The State of Eritrea is a country in northern East Africa bordered by ► Sudan in the west, ► Ethiopia in the south, and ► Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from ► Saudi Arabia and ► Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea.
تقع إريتريا عل الشاطئ الغربي للبحر الأحمر في نقطة حاكمة عند مدخله الجنوبي وعلى مقربة من مضيق باب المندب ذي الأهمية الإستراتيجية البالغة؛ فهي تشبه مثلثا محصورا بين إثيوبيا والسودان وجيبوتي، وتبلغ مساحتها حوالي 120 كم2 تتنوع فيها التضاريس والمناخ وتمتلك شاطئًا يمتد ألف كيلومتر على البحر الأحمر، يمتد من "رأس قصار" على الحدود السودانية شمالا إلى باب المندب في "رأس أرجيتا" في جيبوتي جنوبًا، ويقع في هذا الساحل أهم موانئ البحر الأحمر وهما: "عصب" و"مصوع".
This section holds a short summary of the history of the area of present-day Eritrea, illustrated with maps, including historical maps of former countries and empires that included present-day Eritrea.
The Eritrean coast is was subject to the Empire of Ethiopia and its pre-decessors, like the Kingdom of Dʿmt and the Kingdom of Aksum, until the 16th century. This map shows the Kingdom of Aksum.
This map shows Aksum and surrounding countries. Aksum was dissolved in the 3rd century. In the 16th century Northern parts come under Ottoman control (from 1865 as part of the province of Egypt). The soouth eastern part was ruled by the Sultanate of Awsa.
In 1882 Italy takes over the port of Assab and extended its control over the area. In 1890 the Colony of Eritrea is a fact (See this map about the region in 1908}.
When Italy conquers Ethiopia in 1936, Eritrea is federated with it and Italian Somalia into Italian East Africa, shown on this map. In 1941 Eritrea is placed under British military administration after the Italian surrender in World War II. In 1952, a UN resolution federating Eritrea with Ethiopia comes into effect. Though the resolution ignores Eritrean pleas for independence it guarantees Eritreans some democratic rights and a measure of autonomy. But almost immediately after the federation goes into effect, however, these rights begin to be abridged or violated. The Eritrean parliament is unilaterally dissolved by Ethiopia in 1962 and the region is annexed. From that moment the Eritrean fight for independence is spraked, which led to the Eritrean War of Independence. After a referendum in 1993 Eritrea becomes independent. Eritrea in the Italian colonial empire in 1940
Old maps
This section holds copies of original general maps more than 70 years old.
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