The Horn of Africa
Three tectonic plates pull apart under the Afar Depression. The ground between them lies below sea level in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia alike. The Horn is the peninsula east of that rift together with the highlands behind it, and Ethiopia is the member without a coastline, landlocked since Eritrea's independence in 1993.
Common questions
Questions about Horn of Africa
Which countries are in the Horn of Africa?
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, on the reading the catalogue files. A wider reading adds Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda, following the membership of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and a strictly physical reading takes in the peninsula alone, which leaves Eritrea outside it.
Why is Ethiopia landlocked?
Eritrea, federated with Ethiopia by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1952 and made a province after the federation was dissolved in 1962, became independent on 24 May 1993 following a referendum that April, and the Red Sea shoreline went with it. Ethiopian overseas trade now moves largely through Djibouti, linked to Addis Ababa by road and, since January 2017, by an electrified railway.
Is Somaliland listed as a separate country here?
No. Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in May 1991 and no United Nations member state has recognised it, so the catalogue records the declaration and files the territory under Somalia. The rule is the same everywhere on this site: a status is recorded, and the argument about it is not settled on a hub page.
How wide is Bab el-Mandeb?
About 30 kilometres between Djibouti and Yemen at the narrows, with Perim Island splitting the passage into a wide western channel and a narrow eastern one. It joins the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, so traffic between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean passes through it.