Red Sea

The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To the north of the Red Sea lies the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez, which leads to the Suez Canal. It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift, which is part of the Great Rift Valley.
The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly, is about long, and across at its widest point. It has an average depth of, and in the central Suakin Trough, it reaches its maximum depth of.
The Red Sea is quite shallow, with approximately 40% of its area being less than deep, and approximately 25% being less than deep. The extensive shallow shelves are noted for their marine life and corals. More than 1,000 invertebrate species and 200 types of soft and hard coral live in the sea. The Red Sea is the world's northernmost tropical sea and has been designated a Global 200 ecoregion.

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Red Sea as follows:

Exclusive economic zone

in Red Sea:

Number	Country	Area
1		186,392
2		92,513
3		91,279
4		78,383
5		35,861
6		7,037
Total	Red Sea	491,465

Note: Hala'ib Triangle disputed between Sudan and Egypt and calculated for both.
File:Tihama on the Red Sea near Khaukha, Yemen.jpg|thumb|Tihama on the Red Sea near Khaukha, Yemen

Name

Red Sea has names in many languages of the region:

; ;
;
, or
.

The English term Red Sea is a direct translation of the Ancient Greek Erythrà Thálassa. The sea itself was once referred to as the Erythraean Sea by Europeans. As well as Mare Rubrum in Latin, the Romans called it Pontus Herculis. Other designations include the Arabic ; the Coptic ; the Syriac ; the Somali Badda Cas; and the Tigrinya. The name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water's surface. A theory favored by some modern scholars is that the name red refers to the direction south, just as the Black Sea's name may refer to the north. The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages used color words to refer to the cardinal directions. Herodotus on one occasion uses the Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.
The name Yam Suph is of biblical origin.
The name in Coptic ⲫⲓⲟⲙ 'ⲛϩⲁϩ Phiom Enhah is connected to the Ancient Egyptian root ḥ-ḥ which refers to water and sea.
Historically, it was also known to western geographers as Mare Mecca, and Sinus Arabicus. Some ancient geographers called the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.
The association of the Red Sea with the biblical account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is ancient. It was made explicit in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Exodus from Hebrew to Koine Greek in approximately the third century BC. In that version, the Yam Suph is translated as Erythra Thalassa.
The Red Sea is one of four seas named in English after common colours – the others being the Black Sea, the White Sea and the Yellow Sea. The direct rendition of the Greek Erythra thalassa in Latin as Mare Erythraeum refers to the north-western part of the Indian Ocean, and also to a region on Mars.

History

Ancient era

The earliest known exploration of the Red Sea was conducted by ancient Egyptians, as they attempted to establish commercial routes to Punt. One such expedition took place around 2500 BC, and another around 1500 BC. Both involved long voyages down the Red Sea.
The biblical Book of Exodus tells the account of the Israelites' crossing of the sea, which the Hebrew text calls Yam Suph. Yam Suph was traditionally identified as the Red Sea. Rabbi Saadia Gaon, in his Judeo-Arabic translation of the Pentateuch, identifies the crossing place of the Red Sea as Baḥar al-Qulzum, meaning the Gulf of Suez.
In the 6th century BC, Darius the Great, who was a prominent ruler of the Achaemenid Empire in Persia, undertook significant efforts to improve and extend navigation in the Red Sea. He sent reconnaissance missions to explore the Red Sea area and to identify its various navigational hazards, such as rocks and currents. This effort was significant, as it contributed to safer and more efficient navigation routes.
File:Periplous of the Erythraean Sea.svg|left|thumb|upright=1.5|Settlements and commercial centres in the vicinity of the Red Sea involved in the spice trade, as described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
In addition to the maritime explorations, during the reign of Darius the Great, a canal was constructed linking the Nile River to the northern end of the Red Sea at Suez. This canal is sometimes referred to as the ancient Suez Canal. It played a pivotal role in improving trade and communication between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, and beyond to the Indian Ocean. This canal was a predecessor to the modern Suez Canal, which was constructed in the 19th century and continues to be one of the world's most important waterways.
The construction of the canal during Darius's reign is evidenced by ancient records, including inscriptions. Darius commemorated the completion of the canal by creating stelae with inscriptions in several languages, describing the construction and its benefits. The canal not only facilitated trade but also solidified Darius's control over Egypt and enhanced the Achaemenid Empire's economic and political power in the region.
In the late 4th century BC, Alexander the Great sent Greek naval expeditions down the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Greek navigators continued to explore and compile data on the Red Sea. Agatharchides collected information about the sea in the 2nd century BC. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek periplus written by an unknown author around the 1st century, contains a detailed description of the Red Sea's ports and sea routes. The Periplus also describes how Hippalus first discovered the direct route from the Red Sea to.
The Red Sea was favored for Roman trade with India starting with the reign of Augustus, when the Roman Empire gained control over the Mediterranean, Egypt, and the northern Red Sea. The route had been used by previous states but grew in the volume of traffic under the Romans. From Indian ports goods from China were introduced to the Roman world. Contact between Rome and China depended on the Red Sea, but the route was broken by the Aksumite Empire around the 3rd century AD.
From antiquity until the 20th century, the Red Sea was also a trade route for the Red Sea slave trade from Africa to the Middle East.

Middle Ages and modern era

During the Middle Ages, the Red Sea was an important part of the spice trade route. In 1183, Raynald of Châtillon launched a raid down the Red Sea to attack the Muslim pilgrim convoys to Mecca. The possibility that Raynald's fleet might sack the holy cities of Mecca and Medina caused fury throughout the Muslim world. However, it appears that Raynald's target was the lightly armed Muslim pilgrim convoys, rather than the well-guarded cities of Mecca and Medina, and the belief in the Muslim world that Raynald was seeking to sack the holy cities, due to the proximity of those cities to the areas that Raynald raided.
In 1513, trying to secure that channel to Portugal, Afonso de Albuquerque laid siege to Aden but was forced to retreat. They cruised the Red Sea inside the Bab al-Mandab, as the first fleet from Europe in modern times to have sailed these waters. Later in 1524, the city was delivered to Governor Heitor da Silveira as an agreement for protection from the Ottomans.
In 1798, France ordered General Napoleon to invade Egypt and take control of the Red Sea. Although he failed in his mission, the engineer Jean-Baptiste Lepère, who took part in it, revitalised the plan for a canal which had been envisaged during the reign of the Pharaohs. Several canals were built in ancient times from the Nile to the Red Sea along or near the line of the present Sweet Water Canal, but none lasted for long. The Suez Canal was opened in November 1869. During the first half of the 20th century, the Red Sea slave trade attracted substantial international condemnation.
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. Today, despite the 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 to piracy.

Red Sea crisis

ian-backed Yemini Houthis have attacked Western ships, including warships, next to the Bab al-Mandeb during the Gaza war. One ship was hijacked and taken back to Yemen.

Oceanography

The Red Sea is between arid land, desert and semi-desert. Many regions of the coastal zone of the Red Sea possess large areas of vigorously growing coral and extensive reef complexes. Due to the tidal currents, low human population and the minimal development in this climatically inhospitable region, the Red Sea coral reefs are some of the healthiest reef environments in the world. The Red Sea water mass-exchanges its water with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean via the Gulf of Aden. These physical factors reduce the effect of high salinity caused by evaporation in the north and relatively hot water in the south.
The climate of the Red Sea is the result of two monsoon seasons: a northeasterly monsoon and a southwesterly monsoon. Monsoon winds occur because of differential heating between the land and the sea. Very high surface temperatures and high salinity make this one of the warmest and saltiest bodies of seawater in the world. The average surface water temperature of the Red Sea during the summer is about in the north and in the south, with only about variation during the winter months. The overall average water temperature is. Temperature and visibility remain good to around. The sea is known for its strong winds and unpredictable local currents.
The rainfall over the Red Sea and its coasts is extremely low, averaging per year. The rain is mostly short showers, often with thunderstorms and occasionally with dust storms. The scarcity of rainfall and no major source of fresh water to the Red Sea result in excess evaporation as high as per year and high salinity with minimal seasonal variation. A recent underwater expedition to the Red Sea offshore from Sudan and Eritrea found surface water temperatures in winter and up to in the summer, but despite that extreme heat, the coral was healthy with much fish life with very little sign of coral bleaching, with only 9% infected by Thalassomonas loyana, the 'white plague' agent. Favia favus coral there harbours a virus, BA3, which kills T. loyana.
Scientists are investigating the unique properties of these coral and their commensal algae to see if they can be used to salvage bleached coral elsewhere.