Religious paintings in book with parchment pages.

The conversion of Axum to Christianity dates from the forth century A.D. when Syrian missionaries introduced a Monophysite doctrine to the Axumites. From a region which was approximately coextensive with modern Eritrea, the Christian kings of Axum extended their power and influence far a field.

Islam spread to Eritrea around 615 AD with the arrival of Osman Bin Afan, one of the four disciples of the Prophet Mohammed. Osman had been driven out of Saudi Arabia and found shelter in Tigray under the protection of the Axumite king..

Another great power came in the person of the Imam of Harrar, Ahmad bin Ibrahim, better known as Ahmad Gran (the left-handed). In 1530 he began to attack the plateau. Within four years he laid waste to all of the Christian highlands, including Tigre and Eritrea. He converted hundreds of thousands to Islam by force. Only by surrender and conversion could people save their lives. The Christian nobility survived only as a hunted band.

Only the intervention of the Portuguese transformed the flow of events. They landed at Massawa in 1541 and helped the Eritreans and Tigre to drive the Imams forces from the plateau. The Muslim forces dispersed, retreated and disappeared.

Catholicism was first brought to Eritrea by the Jesuit Fathers in 1600. In 1632, this order was expelled for wanting to convert the country to Catholicism. In the nineteenth century the Italians began to bring Eritrea under their protection and introduced Roman Catholicism.

 

 

The protestant presence in Eritrea is small. Missionaries appeared in the 19th century and established the Lutheran and Evangelical church. These organizations have been allowed to continue to practice. New groups however, have been discouraged from establishing a base in Eritrea.

Asmara Synagogue was build in 1906 to cater to the needs of the small Jewish community that settled in Eritrea. In 1941 when the British administered Eritrea there were 350 Jews in Eritrea, but by the end of 1948, the year which marked the creation of Israel, there were just 50 left.