Port Cities in Eritrea - Assab, Massawa, Eritrean Free Zones Authority, Assab International Airport (Paperback)

Chapters: Assab, Massawa, Eritrean Free Zones Authority, Assab International Airport. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 22. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Massawa - For most of its history, Massawa was little more than a seaside village, lying in lands that pertained to the Kingdom of Axum in ancient times and overshadowed by the nearby port of Adulis about 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the south. Following the fall of Axum in the 8th century, the area around Massawa became embattled by the Islamic forces emerging in the region (Arabs and later Beja peoples) and mutually rival post-Axumite Christian forces from the region of Midri-Bahri, a Kingdom in Eritrea. At this time, the Sheikh Hanafi Mosque, Eritrea's oldest mosque, was built on Massawa Island, along with several other works of early Islamic architecture both in and around Massawa (including the Dahlak Archipelago and the Zula peninsula). Venetian Merchants were said to have lived in Massawa and nearby Suakin in the 15th century. Massawa SeasideMassawa became prominent when it was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1557. The Ottomans made it the capital of Habesh. Under Ozdemir Pasha, Ottoman troops then attempted to conquer the rest of Eritrea. Due to resistance, as well as sudden and unexpected demands for more troops in the Mediterranean and on the border with Persia, the Ottoman authorities placed the city and its immediate hinterlands under the control of one of the aristocrats of the Bellou people, whom they appointed Naib of Massawa and made answerable to the Ottoman governor at Suakin. The Ottomans nevertheless built the old town of Massawa on Massawa Island into a prominent port on the Red Sea in typical Islamic Ottoman architecture using dry corals for walls, roof and foundation as well as imported wood for beams, wind...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=555921