ERITREA
Prior to the European colonial period, a number of different people occupied present-day Eritrea, though none of them controlled the area. Some of these people established powerful kingdoms. Among them where the Axumite kingdom (1st-9th century AD), the seven Beja's kingdom (8th-13th century AD) and the Bellou kingdom (13th-16th century AD).
Eritrea is locatedon the trade road between the Nile River valley, the Red Sea, and central Ethiopia. Invasions by external powers seeking to control trade included the Ottoman Turks in the16th century, Egypt in the 19th century. Eritrea was gradually united under Italian rule and became an Italian colony on the 1st of January 1890. After Italy's defeat in World War II. Eritrea was administered by Britain from 1941 to 1952, When the UN-supervised referendum was held in April 1993 more than 99 % of Eritrean voters chose independence declared on May 24th, 1993. On May 28th, the country was admitted to full membership in the United Nations
