Sea · Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is a deep arm of the sea between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. It links the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea and is one of the world's great shipping routes.
Picture credit: GINGO (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Gulf of Aden?
Part of: Indian Ocean.
Countries on its coasts: Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia.
The story behind it
The Gulf of Aden is up to about 1 000 km long and between 150 and 440 km wide. Yemen lies to the north, Djibouti to the west and Somalia to the south. In the west, the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb strait leads into the Red Sea; in the east, the gulf opens towards the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The gulf lies where the African and Arabian plates meet, and the two are slowly pulling apart, so the gulf grows wider by about 15 mm every year. Around 21 000 ships pass through each year on the way to and from the Suez Canal, and about 11% of all the oil carried by sea passes this way. The gulf takes its name from the port city of Aden in Yemen. Fish, corals and sea turtles live in its water, and whales, dolphins and dugongs visit too, though there are fewer of them than in the past.
Find it on the globe
Gulf of Aden is there as a name written across its water — tap the water and its card opens. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
Questions children ask
How big is the Gulf of Aden?
The Gulf of Aden covers about 410 000 km². It is up to about 1 000 km long and between 150 and 440 km wide.
Why do so many ships sail through the Gulf of Aden?
All shipping routes from Europe to the Indian Ocean lead through it, via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. About 21 000 ships cross it every year.
Why is the Gulf of Aden getting wider?
The gulf lies between two pieces of the Earth's crust, the African plate and the Arabian plate. They are slowly moving apart, by about 15 mm a year.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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