" Lewis believes that it " was his farsighted certainty that total annihilation of Baratieri and a sweep into Eritrea would force the Italian people to turn a bungled colonial war into a national crusade " that stayed his hand.

The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church obtained autocephaly on 7 May 1998, and Abune Phillipos was subsequently consecrated as first Patriarch of Eritrea.

Djibouti was home to an old civilization, together with northern Somalia, Eritrea, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, was known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt ( or " Ta Netjeru ," meaning god's land ), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC

After World War II Eritrea was annexed to Ethiopia.

In 1995, one of the oldest hominids, representing a possible link between Homo erectus and an archaic Homo sapiens was found in Buya, Eritrea by Italian scientists dated to over 1 million years old ( the oldest of its kind ), providing a link between hominids and the earliest humans.

It is also believed that Eritrea was on the route out of Africa that was used by early man to colonize the rest of the Old World.

Around the 8th century BC, a kingdom known as D ' mt was established in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, with its capital at Yeha in northern Ethiopia.

The first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia was that of Aksum in the 1st century AD.

During the medieval period and prior to the Ottoman occupation of Debarewa in 1557, Eritrea ’ s historical name was Bahre-Negash ( Kingdom of the Sea ).

The colony of Italian Eritrea was established in 1890 ( and lasted officially until 1947 ).

The Italian possession of maritime areas previously claimed by Abyssinia / Ethiopia was formalized in 1889 with the signing of the Treaty of Wuchale with Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia ( r. 1889 – 1913 ) after the defeat of Italy by Ethiopia at the battle of Adua where Italy launched an effort to expand its possessions from Eritrea into the more fertile Abyssinian hinterland.

However, he was forced by circumstance to live by the tenets of Italian sovereignty over Eritrea.

The Italians brought to Eritrea a huge development of Catholicism and by the 1940 nearly one third of the Eritrean population was catholic, mainly in Asmara where many churches were built.

One of the first building was the Asmara President's Office: this former " Italian government's palace " was built in 1897 by Ferdinando Martini, the first Italian governor of Eritrea.

The Italian government wanted to create in Asmara an impressive building, from where the Italian Governors could show the dedication of the Kingdom of Italy to the " colonia primogenita " ( first daughter-colony ) as was called Eritrea.

The biggest extension of Eritrea was reached during the Italian empire ( 1936 – 1941 ), when northern parts of conquered Ethiopia were assigned to Eritrea by the Italians as a reward for the Eritrean " Ascaris '" help in the conquest of Ethiopia

Eritrea was placed under British military administration after the Italian surrender in World War II.

The Italian Eritreans strongly rejected the Ethiopian annexation of Eritrea after the war: the Party of Shara Italy was established in Asmara in July 1947 and the majority of the members were former Italian soldiers with many Eritrean Ascari ( the organization was even backed up by the government of Italy ).

The main objective of this party was Eritrea freedom but they had a pre-condition that stated that before independence the country should be governed by Italy for at least 15 years ( like happened with Italian Somalia ).

Both the Patriarchate of Addis Ababa and all Ethiopia, and the Patriarchate of Asmara and all Eritrea do acknowledge the supremacy of honor and dignity of the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria on the basis that both Patriarchates were established by the Throne of Alexandria and that they have their roots in the Apostolic Church of Alexandria, and acknowledge that Saint Mark the Apostle is the founder of their Churches through the heritage and Apostolic evangelization of the Fathers of Alexandria.

It is bordered by Somalia to the southeast, Eritrea on its northern, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea with Yemen on its eastern, and Ethiopia to the west and south.

It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast.

In 2008, the countries clashed again when Djibouti refused to return Eritrean deserters and Eritrea responded by firing at the Djiboutian forces.

Cave paintings in central and northwestern Eritrea were also discovered by Italian colonialists indicating a population of hunter gatherers from the Epipaleolithic era in the region.

The boundaries of modern Eritrea and the entire region were established during the European colonial period between Italian, British and French colonialists as well as the lone landlocked African Empire of Abyssinia which found itself surrounded and its boundaries defined by said colonial powers.

Many industrial investments were done by the Italians in the area of Asmara and Massawa, but the beginning of World War II stopped the blossoming industrialization of Eritrea.

This combined with the introduction of modern democracy into Eritrea by the British administration gave Eritreans a desire for political freedoms alien to Ethiopian political tradition.

Haile Selassie attempted to calm the growing unrest by visiting Eritrea and assuring its inhabitants that they would be treated as equals under the new arrangements.

The UN established a temporary security zone consisting of a 25-kilometre demilitarized buffer zone within Eritrea, running along the length of the disputed border between the two states and patrolled by UN troops.

The Algiers agreement called for a final demarcation of the disputed border area between Eritrea and Ethiopia by the assignment of an independent, UN-associated body known as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ( EEBC ), whose task was to clearly identify the border between the two countries and issue a final and binding ruling.

Similarly, Eritrea and Yemen had a border conflict between 1996 to 1998 over the Hanish Islands and the maritime border, which was resolved in 2000 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague.

Italian administration of Eritrea brought improvements in the medical and agricultural sectors of Eritrean society.

Map of the Italian Empire ( 1936 – 1941 ), that included Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia

This fact made Asmara the main " Italian town " of the Italian empire in Africa. In all Eritrea the Italian Eritreans were 75, 000 in that year.

British forces defeated the Italian army in Eritrea in 1941 at the Battle of Keren and placed the colony under British military administration until Allied forces could determine its fate.

Following the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993, the newly independent Eritrean government appealed to Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria for Eritrean Orthodox autocephaly.

A comparison of four successful programs against malaria in Brazil, India, Eritrea, and Vietnam does not endorse any single strategy but instead states, " Common success factors included conducive country conditions, a targeted technical approach using a package of effective tools, data-driven decision-making, active leadership at all levels of government, involvement of communities, decentralized implementation and control of finances, skilled technical and managerial capacity at national and sub-national levels, hands-on technical and programmatic support from partner agencies, and sufficient and flexible financing.

Benito Mussolini's rise to power in Italy in 1922 brought profound changes to the colonial government in Eritrea.

The Mussolini government regarded the colony as a strategic base for future aggrandizement and ruled accordingly, using Eritrea as a base to launch its 1935 – 1936 campaign to colonize Ethiopia.

The EPLF now says it is committed to establishing a democratic form of government and a free-market economy in Eritrea.

In May 1991 the EPLF established the Provisional Government of Eritrea ( PGE ) to administer Eritrean affairs until a referendum was held on independence and a permanent government established.

His government has also been condemned for allegedly arming and financing the insurgency in Somalia ; the United States is considering labeling Eritrea a " State Sponsor of Terrorism ," however, many experts on the topic have shied from this assertion, stating that " If there is one country where the fighting of extremists and terrorists was a priority when it mattered, it was Eritrea.

Politics of Eritrea takes place in a framework of a single-party presidential republic, whereby the Eritrean President is both head of state and head of government and a single-party state, led by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.

The government of Eritrea reportedly is in the process of conducting a geological survey for use by potential investors in the mining sector.

Financial services, the bulk of the services sector, are principally rendered by the National Bank of Eritrea ( the nation ’ s central bank ), the Commercial Bank of Eritrea, the Housing and Commerce Bank of Eritrea, the Agricultural and Industrial Bank of Eritrea, the Eritrean Investment and Development Bank, and the National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea, all majority owned by the government and ruling party.

According to the International Monetary Fund, commercial banks in Eritrea — all government owned and operated — appear to be in compliance with prudent regulations.

In early 2005, likely in an effort to increase foreign capital reserves, the Eritrean government decreed that all transactions in Eritrea must be conducted in nakfa.

Telecommunications infrastructure in Eritrea is poorly developed and controlled by the government.

Although the attacks did not pose a threat to the stability of the Government of Eritrea ( the infiltrators have generally been killed or captured by government forces ), the Eritreans believe the National Islamic Front ( NIF ) in Khartoum supported, trained, and armed the insurgents.

Subsequently, the Government of Eritrea hosted a conference of Sudanese opposition leaders in June 1995 in an effort to help the opposition unite and to provide a credible alternative to the present government in Khartoum.

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front ( EPLF ), an ally in the fight against the Mengistu regime, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government.

* December 16 – The Ethiopian government declares a state of emergency in the county of Eritrea over the activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front.