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.

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

The British and Americans preferred to cede Eritrea to the Ethiopians as a reward for their support during World War II.

According to World Bank estimates, Eritrea lost US $ 225 million worth of livestock and 55, 000 homes during the war.

Ethiopia nationalized Eritrea ’ s 42 largest factories and systematically dismantled the Eritrean industrial sector during the protracted civil war.

However, Eritrea condemned Israeli military action during the 2008 – 2009 Israel – Gaza conflict.

Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period, Italian is still widely understood in the countries of Libya and Eritrea.

That crossing became possible when sea level had fallen by more than 80m to expose much of the shelf between southern Eritrea and Yemen ; a level that was reached during a glacial stadial from 60 to 70 ka as climate cooled erratically to reach the last glacial maximum.

Eritrea has been actively supported by Norway during its liberation from Ethiopia.

However, Eritrea condemned Israeli military action during the 2008 – 2009 Israel – Gaza conflict.

During 1941, Free French units fought with the British Commonwealth army against Italian troops in Ethiopia and Eritrea during the East African Campaign.

Known by the same name, they operated inside the capital city, Asmara, during the last 15-20 years of the armed struggle in Eritrea against Ethiopia.

In Eritrea and Ethiopia, a variety of stews, known as wat, sometimes salads ( during Ethiopian Orthodox fasting, for which believers abstain from most animal products ) or simply more injera ( called injera firfir ), are placed upon the injera for serving.

In 2006, after armed clashes broke out during the Djiboutian – Eritrean border conflict, Djibouti's President Guelleh, when asked if his country was at war with Eritrea, replied with " absolutely ".

A counterpoint to this legend is that kings of Ethiopia are only attested in record from the 700's BC, when there was a kingdom named D ' mt located in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia that existed during the late 8th to 5th centuries BC.

Slim was wounded again during the fighting in Eritrea.

Dʿmt ( Proto-Ge ' ez: 10px10px10px10px ; Ge ' ez: ዳሞት, Dmt ) was a kingdom located in southern Eritrea and northern Ethiopia that existed during the 10th to 5th centuries BC.

While there are no known traditions of matriarchal rule in Yemen during the early first millennium BC, the earliest inscriptions of the rulers of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea mention queens of very high status, possibly equal to their kings.

In Eritrea and Ethiopia, a variety of stews, sometimes salads ( during Ethiopian Orthodox fasting, for which believers abstain from most animal products ) or simply more injera ( called injera firfir ), are placed upon the injera for serving.

During this time Ouyahia was assigned the task of securing a peace deal in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea by Bouteflika, who was also President of Organisation for African Unity during the year 2000.

He had military successes in Somalia and Eritrea, notably as commander of the forces around Jijiga during the Ogaden War.

The Beja people would also come to rule within Massawa during the Beja Kingdom of Eritrea from 740 AD to 14th century AD.

The port city would also come under the supreme control of the Balaw people ( people of half Arab and half Beja descent ), during the Balaw Kingdom of Eritrea ( 12th-15th AD ).

When the British army conquered Eritrea from the Italians in spring 1941, most of the infrastructures and the industrial areas were extremely damaged.

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

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.

In the absence of agreement amongst the Allies concerning the status of Eritrea, British administration continued for the remainder of World War II and until 1950.

During the immediate postwar years, the British proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines and parceled off to Sudan and Ethiopia.

" The Ambassador's word choice, along with the estimation of the British Ambassador in Addis Ababa, makes quite clear the fact that the Eritrea aspiration was for Independence.

The commission proposed the establishment of some form of association with Ethiopia, and the UN General Assembly adopted that proposal along with a provision terminating British administration of Eritrea no later than September 15, 1952.

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.

Following the decisive Ethiopian victory at Adwa, Menelik II rapidly negotiated a series of treaties fixing Ethiopia's boundaries — with French Somaliland in March 1897, British Somaliland a few months later in June 1897, with Italian Eritrea in 1900, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1902, British East Africa in 1907, and Italian Somaliland in 1908 — which simplified this problem on one level.

At about the same time Yitzhak Shamir escaped from the camp in Eritrea where the British were holding Lehi activists without trial, taking command of the Lehi ( Stern Gang ).

* January 19 – WWII: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.

The Ethiopian Empire and British Somaliland were then re-established, while Italian Somaliland and Eritrea both came under British administration.

* Eritrea ( British Administration ) 1950-1952

* Eritrea ( British Military Administration ) 1948-1950

On January 18 and January 19, 1941, the British launched offensives against the Italians: Cunningham's force from Kenya into Italian Somaliland and southern Ethiopia and to the north Platt's divisions from the Sudan into Eritrea.

With the help of the British, the city eventually came under Italian control as part of Italy's colony of Eritrea in 1885.

The wrecks were salvaged in short order and the port was returned to service, as part of what had now become the British protectorate of Eritrea.

During the East African Campaign General Archibald Wavell the Commander-in-Chief of the British Middle East Command directed Cunningham to retake British Somaliland and free Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from the Italians whilst forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir William Platt would attack from Sudan in the north through Eritrea.