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INTERNATIONAL BORDERS

RED SEA
 Red Sea, narrow strip of water extending southeastward from Suez, Egypt, for about 1,200
miles (1,930 km) to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects with the Gulf of Aden and then
with the Arabian Sea.
 Geologically, the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba (Elat) must be considered as the northern extension
of the same structure.
 The sea separates the coasts of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea to the west from those of Saudi
Arabia and Yemen to the east. Its maximum width is 190 miles, its greatest depth 9,974 feet
(3,040 metres), and its area approximately 174,000 square miles (450,000 square km).
 The Red Sea (also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between
Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is 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 (leading to the
Suez Canal).

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RED SEA
 The Red Sea contains some of the world’s hottest and saltiest seawater. With its connection
to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, it is one of the most heavily traveled waterways
in the world, carrying maritime traffic between Europe and Asia.
 Its name is derived from the colour changes observed in its waters. Normally, the Red Sea is
an intense blue-green; occasionally, however, it is populated by extensive blooms of the algae
Trichodesmium erythraeum, which, upon dying off, turn the sea a reddish brown colour.
 The salinity of the Red Sea is greater than the world average, approximately 4 percent. This is
due to several factors:

 Lack of significant rivers or streams draining into the sea.

 Limited connection with the Indian Ocean, which has lower
water salinity.
 High rate of evaporation and very little precipitation.

RED SEA – BORDERING COUNTRIES

 The six countries bordering the Red Sea proper are:
Eastern shore:

 Saudi Arabia
 Yemen
Western shore:

 Egypt
 Sudan
 Eritrea
 Djibouti

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RED SEA – PHYSICAL FEATURES

 The Red Sea lies in a fault depression that separates two great blocks of Earth’s crust—Arabia
and North Africa. The land on either side, inland from the coastal plains, reaches heights of
more than 6,560 feet above sea level, with the highest land in the south.
 At its northern end the Red Sea splits into two parts, the Gulf of Suez to the northwest and
the Gulf of Aqaba to the northeast.
 The Gulf of Suez is shallow—approximately 180 to 210 feet deep—and it is bordered by a
broad coastal plain.
 The Gulf of Aqaba, on the other hand, is bordered by a narrow plain, and it reaches a depth of
5,500 feet.
 From approximately 28° N, where the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba converge, south to a latitude
near 25° N, the Red Sea’s coasts parallel each other at a distance of roughly 100 miles apart.
There the seafloor consists of a main trough, with a maximum depth of some 4,000 feet,
running parallel to the shorelines.

RED SEA – CLIMATE

 The Red Sea region receives very little precipitation in any form, although prehistoric artifacts
indicate that there were periods with greater amounts of rainfall.
 In general, the climate is conducive to outdoor activity in fall, winter, and spring—except
during windstorms—with temperatures varying between 46 and 82 °F (8 and 28 °C).
 Summer temperatures, however, are much higher, up to 104 °F (40 °C), and relative humidity
is high, rendering vigorous activity unpleasant.
 In the northern part of the Red Sea area, extending down to 19° N, the prevailing winds are
north to northwest.
 Best known are the occasional westerly, or “Egyptian,” winds, which blow with some violence
during the winter months and generally are accompanied by fog and blowing sand.

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SUEZ CANAL
 Suez Canal, Arabic Qanāt al-Suways, sea-level waterway running north-south across the
Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas.
 The canal separates the African continent from Asia, and it provides the shortest maritime
route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is
one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes.
 The canal extends 193 km between Port Said in the north and Suez in the south, with dredged
approach channels north of Port Said, into the Mediterranean, and south of Suez.
 The canal does not take the shortest route across the isthmus, which is only 75 miles (121
km). Instead, it utilizes several lakes: from north to south, Lake Manzala (Buḥayrat al-
Manzilah), Lake Timsah (Buḥayrat al-Timsāḥ), and the Bitter Lakes—Great Bitter Lake (Al-
Buḥayrah al-Murrah al-Kubrā) and Little Bitter Lake (Al-Buḥayrah al-Murrah al-Ṣughrā).
 The Suez Canal is an open cut, without locks, and, though extensive straight lengths occur,
there are eight major bends. To the west of the canal is the low-lying delta of the Nile River,
and to the east is the higher, rugged, and arid Sinai Peninsula.