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Geography
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: NA
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 on 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, probably oil and natural gas (currently under exploration), fish
Land use:
arable land: 12%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 48%
forests and woodland: 20%
other: 19% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 280 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: frequent droughts
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 27 April 1993