Red Sea

Red Sea, narrow, inland sea, separating the Arabian peninsula, western Asia, from northeastern Africa. It extends northwest from the strait of Bab el Mandeb to Suez, Egypt, for a distance of 1,900 km (1,200 mi). The maximum depth of the sea is 3,040 m (9,970 ft), and its maximum width is 350 km (220 mi). The northern extremity is divided by the Sinai Peninsula into the gulfs of Suez and Aqaba. The Suez Canal connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea, and Bab el Mandeb connects it with the Gulf of Aden, an arm of the Arabian Sea. The Red Sea occupies a portion of a zone of depression and faulting called the Great Rift Valley. For more than 50 million years, the earth's crust has been tearing apart all along this zone. The Red Sea formed when the Arabian Peninsula was torn from Africa, 20 million years ago (see Plate Tectonics). Hydrothermal vents on the seafloor are evidence of ongoing tectonic activity.

The site of the safe passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea is said to be the Gulf of Suez (see Exodus). In the centuries following the downfall of the Roman Empire, the sea served the Muslim world as a major artery of communication and trade with eastern Africa, Persia (now Iran), and East Asia. To European nations, however, the sea was of minor commercial importance until the completion (1869) of the Suez Canal, making possible a comparatively direct sea route between Europe and East Asia. The principal Red Sea ports include Suez and Al Quşayr in Egypt, Port Sudan and Sawākin in Sudan, Massawa in Eritrea, Jiddah in Saudi Arabia, and Al Ḩudaydah and Mocha (Al Mukhā) in Yemen.