Eritrea
| Anthem: Ertra, Ertra, Ertra | |
| Capital | [[has capital::Asmara]] |
| Largest city | Asmara |
| Official language(s) | (working, not official languages) Tigrinya, Arabic and English [1][2] |
| Government | Transitional government |
| Area | |
| - Total | 121,320 km² (97th) |
| 46,830 sq mi | |
| - Water (%) | Negligible |
| Population | |
| - July 2005 est. | 4,401,000 (countries by population|118th) |
| - Density | 38/km² (165th) 97.4/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) | 2005 estimate |
| - Total | $4.471 billion (162nd) |
| - Per capita | $909 (177th) |
| HDI (2003) | 0.444 (161st) – low |
| Currency | [[Uses currency::Nakfa]] (ERN)
|
| Time zone | zone (UTC+3) |
| Internet TLD | [[Has internet TLD::.er]] |
| Calling code | +291
|
- This article, or parts of this article, has been imported from the page Wikipedia:Eritrea.
The State of Eritrea is a country in Northern east Africa. The name is derived from the Latin word for Red Sea, Mare Erythraeum. The country is bordered by the Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline with the Red Sea across which lie Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Eritrea also includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.
Modern Eritrea was consolidated into a colony by the Italian government on January 1, 1890. Contemporary Eritrea gained its Independence from Ethiopia after a thirty year war which began on September 1, 1961 ending on May 29, 1991. The peoples of Eritrea share a long and complex history with neighboring peoples.
Eritrea is officially a parliamentary democracy consisting of six regions and defines itself as a multilingual and multicultural nation. The two dominant religions are Orthodox Christianity and Sunni Islam; there are nine nationalities, each with a different language. There is no official language in Eritrea, rather it has three working languages, Tigrinya, Arabic, and English, and Italian is still sometimes spoken as a commercial language.. Retrieved 18 July 2006 Eritrea is also a mineral rich country with large deposits of gold, silver and copper.
