Geography
Eritrea is a nation in the northeast region of Africa known as “the horn of Africa”. Eritrea is bordered by the Red Sea to the East, Sudan to the west and Ethiopia and Djibouti to the south. Eritrea is about the same size as the nation of England or the state of Pennsylvania.
History
Eritrea was an Italian colony from 1890 until the end of WWII when it became a colony of the British Military Administration. Eritrea then became federated with and illegally annexed by Ethiopia in 1962. The Eritrean Armed Struggle was fought from 1961-1991 with Eritrea gaining independence on May 24th, 1991. After a referendum in April 1993 with 99.83% in favor of independence, Eritrea officially became an independent nation.
Demographics
Eritrea has a population of about 5 million people with half the population adhering to Christianity and the other half adhering to Islam. The population consists of nine ethnolinguistic groups including Afar, Bilen, Hidareb, Kunama, Nara, Saho, Tigre, Tigrinya and Rashaida. There is no official language in Eritrea, but the three main working languages include Tigrinya, Arabic, and English.
