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Asmara

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Asmara

ኣስመራAsmera

Piccola Roma - ፒኮላ ሮማ
Panorama o Asmara
Panorama o Asmara
Eik-name(s):
Piccola Roma "Little Roum"
Asmara is located in Eritrea
Asmara
Asmara
Map o Asmara in Eritrea
Coordinates:15°20′N38°56′E/ 15.333°N 38.933°E/15.333; 38.933Coordinates:15°20′N38°56′E/ 15.333°N 38.933°E/15.333; 38.933
KintraEritrea
RegionMaekel Region
Destricts13
DemonymAsmarino/Asmarinos
Govrenment
• Mayor o AsmaraSemere Russom
• Mayor o ZobaTewelde Kelati
Area
• Laund12158.1 km2(4,694.3 sq mi)
Elevation
2325 m (7628 ft)
Population
(2009)[1]
• Total649,000
• Density53.38/km2(138.3/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+3(EAT)

Asmara(Arabic:أسمرة‎,Tigrinya:ኣስመራ,Asmera), lang syne kent asAsmera,meanin "They (feminine plural) makkit them unite" inTigrinya) is thecaipitalan lairgest ceety inEritrea,hame tae a population o aroond 579,000 fowk. At an elevation o 2,325 metres (7,628 ft), Asmara is on the edge o anescarpmentthat is baith the northwastren edge o theGreat Rift Valleyan o theEritrean hielands.Textilesan clothin,processed meat,beer,shoes,anceramicsare the major industrial products.

Asmara wis born oot o a union o fower villages that teuk place durin the twalt century. Oreeginally, it is said, thare wur fower clans livin in the Asmara aurie on the Kebessa Plateau: Gheza Gurtom, Gheza Shelele, Gheza Serenser an Gheza Asmae. Encouraged bi thair weemen, the men unitit the fower clans an defeatit the bandits who preyed on the aurie. Efter the victory, a new name wis gien tae the place, Arbaete Asmera which literally means, in the Tigrinya leic, "they (females) unitit fower". Eventually Arbaete wis dropped an it became cawed bi the italianized version o the wird — Asmara — tho thare is still a zone cawed Arbaete Asmera. The wastrenized version o the name is uised bi a majority o non-Eritreans, while the multilingual indwallers o Eritrea an neighborin fowks remain loyal tae the oreeginal pronunciation.[2]

Asmara Roman Catholic Cathedral (St Joseph's Cathedral)
Panorama o modren Asmara
Cinema Impero, biggit in 1937 "Italian Art Deco"

The missionary Remedius Prutky passed throu Asmara in 1751, an describit in his memoirs that a kirk biggit thare biJesuitpriests 130 years afore wis still intact.[3]

Asmara, which wis pairt o the independent kinrick o Medri Bahri, wad briefly come unner the occupation o the Breetish backed an supported Yohannes IV o what wad nou be cawed Ethiopie. Unner his brief an brutal occupation, he gae his trustit Ras Alula the title o governor o Medri Bahri, tae which the fowk resistit. The leaders o Asmara despised his occupation an focht in a hauf a decade lang protractit guerrilla warfare tae free themselves frae his brief occupation, tae which thay eventually became successfu. But the war caused a lot o sufferin an Asmara wis amaist desertit.[4]

Asmara acquired importance whan it wis occupied biItalyin 1889 an became the naitional caipital in 1897. In the early 20t century, a railwey line wis biggit tae the coast, passin throu the toun oGhinda,unner the direction o CarloCavanna.In baith1913an1915the ceety suffered ae slicht damage in lairge earthquakes.[5]In the late 1930s the Italians chynged the face o the toun, wi a new structur an new buildings: Asmara wis cawedPiccola Roma(Little Roum).[6]

While Eritrea wis unner Italian colonial rule, architecturally conservative early-20t-century Europeans uised Asmara "tae experiment wi radical new designs."[7]Nouadays the major pairt o buildings are o Italian oreegin, an shops still hae Italian names (e.g.,Bar Vittoria,Pasticceria moderna,Casa del formaggio,anFerramenta).

Asmara wis populatit bi a numerous Italian community an consequently the ceety acquired an Italian airchitectural leuk. The ceety o Asmara haed a population o 98,000, o which 53,000 wurItalian Eritreansaccordin tae the Italian census o 1939. This fact made Asmara the main "Italian toun" o theItalian empirein Africae. In aw Eritrea the Italians wur 75,000 in that year.[1]

Mony industrial investments wur made biItalyin Asmara, but the beginnin oWarld War IIstopped the blossomin industrialization o the aurie.

Italy wis defeatit in 1941, an the Breetish administered the ceety frae 1941 tae 1952. In 1952, the Unitit Naitions resolved tae federate the umwhile colony unner Ethiopian rule. In 1961, emperorHaile Selassie Iendit the "federal" arrangement an declared the territory tae be the 14t province o theEthiopian Empire.[2]

Durin the Eritrean war for unthirldom frae Ethiopie,Asmara's airportbecame a key in the conflict, as it wis uised bi the Ethiopians tae obtain airms an supplies frae ootside supporters. The last toun tae faw tae theEritrean Fowkliberation Frontin theEritrean War o Independence,it wis besieged in 1990 an wis surrendered biMilitary o Ethiopietroops athoot a fecht on Mey 24, 1991.

The ceety wis hame tae the US Airmy'sKagnew Stationinstallation frae 1943 till 1977.

In Asmara the main leid isTigrinya.Inglis,Arabic,anItalianare widely spoken an unnerstood.

Sister ceeties

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References

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  1. "CIA - The World Factbook".Archived fraethe originalon 15 Mey 2020.Retrieved8 Julie2011.Archived2020-05-15 at theWayback Machine
  2. abEncyclopedia of Urban Cultures.Grolier Publishing Co., 2002.
  3. J.H. Arrowsmith-Brown, translator and editor,Prutky's Travels to Ethiopia and Other Countries(London: Hakluyt Society, 1991), p. 78.
  4. Asmara during Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes, history of the horn
  5. Ambrayses, Nicholas (1994).The Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea: A Historical Review.Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-39120-2.Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)
  6. "Italian architectural planification of Asmara (in Italian) p. 64-66"(PDF).Archived fraethe original(PDF)on 7 Apryle 2020.Retrieved18 November2010.
  7. Asmara useful for experimenting with radical designs for Europeans