Editing History of Eritrea (section)

===12th century to the Italian arrival===
Beginning in the 12th century, however, the Ethiopian [[Zagwe dynasty|Zagwe]] and [[Ethiopian Empire|Solomonid]] dynasties held control to a fluctuating extent over the entire plateau and the Red Sea coast of Eritrea.<ref name="britannica_com">{{cite web |title=Encyclopedia Britannica: History of Eritrea |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Eritrea |website=www.britannica.com}}</ref><ref>Richard Pankhurst (1997): "The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century". Red Sea. Lawrenceville.</ref> Previously, this area has been known as ''Ma'ikele Bahr'' ("between the seas/rivers," i.e. the land between the [[Red Sea]] and the [[Mareb River|Mereb river]]), but during the reign of emperor [[Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia|Zara Yaqob]] it was rebranded as the domain of the Bahr Negash, the [[Medri Bahri]] ("Sea land" in Tigrinya, although it included some areas like [[Shire, Ethiopia|Shire]] on the other side of the Mereb, today in Ethiopia).<ref>Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia (1270–1527) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p.74.</ref><ref>Daniel Kendie, ''The Five Dimensions of the Eritrean Conflict 1941–2004: Deciphering the Geo-Political Puzzle''. United States of America: Signature Book Printing, Inc., 2005, pp.17–8.</ref> With its capital at [[Debarwa]],<ref>Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren, Naigzy Gebremedhin ''Asmara: Africa's secret modernist city'', 2003. (page 20)</ref> the state's main provinces were [[Hamasien]], [[Serae]] and [[Akele Guzai]].

The Red Sea coast, having its strategic and commercial importance, was contested by many powers. In the 16th century the Ottomans occupied the [[Dahlak Archipelago]] and then Massawa. Also in the 16th century, Eritrea was affected by the invasions of [[Ahmad Gragn]], the Muslim leader of the [[Sultanate of Adal]]. After the expulsion of the Adalites, the Ottomans occupied even more of Eritrea's coastal area.<ref>Dan Connell, Tom Killion (2011): "Historical Dictionary of Eritrea". The Scarecrow. Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth. p. 66-67</ref><ref name="MB01">{{cite book|author=Okbazghi Yohannes|title=A Pawn in World Politics: Eritrea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sG41eDVRDnoC&q=medri+bahri&pg=PA31|access-date=2013-07-23|year=1991|publisher=University of Florida Press|isbn=0-8130-1044-6|page=31}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire]] maintained only tenuous control over much of the territory over the following centuries until 1865, when the Egyptians obtained [[Massawa]] from the Ottomans. From there they pushed inland to the plateau, until 1876, when the Egyptians were defeated during the [[Egyptian-Ethiopian War]].<ref name="britannica_com" />

In southern Eritrea, the [[Aussa Sultanate]] (Afar Sultanate) succeeded the earlier [[Imamate of Awsa|Imamate of Aussa]]. The latter polity had come into existence in 1577, when [[Muhammed Jasa]] moved his capital from [[Harar]] to [[Asaita|Aussa]] (Asaita) with the split of the [[Adal Sultanate]] into Aussa and the [[Sultanate of Harar]]. At some point after 1672, Aussa declined in conjunction with Imam [[Umar Din bin Adam]]'s recorded ascension to the throne.<ref>Mordechai Abir, ''The era of the princes: the challenge of Islam and the re-unification of the Christian empire, 1769–1855'' (London: Longmans, 1968), p. 23 n.1.</ref> In 1734, the [[Afar people|Afar]] leader [[Kedafu]], head of the Mudaito clan, seized power and established the [[Mudaito dynasty]].<ref>Mordechai Abir, ''The era of the princes: the challenge of Islam and the re-unification of the Christian empire, 1769–1855'' (London: Longmans, 1968), pp. 23–26.</ref><ref name="Pankhurstteb">{{cite book|last=Pankhurst|first=Richard|title=The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century|year=1997|publisher=Red Sea Press|isbn=0932415199|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ1CH3-RMe0C&pg=PA391}}</ref> This marked the start of a new and more sophisticated polity that would last into the colonial period.<ref name="Pankhurstteb"/>