Arabic:
Jībūtī

Djibouti, port city and capital of the Republic of Djibouti. It lies on the southern shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura, which is an inlet of the Gulf of Aden. Built on three level areas (Djibouti, Serpent, Marabout) linked by jetties, the city has a mixture of old and modern architecture. Menilek Square contains the government palace. The climate is dry and hot.

Djibouti owes its creation as a port (c.. 1888) to Léonce Lagarde, first governor of French Somaliland, as the area was then called. Shortly after it became the capital (1892), work began on the railway that linked Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to the port in 1917. The harbour is landlocked, covers 160 acres (65 hectares), and has been modernized and dredged to depths of 40–65 feet (12–20 metres). Djibouti became a free port in 1949, and the economic life of both the city and the nation depends on the city’s use as an entrepôt especially between Ethiopia and the Red Sea trade and as a refueling and supply station. Trade declined during the closure (1967–75) of the Suez Canal. Guerrilla attacks on parts of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa Railway during the Ethiopian civil war in the late 1970s led to further disruption of Djibouti’s economy. Drought and war during the 1980s and early ’90s sent many refugees to Djibouti from Somalia and Ethiopia, swelling its population and creating an additional strain on the city’s resources. Major population groups in the city are the Afars (Danakil), Issa Somalis, Arabs, Europeans (mostly French), and Asians. Pop. (2009) 475,322.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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Horn of Africa, region of eastern Africa. It is the easternmost extension of African land and for the purposes of this article is defined as the region that is home to the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, whose cultures have been linked throughout their long history. Other definitions of the Horn of Africa are more restrictive and exclude some or all of the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. There are also broader definitions, the most common of which include all the countries mentioned above, as well as parts or all of Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda. Part of the Horn of Africa region is also known as the Somali peninsula; this term is typically used when referring to lands of Somalia and eastern Ethiopia.

The Horn contains such diverse areas as the highlands of the Ethiopian Plateau, the Ogaden desert, and the Eritrean and Somalian coasts and is home to the Amhara, Tigray, Oromo, and Somali peoples, among others. Its coasts are washed by the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean, and it has long been in contact with the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Asia. Islam and Christianity are of ancient standing here, and the people speak Afro-Asiatic languages related to those of North Africa and the Middle East. For more information on the individual countries in the region, see Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Somalia.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.
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