Eritrea–Ethiopia border

The Eritrea–Ethiopia border encompasses a roughly 1,033 km (641.9 mi) boundary between the two states. The borders are the Afar and Tigray regions of Ethiopia.

History

Creation

The creation of the modern border of Ethiopia and Eritrea is rooted in the late 19th century, when the Italian shipping company claimed the northern end of Assab Bay in March 1870. The area was settled by the Ottoman Empire and Egypt and the Italians were introduced to the area in 1880. Under Emperor Yohannes IV, the Hewett Treaty was signed between the British Empire and Ethiopia to freely access the Massawa coast to Ethiopia in an exchange to evacuate garrisons from Sudan, during the Mahdist War.

After the death of Yohannes, Italian General Oreste Baratieri occupied the highlands along with the Eritrean coast, and proclaimed Eritrea as one of Italy's colonies. On 2 May 1889, the Treaty of Wuchale was signed between Ethiopia under Emperor Menelik II and Italy that recognized the formation of Italian Eritrea. However, the Article 17 contradicted each version of Amharic and Italian languages, as well as the Italian ambition to incorporate Ethiopia as protectorate of Italy, while the Amharic version granted Ethiopia greater autonomy. This resulted in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, a war in which Ethiopia won against Italian forces, and ended with the Treaty of Addis Ababa in 1896. The Italians took territories beyond the Mareb-Belessa and May/Muni rivers while Menelik absorbed Tigray Province.