History of Massawa

Italian rule

The Italians at the end of the 19th century created a modern port in Massaua for their newly created colony of Italian Eritrea. From 1885 Massaua was the Italian administrative capital of Eritrea, and Asmara was made the capital city of Eritrea in preference to Massawa by Governor Martini only in 1897.

But 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, hampering initially the Italian colonial ambitions.

. Moreover, under the Italians was also built the Massaua-Asmara Ropeway conveyor too, 75 km long, at that time the world's longest rope way conveyor.

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. They even constructed between 1887 and 1932 the Eritrean Railway and connected the port of Massawa with Bishia near the Sudan border.

In 1938 Massaua had 15,000 inhabitants, of which nearly 2,000 were Italians: the city was improved with an architectural plan similar to the one in Asmara, with a commercial and industrial area.

Italy was one of the Axis powers during World War II and Massawa was the homeport for the Red Sea Flotilla of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina). When the city fell during the East African Campaign, a large number of Italian and German ships were sunk in an attempt to block use of Massawa's harbor.

From 15 April 1942, later master diver and salvage specialist RNR Lieutenant Peter Keeble (then a complete rookie in both disciplines) was assigned to the clearing of the harbour. He succeeded only in the simple task of salvaging an ex-Italian