Massawa is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port
for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite
Empire, Medri Bahri Kingdom, the Umayyad Caliphate, the Beja Kingdom, the Ottoman
Empire, Egypt, Britain, Italy and Ethiopia, until Eritrea's independence in
1991. Massawa was the capital of the Italian Colony of Eritrea until this was
moved to Asmara in 1897
