First Contacts
Abstract
The political history of Eritrea
has been complicated and checkered; the country has seen occupation by the
Turks, Egyptians, Italians and British. Meetings with outside influences were
initiated by the lure of
power to further expand territories, trade and religion. Warring between the
long-standing kingdoms of the region led to weakened power making the region
vulnerable to attacks from outside cultures in the mid 1500’s. Later, colonization
by the Italians and British would have drastic impacts on the country and the
surrounding region.
Summary
The political history of Eritrea has been complicated and
checkered; the country has seen occupation by the Turks, Egyptians, Italians
and British. Meetings with outside influences were initiated by the lure of
power, expanding territories, trade and religion. Commerce brought the ancient
Egyptians into the region of coast of the Red Sea where slaves and goods were
exchanged for centuries. Around the year 600, the Arabs introduced Islam to the
coastal region of Eritrea. Skilled Yemeni laborers fleeing oppressive warlords
arrived around 800-700 B.C and adopted the region of Eritrea as their own. (Cliffe
1988, 68-72).
Warring between the long-standing kingdoms in the region led
to weakened power making the region vulnerable to attacks from outside cultures
and the Turks took control of the region along the Red Sea in the mid 1500’s
and further expanding their empire. They would maintain control of Eritrea and
other valuable ports along the coast until 1848. The 19th century
would bring the Egyptians back to Eritrea, as well as the British, Italians,
and later their regional neighbors in Ethiopia.
Despite early pushback from the Eritreans, Colonial
Eritrea’s urban centers flourished under Italian rule as growth in manufacturing,
textile, food and beverage created a sizeable economy and developed up the port
cities of Asmara, Massawa and Asseb (Last, 2015). However, this new-found
modernization and prosperity for the Eritrean people was brief. While regions
of Eritrea saw marked modernization and improvement, Eritrea offered little
resources of value to the Italians and proved to be an unprofitable colony.
The defeat of the Italy by Allied Forces brought Britain
to Eritrea during World War II. Cliffe argues that “Britain’s purpose in
Eritrea was to partition to country along religious lines, aiming to give the
coastline and highland areas to Ethiopia and Moslem-inhabited northern and
western lowlands to their colony, the Sudan” (Cliffe 1988, 71). The British
would go on to manufacture and deploy policy to best suit their needs at the expense
of the Eritrean people who lobbied for independence. British authorities
administered Eritrea as a trust territory of the United Nation in 1949, and in
1952 would grant Eritrea to Ethiopia as a federal component.
Bibliography
Last,
Geoffrey C. Britannica. “Eritrea.” Last modified January 18, 2015. Accessed
April 8, 2015.
coastlands-and-beyond#toc37667
Cliffe,
Lionel. The Long Struggle of Eritrea for
Independence and Constructive Peace. Red Sea
Press. 1988. (67-74).
Van
de Splinter, Hans. “Background to the
Border Dispute Between Eritrea and Ethiopia”.
Accessed on April 16, 2015. http://www.eritrea.be/old/eritrea-ethiopia.htm
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