Massawa

Portuguese influence

In the struggle for domination of the Red Sea the Portuguese succeeded in establishing a foothold in Massawa (Maçua) and Arkiko^[11] in 1513 by Diogo Lopes de Albergaria, a port by which they entered the allied territory of Ethiopia in the fight against the Ottomans. King Manuel I first gave orders for the construction of a fortress that was never built. However, during Portuguese presence, it was lifted as well as the existing cisterns and wells for the Portuguese Navy watery.^[12] It was drawn by D. João de Castro in 1541 in his "Roteiro do Mar Roxo"^[13] in their route to attack El Tor and Suez. The captain of the Arkiko was the Portuguese Gonçalo Ferreira, second port on the coast that guaranteed the presence and maintenance of the Portuguese fleets, whenever the port of Massawa was threatened by the Turkish presence.^[12] In 1541 the Adalites ambushed the Portuguese at the Battle of Massawa.^[14]

Ottoman rule

Massawa rose to prominence when it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1557.^[15] The Ottomans tried to make it the capital of Habesh Eyalet. Under Özdemir Pasha, Ottoman troops then attempted to conquer the rest of Eritrea. Due to resistance as well as sudden and unexpected demands for more, the Ottomans did not conquer the rest of Eritrea. The Ottoman authorities then tried to place the city and its immediate hinterlands under the control of one of the aristocrats of the Balaw people, whom they wanted to appoint "Naib of Massawa" and almost made answerable to the Ottoman governor at Suakin.^[16] In the city's administration, the local qadi of the sharia court occupied a powerful position in the region, as documented starting from the 16th century to the 19th century his jurisdiction extended over a wide areas from the Habab in the north to the northern Afar coast. Ottoman interest in the city was revived in the early 19th century, when in 1809 a Turkish governor was appointed, and in 1813–23 an Egyptian one. From then on Ottoman governors were appointed regularly, and the naibs lost a part of their influence.^[17]

In June 1855, Emperor Tewodros II informed the British Consul, Walter Plowden, of his intention to occupy Tigray 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.^[18]

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.^[19]

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.^[20]

Italian colonization

The British, feeling that the Egyptians were in no position to hold the port, and being unwilling to occupy it themselves or see it fall into the hands of the French, concurred in its seizure by the Italians in February 1885. In 1885–1897, Massawa (in the Italian spelling: 'Massaua') served as the capital of the region, before Governor Ferdinando Martini moved his administration to Asmara. However, the Italians' disastrous defeat at Adwa ended their hopes of expanding further into the Ethiopian highlands.^[21]

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 75 kilometres (47 mi) long, it was the longest ropeway conveyor in the world at the time.^[22][23]

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.^[24][25]

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."^[26] 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.^[27]

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.^[28]

Ethiopian rule

Under the Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation (1952–62), Massawa developed as a naval base with American assistance. During this period, an Orthodox Church and a mosque were built. Unlike in other predominantly Muslim areas of Eritrea, part of Massawa's population supported Eritrea’s union with Ethiopia, viewing it as beneficial for trade and based on historical experience. However, Ethiopian interference in local administration and the increasing dominance of Christians led to various forms of protest, including docker strikes in 1954. Export products of Massawa at the time included fish (among them shark fins for export to China), pearls, tortoiseshells, and sea cucumbers (purchased by Japanese companies for export to China). The Imperial Palace of Massawa, located on Taulud Island, was established as Haile Selassie's winter palace. The population of Massawa increased greatly during the Ethiopian period, from 21,300 inhabitants in 1962 to c. 60,000 in the mid-1980s.^[29]

Political corruption and infrastructure deterioration under Ethiopian rule caused widespread discontentment in Eritrea. Andargachew Messai ordered the demolition of the Asmara-Massawa Cableway so that its parts can be sold to foreign companies. The destruction of the cableway led to the perception that the Ethiopians were plundering Eritrea. In the 1950s, the newspaper Hanti Eritrea owned by Woldeab Woldemariam commented on the Ethiopian occupation of Eritrea as follows:

The Shoans are not familiar with money economy, agriculture and administration; and they will not be familiar with those areas of development in the near future. Thus, since the Shoan regime is a house built on bad foundations, it cannot rule its own people properly let alone govern the Eritrean people who are more civilized than the Amhara. Take, for instance, the roads the Italians built for them. They are going bad and the Amhara do not know how to maintain them.^[30]

This growing discontentment led to all political parties being banned in 1956, however in 1958 massive popular strikes and protests occurred in Massawa to protest against Ethiopian policies in Eritrea. This was brutally suppressed by the Imperial Ethiopian Army, which killed hundreds of people.^[31]

In 1977–78, Massawa was under siege by the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), but the attacks were repelled by the Ethiopian garrison.^[32] After this, the Ethiopians purposely let the port fall into disrepair and opened another farther south and closer to their own borders in Assab, this resulted in the popular Eritrean saying: "The Italians built Eritrea, the British dismantled it and the Ethiopians destroyed it."^[33]

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 shelling and aerial bombardment of Massawa, resulting in most of the city becoming completely destroyed.^[34]

Eritrean independence

With Eritrea's de facto 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). Despite this, Massawa remained largely in ruins, Donatella Lorch of The New York Times described the city in 1993:

Mortar blasts have torn through walls, most windows are shattered and the top floors of houses are caved in, a rubble of splintered beams. Charred palm trees line the streets, and parking lots have turned into graveyards of rusted cars and trucks. The one gasoline station in town has two skeletal pumps and the remains of a tank blasted to bits in the fighting. [...] The narrow alleyways hum with electric saws, and women sip thick black coffee as they sit on the dirt paths washing clothes and watching people walk by. The salt and cement factories are open again but working at far less than full capacity. The buildings are slowly being patched up, but there is still no housing for returning refugees. [...] But despite war and natural disaster, the people of Massawa have learned to make do. Hotels are open, even if the windows are shattered and the walls pocked by bullets. Volunteers sweep the streets daily. And the Mayor, who has not received a salary in two years, does not expect to get one soon.^[35]

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.^[36]

As of 2018, Massawa remains nearly deserted with decades of sanctions and isolationist policies causing trade to shrink and forcing much of the population to flee. However the harbour is of some use, serving to export copper and zinc from the nearby Bisha Mine while importing oil and consumer goods. Residents say that some months up to 10 ships arrive, and others, none.^[37][38]