Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, sits at over 2,300 meters above sea level on a plateau at the edge of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. Although situated in a country not known for large visitor numbers, the city has gained fame for its unique architecture. In July 2017, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as "Asmara: A Modernist African City," the first modernist urban site anywhere to be listed in its entirety, and Africa's first explicitly modernist World Heritage Site. Its heritage value came about as a result of a complex convergence of two aspects of Eritrea's history: an intense period of colonial construction as Italy pursued its imperial ambitions in Africa, and a long period of relative isolation that insulated the city from redevelopment.
Before the arrival of European colonists, Asmara existed as a small highland settlement. According to oral tradition, the city's name derives from "Arbate Asmera," meaning roughly "the four made them unite" in the Tigrinya language — a reference to four clans who agreed to live together peacefully after prolonged conflict. The earliest known written mention of the city is in a Latin itinerary from the late fourteenth century. Asmara grew in importance over the centuries as a stop on trade routes toward the Red Sea port of Massawa.
