Asmara (أسمرة), Eritrea

Grand Mosque of Asmara, Eritrea
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moschee_Asmara.JPG
Author: Reinhard Dietrich


Asmara (Arabic: أسمرة, Tigrinya: ኣስመራ) is the capital and largest city in Eritrea. Located 2,325 m (7,628 ft) above sea level, it covers 12,158 sq km (4,694.3 sq mi) and has a population of 650,000 people (2012 estimate).

Although most of the historic buildings in Asmara were built during the Italian colonial rule, the history of Asmara goes back as far as seven hundred years ago. It was a settlement of the Tigringa and Tigre tribe of natives. It was the provincial capital under local governor Ras Alula, who was entrusted the province by Emperor Yohannes IV. Under Ras Alula, Asmara grew into a bustling medieval town.

Street in Asmara, Eritrea
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asmara_street.jpg
Author: Jacopo


When the Italians occupied Eritrea in 1889, they made Asmara the capital. The appearance of the city underwent major facelift under the Italians, particularly in the 1930s, when they erected many new structures, mostly in the Art Deco style, earning Asmara the nickname of Piccola Roma or Little Rome.

The defeat of Italy in the Second World War brought the British to administer Asmara. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to have Eritrea annexed by Ethipia. The Eritreans were hostile to Ethiopian rule, and staged a violent struggle for independence which took the form of the Eritrean War of Independence. It brought independence to Eritrea in 1991. Asmara somehow escaped largely undamaged by the war, and once again became the national capital.

Asmara Central Market
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Market_(8352535920).jpg
Author: David Stanley

Visiting Asmara

The Asmara International Airport (ASM), formerly known as the Yohannes IV International Airport, is the gateway to Eritrea. It is a small airport that cannot take large aircrafts such as the 747 and A380. The airport gets fligths from Cairo, Dubai, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Karachi, Khartoum, Lahore, Nairobi, Port Sudan, Rome and Sana'a.

Places of Interest in Asmara

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.