ERITREA - STATE OF ERITREA

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in East Africa situated in the Horn of Africa, with its capital at Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km² (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.

Eritrea is a multi-ethnic country, with nine recognized ethnic groups in its population of around five and a half million. Eritrea has nine national languages which are Tigrinya language, Tigre, Afar, Beja, Bilen, Kunama, Nara, Saho. Tigrinya, Arabic, and English serve as the three working languages. The Kingdom of Aksum, covering much of modern-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, was established during the first or second centuries AD. It adopted Christianity around the middle of the fourth century. In medieval times much of Eritrea fell under the Medri Bahri kingdom, with a smaller region being part of Hamasien.

The creation of modern-day Eritrea is a result of the incorporation of independent, distinct kingdoms and sultanates (for example, Medri Bahri and the Sultanate of Aussa) eventually resulting in the formation of Italian Eritrea. After the defeat of the Italian colonial army in 1942, Eritrea was administered by the British Military Administration until 1952. Following the UN General Assembly decision, in 1952, Eritrea would govern itself with a local Eritrean parliament but for foreign affairs and defense it would enter into a federal status with Ethiopia for a period of 10 years. However, in 1962 the government of Ethiopia annulled the Eritrean parliament and formally annexed Eritrea, but the Eritreans who had argued for complete Eritrean independence since the ouster of the Italians in 1941 anticipated what was coming and, in 1961, organized the Eritrean Liberation Front in opposition. In 1991, after 30 years of continuous armed struggle for independence, the Eritrean liberation fighters entered the capital city, Asmara, in victory.

The first stamps of Eritrea were overprinted stamps of Italy issued on 1 January 1893. Before that, Egyptian stamps were used at Massawa between 1869 and 1885 and Italian post offices were established. The first stamps specifically for Eritrea were stamps inscribed COLONIA ERITREA issued in 1910. Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland formed Italian East Africa on 1 June 1936. Stamps were issued on 7 February 1938 and until 1941. Postage stamps and postal history of Italian East Africa are related to the stamps and their history issued by the Kingdom of Italy between 1936 and 1941 for use in Italian East Africa, called in Italian Africa Orientale Italiana (A.O.I.). A.O.I. was made of Italian Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somalia.

 After British forces occupied Eritrea and the other Italian colonies during World War II, British postage stamps overprinted M.E.F. (Middle East Forces) were used. These were replaced by issues overprinted B.M.A. ERITREA or later B.A. ERITREA to reflect the change from British military to British civil administration. Stamps overprinted in this way were in use from 1942 to 1952. Between 1952 and 1991, Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia and used the stamps of Ethiopia. The first stamps of independent Eritrea were those issued to mark the independence referendum in 1993.

 

The covers posted from Asmara on December 01, 2016 and I received on December 23, 2016. Eritrea had issued beautiful stamps previously, but the postal service was suspended for 3 years since 2013 because of financial crisis. in 2016, all the issues resolved and Eritrean Postal Service resumes its services in February 2016.