Short facts about the geography of Eritrea

Location:

Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan

Geographic coordinates:

15 00 N, 39 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total:  121,320 sq km land:  121,320 sq km water:  0 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly larger than Pennsylvania

Land boundaries:

total:  1,630 km border countries:  Djibouti 113 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km

Coastline:

2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea:  12 NM

Climate:

hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except in coastal desert

Terrain:

dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains

Elevation extremes:

lowest point:  near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m highest point:  Soira 3,018 m

Natural resources:

gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish

Land use:

arable land:  12% permanent crops:  1% permanent pastures:  49% forests and woodland:  6% other:  32% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land:

280 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards:

frequent droughts; locust swarms

Environment - current issues:

deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare

Environment - international agreements:

party to:  Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species signed, but not ratified:  none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993

Source: World Factbook