I.

Introduction

Eritrea, independent state in Africa, bordered on the east by the Red Sea, on the south-east by Djibouti, on the south and west by Ethiopia, and on the north and north-west by Sudan. Formerly under Italian control, Eritrea was taken over by Britain during World War II and was a British protectorate from 1941 until 1952, when it was federated with Ethiopia. The creation of an Ethiopian unitary state in 1962, in which Eritrea was incorporated as a province, helped to provoke a long war of liberation that culminated in Eritrean independence in 1993. Eritrea has an area of 121,144 sq km (46,774 sq mi). Asmara is the capital and largest city.