From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Thu May 28 2009 - 16:30:25 EDT
Country of beauty and cultural diversity
Thursday, 28th May 2009
By David Ochami
Eritrea's demographic and cultural diversity is a melting pot of nine
communities, reflecting periods of ancient seafaring, colonialism and
interaction with Europe and the Arab world.
Eritrea, has a long writing tradition and history, preserved in ancient
monasteries, monuments, scrolls and museums, dating to antiquity.
Rich history
Its ancient Merowe and Axumite empires are powerful magnets for
archeologists, palaeontologists and historians of ancient African
civilisation.
Eritrea's history is preserved in religion, cuisine, clothing and
linguistics.
Many Eritreans speak Tigrinya, the Semitic language of the largest
tribe, but are also fluent in other languages such English and Arabic.
There is an Arab tribe - the Rashayda - on the Red Sea and Nilotic
tribes in the western region on the border with Sudan. Orthodox
Christianity, Islam and ancient faiths are native.
Asmara, the capital city, Massawa and Assab ports are full of ancient
religious sites, monuments and artefacts.
Turkish, Ethiopian, Egyptian and European colonialism is evident in the
architecture around Asmara, the serene capital with wide and clean
streets.
Asmara and other major towns still boast Italian restaurants and the
cappuccino tradition and ballets besides other Mediterranean cultures
and art.
Divided into six administrative regions, Eritrea extends to about 370
islands in the Red Sea, including the Dahlak archipelago. Its portion of
the Red Sea has 300 species of fish, according to Mr Yohannes
Gebreyesus, who heads the North Region Museum at the port of Massawa.
The museum protects marine resources and monuments, including relics of
the war for independence.
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