厄利垂亚(Eritrea)
正式名称厄利垂亚国（State of Eritrea）
非洲东部国家。沿红海延伸约600哩（1,000公里），包括达赫拉克群岛（Dahlak Archipelago）。面积117,599平方公里。人口约4,298,000（2001）。首都︰阿斯马拉（Asmara）。无国教和官方语。多种族居民，操提格里尼亚语（Tigrinya，参阅Tigray）的基督徒约占一半，和操提格里尼亚语的穆斯林及其他各族人民的人数很多。通行阿拉伯语、英语和义大利语。货币︰纳夫卡（Nafka）。厄利垂亚的地形变化多端，从中部的中央高地到沿海沙漠平原，和有稀树草原及开放林地的西部低地区。经济以畜牧业和生存农业为基础。工业集中在阿斯马拉，生产食品、纺织品和皮革制品；出口产品有食盐、兽皮、水泥和阿拉伯树胶。为过渡时期政府形式，有一立法机构。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。
由於是阿克苏姆王国（Aksumite empire）主要港口所在，故该地区与衣索比亚王国（Ethiopian kingdom）早期阶段有联系，但它仍在很大程度上保持其独立，直到16世纪才归鄂图曼统治。从17～19世纪，对该地区的控制在衣索比亚、鄂图曼、提格雷王国、埃及和义大利之间争夺。1890年成为义大利的殖民地。厄利垂亚在义大利入侵衣索比亚时曾被用作主要基地（1896和1935～1936），1936年成为义属东非的一部分。1941年被英国占领。1952年与衣索比亚组成联邦。1962年厄利垂亚联邦地位被废除，为衣索比亚的一省。此举导致厄利垂亚的分离主义者叛乱，展开长达三十年的独立战争。1991年终於推翻衣索比亚政府，建立临时的厄利垂亚政府。1993年正式独立。1997年新宪法获批准，1998年开始和衣索比亚军队在边界进行战斗，2000年衣索比亚军队获得最後胜利。
English version：
Eritrea
TigrinyaErtraCountry, eastern Africa. It extends for about 600 mi (1,000 km) along the Red Sea coast, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago. Area: 45,405 sq mi (117,599 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 3,590,000 (including about 350,000 refugees from The Sudan). Capital: Asmara. There is no official religion or language. The varied population is about half Tigrinya-speaking (see Tigray) Christians, with a large minority of Muslims and diverse other peoples. Arabic, English, and Italian are also spoken. Currency: Nafka. Eritrea's land varies from temperate central highlands to coastal desert plain, with savanna and open woodlands in the western lowlands. Its economy is based on livestock herding and subsistence agriculture. Industry, based in Asmara, includes food products, textiles, and leather goods; exports include salt, hides, cement, and gum arabic. Eritrea's form of government is a transitional regime with one interim legislative body; the head of state and government is the president. As the site of the main ports of the Aksumite empire, it was linked to the beginnings of the Ethiopian kingdom, but it retained much of its independence until it came under Ottoman rule in the 16th century. In the 17th-19th century, control of the territory was disputed among Ethiopia, the Ottomans, the kingdom of Tigray, Egypt, and Italy; it became an Italian colony in 1890. Eritrea was used as the main base for the Italian invasions of Ethiopia (1896 and 1935-36), and in 1936 became part of Italian East Africa. It was captured by the British in 1941, federated to Ethiopia in 1952, and made a province of Ethiopia in 1962. Thirty years of guerrilla warfare by Eritrean secessionist groups ensued. A provisional Eritrean government was established in 1991 after the overthrow of the Ethiopian government, and independence came in 1993. A new constitution was ratified in 1997. A border war with Ethiopia that began in 1998 ended in an Ethiopian victory in 2000.