Eritrea History, Language and Culture

Eritrea has for thousands of years been home to people of diverse living patterns, religions and traditions. After the South Arabian immigrations in the first millennium BC, Eritrea and much of Tigray were known as the Kingdom of the Habeshat. From the third to the seventh centuries AD, much of the present day territory lay within the Axumite Kingdom. 

The Italians took the port of Massawa in 1885. They were relative latecomers in the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’, but this was the beginning of an ambitious imperial campaign that sought to create a new Roman Empire in Africa. By 1900 they moved their capital from the steaming coastal lowlands to the salubrious climate enjoyed by the highland settlement of Asmara. The principal aims were to develop the colony with Italian immigrants, to exploit the natural resources and to equip it as a base for further expansion, which they later achieved in Libya, Somalia and Ethiopia.

In the early 20th century, Eritrea became one of the six provinces of Italian East Africa and the capital, Asmara, was the jewel in their imperial crown – a truly modern city with stunning architecture, spacious planning and the most advanced infrastructure, including more traffic lights than Rome. However, Italy’s African dream was short lived and in 1941 the British expelled them from Eritrea and administered the territory as a protectorate for a decade.

In 1952 the UN decided that Eritrea should become part of a federated Ethiopia, but this arrangement only lasted a decade. Ethiopia’s annexation of Eritrea in 1962 sparked a war for independence that lasted until 1991 and ended with Eritrean victory. In the subsequent referendum 99.8 per cent voted in favour of independence.

However, hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea persisted and the two countries went to war again from 1998 to 2000, with Eritrean forces also fighting skirmishes with forces from Yemen and Djibouti.

The war ended and a UN peacekeeping Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia was installed. In 2002 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague agreed upon a “final and binding” verdict that awarded the contested territory to Eritrea. Ethiopia rejected the verdict and the border issue remains unresolved with the consequent ‘no war, no peace’ scenario that has devastated so many lives throughout the region.

Did you know?

• Eritrea, with parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Northern Somalia and Sudan is the likely location of the land known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt.

• There are thought to be around 100 African bush elephants left in Eritrea, but between 1951 and 2001 there were no reported sightings at all.

• As in Ethiopia the ritualised coffee ceremony is a key part of Eritrean culture.