January : Some Dates in Eritrean History

· 1 January 1890: Italy consolidated its territorial gains in the Red Sea littoral and declared its first colony under the name of Eritrea. It stayed in Eritrea for 51 years until its defeat by British-led Allied Forces in March-April 1941.

· 9 January 1893: The Italian governor of Eritrea, Baratieri, issued the first decree declaring large tracts of Eritrean land as ‘demeniale’ or state-owned land. The second decree was issued on 11 May of the same year on more land seized for Italian resettlement projects.

· 22 January 1895: Italy issued a decree expelling from Eritrea the French Lazarist missionaries.

· 28 January 1912: The first battalion of young Eritrean recruits was sent to Tripoli to fight Italy’s war against Omar Mukhtar of Libya. Up to 60,000 Eritreans were reportedly sent to that war during the 21-year period that it raged (1911 and 1932).

· 19 January 1941: British forces occupied Kassala and entered Sabderat in Eritrea. Kassala was under Italian occupation since 4 July 1940.

· 11 April 1941: First American naval ships entered Massawa.

· 9 January 1947: The Unionist party was officially recognized as a political party.

· 5 January 1948: Major Unionist terrorism was started in Eritrea with the destruction of Casciani’s agricultural concession at Elabered by bandits led by a certain Hagos Temnewo.

· 28 January 1950: The 1^st issue of Hanti Eritra newspaper was published in Asmara.

· 13 January 1953: Another killing attempt was made on the life of Patriot Woldeab Woldemariam who had to leave Eritrea for good that spring.

· 15 January 1984: Tessenei was liberated for the second time by the EPLF. The town was first liberated by the ELF on 5 May 1977 but it was reoccupied in the summer of 1978 when the Ethiopian army retook liberated Eritrean towns.

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