Afar

Eritrean Afars, also known as Dankils, live mainly along the southeastern sea coast and on the offshore islands in a highly-segmented, patrilineal society. Afars inhabit one of the least hospitable terrains on earth and are renowned for their prowess in battle. They have a long history of independent sultanates and strong warrior traditions. Many of their songs and much of their oral literature is built on this, and it is still common to see Afar men wearing the jile or curved knife. Today, most are herders, traders or artisanal fishers.
Pastroral Afar families typically live in large hemispherical houses of hides and woven mats stretched across a framework of wooden poles that can be carried by camel over long distances. In the few oases in Afar territory, the people cultivate maize and tobacco. Traders carry slabs of salt on their camels to the highlands from long-dried salt pans by the sea.

Bilen

The Cushitic-speaking Bilen live in and around the city of Keren. Among them are Muslim and Christian (mostly Catholic) herders and farmers. Theirs is a traditional society organized into kinship groups. Bilen women are known for their brightly colored clothes, their gold, copper or silver nose rings, and henna tattoos that resemble diamond necklaces.

Hedareb

The Hedareb, also known as T'badwe, live in a wide arc stretching from western Barka across the northwestern valleys of the arid, volcanic Sahel region, where the liberation front had its fortified rear bases throughout much of the independence war. Their ancestral roots are among the Nilotic Beja peoples, whose territory stretches from Eritrea across northeastern Sudan to southern Egypt and who have lived along the sea coast for thousands of years. Their Muslim society is patrilineal.
Most Hedareb are semi-nomadic pastoralists. Many travel over long distances in search of pasture for their animals, which can include large camel herds as well as goats and sheep. The Hedareb are known as highly skilled camel drivers.

Kunama

The Kunama live in southwestern Eritrea around the town of Barentu and close to the border with Ethiopia. Some are Christian, some Muslim, but many follow their own faith, centered around worship of the creator, Anna, and veneration of ancestral heroes. Their society is strongly egalitarian with distinctive matrilineal elements. Historically, most were hunters and farmers, tilling the soil with hand-held hoes to grow a variety of grains and vegetables. Today, they tend to be farmers and herders, whose cattle are also important sources of wealth and prestige.
The Kunama, thought to be among the aboriginal inhabitants of the region, were one of Eritrea's largest nationalities until the late 1800s, when repeated assaults and slave-raiding by Tigrayan warlords sharply reduced their population and impoverished the society. Many of their dances are reenactments of historical events.

Nara

The Nara live in the western slopes and Barka plains. Like their neighbors, the kunama, with whom they share some customs, the Nara are mainly sedentary farmers with a marked interest in cattle. However, their matrilineal family structure was transformed into a patrilineal one-and their traditional religion forcibly supplanted by Islam- during the Egyptian occupation of their homelands in the 1850s.

Rashaida

The Rashaida are the country's only ethnic Arabs. Mainly pastoralists and traders, the Rashaida migrated to northeast Africa in the 19th century from the Hejaz. They are Arabic-speaking Muslims, living along the northern coast and along the Sudan border in tightly-knit, patrilineal clans. Rashaida women are noted for their red-and-black patterned dresses and their long heavy veils, often embroidered with silver, beads and seed pearls.

Saho

The Saho inhabit the coast and the hinterland south of Asmera and Massawa and the highlands as far inland as the Hazumo Valley. Most are Muslim. Some are seasonal farmers and herders, though a growing number are sedentary farmers living in the southeastern highlands. Among them are skilled beekeepers, widely known for their high quality honey. The Saho live in patrilineal descent groups, each of which has a traditional warrior leader, the rezanto, who is accountable to an all-male public assembly.

Tigre

The mostly Muslim Tigre people extend from the western lowlands across the northern mountains to the coastal plains . Most are herders and seasonal farmers, cultivating maize, durra (sorghum) and other cereals during the rainy season before moving with their herds and their families. Household goods, as well as sick or aging family members, are transported long distances by camel and donkey.
The Tigre have a rich oral literature of fairy tales, fables, riddles, poetry and stories of war and supernatural. They are also known for their singing and dancing, which is usually accompanied by a drum and a mesenko (a stringed instrument, plucked like a guitar). Theirs is a highly stratified society traditionally ruled by a hereditary village leader.

Tigrinya

Most Tigrinya-speakers are sedentary farmers living in the densely populated central highlands of Maakel and Debub, though they are spread from this ancestral farmland over much of Eritrea today. The over-whelming majority are Orthodox Christians, though there is a small minority of Muslims, known as Jiberti, and there are signifcant minorities of Catholics and Protestants. Like all Eriterans, they are deeply attached to their land, but Tigrinya-speakers also maki up a large proportion of urban traders and operators of small businesses, restaurants and other services throughout the country.