Eritrea is one of the world's newest states, having been created in 1993 at the conclusion of a thirty-year war of independence waged against Ethiopia. The territory that is Eritrea was first associated with Ethiopia as part of its precursor kingdom, Aksum, which flourished in the fourth century CE. Eritrea's present-day population is almost equally divided today between Christian and Muslim faiths, but the nation began a history distinct from Ethiopia with its incorporation in the Ottoman empire prior to becoming an Italian colony in 1890. Italy briefly joined Eritrea with Ethiopia, which it conquered in 1936 and occupied until 1941, when British armies liberated the entire region. Discouraged from contemplating post–World War II colonization of Ethiopia, Britain administered Eritrea until 1949 as a trust territory on behalf of the United Nations.

As an early and important accomplishment, the United Nations rejected both...