In the course of the 1920s, the fascist regime extended the railway westwards from Asmara to Keren and Agordat. The aim was primarily strategic, but there were hopes that it would encourage the cultivation of cotton and coffee along the lower Mareb on land which had already been irrigated and had attracted immigrants from Ethiopia.

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AFRICA, Vol. 7 (1986)

By J.D. FAGE et al.