Djibouti
Djibouti: population, cities
Population
Population
According to
Countryaah website, around 920,000 people live in Djibouti.

Ethnic composition
The population of Djibouti consists of around 60% Issa (Northern Somali) and 40%
Danakil (Afar), the latter mainly living in the north and west of the country.
There is also a minority of Europeans (especially French) and Arabs (especially
Yemenis). There are also immigrants from Ethiopia and Somalia.
Religion
About 94% of the country's residents are Sunni Muslims and about 6% are
Christians.
National languages
The country's official languages are Arabic and French. The
Cushitic languages Afar and Issa are used as colloquial languages.
Capital and other cities
The capital of Djibouti is the same Djibouti with about
600,000 residents.
Other big cities are:
- Ali Sabieh with around 40,000 residents
- Tadjoura with around 22,000 residents
- Obock with around 18,000 residents
- Dikhil with around 12,000 residents
Djibouti: geography, map
Defined by DigoPaul, Djibouti is a small country on the east coast of Africa in the Horn of
Africa. Its coast stretches with a length of about 315 km from the Red Sea in
the north to the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean. The territory consists
predominantly of the Danakil and Afar desert plains, in which there are several
salt basins, some of which are deep below sea level. The Danakil Mountains in
the north of the country reach heights of up to 2,000 m. There are a number of
volcanoes in the interior of Djibouti. The lowest place in the country - and
also in the whole of Africa - is the salty Lake Assal in the center of the
country. Its surface is about 155 m below sea level. Other deep depressions with
salt lakes run parallel to the Red Sea.

Area, boundaries, length of coast
Djibouti covers an area of 23,200 km². Thereof:
- Meadow and pasture land
Around 9% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
- Fields and fields
Around 0.04% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for
growing coffee.
- Desert
Almost 91% of the country is occupied by the Danakil desert.
Djibouti borders three states:
Eritrea with a length of 109 km,
Ethiopia with a length of 349 km and
Somalia with a length of 58 km.
Djibouti has a coast to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with a total length
of 315 km.
Longitude and latitude
Djibouti extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ)
and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from 10 ° 54 'to 12 ° 42' north latitude
Δλ = from 041 ° 48 'to 043 ° 26' east longitude |
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and
Latitude.
Time
For Djibouti, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET). A
minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than
CET:
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones,
time.
Highest level of the sun in Djibouti
The capital of the same name Djibouti is located at a northern latitude of
around φ = 12 ° and thus in the tropics (see position of the sun).
If the declination of the sun has the value of δ = 12 N, and the image point
of the sun is thus above the city, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens
exactly twice a year, roughly 46 days after March 21st and 46 days before
September 21st.
Attention
If the image point of the sun and thus its declination δ is north of the
latitude of Djibouti, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes,
but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where,
like us, it sets.
mountains
The highest mountain in Djibouti is the Musa Ali on the
border with Ethiopia with a height of 2,063 m. Another high mountain is Mt.
Goudah Abaida with a height of 1,784 m.
Rivers
Djibouti has the Essalou, Ouâhayyi and Sadaï rivers,
but none of them have water all year round.
Lakes
Lac Abbé
The Lac Abbé or Abbé Lake is a salt lake and with an area of around 340 km² on
the border with Ethiopia, the largest lake in the country and the center of the
Afar Depression. Around 110 km² of the lake belong to Djibouti. The lake is
considered to be extremely inaccessible and downright unreal. The shores of the
lake are littered with hundreds of limestone cones up to 50 m high, which have
formed from the deposits of hot thermal springs underwater. It gets its water
from the approx. 1,200 km long Awash River.
The lake has no natural runoff and is known for its numerous ibises, pelicans -
and especially flamingos.
Assal-See, Gamari-See
Other lakes are the approximately 54 km² large Assal-See as well as the
Gamari-See. Both are salt lakes. Lake Gamari, like Lake Abbé, is fed by the
Awash River. The Assal Lake, with a salt content of approx. 34.8%, is even salty
than the Dead Sea. Lake Assal is only a few kilometers from the Gulf of Tadjoura
- a bulge in the Gulf of Aden. It receives its water from the Gulf via
subterranean tributaries. It does not have a drain, it loses its water through
evaporation. Lake Assal is about 155 m below sea level, making it the lowest
place in the country - and in all of Africa.
Lake Assal is part of a chain of six interconnected lakes. From north to south
these are the Gargori, Laitali, Gummare, Bario and Afambo.
Islands
In the Gulf of Tadjoura is the small island of Moucha.
Red Sea, Gulf of Aden
Djibouti is located on the Red Sea and at the beginning of the Gulf of Aden -
on the African side.
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a strait between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It
is around 2,190 km long and around 378 km wide near Asmara - but otherwise
almost everywhere more than around 200 km. At Bab al-Mandab, in the strait at
the transition to the Gulf of Aden, it is only a little more than 13 miles
wide. Its area covers around 270,000 km². In the north it is connected to the
Mediterranean via the Suez Canal and in the south via the Gulf of Aden to the
Indian Ocean. Its greatest depth is at 2,605 m. The salt content of the water is
quite high at 4.2% and leads to good visibility under water (divers) due to
reduced algae growth. The Red Sea borders Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Yemen, Jordan
and Saudi Arabia. A detailed description of the Red Sea can be found at
Gorumahere >>>
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is a tube-like bay that separates Africa from Asia. In addition
to Djibouti, the Gulf is bordered by Yemen on the Asian side and Somalia on the
African side. The gulf is the connection between the Red Sea and the Indian
Ocean and is located on the border of the African and Arabian plates. It begins
at the end of the Red Sea at the approximately 25 km wide Bab al-Mandab strait
and merges into the Indian Ocean at an imaginary line between Cape Guardafui in
Somalia and Cape Fartak in Yemen. It is worth mentioning that a smaller part of
its water flows via inter-terrestrial tributaries in a westerly direction into
Lake Assal in Djibouti, only a few kilometers away. The gulf is about 900 km
long and has a maximum width of about 370 km. It has its greatest depth in its
middle with around 3,480 m.
|