Red Sea
This article is about the body of water. For other meanings see Red Sea (disambiguation). |
Location of the Red Sea |
The
Red Sea (
Arabic البحر الأحمر al-Baḥr al-Aḥmar;
Hebrew ים סוף Yam Suf;
Latin Mare Erythraeum;
Tigrigna ቀይሕ ባሕሪ
Qeyḥ bāḥrī) is an inlet of the
Indian Ocean between
Africa and
Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the
Bab el Mandeb sound and the
Gulf of Aden. In the north is the
Sinai Peninsula, the
Gulf of Aqaba and the
Gulf of Suez (leading to the
Suez Canal). The sea is roughly 1,200
miles (1,900 km) long and at its widest is over 190 miles (300
km). The sea floor has a maximum depth of 8,200
feet (2,500 m) in the central median trench and an average depth of 1,640 feet (500 m), but it also has extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and
corals. The sea has a surface area of roughly 174,000
square miles (450,000
km²). The sea is the habitat of over 1,000
invertebrate species and 200 soft and hard corals. The sea occupies a part of the
Great Rift Valley. The Red Sea is
the world's most northern tropical sea.
The name of the sea does not indicate the color of the water, because it is not red in color. It may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-colored
cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water surface. Some suggest that it refers to the
mineral-rich red
mountains nearby which are called ""רי א"ום" (
harei edom). Edom, meaning "ruddy complexion", is also an alternative
Hebrew name for the red-faced biblical character
Esau (brother of
Jacob), and the nation descended from him, the
Edomites, which in turn provides yet another possible origin for
Red Sea.
There is also speculation that the name Red Sea came from a mistranslation of what should have been the Reed Sea in the
Biblical story of
the Exodus. The
Sea of Reeds (in
Hebrew Yâm-Sûph) is often mistranslated as the "Red Sea".
One hypothesis is the name comes from the
Himarites, a local group whose own name means "red." Another theory favored by some modern scholars is the name "red" is referring to the direction "south," the same way the
Black Sea's name may refer to "north." The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages used color words to refer to the
cardinal directions.
The sea was also called the "Arabian Gulf" in most European sources up to the 20th century. This was derived from older Greek sources. Following
Herodotus,
Strabo and
Ptolemy all European sources call the waterway "Sinus Arabicus", while reserving the term "Sea of Erythrias" (Red Sea) for the waters around the southern
Arabian Peninsula, now known as the
Indian Ocean.
The Egyptians were the first to attempt a
mission of exploration in the Red Sea. In the
Bible, the story of
Moses tells how the son of a slave woman leads the
Israelites across it to freedom, by using the power of God to
part the waters. However, it was a Greek sailor,
Hippalus, who conferred an international dimension upon the Red Sea in his manifesto on the voyage of the
Eritrea Sea and thus opened it up to an immense and exclusive trade with
Asia. It was only from the 15th century onwards that
Europe began to show interest in this area. In 1798,
France charged General
Bonaparte with invading Egypt and capturing the Red Sea. Although he failed in his mission, the engineer J.B.
Lepere, who took part in it revitalised the plan for a canal which had been envisaged during the reign of the
Pharaohs. The Suez Canal was opened in November 1869. At the time, the British, French, and Italians shared the trading posts. The posts were gradually dismantled following the
First World War. After the
Second World War, the Americans and Soviets exerted their influence whilst the volume of oil tanker traffic intensified. However, the
Six Day War culminated in the closure of the
Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975. Still today, in spite of patrols by the major maritime fleets in the waters of the Red Sea, the
Suez Canal has never recovered its supremacy over the Cape route, which is believed to be less vulnerable.
 |
Dust storm over the Red Sea |
Surface water temperatures remain relatively constant at 70–77
°F (21–25
°C) and temperature and visibility remain good to around 660 feet (200 m), but the sea is known for its strong winds and tricky local currents.The sea is still widening; it is considered that the sea will become an ocean in time (as proposed in the model of
Tuzo Wilson).
The Red Sea has a salinity that is greater than the world average. This is due to several factors: 1) high rate of evaporation and very little precipitation, 2) a lack of significant rivers or streams draining into the sea, and 3) limited connection with the Indian Ocean (and its lower water salinity).
Sometimes during the
Tertiary period the
Bab el Mandeb was closed and the Red Sea dried to an empty, salt-floored sink.
The sea is known for its spectacular
dive sites such as
Ras Mohammed,
SS Thistlegorm (ship wreck),
Elphinstone, Eilat,
The Brothers and
Rocky Island in
Egypt, and less known sites in
Sudan such as
Sanganeb,
Abington,
Angarosh and
Shaab Rumi (see photo above).
The Red Sea was "discovered" as a diving destination by
Hans Hass in the 1950s, and by
Jacques-Yves Cousteau later. Popular tourist resorts include
Sharm-El-Sheikh and
Hurghada in
Egypt, in an area known as the
Red Sea Riviera.
Bordering countries are:
* Northern shore:
**
Egypt**
Israel**
Jordan* Western shore:
**
Sudan** Egypt
* Eastern shore:
**
Saudi Arabia**
Yemen* Southern shore:
**
Somalia**
Djibouti**
EritreaTowns and cities on the Red Sea coast include:
Assab عصب,
Massawa ምጽዋ,
Hala'ib حلايب ,
Marsa Alamمرسى علم ,
Port Sudan بورت سودان ,
Port Safaga ميناء سفاجا ,
Hurghada الغردقة ,
El Suweis السويس ,
Sharm el Sheikh شرم الشيخ ,
Dahabدهب ,
Eilat אילת ,
Aqaba العقبة ,
Jeddahجدة ,
Al Hudaydah الحديدة.
The Red Sea is parting again. Satellite images show that the Arabian tectonic plate and the African plate are moving away from each other, stretching the Earth's crust and widening the southern end of the Red Sea. [
1]
*Hamblin, W. Kenneth, and Eric H. Christiansen.
Earth's Dynamic Systems, 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0137453736
*
Red Sea Riviera*
Suez Canal*
Passage of the Red Sea*
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea*
M/V al-Salam Boccaccio 98 ferry disaster
