Welcome to Djibouti City, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Djibouti, set on the shores of the Gulf of Tadjoura in the Horn of Africa. Around 780,000 people live here, which is almost three quarters of the whole country's population. The settlement was founded by the French in 1888 on land leased from the ruling Somali and Afar sultans, and it went on to serve as the capital of French Somaliland. Yet people lived along this coast as far back as the Bronze Age. Let's explore the city and the remarkable landscapes around it.
Hamoudi Mosque
Photo: Francisco Anzola · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsIn front of you stands the Hamoudi Mosque, also known as Gami al-Nur. It was built around 1906 by Haji Hamoudi, and it is among the older mosques still standing in the capital. Inside, its 2,000 square metres of space can welcome up to 1,000 worshippers at prayer.
Our Lady of the Good Shepherd Cathedral
Photo: Cjulien21 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsAlong the Boulevard of the Republic rises the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd, the main Catholic church of Djibouti. It was built in 1964 on the site of an older church, Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc, which was demolished because it had become too narrow. The new cathedral was dedicated on 12 January 1964 by Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, dean of the college of cardinals. Notice its monolithic form: the design belongs to the modern movement and was drawn by Joseph Müller, an architect from Colmar in France.
Moucha Island
Photo: Skilla1st · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOut in the centre of the Gulf of Tadjoura lies Moucha Island, a small coral island with only about 20 inhabitants, a number that grows considerably in summer. Its history is surprising. In 1840 a treaty recorded the sale of the island to Great Britain for just ten sacks of rice. Britain ceded it to France in 1887. In 1900 a quarantine station was built here, but it was never used, for lack of medical staff. And in 1914 Henry de Monfreid used the islands to hide smuggled weapons.
Gulf of Tadjoura
Photo: Skilla1st · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsLook out across the Gulf of Tadjoura, a basin of the Indian Ocean lying just south of the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the entrance to the Red Sea. Beneath these waters lie rich fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs and abundant pearl oysters, along with sea grass beds and mangroves along the shore. Almost the entire coastline belongs to Djibouti, apart from a short stretch on the southern shore that is part of Somaliland. Covering about 900 square kilometres, the gulf shapes the life of the capital on its shore.
Lake Assal
Photo: NASA · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsOur journey ends at one of Africa's most extraordinary places. Lake Assal is a crater lake about 120 kilometres west of the city, lying 155 metres below sea level. That makes it the lowest point on land in Africa. No river flows out of it, and the fierce evaporation leaves its waters 10 times saltier than the sea. Curiously, its Arabic name means Honey Lake. Salt is harvested at its south-eastern end, and Djibouti has proposed the lake and the nearby Ardoukoba volcano to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Lomakuume
