The Gulf of

Zula Zula is a small town in central Eritrea. It is situated near the head of Annesley Bay (also known as the Gulf of Zula), on the Red Sea coast. Four kilometers away is the archeological site of Adulis, which was an emporium and the port of Axum. ...

, also known as Annesley Bay, Baia di Arafali or Zula Bahir Selat’ē, is a

body of water A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ponds, wetlands, or more rare ...

on the

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

coastline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

on the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Geography

The Gulf lies to the east of

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

, near the midpoint of the Eritrean coast. It is located between the Foro subregion and the

Buri Peninsula The Buri Peninsula extends from central Eritrea north into the Red Sea. Geography The Buri Peninsula is an area of land in the Ghela'elo subregion of Eritrea, that juts out into the Red Sea. To its west lies the Gulf of Zula, also known as Anne ...

of the

Ghela'elo subregion Ghela'elo subregion (Ghelalo subregion) is a subregion in the Northern Red Sea region (Zoba Semienawi Keyih Bahri) of Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capi ...

, both in the country's Northern Red Sea region. On the west side of the gulf are two large mountains,

Jebel Gedem Jabal, Jabel, Jebel or Jibal may refer to: People * Jabal (name), a male Arabic given name * Jabal (Bible), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible Places In Arabic, ''jabal'' or ''jebel'' (spelling variants of the same word) means 'mountain'. * Dzhebel, ...

and Mount Arbalu . Between the two, the Aligede River flows, with the village of

on its right bank. The coast of the gulf is fringed with mangroves on either side of the mouth of the river. The egyptologist Henry Salt identified Zula as the ancient archaeological site of

Adulis Adulis (Sabaic, Sabaean: 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, , ) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean list of cities in Eritrea, city of Zula. It was the emporium (antiquit ...

. Near the head of the gulf is the village of Arafali, beside the extinct Dola Volcano . From here, several roads radiate into the surrounding areas. To the east of the gulf lies the

. This generally low-lying, undulating area is composed of lava flows at the southern end and granite at the north. Fringing reefs border much of this coast. About beyond Arafali is Dolphin Cove, with a low, flat beach, backed by a steep rise to Mount Abdur behind. further on is the narrow Melita Bay with the village of Macanille at its head. Here there are coastal reefs and mangrove swamps. The Gulf of Zula is a deep water bay, formed as part of the complex rifting system that occurred in these parts where three tectonic plates meet. The rift continues inland to the

Danakil Depression The Danakil Depression is a large valley of approximately , across the north of the Afar Region of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is about below sea level and is bordered to the west by the Ethiopian Plateau and to the east by the Danakil Alps, bey ...

, a sandy plain lying below sea level. The gulf also marks the territorial division between the

Saho people The Saho are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group who are one of the 9 official ethnic groups Eritrea. They speak Saho as a mother tongue. History The Saho were originally a northern extension of the Afar people, Afar who moved along the G ...

and the

Afar people The Afar (), also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, as well as the entire southern co ...

. File:Gulf of Zula.GIF, The Gulf of Zula and

File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-5-1.jpg, Photograph taken by 10th Field Company Royal Engineers during the

British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, ...

References

{{List of African seas

Northern Red Sea region