Tadjoura, Gulf Of

Gulf of Tadjoura, French Golfe de Tadjoura, gulf indenting the coastline of Djibouti, eastern Africa, located at the extreme western end of the Gulf of Aden. It provides some shelter for the port of Djibouti on the southeastern shore of the gulf. The gulf is 35 miles (56 km) wide at the mouth and 50 miles long, with a depth of as much as 3,550 feet (1,082 m) near the centre. It is about 164 feet deep off the coast of Djibouti. The coastline is rather barren and inhospitable, inhabited mostly by pastoral nomads. Obock and Tadjoura are the only other towns of any importance along the gulf, neither of which is a major port. The closing of the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975 decreased shipping traffic in the gulf, although its importance grew during the Persian Gulf War (1990–91).