Key differences between Ethiopians and Eritreans?

[KingMJ]

What are the Key differences between Ethiopians and Eritreans specially there ethnic groups?
Are they similar people? Or far different?

[Advo]

I don't know much but even though they both habasha, I met alot of eritreans that look just like Somali.

[AsadSL]

Tigtrinya The majoirty group in Eritrea also live in Ethiopia in Tigray provence. Meles zenawi is ethnically the same as most eritreans. Tigray Amahara and Tigre are all Habasha Tribes. Tigray and Tigre live in both Ethiopia and Eritrea.

[KingMJ]

I don't know much but even though they both habasha, I met alot of eritreans that look just like Somali.

Yh I've seen a few eritrean who look somali.

Tigtrinya The majoirty group in Eritrea also live in Ethiopia in Tigray provence. Meles zenawi is ethnically the same as most eritreans. Tigray Amahara and Tigre are all Habasha Tribes. Tigray and Tigre live in both Ethiopia and Eritrea.

So are Tigray and Tigre ethnically the same?

[AsadSL]

No Tigray or Tigrinya as they call it in eritrea are thier own group and Tigre is its own also.

Tigray/Tigrinya, Amahara and Tigre are related when it comes to being Habasha.

[Belew]

What are the Key differences between Ethiopians and Eritreans specially there ethnic groups?
Are they similar people? Or far different?

I see the ignorance in your thread is already piling up. Ignore everything and just read my posts, you'll get an intellectual type of education free of charge.


Eritrea has 15 or so ethnic groups.



Ethiopia has 82 ethnic groups.



Short Answer:
Eritrea only shares the Afar ethnic group with both Djibout and Ethiopia. The Afars in Eritrea make up 2% of the population. Eritreans are as different from one another as they are similar. There's a lot of misconception about ethnic groups in Eritrea and of course, many Somalis assuming the term "Habesha" as an ethnic category. The truth is, anyone can be a "Habesha" --Anyone including Jamaicans, Japanese, whites, ATLiens, Chinese, etc. There is no "Habesha" language, religion, identity or anything. In fact, the majority of the folks who claim being "Habesha" in Ethiopia, were not claiming it just a few centuries ago. Identities shift and religions change, nothing stays the same forever.

As promised, i'll write up the longer version with pictures and facts in my follow up. Right now, I'm honey dipping on the phone....BRB in 15 minutes!

[Belew]

85% of Eritreans belong to the Biher-Tigrinya ethnic group and Tigre ethnic group.

There are officially 9 main ethnic groups in Eritrea but in reality, that number is closer to 15. (Biher-Tigrinya, Tigre, Saho, Hidareb, Afar, Kunama, Rashaida, Blin, Nara, Dahlik, Adeni-Arabs, etc. etc.)


Eritrea's population is roughly 6 million
The country is around 50/50 between Muslims and Christians


For simplicity, I will only post quick facts about the 4 largest ethnic groups of both nations.

Ethnic Name: Biher-Tigrinya
Size: 50% of the population
Language: Tigrinya (Eritrean Dialect)
Religion: Mostly Christian



Ethnic Name: Tigre
Size: 35% of Eritrea's population
Language: Tigre
Religion: Mostly Muslim





Ethnic Name: Saho
Size: 5% of the population
Language: Saho
Religion: Nearly all Muslims



Ethnic Name: Hidareb
Size: 3% of the population
Language: Beja (Hidareb; To-Badawi)
Religion: Islam




================================================================================================================

72% of Ethiopia's population are of Oromo and Amhara ethnicity.

Ethiopia has a population roughly around 85 Million
50 to 45% of Ethiopians are Muslims, while the rest are Christians

For simplicity, I will only post quick facts about the 4 largest ethnic groups of both nations.

Ethnic Name: Oromo
Size: 40% of Ethiopia's population
Language: Afaan-Oromo
Religion: Mostly Muslim with a large minority of Christians and a few animist[/size]




Ethnic Name: Amhara
Size: 32% of the population
Language: Amharic
Religion: Mostly Christian




Ethnic Name: Tigray
Size: 6% of Ethiopia's population
Language: Tigrinya of the Tigray dialect (very different from what's found in Eritrea)
Religion: Mostly Christian



Ethnic Name: Somali
Size: 5% of Ethiopia's population
Language: Somali
Religion: Islam

[KingMJ]

Ok good one bro, great explanation exactly what I wanted

So where did this Habeshi term come from and is it commonly used amongst you?

[Belew]

As you can see, the only ethnic group Eritrea shares with Ethiopia are the afars and they only make up 2% of the population within Eritrea, while they make up 4% of Ethiopia's population and 35% of Djibouti's population.

The Biher-Tigrinya are a different ethnic group from Tigray people. I've had a Somali come up to me and said are you Eritrean and I responded with yes, and this guy thought he was an "expert" and said, let me guess, are you a "Tigray-Tigrinya" --- i said WTF is that? I had to remind him that Eritrea's wikipedia pages, even for ethnic groups, were all created by high school Ethiopian kids and that this "Tigray-Tigrinya" is as stupid as saying are you "Austrian-German" or "Canadian-American". Or "Saudi-Arabian-Libyan".

So What is ethnicity?


As the great German sociologist Max Weber stated, "ethnicity can be broadened or narrowed in boundary terms according to the specific needs of political mobilization. Ethnic identities re-articulated by interest-seeking individuals when it is appropriate and advantageous to do so and ignored when other wise. Ethnic groups are thus conceived as arbitrarily created, temporarily sustained, situation-responsive, goal-oriented groups". In other words, all ethnic groups are the overt manifestations of individuals' identification with a particular ethnicity.

You can be very identical with another group of people and still be a different ethnicity (ex. Hutu and Tutsis and Austrians and Germans) - on the flip side, you can be very different from another group of people and be regarded as being of the same ethnicity (The various Dinka tribe who all speak different languages and practice different religions). Furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists…ethnic membership does not constitute a group; it only facilitates group formation of any kind, particularly in the political sphere. On the other hand it is primarily the political community, no matter how artificially organized, that inspires the belief in common ethnicity.

As professor Joshua A. Fishman says, the Psychological dimension is the most important aspect of ethnicity and not imagined shared history or supposed similarities.

"The psychological dimension of ethnicity is perhaps the most important because, regardless of variations in the biological, cultural, and social domains, if a person self-identifies as a member of a particular ethnic group, then he or she is willing to be perceived and treated as a member of that group. Thus, self-ascribed and other-ascribed ethnic labels are the overt manifestations of individuals' identification with a particular ethnicity."

[Mckuus]

Ethiopians are usually shorter and robust
Eritreans are usually taller and slender

That's the main difference really, they have a huge overlap. Especially between Tigray Ethiopians and Tigrinya Eritreans things become very blurry.

[Mckuus]

The poster Belew is obviously biased.


He posts Eritrean models but very poor Ethiopians, what a clown..

[Belew]

Ok good one bro, great explanation exactly what I wanted

So where did this Habeshi term come from and is it commonly used amongst you?

The Habesha term comes from what is now known as Yemen. There used to be a kingdom called Habeshat and they were culturally and politically influential on this side of the red sea. During the Aksumite kingdom era, they were allies of the Aksumites against other more powerful kingdoms such as the Sabaeans and the Hadhramaut, the Himyarites, the Minaean and other powerful Yemeni kingdoms who were all rivaling one another for power and land.

Prior to converting to Christianity, all the Yemen kingdoms and those on the Eritrean side of the red sea worshiped the same Gods. So culturally, the various Yemeni kingdoms were very important upon this side of the red sea.

The Term Habesha started being adopted only after the fall of the Aksumite kingdom within Eritrea. When the Bejas defeated the Aksumites and ended their rule, the citizens during the medieval times started identifying with a vague Habesha identity for cultural prestige (remember, the other side of the red sea was culturally superior). The truth was, there was never a Habesha ethnicity or identity, just people looking to link up with influential terms to go by to boost their social standings. This is why many Amharas, who were historically Cushtic Speakers of Agaw and Oromo ancestry adopted this term over the last few centuries. We know exactly who the ancestors of the Amhara are and we know they never identified themselves with his obscure "habesha" term. They did so after Christianity reached them around the 10th century AD.

Habesha is like saying you are a Latino or Arab. The truth is, blacks can be latinos ---look at Sammy Sosa and the millions of other blacks who speak spanish in Latin America ---These people adopted this identity, the same way Amharas were the latest tribe to adopt it for cultural prestige that may have came out of it. Is a Guatemalan really the same as someone from Puerto Rico, even though both claim this vague Latino identity for whatever prestige that comes out of it? Is a Moroccan the same as someone from United Arab Emrites even though both may claim this vague Arab identity? No of course not.


The term Habesha is in decline and an Eritrean who still uses this term does not regard Ethiopians as being authentic Habeshas, even though the reality of this term is; no one is qualified as being an "authentic" anything. Ethnicities and identities are all psychological dimensions and not based on anything scientific.

[Belew]

The poster Belew is obviously biased.


He posts Eritrean models but very poor Ethiopians, what a clown..

Lol Call it home court advantage.

Those aren't models, they're actually just Eritreans wearing traditional Eritrean clothing. I already posted those pics on here, hence why I used them here again.

The Ethiopian ones were all the first few pictures Google images provided.

[Voltage]

The Eritrean Tigrinya label the Tigray of Ethiopia like Meles Zenewi "agame" which means midgaan in Somali. They basically speak the same language, same culture, everything it is about nationalism.

[Belew]

The Eritrean Tigrinya label the Tigray of Ethiopia like Meles Zenewi "agame" which means midgaan in Somali. They basically speak the same language, same culture, everything it is about nationalism.

Ethnicity is a psychological dimension that's mostly influenced by politics for all ethnic groups. In fact, the term ethnicity is not much older than 90 years. That means before that period, no one even classified one another based on these merits. It's like trying to tell someone that nation-states are a recent European invention that's alien to the world, yet they continue to swear up and down that their nation has been around for hundreds of years. There's a lot of differences between the Biher-Tigrinya and those of Tigray. Aside from the clear dialect and physical diffrences, there's a lot of cultural differences as well. But then again, this point is not needed, as regardless of differences or similarities, that's not what an ethnicity or identity is all about. Remember, it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists (real or imagined)…ethnic membership does not constitute a group; it only facilitates group formation of any kind, particularly in the political sphere. On the other hand it is primarily the political community, no matter how artificially organized, that inspires the belief in common ethnicity.