Italian Eritrea
Italian Eritrea (Italian: Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in 1869, which came under government control in 1882. Occupation of Massawa in 1885 and the subsequent expansion of territory would gradually engulf the region and in 1889 borders with the Ethiopian Empire were defined in the Treaty of Wuchale. In 1890 the Colony of Eritrea was officially founded.
Colony of EritreaColonia Eritrea (Italian)
15 November 1869
5 July 1882
5 February 1885
2 May 1889
1 January 1890
1 June 1936
19 May 1941
10 February 1947
15 September 1952
Eritrean tallero
(1890–1921)
Italian lira
(1921–36)
In 1936 the region was integrated into Italian East Africa as the Eritrea Governorate. This would last until Italy's loss of the region in 1941, during the East African campaign of World War II. Italian Eritrea then came under British military administration, which in 1951 fell under United Nations supervision. In September 1952 it became an autonomous part of Ethiopia, until its independence in 1991.