Notes

Eritrea, located along the
Red Sea, became an Italian colony in 1890. Ethiopia, an
independent country for more than 2,000 years, was
captured by Italy during the 1930s. After World War II,
Ethiopia regained its independence, and the United
Nations awarded Eritrea to Ethiopia (Figure 7-46). The
United Nations expected Ethiopia to permit Eritrea
considerable authority to run its own affairs, but Ethiopia
dissolved the Eritrean legislature and banned the use of
Tigrinya, Eritrea's major local language. The Eritreans
rebelled, beginning a 30-year fight for independence
(1961-1991). During this civil war, an estimated 665,000
Eritrean refugees fled to neighboring Sudan.
t-IO"H
INDIAN
OCEAN
... FIGURE 7-46 HORN OF AFRICA Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia to
become an independent country in the early 1990s. Somalia is divided into several
territories controlled by various ethinic groups.
Eritrean rebels defeated the Ethiopian army in 1991,
and 2 years later Eritrea became an independent state. But
war between Ethiopia and Eritrea flared up again in 1998
because of disputes over the location of the border. Eritrea
justified its claim through a 1900 treaty between Ethiopia
and Italy, which then controlled Eritrea, but Ethiopia cited
a 1902 treaty with Italy. Ethiopia defeated Eritrea in 2000
and took possession of the disputed areas. Battles along
the border have continued (Figure 7-47).
T FIGURE 7-47 ERITREA-ETHIOPIA BORDER The border between Eritrea
(background) and Ethiopia (foreground) is unmarked here.
Chapter 7: Ethnicities 253
A country of 5 million people split evenly between
Christian and Muslim, Eritrea has two principal ethnic
groups: Tigrinya and Tigre. At least in the first years of
independence, a strong sense of national identity united
Eritrea's ethnicities as a result of shared experiences during
the 30-year war to break free of Ethiopia.
Even with the loss of Eritrea, Ethiopia remained a complex
multiethnic state. From the late nineteenth century
until the 1990s, Ethiopia was controlled by the Amharas,
who are Christians. After the government defeat in the
early 1990s, power passed to a combination of ethnic
groups. The Oromo, who are Muslim fundamentalists
from the south, are the largest ethnicity in Ethiopia, at
34 percent of the population. The Amhara, who comprise
27 percent of the population, had banned the use of languages
other than Amharic, including Oromo.