Eritrea

Capital: Asmara Population: 6,086,495 Official Languages: Tigrinya Time Zone: +3 Dialing Code: +291

Government: Single-party presidential republic Area: 117,600 km2 largest city: Asmara Currency : Nakfa (ERN) ISO 3166 code: ER

Basic Info

Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea is the Italian form of the Greek name meaning red {land}. With its capital at Asmara, it is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.

Geography

Eritrea is located in Northeast Africa and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea, on the south by Ethiopia, and on the northwest by Sudan. It lies between latitudes 12° and 18°N, and longitudes 36° and 44°E.

Climate

Hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 610 mm (24.0 in) of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June–September except in coastal desert. The climate is temperate in the mountains and hot in the lowlands. Asmara, the capital, is about 2,400 meters (7,874 ft) above sea level. Maximum temperature is 26 °C (78.8 °F). The weather is usually sunny and dry, with the short or belg rains occurring February–April and the big or meher rains beginning in late June and ending in mid-September.

Religion

Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity and islam. Various approximations have estimated that 54% are Christians (mostly followers of Orthodox Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Roman Catholicism) and 45％ of the population is Sunni muslim. The Christians are primarily members of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, which is the local Oriental Orthodox church, while considerable groups of Roman Catholics (including Italian Eritreans), Protestants, and other denominations also exist. Most muslims follow Sunni islam.

Administrative divisions

Eritrea is divided into six regions (zobas) and subdivided into districts (sub-zobas). The geographical extent of the regions is based on their respective hydrological properties. This a dual intent on the part of the Eritrean government: to provide each administration with sufficient control over its agricultural capacity, and to eliminate historical intra-regional conflicts.

1 Maekel 2 Anseba 3 Gash-Barka 4 Debub 5 Northern Red Sea 6 Southern Red Sea

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