Teseney: Difference between revisions

There is in fact the Hillat Takarin which accommodates the ethnic group [[Takrour]] (originally emigrated [[Hausa people|Hausa]] and other clans from [[Nigeria]] hundreds of years ago), the Hillat Sudan (refers to the Sudanese community in the town) Hillat Halabit (inhabited by [[Beni Amer]] pastoralists); Hillat Somal (inhabited by [[Somalis]], in the trading centre), built around a hill of granite blocks, just over 100 meter high, which separates it from the Hillat Takarin. There is small river that flows into the Gash: The stream [[Tadalay]]. Behind the hill runs an irrigation canal that takes water from the Gash, called Tur-a, (Arabic word for canal) and carries the waters from the stream to the lands cultivated with [[cotton]] , next to the village Ali Ghidir. The water supply is solved, thanks to a reservoir fed by a very old group of pumps (from the early 1930s) that draw water from the sands of the Gash. It is a huge deep basin, built on top on the small hill of granite, surrounded by old [[Baobab]] trees. At the side of this large basin-tank, there was the Italian Civil Hospital, built in the 1920s, which for many years, has served the whole area near Tesseney, as far as the villages of Haikota, Gallug, Ali-Ghider, Talatahasher, Sabderat (villages bordering the Sudan), Sittimò, Aad Elit (village populated by about 1,000 individuals who speak a language all their own.

During the colonial period both Tessenei and the Neighbouring village of Ali Ghider ( also written as Ali Gidir) were the center of a vast agricultural development project using the enormous quantity of waters of the Gash river streaming from the Eritrean highlands towards the Nile and it reaches Atbara river(a tributary of the Nile) only during rainy seasons. The project dates back to 1905 when its first feasibility studies was forwarded by an Italian engineer called Nicola Coles. Works started in 1924 and included: a small dam and a tiny lake to store water (inaugurated in 1928 ) and numerous other works and a net of water irrigation canals to irrigate an approximately 10,000 [[hectares]] of land. An Italian agricultural-industrial company SIA, "Società Imprese Africane" (Company on African Eterprises), won this major [[concession]]. Later a [[consortium]] of which "Cotonificio Barattolo", with its seat in [[Asmara]] became the main [[shareholder]]. The main crop was cotton, a variety of [[Sakellaridis]] , the same as cultivated in [[Egypt]] and the entire production was exported to Italy where it enjoys customs facilities. A plant for the treatment of cotton, a large mill for the processing of seeds, a power plant and a workshop complete the work, along with a modern factory for spinning and weaving cotton was built in Tessenei. During the Anglo-Egyptian [[condominium]] a narrow gauge line of railway was built connecting Tessnei with Kassala in Sudan via Malwaya conjunction. This line has almost vanished since early 1960s.