ERITREA, FLAG OF

national flag consisting of triangles of green, red, and blue and a yellow emblem off-centre toward the hoist. The flag's width-to-length ratio is 1 to 2. The first flag of Eritrea was officially adopted on September 15, 1952, the day British authorities relinquished control over the area and four days before the Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation became effective. Its light blue background was to honour the flag of the United Nations (UN), which had assisted the country to self-government. In the centre was a wreath of two olive branches surrounding an upright branch, coloured green; these also suggested the UN flag. On December 23, 1958, the Eritrean flag was replaced by that of Ethiopia, which annexed the nation in 1962. About the same time, a liberation struggle was begun; after 1975 it was led by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The EPLF party flag, adopted in January 1977, consisted of three triangles: red, green, and blue. The red colour suggested blood shed for national liberation. The green and blue represented agricultural wealth and maritime resources, respectively. The yellow star on the red triangle stood for national mineral resources. The new national flag was first officially hoisted at the proclamation of independence on May 24, 1993. It had the triangles of the EPLF flag, but the star was replaced by a yellow version of the three olive branches in the 195258 flag. As standardized in 1995, the number of leaves in the wreath (30) corresponds to the years of civil war that led to independence. Whitney Smith History Precolonial Eritrea Rule from the highlands Beginning about 1000 BC, Semitic peoples from the South Arabian kingdom of Saba' (or Sheba) migrated across the Red Sea and absorbed the Cushitic inhabitants of the Eritrean coast and adjacent highlands. These Semitic invaders, possessing a well-developed culture, established the kingdom of Aksum, which, by the end of the 4th century AD, ruled the northern stretches of the Ethiopian Plateau and the eastern lowlands. An important trade route led from the port of Adulis, near modern Zula, to the city of Aksum, the capital, located in what is now the Ethiopian province of Tigray. After extending its power at times as far afield as modern Egypt and Yemen, Aksum began to decline into obscurity in the 6th century AD. Beginning in the 12th century, however, the Ethiopian Zagwe and Solomonid dynasties held sway to a fluctuating extent over the entire plateau and the Red Sea coast. Eritrea's central highlands, known as the mereb melash (land beyond the Mereb River), were the northern frontier region of the Ethiopian kingdoms and were ruled by a governor titled bahr negash (lord of the sea). The control exercised by the crown over this region was never firm, and it became even more tenuous as the centre of Ethiopian power moved steadily southward to Gonder and Shewa. Highland Eritrea became a vassal fiefdom of the lords of Tigray, who were seldom on good terms with the dominant Amhara branch of the Ethiopian family. Contesting for the coastlands Off the plateau, the pastoralist peoples in the west and north knew no foreign master until the early 19th century, when the Egyptians invaded the Sudan and raided deep into the Eritrean lowlands. The Red Sea coast, owing to its strategic and commercial importance, was contested by many powers. In the 16th century the Turks occupied the Dahlak Archipelago and then Mitsiwa, where they maintained, with occasional interruption, a garrison for more than three centuries. Also in the 16th century, Eritrea as well as Ethiopia were affected by the invasions of Ahmad Gra, the Muslim leader of the sultanate of Adal. After the expulsion of Ahmad's forces, the Turks temporarily occupied even more of Eritrea's coastal area. In 1865 the Egyptians obtained Mitsiwa from the Ottoman Porte. From there they pushed inland to the plateau, until in 1875 an Egyptian force that reached the Mereb River was annihilated by Ethiopian forces. Meanwhile, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had made the Red Sea a scene of rivalry among the world's most powerful states. Between 1869 and 1880 the Italian Rubattino Navigation company purchased from the local Afar sultan stretches of the Red Sea coast adjoining the village of Aseb. In 1882 these acquisitions were transferred to the Italian state, and in 1885 Italian troops landed at Mitsiwa, Aseb, and other locations. There was no resistance by the Egyptians at Mitsiwa, and protests made by the Turks and Ethiopians were ignored. Italian forces then systematically spread out from Mitsiwa toward the highlands. This expansion onto the plateau was initially opposed by Emperor Yohannes IV, the only Tigray to wear the Ethiopian crown in modern times, but Yohannes's successor, Menilek II, in return for weapons that he needed to fight possible rivals, acquiesced to Italian occupation of the region north of the Mereb. In the Treaty of Wichale, signed on May 2, 1889, Menilek recognized Italian possessions in the Red Sea, and on January 1, 1890, the Italian colony of Eritrea was officially proclaimed. From here, the Italians launched several incursions into Ethiopia, only to be decisively defeated by Menilek's army at the Battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896. Menilek did not pursue the defeated enemy across the Mereb. Soon afterward, he signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa, obtaining Italian recognition of Ethiopia's sovereignty in return for his recognition of Italian rule over Eritrea. The economy Natural resources Salt mining, based on deposits in the Kobar Sink, is a traditional activity in Eritrea. Deposits of gold, copper, potash, and iron have been exploited at times in a minor way, and numerous other minerals have been identified, including zinc, feldspar, gypsum, asbestos, mica, and sulfur. The area of cultivation is limited by climate and the uneven surface of the plateau, so that, of the 8 million acres (3.2 million hectares) of land considered cultivable, only 5 percent is being worked. There is room for expansion, however, especially if the country's considerable water resources are harnessed for irrigation. In normal times, livestock is a valuable resource, and it has the potential to play a role in Eritrea's foreign trade. During the long war of independence, however, livestock was severely depleted. The fishing potential of the Red Sea is another underutilized resource. Soil erosion, an age-old process, is particularly severe on the plateau. Encouraged by the steady expansion of cultivation, it has left few wooded areas and has created a shortage of fuel. The proximity of the oil-rich Arabian basin has occasionally raised expectations of discovering petroleum in Eritrea, but intermittent exploration since the days of Italian rule has failed to produce results. Agriculture Agriculture is by far the most important sector of the country's economy, providing a livelihood for about 80 percent of the population and normally accounting for the bulk of Eritrea's exports. Peasant cultivation and traditional pastoralism are the main forms of agricultural activity. These are not mutually exclusive occupations, since most peasants also keep animals and most pastoralists cultivate grains when possible. Both peasants and pastoralists produce primarily for their own subsistence, and only small surpluses are available for trade. The staple grain products are an indigenous cereal named teff (Eragostis abyssinica) as well as corn (maize), wheat, barley, sorghum, and millet. Vegetables and fruit also are produced. Under Italian rule, modern irrigated plantations produced vegetables, fruit, cotton, sisal, bananas, tobacco, and coffee for the growing urban markets. This sector continued to operate under Ethiopian rule until it was disrupted by the long period of warfare. The land Relief Eritrea's land is highly variegated. Running on a north-south axis through the middle of the country are the central highlands, a narrow strip of country some 6,500 feet (2,000 metres) above sea level that represents the northern reaches of the Ethiopian Plateau. Geologically, this plateau consists of a foundation of crystalline rock (e.g., granite, gneiss, micaschist) that is overlain by sedimentary rock (limestone and sandstone) and then capped by basalt (rock of volcanic origin). The upper layers have been highly dissected by deep gorges and river channels, forming small steep-sided, flat-topped tablelands known as ambas. The highest point in the plateau is Mount Soira, at 9,885 feet (3,013 metres). In the north of Eritrea the highlands narrow and then end in a system of hills, where erosion has cut down to the basement rock. To the east the plateau drops abruptly into a coastal plain. North of the Gulf of Zula, the plain is only 10 to 50 miles wide, but to the south it widens to include the Denakil Plain. This barren region contains a depression known as the Kobar Sink (more than 300 feet below sea level), the northern end of which extends into Eritrea. The coastal plain and the Denakil Plain are part of the East African Rift System and are sharply delimited on the west by the eastern escarpment of the plateau, which, although deeply eroded, presents a formidable obstacle to travelers from the coast. The western flank of the central highlands is a broken and undulating plain that slopes gradually toward the border with The Sudan. It lies at an average elevation of 1,500 feet. The vegetation is mostly savanna, consisting of scattered trees, shrubs, and seasonal grasses. Off the coast in the Red Sea is the Dahlak Archipelago, a group of more than 100 small coral and reef-fringed islands. Only a few of these islands have a permanent population. Drainage The Eritrean highlands are drained by four major rivers and numerous streams. Two of the rivers, the Gash and the Tekeze, flow westward into The Sudan. The Tekeze River (also known as the Satit) is a major tributary of the Atbara River, which eventually joins the Nile. The Gash River reaches the Atbara only during flood season. As it crosses the western lowlands, the Tekeze forms part of Eritrea's border with Ethiopia, while the upper course of the Gash, known as the Mereb River, forms the border on the plateau. The other two major rivers that drain the highlands of Eritrea are the Barka and the Anseba. Both of these rivers flow northward into a marshy area on the eastern coast of The Sudan and do not reach the Red Sea. Several seasonal streams that flow eastward from the plateau reach the sea on the Eritrean coast. The people Language groups Eritrea's population consists of several ethnic groups, each with its own language and cultural tradition. The Eritrean highlands are an extension of the Ethiopian Plateau to the south, and the bulk of the peasantry on the plateau belong to the Tigray, a group that also occupies the adjacent Ethiopian province of Tigray. The Tigrayan language, called Tigrinya, is spoken on both sides of the border and is the speech of nearly one-half of all Eritreans. Inhabiting the northernmost part of the Eritrean plateau, as well as lowlands to the east and west, are people who speak the other major Eritrean languageTigre. Tigre and Tigrinya are written in the same script and are descended from the same mother tongue (the ancient Semitic language of Ge'ez), but they are mutually unintelligible. Also occupying the northern plateau are Bilin speakers, whose language belongs to the Cushitic family. The Rashaida are a group of Arabic-speaking nomads who traverse the northern hills. On the southern part of the coastal region live Afar nomads, whose relatives live across the borders in Djibouti and Ethiopia; they are also called the Denakil, after the region that they inhabit. The coastal strip south of Massawa, as well as the eastern flanks of the plateau, are occupied by Saho pastoralists. In the western plain, the dominant people are pastoralists of the Beja family, whose kin live across the border in The Sudan. Two small Nilotic groups, the Kunama and the Nara, also live in the west. Religions Historically, religion has been a prominent symbol of ethnic identity in the Horn of Africa. Christianity was established in the 4th century AD on the coast and appeared soon afterward in the plateau, where it was embraced by the Ethiopian highlanders. The Monophysite creed of the Ethiopian Orthodox church remains the faith of about half of the population of Eritrea, including nearly all the Tigray. Following the rise of Islam in Arabia, Muslim power flowed over the Red Sea coast, forcing the Ethiopians to retreat deep into their mountain fastness. Islam displaced other creeds in the lowlands of the Horn, and it remains the faith of nearly all the people inhabiting the eastern coast and the western plain of Eritrea, as well as the northernmost part of the plateau. Thus, while Islam claims nearly all pastoralists, Christianity is dominant among the peasant cultivators. (Muslims are significantly represented also in all towns of Eritrea, where they are prominent in trade.) In the perennial competition between cultivators and pastoralists over land, water, control of trade, and access to ports, religion has played an ideological role, and it remains a potent political force. During the colonial period, Catholic and Protestant European missionaries introduced their own version of Christianity into Eritrea. They had considerable success among the small Kunama group, and they also attracted a few townspeople with the offer of modern education.