Asmara

Asmara, also Asmera, capital and largest city of Eritrea, located in north-eastern Africa, inland from the Red Sea port of Mitsiwa. The city's main industries include tanning, timber and flour milling, vegetable processing, and the manufacture of perfumes, glass, cement, bricks, and buttons. A hydroelectric plant and gold and copper mines are nearby and the city has its own college of technology. Asmara succeeded Mitsiwa as capital of Eritrea in 1900, when the country was an Italian colony. Population 563,948 (2005 estimate).