COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

LAND

Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa, extending over 1,000 kilometres from Ras Kassar in the north to Ras Dumera in the south in the strait of Bab-el-Mendeb. Ethiopia and Sudan lie to the south and west of the country, Djibouti to the southeast, and across the Red Sea to the east are Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Eritrea covers (including the Dahlak archipelago) an area of 124,324 square kilometres. The country comprises a high plateau and a coastal plain. The altitude ranges from the highest mountain, Emba Soira (3,010 metres), to the Danakil Depression (100 meters below sea level). The coastal plain consists of semi-arid desert. Off the port of Massawa is the Dahlak archipelago, more than 300 islands. Asmara, capital of Eritrea, has a population of 400,000 people. Assab has 28,000 and Massawa 25,000 inhabitants.

PEOPLE

The more than 3,5 million citizens of Eritrea belong to nine major ethnic groups, and are part of three distinct linguistic families - the Cushitic (or Hamitic), the Semitic, and the Nilotic languages.

Faces of Eritrea

Cushitic languages are spoken by the Beja in western Eritrea, the Afar in the southern tip of the country, and the Saho in the eastern parts of the highlands. The biggest native languages in Eritrea are the Semitic ones, the closely related Tigrigna and Tigré. Tigrigna is spoken by 50 per cent, and Tigré by 25 per cent of the entire population.
The Kunama and the Baria are the Nilotic languages of Eritrea, spoken in the lowlands between the Gash and Setit rivers. The main working languages are Tigrigna and Arabic. English is the medium of instruction from high school level upwards

RELIGION

Christianity and Islam are the main religions of Eritrea, of almost equal strength. Most Christians belong to the Orthodox Church. As a result of the War of Liberation, the Eritrean Orthodox Church gained its independence from The Ethiopian Church. A minority of the Christians are Catholics or Protestants. The Eritrean Muslims are Sunnis. Islam dominates in the coastal areas, the western lowlands and northern highlands. A small number of Eritreans practice traditional African religions.