Editing Bab-el-Mandeb (section)

==History==
[[File:Total_petroleum_and_LNG_flows_through_the_Bab_el-Mandeb_Strait_in_2014_through_2018_(48671783212).png|thumb|upright=1.3|Flows of [[petroleum]] products and [[liquefied natural gas]] through the strait, 2014–2018]]

[[Paleo-environmental]] and [[tectonics|tectonic]] events in the [[Miocene]] epoch created the Danakil Isthmus, a land bridge forming a broad connection between Yemen and Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Nile: Origin, Environments, Limnology and Human Use|author=Henri J. Dumont|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2009|series=Monographiae Biologicae|volume=89|isbn=9781402097263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iF_U1NoknHoC|page=603}}</ref> During the last 100,000 years, [[eustatic sea level]] fluctuations have led to alternate opening and closing of the straits.<ref>{{cite book|title=Climate in Earth History|publisher=National Academies|year=1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0QrAAAAYAAJ|page=124|isbn=9780309033299}}</ref> According to the [[recent single origin hypothesis]], the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb were probably witness to the earliest migrations of [[modern humans]]. It is presumed that the oceans were then much lower and the straits were much shallower or dry, which allowed a series of emigrations along the southern coast of Asia.

In Arab tradition it is reported that in ancient times Asia and Africa were joined together, until
they were split at the Bab-el-Mandeb. [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] associates the name Bab-el-Mandeb with the 6th century crossing of the [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumites]] over the sea to Yemen. Two Sabaean inscriptions of the early 6th century mention ''silsilat al-Mandab'' in connection with the conflict between [[Dhu Nuwas]] and the Aksumites.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=427}}</ref>

The [[East India Company|British East India Company]] unilaterally seized the island of [[Perim]] in 1799 on behalf of its [[British India|Indian empire]]. The government of [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] asserted its ownership in 1857 and erected a lighthouse there in 1861, using it to command the [[Red Sea]] and the trade routes through the Suez Canal.<ref name="EB 1878, 179"/> It was used as a coaling station to refuel steamships until 1935 when the reduced use of coal as fuel rendered the operation unprofitable.<ref name="Gavin, p. 291">Gavin, p. 291.</ref>

The British presence continued until 1967 when the island became part of the [[South Yemen|People's Republic of South Yemen]]. Before the handover, the British government had put forward before the [[United Nations]] a proposal for the island to be internationalized<ref>{{cite book |first=Fred |last=Halliday |title=Revolution and Foreign Policy, the Case of South Yemen, 1967–1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |page=11 |isbn=0-521-32856-X }}</ref><ref name="Hakim, pp. 17-18">Hakim, pp. 17-18.</ref> as a way to ensure the continued security of passage and navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb, but this was refused.

{{anchor|Bridge}}
In 2008 a company owned by [[Tarek bin Laden]] unveiled plans to build a bridge named Bridge of the Horns across the strait, linking [[Yemen]] with [[Djibouti]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Tarek Bin Laden's Red Sea bridge<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7259427.stm |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> Middle East Development LLC issued a notice to construct a bridge passing across the Red Sea that would be the longest suspended passing in the world.<ref>{{cite web |author=Tom Sawyer |title=Notice-to-Proceed Launches Ambitious Red Sea Crossing |url=https://www.enr.com/articles/32155-notice-to-proceed-launches-ambitious-red-sea-crossing |work=[[Engineering News-Record]] |date=May 1, 2007}}</ref> The project was assigned to engineering company [[COWI]] in collaboration with architect studio [[Dissing+Weitling]], both from Denmark but the announced delay to Phase 1 in 2010 and the lack of any further updates since makes this a defunct project.