Editing History of Eritrea (section)

==Italian Eritrea==
[[File:Bahta Hagos.jpeg|thumb|[[Bahta Hagos]] was an important leader of the Eritrean resistance to foreign domination specifically against northern Ethiopian and Italian colonialism.]]
{{main|Italian Eritrea|Italian East Africa}}
{{see also|History of Asmara}}

===Establishment===
[[File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg|thumb|right|Flag of [[Italian Eritrea]] ]]
The boundaries of the present-day Eritrea nation state were established during the [[Scramble for Africa]]. In 1869<ref name=Ully>[[Edward Ullendorff|Ullendorff, Edward]]. ''The Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People'' 2nd&nbsp;ed., p.&nbsp;90. [[Oxford University Press]] (London), 1965). {{ISBN|0-19-285061-X}}.</ref> or ’70, the then ruling Sultan of Raheita sold lands surrounding the Bay of [[Assab]] to the Rubattino Shipping Company.<ref name=EBAb>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Eritrea |volume=9 |page=747}}</ref> The area served as a [[coaling station]] along the [[shipping lane]]s introduced by the recently completed [[Suez Canal]]. It almost became a part of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Habesh Eyalet]] centered in [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]], though they withdrew from the place after the resistance of the Eritrean people.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Egypt/3 History |display=Egypt: Section III: History |volume=9 |page=90–119}}</ref> The first Italian settlers arrived in 1880.<ref name=EBAb/>

Later, as the Egyptians retreated out of Sudan during the [[Mahdist War|Mahdist rebellion]] and failed in their attempts take over the ports and other places on this coast, the [[United Kingdom|British]] brokered an agreement whereby the Egyptians could retreat through Ethiopia, and in exchange they would allow the Emperor to occupy those lowland districts that he had disputed with the Turks and Egyptians. Emperor [[Yohannes IV of Ethiopia|Yohannes IV]] believed this included Massawa, but instead, the port was handed by the British to the Italians, who united it with the already colonised port of [[Asseb]] to form a coastal Italian possession. The Italians took advantage of disorder in northern Ethiopia following the death of Emperor Yohannes IV in 1889 to occupy the highlands and established their new colony, henceforth known as Eritrea, and received recognition from [[Menelik II]], Ethiopia's new Emperor.

The Italian possession of maritime areas previously claimed by Abyssinia/Ethiopia was formalized in 1889 with the signing of the [[Treaty of Wuchale]] with [[Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia]] (r. 1889–1913) after the defeat of Italy by Ethiopia at the battle of [[Adwa|Adua]] where Italy launched an effort to expand its possessions from Eritrea into the more fertile Abyssinian hinterland. Menelik would later renounce the Wuchale Treaty as he had been tricked by the translators to agree to making the whole of Ethiopia into an Italian protectorate. However, he was forced by circumstance to live by the tenets of Italian sovereignty over Eritrea.

In the vacuum that followed the [[Battle of Gallabat|1889 death]] of [[Emperor of Ethiopia|Emperor]] [[Yohannes IV|Yohannes&nbsp;IV]], Gen.&thinsp;[[Oreste Baratieri]] occupied the highlands along the Eritrean coast and Italy proclaimed the establishment of the new colony of [[Italian Eritrea]], a colony of the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]]. In the [[Treaty of Wuchale]] (It.&nbsp;''Uccialli'') signed the same year, [[Menelik II of Ethiopia|King Menelik]] of [[Shewa]], a southern Ethiopian kingdom, recognized the Italian occupation of his rivals' lands of [[Bogos]], [[Hamasien]], [[Akkele Guzay]], and [[Serae]] in exchange for guarantees of financial assistance and continuing access to European arms and ammunition. His subsequent victory over his rival kings and enthronement as [[emperor of Ethiopia|Emperor]] [[Menelik II of Ethiopia|Menelek&nbsp;II]] (r.&nbsp;1889–1913) made the treaty formally binding upon the entire territory.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Abyssinia |volume=1 |pages=93–94}}</ref>
[[File:Asmara Church.jpeg|thumb|right|Church of Our Lady of the Rosary built in 1923 in [[Asmara]]]]

In 1888, the Italian administration launched its first development projects in the new colony. The [[Eritrean Railway]] was completed to [[Saati]] in 1888,<ref>Cf. engineer Emilio Olivieri's {{cite web|url=http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/la_ferrovia_massauasaati.htm |title=La Ferrovia Massaua-Saati |access-date=2013-10-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012032531/http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/la_ferrovia_massauasaati.htm |archive-date=2013-10-12 }} report on the construction of the Massawa–Saati Railway] (1888), hosted at ''Ferrovia Eritrea''. {{in lang|it}}</ref> and reached [[Asmara]] in the highlands in 1911.<ref>"[http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/contenuti.htm Eritrean Railway] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203050814/http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/contenuti.htm |date=2008-02-03 }}" at ''Ferrovia Eritrea''. {{in lang|it}}</ref> The [[Asmara-Massawa Cableway|Asmara–Massawa Cableway]] was the longest of its kind in the world when inaugurated in 1937. It was later dismantled by the British after World War II as [[war reparations]]. Besides major infrastructural projects, the colonial authorities invested significantly in the agricultural sector. It also oversaw the provision of urban amenities in Asmara and Massawa, and employed many Eritreans in public service, particularly in the police and public works departments.<ref>[http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/contenuti.htm Eritrea- Contenuti] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203050814/http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/contenuti.htm |date=2008-02-03 }}</ref>  Thousands of Eritreans were concurrently enlisted in the army, serving during the [[Italo-Turkish War]] in Libya as well as the [[First Italo-Ethiopian War|First]] and [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|second]] Italo-Abyssinian Wars.

Additionally, the Italian Eritrea administration opened a number of factories, which produced buttons, cooking oil, pasta, construction materials, packing meat, tobacco, hide and other household commodities. In 1939, there were around 2,198 factories and most of the employees were Eritrean citizens. The establishment of industries also made an increase in the number of both Italians and Eritreans residing in the cities. The number of Italians residing in the territory increased from 4,600 to 75,000 in five years; and with the involvement of Eritreans in the industries, trade and fruit plantation was expanded across the nation, while some of the plantations were owned by Eritreans.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shabait.com/about-eritrea/history-a-culture/450-italian-administration-in-eritrea |title=Italian administration in Eritrea |access-date=2010-04-20 |archive-date=2015-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111031816/http://www.shabait.com/about-eritrea/history-a-culture/450-italian-administration-in-eritrea |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1922, [[Benito Mussolini]]'s rise to power in Italy brought profound changes to the colonial government in Italian Eritrea. After ''[[il Duce]]'' declared the birth of the [[Italian Empire]] in May 1936, Italian Eritrea (enlarged with northern Ethiopia's regions) and [[Italian Somaliland]] were merged with the just conquered Ethiopia in the new [[Italian East Africa]] (''Africa Orientale Italiana'') administrative territory. This [[Fascists|Fascist]] period was characterized by imperial expansion in the name of a "new Roman Empire". Eritrea was chosen by the Italian government to be the industrial center of Italian East Africa. After the revolutional fight by the Eritreans, the Italians left Eritrea.<ref>[http://www.dankalia.com/history/04503.htm Italian industries in colonial Eritrea] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429102012/http://www.dankalia.com/history/04503.htm |date=April 29, 2009 }}</ref>

The Italians brought to Eritrea a huge [[Roman Catholicism in Eritrea|development of Catholicism]]. By 1940, nearly one third of the territory's population was Catholic, mainly in Asmara where some churches were built.

===Asmara development===
[[File:Fiat tagliero, 08.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Fiat Tagliero Building]] in Asmara, built in 1938]]
[[Asmara, Eritrea|Italian Asmara]] was populated by a large Italian community and the city acquired an Italian architectural look. One of the first building was the [[Asmara President's Office]]: this former "Italian government's palace" was built in 1897 by [[Ferdinando Martini]], the first Italian governor of Eritrea. The Italian government wanted to create in [[Asmara]] an impressive building, from where the Italian Governors could show the dedication of the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] to the "colonia primogenita" (first daughter-colony) as was called Eritrea.<ref>Ferdinando Martini.''RELAZIONE SULLA COLONIA ERITREA'' – Atti Parlamentari – Legislatura XXI – Seconda Sessione 1902 – Documento N. XVI -Tipografia della Camera dei Deputati. Roma, 1902</ref>

Today Asmara is worldwide known for its early twentieth-century Italian buildings, including the [[Art Deco]] [[Cinema Impero]], "Cubist" Africa Pension, eclectic [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church|Orthodox Cathedral]] and former [[Opera House]], the [[futurist architecture|futurist]] [[Fiat Tagliero Building]], the [[neo-Romanesque architecture|neo-Romanesque]] [[Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Asmara]], and the [[neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] [[Governor's Palace (Asmara)|Governor's Palace]]. The city is littered with Italian [[Colonisation|colonial]] [[villa]]s and mansions. Most of central Asmara was built between 1935 and 1941, so effectively the Italians managed to build almost an entire city, in just six years.<ref name="Reviving Asmara">{{cite news|title=Reviving Asmara |publisher=BBC Radio 3 |date=2005-06-19 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/africalives/ram/reviving_asmara01.ram |access-date=2006-08-30 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The city of [[Asmara, Eritrea|Italian Asmara]] had a population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were Italians according to the Italian census of 1939. This fact made Asmara the main "Italian town" of the [[Italian empire]] in Africa.In all Eritrea the [[Italian Eritreans]] were 75,000 in that year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maitacli.it/|title=Maitacli|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125061025/https://www.maitacli.it/|archive-date=25 January 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many industrial investments were done by the Italians in the area of Asmara and [[Massawa]], but the beginning of [[World War II]] stopped the blossoming industrialization of Eritrea. During the Allied efforts [[East African Campaign (World War II)|to capture Eritrea]] from the Italians in spring 1941, most of the infrastructure and the industrial areas were heavily damaged by the fighting.

The following [[Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia|Italian guerrilla war]] was supported by many Eritrean colonial troops until the Italian armistice in September 1943. Eritrea was placed under [[British Empire|British]] military administration after the Italian surrender in World War II.

The [[Italian Eritreans]] strongly rejected the Ethiopian annexation of Eritrea after the war: the ''Party of Shara Italy'' of Dr. Vincenzo Di Meglio was established in Asmara in July 1947, and majority of the members were former Italian soldiers and many [[Eritrean Ascari]] (the organization was backed up by the government of Italy). This party ruled by Dr. Di Meglio obtained in 1947 the dismissal of a proposal to divide Eritrea between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The main objective of this italo-Eritrean party was Eritrea freedom, but they had a pre-condition that stated that before independence the country should be governed by Italy for at least 15 years (as with [[Italian Somalia]]).