ONE LAND · 6 ATLASES
History of Eritrea in maps
Eritrea as it appears in 6 interactive history atlases, from 1890 to 2015: Eritrea. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Eritrea before it was Eritrea? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Eritrea · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Eritrea · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position | |
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories |
Eritrea (Italian) · Road to WW2
| The aggressors (Japan, Germany, Italy) — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Eritrea · Cold War
| US-aligned states — the opening position | |
| Soviet-aligned states | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Eritrea · Decolonization of Africa
Italian Eritrea passed to British administration in 1941 and was federated to Ethiopia by UN decision in 1952 — a federation Addis Ababa hollowed out and then abolished outright in 1962. The result was Africa’s longest war of independence: thirty years, from Hamid Idris Awate’s first shots in September 1961 to the EPLF’s capture of Asmara in May 1991, fought from mountain trenches largely without a superpower patron. Formal independence came by referendum on 24 May 1993 — the map’s last new flag before South Africa completed it, and the rare exception to the frozen-border rule: a colonial border restored, not redrawn.
| Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish & Italian-ruled — the opening position | |
| Independent before 1945 | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Eritrea (part of Ethiopia until 1993) · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Authoritarian, one-party or colonial rule — the opening position | |
| Right won in law | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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