Bab-el-Mandeb#History

File:Bab el Mandeb NASA with description.jpg of Bab-el-Mandeb (with labels)]]

In "Bab-el-Mandeb", "Bab" means "gate" while "Mandeb" means "lamentation" or "grief". The strait derives its name from the dangers attending its navigation or, according to an Arab legend, from the numbers who were drowned by an earthquake that separated the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.{{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Bab-el-Mandeb |volume=3 |ref={{harvid|EB|1878}} |page=179 }}

File:Total_petroleum_and_LNG_flows_through_the_Bab_el-Mandeb_Strait_in_2014_through_2018_(48671783212).png products and liquefied natural gas through the strait, 2014–2018]]

Paleo-environmental and tectonic events in the Miocene epoch created the Danakil Isthmus, a land bridge forming a broad connection between Yemen and Ethiopia.{{cite book|title=The Nile: Origin, Environments, Limnology and Human Use|author=Henri J. Dumont|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2009|series=Monographiae Biologicae|volume=89|isbn=9781402097263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iF_U1NoknHoC|page=603}} During the last 100,000 years, eustatic sea level fluctuations have led to alternate opening and closing of the straits.{{cite book|title=Climate in Earth History|publisher=National Academies|year=1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0QrAAAAYAAJ|page=124|isbn=9780309033299}} According to the recent single origin hypothesis, the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb were probably witness to the earliest migrations of modern humans. It is presumed that the oceans were then much lower and the straits were much shallower or dry, which allowed a series of emigrations along the southern coast of Asia.

In Arab tradition it is reported that in ancient times Asia and Africa were joined together, until

they were split at the Bab-el-Mandeb. Yaqut al-Hamawi associates the name Bab-el-Mandeb with the 6th century crossing of the Aksumites over the sea to Yemen. Two Sabaean inscriptions of the early 6th century mention silsilat al-Mandab in connection with the conflict between Dhu Nuwas and the Aksumites.{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=427}}

The British East India Company unilaterally seized the island of Perim in 1799 on behalf of its Indian empire. The government of Britain asserted its ownership in 1857 and erected a lighthouse there in 1861, using it to command the Red Sea and the trade routes through the Suez Canal. It was used as a coaling station to refuel steamships until 1935 when the reduced use of coal as fuel rendered the operation unprofitable.Gavin, p. 291.

The British presence continued until 1967 when the island became part of the People's Republic of South Yemen. Before the handover, the British government had put forward before the United Nations a proposal for the island to be internationalized{{cite book |first=Fred |last=Halliday |title=Revolution and Foreign Policy, the Case of South Yemen, 1967–1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |page=11 |isbn=0-521-32856-X }}Hakim, pp. 17-18. as a way to ensure the continued security of passage and navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb, but this was refused.

{{anchor|Bridge}}

In 2008 a company owned by Tarek bin Laden unveiled plans to build a bridge named Bridge of the Horns across the strait, linking Yemen with Djibouti.{{Cite news |title=Tarek Bin Laden's Red Sea bridge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7259427.stm |publisher=BBC News}} Middle East Development LLC issued a notice to construct a bridge passing across the Red Sea that would be the longest suspended passing in the world.{{cite web |author=Tom Sawyer |title=Notice-to-Proceed Launches Ambitious Red Sea Crossing |url=https://www.enr.com/articles/32155-notice-to-proceed-launches-ambitious-red-sea-crossing |work=Engineering News-Record |date=May 1, 2007}} The project was assigned to engineering company COWI in collaboration with architect studio Dissing+Weitling, both from Denmark but the announced delay to Phase 1 in 2010 and the lack of any further updates since makes this a defunct project.

The Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Most exports of petroleum and natural gas from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal or the SUMED Pipeline pass through both the Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz.{{cite web |title=The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a strategic route for oil and natural gas shipments |url=https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=41073 |website=www.eia.gov |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en |date=August 27, 2019}}{{PD-notice}} While the narrow width of the strait requires vessels to travel through the territorial sea of adjacent states, under the purview of Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the legal concept of transit passage applies to Bab el-Mandeb, although Eritrea (unlike the rest of coastal countries) is not a party to the convention.{{Cite book|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004509368|year=2022|pages=117–118|chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004509368/BP000008.xml|chapter=Iran-Israel ‘Shadow War’ in Waters around the Arabian Peninsula and Incidents near the Bab el-Mandeb|title=Hybrid Threats and the Law of the Sea|first=Alexander|last=Lott}}

Chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is {{convert|26|km|nmi|abbr=off}} wide at its narrowest point, limiting tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments.

Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could keep tankers originating in the Persian Gulf from transiting the Suez Canal or reaching the SUMED Pipeline, forcing them to divert around the southern tip of Africa, which would increase transit time and shipping costs.

In 2006, an estimated {{convert|3.3|Moilbbl|m3}} of oil passed through the strait per day, out of a world total of about {{convert|43|Moilbbl/d|m3/d}} moved by tankers.[http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-topics.cfm?fips=wotc&trk=p3 World Oil Transit Chokepoints] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218222232/http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-topics.cfm?fips=wotc&trk=p3|date=February 18, 2015}}, Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy This rose by 2014 to 5.1 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil, condensate and refined petroleum products headed toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, then an estimated 6.2 million b/d by 2018. Total petroleum flows through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait accounted for about 9% of total seaborne-traded petroleum (crude oil and refined petroleum products) in 2017. About 3.6 million b/d moved north toward Europe; another 2.6 million b/d flowed in the opposite direction mainly to Asian markets such as Singapore, China, and India.

File:Bab-el-Mandeb Seen From Midchannel (cropped).jpg

The distance across is about {{convert|26|km|nmi}} from Ras Menheli in Yemen to Ras Siyyan in Djibouti. The island of Perim divides the strait into two channels, of which the eastern, known as the Bab Iskender (Alexander's Strait), is {{convert|5.37|km|nmi}} wide and has a depth of {{convert|16|fathom|m ft|lk=in|disp=flip}} deep, while the western, or Dact-el-Mayun, has a width of {{convert|20.3|km|nmi}} and a depth of {{convert|170|fathom|m ft|disp=flip}}. Near the coast of Djibouti lies a group of smaller islands known as the "Seven Brothers". There is a surface current inwards in the eastern channel, but a strong undercurrent outwards in the western channel.

The most significant towns and cities along both the Djiboutian and Yemeni sides of the Bab-el-Mandeb:

• Khôr ʽAngar
• Moulhoule
• Fagal

• At Turbah
• Cheikh Saïd
• Perim

Strait:

• Red Sea Dam

Region:

• Horn of Africa
• Mashriq

Rail (tunnel or bridge) transport:

• Rail transport in Djibouti
• Rail transport in Eritrea
• Rail transport in Somalia
• Rail transport in Yemen

{{reflist|30em}}

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• {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |ref=none|wstitle=Bab-el-Mandeb |volume=3 |page=91 |short=x}}
• [http://enr.construction.com/news/intl/archives/070501.asp Notice-to-Proceed Launches Ambitious Red Sea Crossing]
• [http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2007/07_Luglio/14/ponte_yemen.shtml Sea crossing]

{{List of African seas}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Straits of Asia

Category:Straits of Africa

Category:Straits of the Indian Ocean

Category:Arabian mythology

Category:Bodies of water of Yemen

Category:Bodies of water of Djibouti

Category:Bodies of water of the Red Sea

Category:Gulf of Aden

Category:Borders of Yemen

Category:Borders of Djibouti

Category:Borders of Eritrea

Category:International straits

Category:Djibouti–Eritrea border