Talk:History of Eritrea

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It is misleading readers to say, "Prior to Italian colonization in 1885, what is now Eritrea had been ruled by the various local or international powers that successively dominated the Red Sea region."

These "various local or international powers" was Ethiopia. Over several centuries (the myth goes back to King Solomon and Queen Sheba), Ethiopia (which included the area now considered Eritrea) existed in this part of Africa. Eritrea's separate identity was initially nurtured by the colonialist Italians and later by Egyptians (who want to keep Ethiopia divided and weak so as to prevent Ethiopia's claim for use of the Blue Nile). Eritreans are Ethiopian; their script, their food, their clothing, their names, their houses of worship, their lineage, and their heritage are common. Eritrean and Ethiopian history are one.

Eritrea is as much Ethiopian as Florida or Georgia are American. The United States has unequivocally demonstrated its views regarding the principles of "right to self determination". When the 13 Southern States declared their independence, the North under Abraham Lincoln mobilized and brought those states to heel, contrary to such "right of self determination". When national unity is in question, no country will stand by and watch a piece of itself break away. It is unfair under these circumstances to blame Emperor Haile Sillassie or Mengistu for fighting to keep Eritrea as one with Ethiopia. These two have many other faults but this one is not the one.

The current authoritarian powers in Eritrea are Communist and were supported by Communist Russia for most of their struggle. True to their Communist pedigree, Isayas Afewerqi and his supporters tolerate no disagreements, indiscriminately eliminating any and all opposition. Because of this, Eritrea's economy is in ruins.

It has been 40 years since the beginning of this unfortunate fracture between Eritrea and the rest of Ethiopia. Considering Ethiopia's long history, there is hope that the two nations will some day admit the error of their ways to reconstitute themselves back again as one nation and one people. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.65.37.45 (talk • contribs) 17:36, 29 February 2004 (UTC)

Before the Italians there was nither Eritrea nor Ethiopia. True that different kingdoms based in what are today Tigray and Gonder provinces ruled these areas and sometimes as far as southern Eritrea. Even if the kings of Abessiniya had had some control of the tigrinya part of Eritrea, the muslim part which is 75% of Eritrea was never under Abessinyan control. Thus saying Eritrea is one with Ethiopia is misleading. —preceding unsigned comment by 193.10.51.196 (talk • contribs) 23:58, 27 June 2004 (UTC)

To say that Eritrea is a break-away province of Ethiopia is highly incendiary and the claims surronding Eritrea and Ethiopia's similarities are highly falsified. At the very least, one recognizes that the most basic level of differentiation among ethinic groups is language. Eritreans speak predominatly Tigrena while the dominant language in Ethiopia is Amharic. That alone shows that the two nationalities are not one in the same. Second, because two ethnic groups (the Tigrenas and Amharas specifically, not even taking into consideration the other ethnic groups that are native only to Eritrea or Ethiopia) share many similarites does not mean they are one and the same. Spanish, French, and English share the same script; does this nullifiy the differences in the language? Tigrena and Amharic are mutually intelligable. Plus, there are several examples of differention between dress, food (e.g. kitfo, a favorite dish among Ethiopians is not eaten in Eritrea), names, etc. It only makes sense that two civilaztions so close in proximity develop similar cultural practices, a basic anthropoligical understanding.

Next, it is completely appropriate to attribute Eritrea's opression to Haile Salassie and subsequently Mengistu who advocated the banishment of an Eritrean identity. Using the United States as an example is a very poor choice since the context and circumstances are completely different (the United States was ethnically and culturally homogenous at the time of the Civil War, which was a war to defend the practice of slavery, not to the defend the conquered Southern identity). Finally, Ethiopia has been hailed as the only African nation to defeat a European army and avoid colonialization. However, if Eritrea was in fact a part of Ethiopia, and it was conquered by Italy, does that not make Ethiopia a conquered nation as well? Either Ethiopia (or part of it) was conquerored, or Eritrea was never apart of Ethiopia and feel to Italian conquerors. Pick one, you cannot have it both ways. —preceding unsigned comment by 141.161.69.76 (talk • contribs) 09:08, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Wouldn't both countries have the Kingdom of Aksum and Orthodox Church (to name but two example) in common? Perhaps "Prior to Italian colonization in 1885" should be re-written and expanded, as it would seem to equate the last 120 years with several centuries of previous history. While you did acknowledge that Ethiopia and Eritrea's respective cultures are not homogenous, your arguments seem to be based on the contrary. (Eritreans don't eat Kitfo, but on the other hand, do all Ethiopians eat it?) As someone pointed out, Ethiopia, in the current sense, has only existed in relatively recent times. My opinion is that the history articles for both countries should expand more upon the individual entities (Shewa, Gondar, Adal etc.) that preceded Ethiopia and Eritrea. This would be more accurate and, I believe, would address some of the issues you've mentioned -- Gyrofrog (talk) 17:08, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Please remember that this page is for discussing the History of Eritrea article, and not the History of Eritrea in general. While all of the preceding comments address valid concerns, please frame them in such a way so that they contribute to the improvement of the article itself. Thank you, -- Gyrofrog (talk) 17:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Early History

Early History really should be expanded. Right now it's less than 1/3 of the entire article, when the span of time covered is 20-30 times longer. For this reason I have added the {{expand}} template.

Yom 06:55, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Medieval history

I made a couple changes including removing POV and correcting some false information. The Adal sultanate never stretched as far north as the Eritrean coastline. It wasn't until its fall, actually, in the mid-late 16th century, that the Afar Sultanate/Awsa Sultanate was founded in eastern Ethiopia, and came to dominate the Afar coastline in what is now Eritrea. Moreover, Aksum did not disintegrate into many kingdoms. Rulers remembered as Aksumite ruled as late as the first half of the 12th century (see Knud Tage Anderson's "The Queen of the Habasha in Ethiopian history, tradition and chronology"), and the Zagwe was not just a political, but also a cultural direct continuation of Aksum (see Tekeste Negash's "The Zagwe period re-interpreted: post-Aksumite Ethiopian urban culture," and David W. Phillipson's work on the Lalibela Churches, which shows that they were built over a long period from the 9-10th centuries up to King Lalibela's time, some of which began as Aksumite fortresses.). Moreover, I corrected some info on the naming of the region. — ዮም | (Yom) | Talk • contribs • Ethiopia 21:04, 3 November 2006 (UTC)