Agordat

Agordat lies on the Barka river in Eritrea's western lowlands, a hot flat town with a mosque of white domes and arcades that is the building it is known for, and a market that draws the Beni-Amer and other lowland communities from a wide area. Camels come in for the trade. The Barka runs sand for most of the year with water below the surface, and the country around is dry acacia scrub. The town was an administrative centre through the colonial and later periods, which is why it has more built fabric than its size suggests.

History

Agordat grew up as a stop on the old caravan route between eastern Sudan and Eritrea, near the Barka River, and under the Funj kings of Sudan it became the centre of the Beni-Amer, whose chief, the diglal, kept his permanent camp a few kilometres from the present town. The diglal held the region through the Mahdist invasion of 1885 to 1893; in June 1890 an Italian expedition that had built a small fort nearby allied with the Beni-Amer, and in 1893 it defeated the Mahdist army in the two battles of Agordat. Under Italian rule the town became an administrative centre with a hospital and an Italian-Arabic school, the railway from Asmara to Keren was extended to Agordat in 1928, and by 1938 it had about 2,050 inhabitants, among them 168 Italians; in the 1940s and 1950s Italian growers planted banana and citrus groves along the Barka (Wikipedia, Agordat).

What to look for

• The domed mosque - the white arcaded building the town is known for.
• The market - the trading point for the western lowland communities.
• The Barka - the sand river running through the town.
• The lowland setting - dry acacia country around the settlement.

When to go

November to February is the cool season. Summer heat in the lowlands is extreme. Market days are busiest.

Things to know

A travel permit is required and the western lowlands have additional restrictions. Summer heat is severe. Facilities are basic and there is little arranged for visitors.

Nearby

Keren is east, and Barentu is southwest.

Key facts