Gulf of Aden

Lore & Background

In antiquity, the gulf was a thriving area of international trade between Ptolemaic Egypt and Rome in the west and Classical India, its Indonesian colonies, and Han China in the east. After the Greek navigator Hippalus is believed to have gained knowledge of the monsoon winds around the 1st century BCE, enabling more efficient direct trade with India, maritime commerce expanded, though caravan routes remained important and piracy was not a direct consequence. The 1st-century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greek navigational text of unknown authorship, documents this era.

Reader's Guide

The Gulf of Aden is a critical maritime corridor, with approximately 11% of the world's seaborne petroleum passing through it on its way to the Suez Canal or to regional refineries. India receives US$50 billion in imports and sends US$60 billion in exports through this area annually, and to protect its trade, India keeps a warship escort in the area. The gulf's coastline supports many isolated fishing towns and villages, and it is richly supplied with fish, turtles, lobsters, crayfish, and sharks. Despite a lack of large-scale commercial fishing facilities, local fishing takes place close to the shore, with sardines, tuna, kingfish, and mackerel making up the bulk of annual catches. The gulf has a unique biodiversity that includes many varieties of fish, coral, seabirds, and invertebrates, benefiting from a relative lack of pollution in the past. However, environmental groups fear that the lack of a coordinated effort to control pollution may jeopardize the gulf's ecosphere. Whales, dolphins, and dugongs were once common before being severely reduced by commercial hunts, including mass illegal hunts by the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. The now critically endangered Arabian humpback whales were once seen here in large numbers, but only a few large whales still appear in the gulf waters.

Did You Know?

• The Gulf of Aden is widening by about 15 mm (0.59 in) per year due to tectonic activity at the Aden Ridge.
• In medieval times, the gulf was called the Gulf of Berbera, reflecting the importance of the port of Berbera in regional and international trade.
• The gulf's salinity at 10 meters depth varies from 35.3‰ along the eastern Somali coast to as high as 37.3‰ in its centre.
• The 1st-century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is a Greek navigational text of unknown authorship that documents the era of direct trade with India.