layout of the city’s streets, preserving the irregular pattern of narrow, dense alleyways, which remains a defining feature of Massawa today. However, most of the city was completely destroyed by the 1921 earthquake. Post-1921 buildings were constructed using reinforced concrete, often faced with coral block or cement plaster, and typically featured multiple storeys with the character being more European. Between 1887 and 1932, they expanded the Eritrean Railway, connecting Massawa with Asmara and then Bishia near the Sudan border, and completed the Asmara-Massawa Cableway. At long, it was the longest ropeway conveyor in the world at the time.
In 1928, Massawa had 15,000 inhabitants, of which 2,500 were Italians: the city was improved with an architectural plan similar to the one in Asmara, with a commercial and industrial area. With the rise of Fascism a segregation policy was implemented and with the passing of the "racial laws" soon became a real system of apartheid. Natives were segregated from residential areas, bars and restaurants reserved for the white population. However these laws did not stop relationships between Italian men and Eritrean women in the colonial territories. The result was a growing number of meticci (mulattos). Though the chief port of Italian Eritrea, Emilio De Bono who inspected the harbor in 1932 reported that the port had to be reconditioned as it was "absolutely lacking in wharves and facilities for the rapid landing and discharge of cargoes." As a result, the quays were widened, the breakwater lengthened to enable the simultaneous discharge of five steamers and the harbour was equipped with two large cranes.
During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Massawa served as a base for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which caused the town to be flooded with Italian soldiers. An American journalist reported at the height of the invasion, "The streets had obviously sprung up over night. Men slept in completely open barracks - just a skeleton frame-work of wood with galvanized iron roof." After the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Massawa underwent significant and rapid development. The 115-km road to Asmara was improved, and an aerial cableway connecting Massawa with Asmara was constructed. The railway was extended to Taulud, and infrastructure projects included an electric power plant, fuel depots, a cement factory, new residential areas, a naval base on the Abdalqader Peninsula, and a military airport. By 1938, Massawa had 15,000 civilian inhabitants, including 4,000 Italians, along with thousands of soldiers passing through the city.
Following the end of World War II, the port of Massawa suffered damage as the occupying British either dismantled or destroyed much of the facilities. These actions were protested by Sylvia Pankhurst in her book Eritrea on the Eve.
In 1977–78, Massawa was under siege by the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), but the attacks were repelled by the Ethiopian garrison.
In February 1990, Massawa was captured by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in a surprise attack from both land and sea during the Operation Fenkil. The battle utilized both infiltrated commandos and speed boats and resulted in the complete destruction of the Ethiopian 606th Corps. The success of this attack cut the major supply line to the Second Ethiopian Army in Asmara, which then had to be supplied by air. In response, the then leader of Ethiopia Mengistu Haile Mariam ordered Massawa bombed from the air, resulting in considerable damage.
During the Eritrean–Ethiopian War the port was inactive, primarily due to the closing of the Eritrean-Ethiopian border which cut off Massawa from its traditional hinterlands. A large grain vessel donated by the United States, containing 15,000 tonnes of relief food, which docked at the port late in 2001, was the first significant shipment handled by the port since the war began.
In addition, the city's air transportation needs are served by the Massawa International Airport.
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