Eritrea

Eritrea’s independence—or restoration of independence—is a very recent phenomenon, in a region of the world that is very old. Bordering Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, the country has lies along the Red Sea. Having been asked “How did Moses cross the Red Sea?” as a five-year-old (I gave the wrong answer—very little bible education in my household...) just the mention of the Red Sea makes me think of ancient nations. Formal independence, and recognition internationally as an independence nation, came on 24 May, 1993, the anniversary of which is marked as Eritrean Independence Day. Something I didn’t know about Eritrea is that over a hundred islands are part of the country, and the Dahlak Archipelago was known to the Romans back in the day as pearl fisheries. They still produce a few pearls.

In 1890 Eritrea was conquered by Italy, and became a Italian colony until Italy’s losses in World War II. From 1941 until 1952, the country was a United Nations protectorate that was administered by the British. In 1950, the UN decided to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia, and until 1962, the country was an autonomous territory federated with Ethiopia. In 1962, Ethopia annexed Eritrea as a province, which led to a 31 year long civil war. Among other victims of the civil war (and I don’t want to
diminish the human impact) was the elephant population of Eritrea. Once a source of war elephants for the Egyptians, from 1955 until 2001 there were no elephants seen in the country. More recently, a herd of 30 were seen, and its now thought there are a population of about 100 elephants in the country.

A referendum (supervised by the UN) was eventually held, and Eritreans overwhelmingly voted for independence. When I saw overwhelmingly, I mean it—over 99 percent. In the capital, Asmara, for instance, 128,443 voted for independence, 144 voted against, and 33 were uncounted. That’s a pretty astounding result.

Prior to this recent history, Eritrea has a long recorded history—the earliest reference to it is from Egypt in the twenty-fifth century BCE. And long before recorded history, it’s the place where one of the oldest hominids has been found—over a millions years old. Its modern name is derived from the Greek term for the Red Sea.

And—hey here’s something I really didn’t know!—in the third century AD the state of Aksum, which took up most of modern Eritrea and also the northern Ethiopian highlands, minted its own coins. I did know that they were early adopters of Christianity (fourth century) and during this period it grew to be on par with Rome, Persia and China as a civilisation—yet it’s the one we never hear about. When Islam came to Arabia in the seventh century, Aksum’s power on the Red Sea waned. The medieval period saw the breakup of Aksum, with the formation of small states and tribal and clan lands.

There is, unfortunately, huge media censorship: any journalist criticizing the President Isaias Afewerki is immediately jailed. Four journalists have died in detention. Reporters Without Borders last year ranked Eritrea last in the world—“unseating” North Korea which had run last every other year since the survey was instituted. It’s not a claim to fame to be proud of…

Today’s poem, “Knowledge,” is by Reesom Hail and is translated from the Tigrinya by Charles Cantalupo. There is no official language in Eritrea—government business is conducted in both Tigrinya and Arabic, and often in English as well—but I wanted to find a poem that had come out of Tigrinya, as the Tigre people make up around 80 percent of the population, and it is a language confined to Eritrea and Ethiopia. I found this poem in The Drunken Boat.

                          Knowledge

           First the earth, then the plow:
   So knowledge comes out of knowledge.
              We know, we don't know.
              We don't know we know.
              We know we don't know.
                           We think
                 This looks like that—
              This lemon, that orange—
                Until we taste the bitter.

by Reesom Haile,
translated from the Tigrinya by Charles Cantalupo
from The Drunken Boat