Soira (3,018 m), in the centre of the country, is Eritrea's highest point.

The Denakil Depression, the lowest point in Eritrea, is one of the hottest places on earth.

Adulis, a port city, was founded by the Greeks in 600.

The Kingdom of Axum (Aksum), in southern Eritrea and Ethiopia, is said to have been founded by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Solomon was from the royal house of Judah.

Christianity reached Axum in the fourth century.

Islam arrived in Eritrea in 600 AD.

The Ottoman Empire annexed Eritrea in the sixteenth century. Ottoman rule lasted for three centuries.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made Eritrea more accessible from the Mediterranean.

The Italians colonized Eritrea in the 1880s. Eritrea was proclaimed an Italian Colony in 1890.

British forces occupied Eritrea during the Second World War.

At the end of the War, the UK was given the administration of Eritrea (a United Nations Trust Territory).

In 1952 the United Nations created a federation between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in 1962.

Eritrea is prone to drought and suffered famines in the 1970s and 1980s.

After a thirty-year struggle - with Ethiopia - Eritreia gained independence in 1993.

War with Ethiopia erupted in 1998 over border disputes.

A ceasefire was signed in June 2000; a peace agreement signed in December of the same year.

Ethiopia and Eritrea officially declared the war was at an end in July 2018; Ethiopia agreed to leave the territory which was in dispute.

The Historic Perimeter of Asmara and its Modernist Architecture was considered by UNESCO for designation as a World Heritage site.

In 2017 Asmara was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.