Eritrea is an independent state in Africa, bordered on the east by the Red Sea, on the southeast by Djibouti, on the south and west by Ethiopia, and on the north and northwest by Sudan. Formerly under Italian and British control, Eritrea was taken over by Ethiopia in 1952, provoking a long war of liberation that culminated in Eritrean independence in 1993. Asmara (Âsmera) is Eritrea's capital and largest city.