Red Sea

A narrow sea between Africa and Arabia, rich in coral reefs and ancient trade routes.

The Red Sea is a mediterranean sea lying between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. It is an inlet of the Indian Ocean, connected to the ocean in the south through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To the north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez, which leads to the Suez Canal. It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift, part of the Great Rift Valley.

Lore & Background

The earliest known exploration of the Red Sea was conducted by ancient Egyptians, attempting to establish commercial routes to Punt around 2500 BCE and 1500 BCE. The Hebrew Biblical Book of Exodus relates the account of the Israelites' crossing the Red Sea. In the 6th century BCE, Darius the Great sent reconnaissance missions and constructed a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea at Suez. In the late 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great sent Greek naval expeditions down the Red Sea.

The Red Sea was favored for Roman trade with India starting with the reign of Augustus. During the Middle Ages, it was an important part of the spice trade route. In 1513, Afonso de Albuquerque laid siege to Aden. In 1798, Napoleon I invaded Egypt, and the Suez Canal was opened in November 1869.

After the Second World War, the Six-Day War culminated in the closure of the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975. Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthis have attacked Western ships next to the Bab al-Mandeb during the Gaza war.

Reader's Guide

The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km², is about 2250 km long, and 355 km across at its widest point. It has an average depth of 490 m, with a maximum depth of 2730 m in the central Suakin Trough. Approximately 40% of its area is less than 100 m deep, and about 25% is less than 50 m deep. The extensive shallow shelves are noted for marine life and corals, with more than 1,000 invertebrate species and 200 types of soft and hard coral. It is the world's northernmost tropical sea and has been designated a Global 200 ecoregion. The International Hydrographic Organization defines its limits. Exclusive economic zones exist in the Red Sea, with the Hala'ib Triangle disputed between Sudan and Egypt.

Did You Know?

The Red Sea's name may signify seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water's surface.
A theory favored by some modern scholars is that the name red refers to the direction south, as some Pre-Indo-European languages used color words for cardinal directions.
Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BCE, uses the Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.
The Red Sea was once referred to as the Erythraean Sea by Europeans, and also as the 'Sea of Mecca' and 'Arabian Gulf' by Western geographers.