![]() ![]() He built a palace on top of a hill in the center of Asmara from there, he devoted himself to defending the northern borders of Ethiopia against Italian, and Anglo-Egyptian aggressors. Once Ras Alula became governor of this province, he moved the capital from Debarwa to Asmara. On October 9 th, 1876, the Emperor of Ethiopia, Yohannes IV, made his greatest war general Ras Alula, governor of Medri Bahri. In the early days, Asmara was part of the kingdom of Medri Bahri, a medieval kingdom in the Horn of Africa, whose capital was Debarwa. Only Eritreans, and their neighbors remain loyal to the original pronunciation, Asmera. Arbaete Asmera literally means in Tigrinya language, “ the four (feminine plural) made them unite.” Eventually Arbaete was dropped and it has been called Asmera, which means “ they made them unite.” Majority of non-Eritreans call it by the Italianized version of the word: Asmara. ![]() The men accepted, hence the name Arbaete Asmera. These clans fought each other until the women of each clan decided that to preserve peace, the four clans should unite. Originally, there were four clans living in the Asmara area on the Kebessa plateau: the Gheza Gurtom, the Gheza Shelele, the Gheza Serenser, and the Gheza Asmae. The Tigrinya and Tigre people live around there. ![]() Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, was an Italian built colonial city whose origins date back to 800 BC and 400 BC. Ever since I was a child, I always loved the sound of the name ‘ Asmara,’ not knowing that it was feminine by nature (which might explain my fascination with it). ![]()
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