In the Horn of Africa on the Red Sea coast, Eritrea is among the countries influenced by its
colonial past, with famed Art deco architecture, and its Italian- and Ottoman-inspired
cuisine, making it a rarity in terms of cultural fusion. The Kingdom of Aksum, covering
much of modern-day Eritrea as well as northern Ethiopia, was considered among the
greatest powers of the early Christian era by historians of antiquity such as the Persian
prophet Mani, on a par with the likes of Rome and Persia.