MANDEB, STRAIT OF

Arabic Bab El-mandeb, also spelled Bab Al-mandab, strait between Arabia (northeast) and Africa (southwest) that connects the Red Sea (northwest) with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean (southeast). It is 20 miles (32 km) wide and is divided into two channels by Perim Island; the western channel is 16 miles (26 km) across, and the eastern is 2 miles (3 km) wide. With the building of the Suez Canal, the Strait of Mandeb assumed great strategic and economic importance, forming a portion of the link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Orient. The strait's Arabic name means the gate of tears, so called from the dangers that formerly attended its navigation.