ERITREA COUNTRY GUIDE — editorial and map reference notes Prepared 27 October 2026. Scope: sixteen city and town centres, twelve selected sights, ten illustrated readings and thirty answered reading questions. Existing facts lessons and Tigrinya/Arabic courses retain their IDs and progress. No database writes. MAPS Country outline: the ER feature retained from public/countries.geojson, the repository’s Natural Earth-derived generalised country map. Natural Earth data are public domain: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/ Retained input: scripts/eritrea-outline-source.geojson. Settlement centres: curated approximate coordinates and explanatory prompts in scripts/eritrea-map-places.json. They are not administrative boundaries. Offline builder: node scripts/build-eritrea-map.mjs. Sights: approximate building/site coordinates; island and broad landscape pins are representative, not boundaries, boat landings, entrances or access advice. The generalised outline can omit small islands and narrow shoreline details. Assab’s centre lies about 0.12 km outside the generalised coast; Massawa’s old-town island pin lies about 0.76 km outside. Both true locations are retained and checked as bounded coastal exceptions rather than shifted to fit the map. The six administrative regions are described in reading, not mapped as polygons. READING AND FACT CHECKING UNESCO Asmara inscription and date: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1550/ Eritrea’s inscribed World Heritage list (distinct from the Tentative List): https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/er/ Human Rights Watch, World Report 2026 — direct reporting reference for rights, non-implementation of the constitution and prolonged national service: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/eritrea Geographical, historical and community reference pages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Eritrea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Eritrea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Eritrea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilen_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adulis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qohaito https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matara,_Eritrea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlak_Archipelago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrean_cuisine Editorial distinctions: Tigrinya and Tigre are separate languages. Bilen, Afar and Saho are all Cushitic; a question must not imply only one is. British military administration began in 1941, before the end of WWII. Independence is 1993, separate from military victory in 1991. The 1997 constitution was ratified but has not been implemented. No national election has been held since independence. Asmara is the sole inscribed property; ancient sites are not extra inscriptions. Religious, diaspora and ethnic population shares are not presented as exact undated census facts. Coffee and injera are introduced without universal claims. The diaspora income tax is distinct from a fee on each remittance. The railway is described historically without promising present passenger service. Twenty-four targeted read-time corrections leave seed text, question IDs and lesson IDs intact. The original eighty questions are retained as a test fixture. PHOTOGRAPHS Ten distinct existing, locally served photographs from the Tigrinya course are reused with their original captions and attribution from src/lib/african-speak-heroes.json. These historical images illustrate Eritrean settings; they do not establish current building access, railway schedules or present-day conditions. The banner reuses the Rosary church photograph. geography: The town of Keren among the hills of Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/numbers-money.jpg Voice of Clam, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keren_-_2008-11-01.jpg history: The ancient ruins at Qohaito in the Eritrean highlands /images/speak/tigrinya/help.jpg Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kohaito,_zona_dei_palazzi_axumiti_09.JPG language: The opera house in Asmara, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/greetings.jpg sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asmara,_teatro_d%27opera,_02.JPG culture: Bar Zilli in Asmara, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/small-talk.jpg Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asmara,_bar_zilli_02.JPG economy: The harbour of Massawa on Eritrea’s Red Sea coast /images/speak/tigrinya/supermarket.jpg Reinhard Dietrich, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massawa_harbour.JPG politics: Hamal al-Ansari Mosque in the historic centre of Massawa, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/cafe-restaurant.jpg Reinhard Dietrich, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massawa_-_Hamal_al-Ansari_Mosque.jpg nature: The landscape near Massawa in Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/time-days.jpg John Beso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eri_landscape.jpg food: Sweet Asmara Caffe on Harnet Avenue in Asmara, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/ordering.jpg David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sweet_Asmara_Caffe_(8351473807).jpg landmarks: Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in Asmara, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/essentials.jpg David Stanley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catholic_Cathedral.jpg people: A steam train on the railway from Asmara, Eritrea /images/speak/tigrinya/getting-around.jpg Clay Gilliland from Chandler, U.S.A., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steam_Railway_excursion_from_Asmara,_Eritrea_(30145252563).jpg