Red Sea

The Red Sea is a long, narrow gash of brilliant blue water prying Africa away from the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the saltiest and warmest seas on Earth, fringed by some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the world and almost devoid of rivers. Geologists regard it not merely as a sea but as an ocean being born: the same rifting that opened the Atlantic is here in its infancy, slowly tearing the continents apart along a line that will one day be a major ocean.

Stretching some 2,250 kilometres from the Gulf of Suez to the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea covers about 438,000 square kilometres and reaches roughly 2,730 metres in its central Suakin Trough. Along its axis, hot brine pools laden with metals seep from the spreading rift floor. With virtually no freshwater inflow and intense evaporation under the desert sun, its salinity is extreme, yet its warm, clear, nutrient-poor waters support exceptional reef diversity. The name may derive from seasonal blooms of reddish cyanobacteria.

Few waters have carried more trade or more legend. Ancient Egyptians launched expeditions to the land of Punt from its shores — Roman and Arab merchants moved spices and incense through it — and its northern tip is bound to the Exodus narrative of a parting sea. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, made it the maritime spine between Europe and Asia. Houthi attacks since 2023 have diverted much traffic around Africa, and in 2026 the Hormuz closure made Saudi Red Sea ports a vital oil outlet, which the Houthis declared under blockade in July.

• Arabian Desert
  The vast sand sea of the Arabian Peninsula, home to the largest unbroken sands on Earth borders
• Asia
  Earth's largest and most populous continent borders
• Mediterranean Sea
  The cradle sea of Western civilization, locked between three continents connects to
• Red Sea Coral Reef
  Heat-resistant reefs lining 2,000 kilometres of one of the world's warmest seas contains
• Indian Ocean
  The world's third-largest and warmest ocean drains to
• The Suez Canal
  Egypt's sea-level shortcut between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, still recovering from the Red Sea crisis linked by
• Africa
  The world's second-largest continent and humanity's birthplace located on
• The Suez Canal
  Egypt's sea-level shortcut between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, still recovering from the Red Sea crisis northern link
• The Bab-el-Mandeb
  The Gate of Grief between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, southern door of the Red Sea and the Suez route southern entrance
• The Bab-el-Mandeb
  The Gate of Grief between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, southern door of the Red Sea and the Suez route southern outlet