Gash-Barka Region

Gash-Barka Zone
Zoba Gash-Barka
Zoba

Gash-Barka Region in Eritrea
Coordinates: 15°15′N 37°30′E / 15.250°N 37.500°E / 15.250; 37.500Coordinates: 15°15′N 37°30′E / 15.250°N 37.500°E / 15.250; 37.500
Country Eritrea
Capital Barentu
Government
 • Administrator Musa Raba
Area
 • Total 33,200 km2 (12,800 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 1,103,742
 • Density 33/km2 (86/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code ER-GB

Gash-Barka (Tigrinya: ጋሽ-ባርካ?) is one of the six regions of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Maekel (Central) and Debub (Southern) regions to the east; the country of Sudan lies to the west and Ethiopia to the south.

The capital of Gash-barka is Barentu. Other towns include Agordat (the former capital), Molki, Sebderat and Teseney.

Early morning in a Gash Barka village

With an area of 37,000 square kilometers and a population of 567,000, the Gash Barka region makes up roughly one-third of Eritrea. Many call this region the "breadbasket" as the region is rich in agriculture. As of 2005, many believe there are over 3.5 million livestock in this region, and many camels. The region is also rich in marble, and other important minerals, including gold. In Augaro, there are some old mineshafts and machinery from the days when the Italians mined gold here.

Most of the people in the area tend to be healthy and well-fed, a rarity in this area of Africa.

The region also includes the following districts:

Agordat men
Agordat women
Barentu

Crops and Exports

Flora and fauna

Within the entire country there existed extensive forestation as recently as 1900 AD; however, there is less than one percent forested area present in the country,[1] and this deforestation trend has been mirrored in the region. Most of Eritrea was previously habitat for the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus; however, this canid is now deemed extirpated from Gash-Barka and all of Eritrea due to the expanding human population in this country.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Edward Denison and Edward Paice. 2007
  2. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2009

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 05, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.