Eritrea Map

Eritrea Map



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: 1,626 km border countries: Djibouti 109 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: 4.95% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 95.02% (2001)

Irrigated land: 220 sq km (1998 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