The earliest evidence of agricultural settlement, urbanism, trade and agriculture is found in the region inhabited by people dating back to 3500 to 2500 BC in the archeological sites called the Gash group. Based on the archeological evidence, there seems to have been a connection between the peoples of the Gash group and the civilizations of the Nile Valley namely Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Ancient Egyptian sources also give references to cities and trading posts along the southwestern Red Sea coast, roughtly corresponding to modern day Eritrea, calling this the land of Punt famed for its incense. An expedition to this very land was launched by the female pharao Hatshepsut from the 15th century BC and was chronicled in detail.

In the highlands, in one of the capital city Asmara's suburbs Sembel at the mouth of the river Anseba, another site was found from the 9th century BC of another agricultural and urban settlement which traded both with the Sabeans across the Red Sea and with the civilizations of the Nile Valley further west along caravan routes that followed the Anseba river. Around this time, several cities with a high amount of Sabean remains (inscriptions, artefacts, monuments, architecture etc) seem to emerge in the central highlands and along the central coast including one called Saba. Some are undoubtedly built on top of
older sites.



Around the 8th century BC, a kingdom known as D'mt (pronounced Da'amat, Damot, etc. for convenience) was established in what is today northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, with its capital at Yeha in northern Ethiopia and which had extensive relations with the Sabeans in present day Yemen across the Red Sea.Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: University Press, 1991, pp.57. Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia: 1270-1527 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp.5-13.Megalommatis, Mohammed K.P. "Yemen's Past and Perspectives are in Africa, not a fictitious 'Arab' world" After D`mt's decline around the 5th century BC, the state of Aksum arose in the northern Abyssinian plateau. It grew during the 4th century BC and came into prominence during the first century AD, minting its own coins by the 3rd century, converting in the 4th century to Christianity, as the second official Christian state (after Armenia) and the first country to feature the cross on its coins. According to Mani, it grew to be one of the four greatest civilizations in the world, on a par with China, Persia, and Rome. In the 7th century AD; with the advent of Islam across the Red Sea in Arabia, Aksums trade and power on the Red Sea began to decline and the center moved farther inland to the Ethiopian
highlands of what is today Ethiopia and the state was eventually defeated by islamic as well as other internal forces circa 850 or 950 ADAndersen, Knud Tage. "The Queen of the Habasha in Ethiopian History, Tradition, and Chronology" in Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London, vol. 63, no. 1 (2000), pp.31-63.

During the medieval period, the area which we now call Eritrea was the site of several states as well as tribal and clan lands. Between the 8th and 13th century, northern and western Eritrea had largely come under the domination of the Beja, an islamic, Cushitic people from northeastern Sudan. They formed five independent kingdoms known as: Naqis, Baqlin, Bazin, Jarin and Qata. The Beja brought Islam to large parts of Eritrea and connected the region to the greater Islamic world dominated by the Ummayad Caliphate, followed by the Abbasid (and Mamluk) and later the Ottoman Empire. The Ummayads were already in direct possession of small stretches of the Eritrean coastline and the Dahlak archipelago by the 8th century. The Beja imposed themselves as rulers but did not impose their cushitic language or culture on their subjects but rather adopted the local Ge'ez based language. This language evolved over time into the Tigre language which to this day is the lingua franca of the predominantly moslem lowlands and northern coast of Eritrea. Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, nothern Eritrea and its coastline were taken over completely by the Ottomans who were to remain there for over 300 years and govern it from the port of Massawa. Meanwhile, the central highlands and adjacent coastline became the site of a christian Kingdom called Midre Bahri or Midre Bahr meaning sea-land in Tigrinya and Tigre respectively, and ruled by the Bahr Negash or Bahr negus (meaning king of the sea) that was loosely affiliated with the Abyssinian kingdoms of the south (but at times also became involved in conflict with them in alliance with the Ottomans). The domain of the kingdom was for most of its history restricted to north of the perennial river Mareb and which still serves as a natural boundary between Eritrea and Ethiopia today. The other Abyssinian kingdoms south of the river therefor commonly referred to Midre Bahri as Mareb Mellash meaning 'beyond Mareb' (in the Amharic language of the Amhara who had come to dominate Abyssinia since the 13th century). The feudal authority of the Bahr Negash later waned and was replaced by a Republic known as Hamasien, which was based on a land-owning peasantry (citizenry) in the central highlands who ruled by elders councils or shimagile and maintained it's entire young and able male population as a standing army. The southern coastline meanwhile was populated by the Afar and Saho speaking islamic chieftaincies or clan lands which by the 16th century had evolved into the centralized Adal sultanate (along with territories currently in eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti and Northern Somalia).



An Ottoman invading force under Suleiman I conquered Massawa in 1577, building what is now considered the 'old town' of Massawa on Batsi island. They also conquered the towns of Arkiko, and Debarwa, the capital city of the contemporary Bahr negus (ruler), Yeshaq. Suleiman's forces fought as far south as southeastern Tigray before being repulsed. Yeshaq was able to retake much of what the Ottomans captured with Abyssinian (Ethiopian) assistance, but he later twice revolted against the Emperor of Abyssinia with Ottoman support in an attempt to take the Abyssinian throne. By 1578, all revolts had ended, leaving the Ottomans in control of the important ports of Massawa and Hergigo and their environs, and leaving the province of Habesh to Beja Na'ibs (deputies). The Ottomans maintained their dominion over the northern coastal areas for nearly 300 years. Their possessions were left to their Egyptian heirs in 1865 and were taken over by the Italians in 1885.

An Italian Roman Catholic priest by the name of Sapetto purchased the port of Assab from the Afar Sultanate on behalf of an Italian Shipping Company by the name of Rubattino. With the opening of the Suez Canal and the ongoing Scramble for Africa, Italy among European colonial powers began vying for a possession along the strategic coast of what was to become the world's busiest shipping lane. With the approval of the Italian parliament and King Umberto I of Italy (later succeeded by his son Victor Emmanuel III), Italy expanded its possessions northwards along the Red Sea coast towards and beyond Massawa, encroaching on and quickly expelling previously 'Egyptian' possessions. The Italians met with stiffer resistance in the Eritrean highlands from the army of the Abyssinian Emperor Yohannes IV that also wanted a piece of these lands and an outlet to the sea. Nevertheless the Italians repulsed both Egyptians and Abyssinians and consolidated their possessions into one colony, henceforth known as Eritrea, territory of Italy as of New Years Day of 1890.

The Italians remained the colonial power in Eritrea until they were defeated by Allied forces in World War II (1941), and Eritrea became a British protectorate. After the war, the United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry, including a faulty referendum in which only the male "elders" (shimagile) of the Eritrean communities participated, in order to find out the wishes of the Eritrean people. During this time, those under Imperial Ethiopia's influence (who wanted unity with Ethiopia) and those who wanted Eritrea's independence, lobbied the great powers and the U.N. extensively. Imperial Ethiopia itself meddled immensely in the process, through bribing certain influential officials, intimidating others and most importantly by attempting to sow discord between Eritrean muslims and christians through its primary instrument: the Orthodox Church, which was used to herald Ethiopia as a bastion of christianity, a haven and motherland of christians and to spread a fear among Eritrean christians that an independent Eritrea would inevitably succumb to islamic rule. Moreover voting church members who did not vote for unity with Ethiopia as well as clergy who did not comply with the mission of the church were excommunicated or threatened with such by the Orthodox Church. The superpowers were also involved in a wrestle for a stake in the Eritrean question. The communist bloc along with most non-aligned independent third world countries favored Eritrean independence. The western powers Britian, France and the United States on the other
hand allready had Imperial Ethiopia as a close ally in line with western interests in the region and favored Eritrea being united with Ethiopia, rather than risk an independent Eritrea becoming a communist anti-western state.
John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state of the United States at the time uttered the famous words:

"From the point of view of justice, the opinions of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. Nevertheless, the strategic interests of the United States in the Red Sea Basin and considerations of security and world peace make it necessary that the country (Eritrea) has to be linked with our ally, Ethiopia", John Foster Dulles in 1952.

Eventually a compromise was reached under which the former Italian colony was to be federated with Ethiopia. Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration, and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and was now the federal parliament. The Emperor of Ethiopia predictably dissolved all semblance of the Federation by shutting down the parliament and declaring Eritrea the 14th province of Ethiopia in 1961. This led to the 30 year long Eritrean Struggle for Independence which lasted between 1961 and 1991.

Eritreans formed the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and rebelled. The rebel movement was initially dominated by the ELF but became rivalled by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the 1970s. The ELF was a conservative grass roots movement dominated by Muslim lowlanders, and thus received backing from Arab governments, whereas the EPLF professed Marxism and was supported by a growing Eritrean Diaspora. The ELF was eventually overshadowed and eliminated by the EPLF. The struggle for independence neared victory in the mid-1970s but suffered reverses when the Derg, a Marxist military junta, came to power in Ethiopia with backing from the Soviet Union and other countries. Nevertheless, Eritrean resistance continued and the numbers of the EPLF swelled as did that of Ethiopian resistance movements with which the EPLF struck alliances to overthrow the communist Ethiopian regime.

The struggle for independence ended in 1991, when the EPLF expelled the Ethiopian Army from Eritrea and had also joined forces with Ethiopian resistance movements to overthrow the Derg regime which fell the same year. Two years later, a referendum was held supervised by the UN mission UNOVER, with universal suffrage and conducted both in and outside Eritrea (among Eritrean communities in the disapora), on whether Eritreans wanted indpendence or unity with Ethiopia. Over 99% of the Eritrean people voted for independence which was declared on May 24 1993. The leader of the EPLF, Isaias Afewerki, became Eritrea's first Provisional President, and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (later renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, or PFDJ) created a government.

In 1998, a border war with Ethiopia over the town of Badme resulted in the deaths of thousands of Eritrean soldiers (19,000, according to the government; 20-50,000 by some estimates), massive population displacement, reduced economic development, and a severe landmine problem. During and after the war, the Ethiopian Government expelled Eritreans and those of Eritrean heritage from Ethiopia after confiscating their wealth and properties. The Eritrean-Ethiopian War ended in 2000 with a negotiated agreement known as the Algiers Agreement, which assigned an independent, UN-associated boundary commission known as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), whose task was to clearly identify the border between the two countries. The EEBC issued a final border ruling in April 2002 and awarded Badme to Eritrea. However, Ethiopia has not withdrawn all its troops from the town, which has led to fears for another war.

Eritrean society is ethnically heterogeneous. The largest ethnic group are the Tigrinya who compose up to 50% of the population, while the Tigre people make up another 31.4%. The rest of the population is comprised of the smaller populations of the Saho, Nara, Hedareb, Beja, Afar, Bilen, Kunama, and the Rashaida. Each nationality speaks a different native tongue, but typically, many of the minorities speak more than one language. The Jebertis are Muslim Tigrinyas who consider themselves as a separate ethnicity, but are not recognized by other sources.

There exist minorities of Italians and Ethiopian Tigrayans. Neither is generally given citizenship unless through marriage or having it conferred upon them by the State.

The most recent addition to the nationalities of Eritrea is the Rashaida. The Rashaida came to Eritrea in the 19th century• from the Arabian Coast. The Rashaida do not typically intermarry, are typically nomadic, and number approximately 61,000, less than 1% of the population.

The Kunama are one of the earliest settled peoples in Eritrea. They adopted rain-fed agriculture and settled into communal villages in the 'lowlands' of Eritrea.

Between 900 and 500 BC Eritrea experienced massive migrations and cultural contacts from Saba in Southern Arabia. The Sabean area in Eritrea is mainly to be found in the Kebessa highlands surrounding the capital Asmara and extending southwards. There the Sabeans found the same geographical conditions as in their native Saba, suitable to terracing and their pre-existing agricultural modes of production.

Many languages are spoken in Eritrea today. The two language families that most of the languages stem from are the Semitic and Cushitic families. The Semitic languages in Eritrea are Arabic (spoken natively by the Rashaida Arabs), Tigrinya, Tigre, and the newly recognized Dahlik; these languages (primarily Tigrinya and Tigre) are spoken as a first language by over 80% of the population. The Cushitic languages in Eritrea are just as numerous, including Afar, Beja, Blin, and Saho. Kunama and Nara are also spoken in Eritrea and belong to the Nilo-Saharan language family. English and Amharic are spoken to a degree by more educated Eritreans, and there are still some speakers of Italian leftover from colonial times.

The local Tigrinya and the wider Arabic language are the two predominant languages for official purposes, but a few Italian speakers can still be found. Along with Arabic (spoken natively only by the Rashaida), English is the most widely spoken non-African language.

Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam, which each account for roughly half the population. The Christians consist primarily of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, which is the local Oriental Orthodox church, but small groups of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other denominations also exist, while the Muslims predominantly follow Sunni Islam.

Members of the Eritrean Orthodox Church are sometimes described as Coptic Christians because it was formerly part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which was until 1959 subject to the Coptic Pope. However, the word Coptic in modern usage refers primarily to the Egyptian Orthodox branch of Christianity. The Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox churches are still in full communion with the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Eritrean Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly in 1993 by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church when Eritrea became independent, and, in 1998 the Archbishop of Asmara, the capital, was elevated to the rank of patriarchate.

Since May 2002, the government of Eritrea has only officially recognized the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Sunni Islam, Catholicism and the Evangelical Lutheran church. All other faiths and denominations were required to undergo a registration process that was so stringent as to effectively be prohibitive. Amongst other things, the government's registration system requires religious groups to submit personal information on their membership in order to be allowed to worship. The few organisations that have met all of the registration requirements have still not received official recognition. Other faith groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahai's, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and numerous Protestant denominations are not registered and cannot worship freely. They have effectively been banned, and harsh measures have been taken against their adherents. Over twenty Protestant pastors and almost 2000 church members have so far been detained indefinitely and without charge. In addition several Orthodox priests have also been detained, and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church has been replaced by the Eritrean Orthodox Synod and placed under stringent house arrest ostensibly for objecting to government interference in church affairs.

There is also one last native Jew left in Eritrea, formerly from a community of hundreds in Asmara, whose ancestors had crossed from Aden in the late 19th century.••

The Eritrean region has traditionally been a nexus for trade throughout the world. Because of this, the influence of diverse cultures can be seen throughout Eritrea. Today, the most obvious influences in the capital, Asmara, are that of Italy. Throughout Asmara, there are small cafes serving beverages common to Italy. In Asmara, there is a clear merging of the Italian colonial influence with the traditional Tigrinya lifestyle. In the villages of Eritrea, these changes never took hold.

In the cities, before the Occupation and during the early years, the import of Bollywood films was commonplace, while Italian and American films were available in the cinemas as well. In the 1980s and since Independence, however, American films have certainly become the most common. Vying for market share are films by local producers, who have slowly come into their own. The global broadcast of Eri-TV has brought cultural images to the large Eritrean population in the Diaspora who frequents the country every summer.

Traditional Eritrean dress is quite varied with the Kunama traditionally dressing in brightly colored clothes while the Tigrinya and Tigre traditionally dress in bright white costumes, resembling traditional Oriental and Indian clothing. The Rashaida women are ornately bejeweled and scarfed.

Popular sports in Eritrea are soccer and bicycle racing. Almost unique on the African continent, the "Tour of Eritrea" is a race from the hot desert beaches of Massawa, up the winding mountain highway with its precipitous valleys and cliffs to the capital Asmara. From there, it continues downwards onto the western plains of the Gash-Barka Zone, only to return back to Asmara from the south. This is, by far, the most popular sport in Eritrea, though, as of late long-distance running has garnered its own supporters. The momentum for long-distance running in Eritrea can be seen in the successes of Zersenay Tadesse and Mebrahtom (Meb) Keflezighi, both Olympians.