Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

's coastline consists of the Gulf of Aden to the north, the

Guardafui Channel The Guardafui Channel ( so, Marinka Gardafuul) is an oceanic strait off the tip of the Horn of Africa that lies between the Puntland region of Somalia and Socotra to the west of the Arabian Sea. It connects the Gulf of Aden to the north with the ...

to the northeast and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

to the east. The total length of the coastline is approximately 3333 km, giving the country the longest coastline on mainland Africa. The country has second-longest coastline in all of Africa, behind the island nation of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(4828 km). The coastline is generally divided into two parts, northern and eastern coastlines, separated by the tip of the Horn of Africa known as

Cape Guardafui Cape Guardafui ( so, Gees Gardafuul, or Raas Caseyr, or Ras Asir, it, Capo Guardafui) is a headland in the autonomous Puntland region in Somalia. Coextensive with Puntland's Gardafuul administrative province, it forms the geographical apex of th ...

. The city of

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

, the capital of Somalia is situated in the south of the country along the eastern coastline of Somalia. The northern coastline is shared with the Gulf of Aden, the northeastern with

, and the eastern with the Indian Ocean. The coastline plays a major role in maintaining the economy of the country through fishing and trade; meanwhile, other areas of the economy are not very productive. The northern tip of the coastline meets

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

in west and the eastern tip meets

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

in the south. There are a number of islands near the coastal areas. Ras Caseyr (Cape Guardafui) is the easternmost point of Somalia; this point joins the Guardafui Channel to the Gulf of Aden.

Geographical features

The coastline of Somalia has different conditions throughout its length. Being the second-longest in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, this coastline is the easternmost coastline of continental Africa, comprises part of the north-western coastline of the

, and is the nearest coastline to the Socotra Islands, which are part of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. Its continental shelf is spread over 32500 km². The northern coastline extends from

to the east of Somalia, and the eastern coastline extends from the north-east to the south-west of Somalia, touching

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

References

Geography of Somalia {{Somalia-geo-stub