 In the region of Asmara there were in 1940 more than 2,000 small and medium sized industrial companies, concentrated in the areas of construction, mechanics, textiles, electricity and food processing.According to the Italian census of 1939 the city of Asmara had a population of 98,000, of which 53,000 were Italians.This fact made Asmara the main "Italian town" of the Italian empire in Africa.