Assab Bay, an Italian trading station on the west coast of the Red Sea, 40 miles NW. of the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The district around it, with an area of 243 sq. m., and 1300 inhabitants, was sold in 1870 by some Danakil chieftains to an Italian steamship company for a coaling station on the road to India. In 1880 it was taken over by the Italian government, who, since 1884, have improved the harbour and erected a lighthouse.
Assab Bay
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 503
Source scan(s): p. 0524