Between 1000 and 400 BC, a semitic group of people known as the Sabeans crossed the Red Sea into the region known as present Eritrea, and intermingled with the Hamitic inhabitants who had migrated from the northern Sudan. The region was then controlled by various foreign invaders such as the Axumite kingdom, the Funji Sultans of Sudan, the Egyptians, the Portugese and the Turks. Each of these foreign occupiers had a distinct impact on the development of present day Eritrea as a nation and in the formation of an Eritrean identity.

The former Italian colony of Eritrea was merged into Ethiopia in a federal arrangement brokered by the UN in 1952 and incorporated fully into Ethiopia ten years later. An Eritrean Liberation Front emerged in exile in 1958 and later evolved into the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The EPLF led the fight against the communist government of Haile Mengistu Mariam which took control of Ethiopia from the Emperor Haile Selassi in 1974. After a decade of changing fortunes for both the Government and the EPLF, the guerrillas finally expelled government forces from Eritrea in early 1991.

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which led the final assault which overthrew the Mengistu regime in 1991, was armed and trained by the EPLF, although relations between the two have not always been good. In 1992 the EPLF-controlled Provisional Government of Eritrea announced a referendum over the future status of the area. With 99.8% support registered in favour of independence at a UN-supervised referendum in April 1993, the EPLF made arrangements to move to full nationhood, which was declared the following month. 

The EPLF inaugurated a 4-year transition period leading to a pluralistic political system and the establishment of a basic infrastructure to govern (state departments, legal system, banks and finance), as well as political parties to contest the eventual elections. The general secretary of the EPLF, Issaias Afewerki, became the President of the republic, and in February 1994, the EPLF reconstituted itself as the People's Front for Democracy and Justice. The government's principal task was the reconstruction of the economy. But things have not run smoothly, even for Eritrea's resourceful people.

Eritrea also entered into costly shooting wars with both Yemen and Djibouti. But by far the most serious threat to long term stability is the unexpected and catastrophic breakdown in relations with neighbouring Ethiopia. The two countries signed a number of economic and security agreements soon after independence, and relations were good - a legacy of the historical affinity between the EPLF and the Tigrayans who dominate the Ethiopian government. Fighting broke out between the two countries in May 1998, ostensibly over minor land disputes and border incursions each claimed against the other. However, Ethiopia is known to be unhappy with Eritrea's introduction of its own currency (the nakfa) in 1997; and Eritrea for its part voices fears that its hard-won independence might be infringed by an expansionist Ethiopia.

A truce brokered by US and Italian mediators brought the fighting to a temporary halt at the end of 1998, but further clashes - if anything more serious than before - have taken place during the spring and summer: tens of thousands of casualties were reported after one battle in June. Again, foreign mediation, this time involving the Algerian government, brought this spell of fighting to a halt. However, the fundamentals of the conflict, which are little understood by outsiders - one Western observer described it as "two bald men fighting over a comb" - were unresolved. In April 2000, heavy fighting resumed once again and an estimated half a million Eritreans were displaced. The conflict remains, it seems, not only inexplicable but intractable.

The 24th of May 1993, brought in the dawn of a new era for the Eritrean people. Having won the right to define their own future, they voted for Independence in a referendum held from the 23rd-25th of April 1993. On the 27th of April 1993, the Independent Eritrean Referendum Commission, the United Nations Observer Mission for the Eritrean Referendum (UNOVER), the OAU, the Arab League, the Non - Aligned Movement, the National Citizens Monitoring Group and numerous individual observers were unanimous in their conclusion, that the referendum had been unequivocally free and fair. In the words of the then Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) Secretary General; Issaias Afwerki; the referendum was "a delightful and sacrosanct historical conclusion to the choice of the Eritrean people. And although it has been decided that formal independence will be declared on 24 May 1993, Eritrea is a sovereign country as of today." (27 April 1993).

The Independence of Eritrea and its territorial sovereignty was immediately recognised by the world. Membership of the United Nations was granted in August 1993. In 1997 the Government established a temporary Constituent Assembly; and on May 23 adopted the Constitution, authorising political pluralism and instituting a presidential regime, with a President elected for a maximum of two five year terms. The President would appoint a Prime Minister and judges of the Supreme Court. A transitional National Assembly was empowered to act as the legislature until such time as legislative elections could be held.

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