Editing History of Eritrea (section)

===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]]).