Discover

'Massawa', formerly known as 'Mitsiwa' (Ge'ez ምጽዋ ''miṣṣiwa'', Arabic مصوع ''maṣṣawaʿ'', Italian Massaua) and 'Batsiʿ' (Ge'ez ባጽዕ ''bāṣiʿ'', [Eritrean spelling reform], formerly ባፅዕ ''bāṣ́iʿ'') or Badi (Arabic بِضع ''baḍiʿ'') is a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. Important for many centuries, it has been colonised by Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Britain and finally Ethiopia until 1991. It became the capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea until this was moved to Asmara in 1900.

Contents

History

Other features

References

History

Massawa is first mentioned in the Royal Chronicle of Emperor Yeshaq of Ethiopia, when the Emperor's deputy stationed there revolted in the 15th century.^[2]. For most of its history, it was little more than a seaside village, lying in lands that pertained to the Kingdom of Axum in ancient times and overshadowed by the nearby port of Adulis about 50Kms to the south. Following the fall of Axum in the 8th century, the area around Massawa became embattled by the islamic forces emerging in the region (Arabs and later Beja peoples) and mutually rival post-Axumite christian forces from the region of Abyssinia (commonly generalized as ''Ethiopian''). In this time, Eritrea's oldest mosque, the Sheikh Hanafi mosque, was built on Massawa Island along with several other works of early islamic architecture both in and around Massawa (in the Dahlak archipelago and Zula peninsula).
Massawa became prominent in the late 16th century when it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1557, who made it the capital of Habesh, a province intended to cover all of Ethiopia but remained mainly around what is now Eritrea. Under Özdemur Pasha Ottoman troops then attempted to conquer the rest of Eritrea and the province of Tigray
in Ethiopia. Due to the resistance of the Ethiopians and highland (christian) Eritreans, as well as military demands in the Mediterranean and on the border with Persia, the Ottoman authorities placed the city and its immediate hinterlands under the control of one of the aristocrats of the Beja people, whom they appointed Naib of Massawa and answerable to the Ottoman governor at Suakin.^[3] The Ottomans nevertheless built the old town of Massawa on Massawa Island into a prominent port on the Red Sea in typical Islamic Ottoman architecture using dry corals for walls, roof and foundation as well as imported wood for beams, window shutters and balconies. These buildings and the old town of Massawa remain to this day despite having weathered both
earthquakes and wars including aerial bombardment.
During the 19th century, along with much of the African coast of the Red Sea, Massawa was ruled by Egypt with Ottoman consent. Following the Egyptian defeat at the Battle of Gura, Egyptian control of the port withered, and with the help of the British, Massawa came under Italian control as part of their colony of Eritrea in 1885. In 1921 most of the City and Port of Massawa was destroyed by the Massawa Earthquake; the ports were unable to fully recover until 1928,^[4] hampering the Italian colonial ambitions. The Italian colonialists had nevertheless built Massawa to become the largest and safest port on the east coast of Africa, and the largest deep-water port on the Red Sea.
Italy was allied to the Axis powers during World War II and a large number of Italian and German ships attempted to block the then Italian harbor of Massawa. The ships were salvaged and the port was returned to service by U.S. Navy Captain Edward Ellsberg in 1942 as part of what had now become the British protectorate of Eritrea. Following the end of the war, the port of Massawa suffered further damage as the occupying British either dismantled or destroyed much of the facilities, actions that Sylvia Pankhurst protested in her book ''Eritrea on the Eve''.^[5] Previously landlocked Ethiopia briefly enjoyed the use of Massawa as the headquarters of the now defunct Ethiopian Navy between 1952 (when Eritrea entered into a federation with Ethiopia) and 1990
during which Ethiopia dismantled the federation and forcibly annexed and occupied Eritrea leading to the Eritrean War of Independence (1961-1991). Units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front captured Massawa in a surprise attack from both land and sea in February 1990. Their success 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, although as of 2005 this is currently being rebuilt by the Eritrean government.
With Eritrea's defacto independence (complete military liberation) in 1991, Ethiopia reverted to being landlocked and its Navy
was dismantled (partially taken over by the nascent national navy of Eritrea).

Other features

Massawa is also home to a naval base, large dhow docks, the Massawa International Airport and a railway line to Asmara. Ferries sail to the Dahlak Islands and nearby Green Island.
Notable buildings in the city include the shrine of Sahaba^[6] and the fifteenth century Sheikh Hanafi Mosque and various houses of coral. Many Ottoman buildings survive, such as the bazaar. Later buildings include the Imperial Palace, built in 1872 to 1874 for Werner Munzinger; St Mariam Cathedral; the 1930s Villa Melotti and the 1920s Banco d'Italia. The Eritrean War of Independence is commemorated in a memorial of three tanks in the middle of Massawa.

References

1. Identification and evaluation of reuse-oriented sanitation concepts for Massawa, Eritrea
2. The Historical Geography of Ethiopia: From the First Century AD to 1704, , G. W. B., Huntingford, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-726055-1
3. Richard Pankhurst, ''The Ethiopian borderlands'' (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 270.
4. Historical Dictionary of Eritrea, , Tom, Killion, The Scarecrow Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8108-3437-5
5. Also detailed in the chapter "The Feminist Fuzzy-Wuzzy" of Michela Wong's ''I didn't do it for you: how the world betrayed a small African nation'' (New York: Harper-Perennial, 2005), pp. 116-150.
6. Massawa: A Guide to the Built Environment, , Naigzy, Gebremedhin, Francescana Printing Press, ,