Assab#History

Assab is about {{convert|50|km|mi}} northwest of the ancient city of Arsinoe Epidires.

Assab had limited contact with the hinterland, and until the middle of the 19th century it was nothing more than a tiny Afar fishing village with a population of only 100 people and twenty huts. It gained considerable attention on 15 November 1869 when the port of Assab was bought by the Italian missionary Giuseppe Sapeto on behalf of the Rubattino Shipping Company.The Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People, second edition (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 90. {{ISBN|0-19-285061-X}}. Upon reaching Assab, Sapeto found two sultans, the brothers Hasan ibn Ahmed and Ibrahim ibn Ahmed, who were both willing to sell the port for 6,000 Maria Theresa dollars. Sapeto justified his purchase by claiming that the port was ideally situated for Italy due to its proximity to the Bab-el-Mandeb and he also argued that the port, though nominally under the vassalage of the sultan of Aussa, was in fact its own independent polity. Nevertheless, the purchase received considerable controversy in Italy where it was opposed by both the press and the parliament but also attracted strong condemnation by the Egyptians who declared the sale to be illegal.{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=295 |publisher=Steiner }}

The Italian government, impressed by the possibility of developing the port for access to Ethiopia further inland, seized control of the area in 1882 and took steps to open up the route inland to Shewa. Count {{Interlanguage link|Pietro Antonelli|it}}, the Italian envoy to Menelik II, signed a contract with the Ethiopian ruler, agreeing to supply him with 2,000 Remington rifles which were imported via Assab. Antonelli also visited Aussa in 1883 where he was able to befriend the Afar sultan, Muhammad Hanfari and he convinced him to sign a treaty of commerce with the Italian government. As a result, the trade between Assab and Shewa soon expanded and by the end of the following year Antonelli was able to bring in 50,000 rifles and 10 million cartridges in exchange for 600 camels bearing gold, ivory and civet.{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=296 |publisher=Steiner }}

In 1884, the port was visited by the Italian traveler G.B Licata who estimated the population to be 111 Afars, 140 Arabs, 43 Italians, 12 Abyssinians and 10 Somalis. Despite still being a small settlement, Assab was regarded as a place of promise, Licata described it emotionally in 1884 as the beginning of "great things to come. Beautiful for what it will be when Italy will have made it in truth a colony; it is pleasing in fact because it is a young thing, and touching as an Italian thing."{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=298 |publisher=Steiner }}

Following the occupation of Massawa in 1885, the settlement inevitably declined. The occupation of the more northernly town provided the Italians with a much larger port that gave them easier access to Ethiopia. The port's firearm trade with Shewa also broke down due to the outbreak of hostilities with Menelik II. After the disastrous Battle of Adwa, Assab was largely forgotten and the Italians concentrated their interest on Massawa.{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=299 |publisher=Steiner }}

By the early years of the 20th century, the port of Assab had been rendered redundant. Ethiopia, suspicious of Italy, preferred to do business with the French at Djibouti. The completion of the Ethio-Djibouti Railways led to further decline in trade passing through Assab. In the absence of any significant trade from the inland, the settlement depended on salt production which was exported to Japan, as well as some nearby date plantations. The population during this time period was estimated to be between 1,000 and 3,000 inhabitants with 100 to 140 Italians.{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=299 |publisher=Steiner }}

A 1922 British War Office report stated that the settlement was no more than a small village and consisted of "less than a hundred round grass huts of the native population with a few European built houses and a modest custom house". The rise of fascism seems to have made an impression as the British traveller Hermann Norden observes "even without a sight of the flag from the Government buildings the traveller would know he was in an Italian possession, for the black children in the winding lanes give the fascist salute".{{Cite book|last=Pankhurst |first=Richard |year=1982 |title=History of Ethiopian towns from the mid 19th century to 1935 |page=299 |publisher=Steiner }}

After the Second Italo-Ethiopian War the development of Assab was given a new impetus by the building of a road to Dessie and the reconstruction of the port. Assab was one of the last Italian holdouts to surrender to the Allies during the East African Campaign. Assab was captured on 11 June 1941 by the 3/15th Punjab Regiment, which captured its entire garrison including its commander, Pietro Piacentini.{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |date=2003 |pages=358}}

After Eritrea's federation with Ethiopia in 1952 (and incorporation in 1962), Assab became an important port of entry for the southern and central parts of the country. Assab was further expanded by construction work, with aid from the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia during the reign of Haile Selassie I. Construction of an oil refinery began in 1964 and it opened in 1967. This development motivated a large number of Ethiopian immigrants from Tigray and Wollo, to seek jobs as dock workers or work in the salt and fishing industries. The Derg military regime was eager to detach Assab from the rest of Eritrea administratively, espesically as nationalist sentiments among the Afar began to grow in the 1970s. Ethiopian trade in Assab increased to over 60% as war in other parts of Eritrea made other ports unsuitable. By 1989, Assab had a population of 39,600 inhabitants. The oil refinery was shut down for economic reasons in 1997. Ethiopia used Assab as the port for two-thirds of its trade with the world until the Eritrean–Ethiopian War broke out in 1998. Borders between Eritrea and Ethiopia closed and trade with Ethiopia ceased. The port and the port town declined and by 2005 the population had dropped to an estimated 20,222 inhabitants.{{cite web |title=Asseb Eritrea |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Asseb |website=Britannica}}{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |date=2003 |pages=358}}

In 2008, following a border dispute with neighbouring Djibouti and consequently an unsafe border between the countries, which saw forces from Qatar acting as mediators in a buffer zone, the role of Assab diminished further.

Beginning in 2015, the United Arab Emirates built a port and expanded an airstrip in Assab using the facility as a base to support the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war.{{Cite web |date=2021-02-18 |title=UAE dismantles Eritrea base as it pulls back after Yemen war |url=https://www.apnews.com/article/eritrea-dubai-only-on-ap-united-arab-emirates-east-africa-088f41c7d54d6a397398b2a825f5e45a |access-date= |website=AP News |language=en-US}}

During the Tigray War, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) accused Ethiopia of deploying drones from a military base in Assab belonging to the United Arab Emirates.{{cite news |last1=Paravicini |first1=Giulia |title=In escalation of Ethiopia war, Tigray leader says his forces fired rockets at Eritrea |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-conflict/in-escalation-of-ethiopia-war-tigray-leader-says-his-forces-fired-rockets-at-eritrea-idUSKBN27V05M |date=November 14, 2020}}

Assab is served by Assab International Airport. The United Arab Emirates reportedly uses the port and airport for logistics, and as a detention centre.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36469286|title=Has Eritrea's migration problem been exaggerated?|work=BBC|date=7 June 2016 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/22/yemen-uae-backs-abusive-local-forces |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=June 22, 2017 |title=Yemen: UAE Backs Abusive Local Forces |quote=Human Rights Watch was not able to verify these claims, but according to lawyers and activists, as well as relatives of men who had been disappeared, the UAE was transferring high-level detainees outside of Yemen. According to one of the activists, about 15 people accused of being members of AQAP or IS-Y had been transferred to the base the UAE has been developing in Eritrea’s port city, Assab, over the past two years. A man who had lost track of his relatives said at least five officials told him the UAE transferred the men outside of Yemen, including three who said the men were being held in Eritrea.}}

Assab has the typical hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) of the Danakil Region. The city's climate is arid and extremely hot, with an extremely low average annual rainfall of {{convert|40|mm|2|abbr=on}}. Assab experiences high temperatures during both the day and the night, with the annual mean average temperature approaching {{convert|31|°C|1}}.

{{Weather box

|location = Assab (1961–1990, extremes 1937–1990)

|single line = Yes

|metric first = Yes

|Jan record high C = 37.0

|Feb record high C = 37.0

|Mar record high C = 40.0

|Apr record high C = 43.0

|May record high C = 43.2

|Jun record high C = 46.2

|Jul record high C = 49.0

|Aug record high C = 48.4

|Sep record high C = 46.8

|Oct record high C = 43.0

|Nov record high C = 39.0

|Dec record high C = 36.5

|year record high C = 49.0

|Jan high C = 31.3

|Feb high C = 31.7

|Mar high C = 33.8

|Apr high C = 36.0

|May high C = 37.0

|Jun high C = 38.5

|Jul high C = 41.2

|Aug high C = 40.9

|Sep high C = 38.1

|Oct high C = 36.5

|Nov high C = 33.9

|Dec high C = 31.6

|year high C = 35.5

|Jan mean C = 26.3

|Feb mean C = 26.7

|Mar mean C = 28.5

|Apr mean C = 30.5

|May mean C = 32.0

|Jun mean C = 33.1

|Jul mean C = 35.0

|Aug mean C = 34.6

|Sep mean C = 32.9

|Oct mean C = 31.2

|Nov mean C = 28.8

|Dec mean C = 26.9

|year mean C = 30.5

|Jan low C = 21.3

|Feb low C = 21.7

|Mar low C = 23.2

|Apr low C = 25.1

|May low C = 27.0

|Jun low C = 28.5

|Jul low C = 30.3

|Aug low C = 29.9

|Sep low C = 28.5

|Oct low C = 26.0

|Nov low C = 23.7

|Dec low C = 22.2

|year low C = 25.6

|Jan record low C = 11.9

|Feb record low C = 12.4

|Mar record low C = 13.7

|Apr record low C = 14.0

|May record low C = 14.4

|Jun record low C = 17.5

|Jul record low C = 19.6

|Aug record low C = 19.9

|Sep record low C = 16.0

|Oct record low C = 15.0

|Nov record low C = 14.5

|Dec record low C = 12.1

|year record low C = 11.9

|rain colour = green

|Jan rain mm = 4.0

|Feb rain mm = 6.7

|Mar rain mm = 1.8

|Apr rain mm = 3.6

|May rain mm = 1.7

|Jun rain mm = 0.2

|Jul rain mm = 6.9

|Aug rain mm = 2.8

|Sep rain mm = 1.1

|Oct rain mm = 1.0

|Nov rain mm = 4.5

|Dec rain mm = 4.8

|unit rain days = 1.0 mm

|Jan rain days = 1

|Feb rain days = 1

|Mar rain days = 0

|Apr rain days = 0

|May rain days = 0

|Jun rain days = 0

|Jul rain days = 1

|Aug rain days = 0

|Sep rain days = 0

|Oct rain days = 0

|Nov rain days = 0

|Dec rain days = 0

|year rain days = 3

|Jan humidity = 62

|Feb humidity = 68

|Mar humidity = 61

|Apr humidity = 54

|May humidity = 58

|Jun humidity = 57

|Jul humidity = 50

|Aug humidity = 54

|Sep humidity = 62

|Oct humidity = 54

|Nov humidity = 55

|Dec humidity = 61

|year humidity = 58

|source 1 = NOAA,{{cite web

| url = ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG__I/E1/63043.TXT

| title = Assab Climate Normals 1961–1990

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201101005849/ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG__I/E1/63043.TXT

| archive-date = 2020-11-01

| url-status = dead

| access-date = March 8, 2015}} Deutscher Wetterdienst (humidity, 1937–1970){{cite web

| url = http://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_630430_kt.pdf

| title = Klimatafel von Assab (Aseb) / Eritrea

| work = Baseline climate means (1961-1990) from stations all over the world

| publisher = Deutscher Wetterdienst

| language = de

| access-date = November 18, 2016

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190831075045/https://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_630430_kt.pdf

| archive-date = August 31, 2019

| url-status = dead

}}

|source 2 = Meteo Climat (record highs and lows)

{{cite web

| url = http://meteo-climat-bzh.dyndns.org/index.php?page=stati&id=1833

| title = Station Assab

| publisher = Meteo Climat

|language = fr

| access-date = 22 October 2016}}

|date=November 2011

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Assab|year=1905 |short=x}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|13|01|N|42|44|E|region:ER_type:city|display=title}}

Category:Regional capitals in Eritrea

Category:Southern Red Sea region

Category:Populated places in Eritrea

Category:Port cities in Eritrea

Category:Russian and Soviet Navy bases

Category:Port cities and towns of the Red Sea