Dahlak Archipelago

The Dahlak Archipelago is an island group belonging to Eritrea in the Red Sea off Massawa. The archipelago includes two major islands ( Dahlak Kebir with 754.9 km ² and Nahaleg 104.6 km ² ) and 124 small and smallest, separated from the mainland by the Eritrean at the narrowest point 14 km wide Massawa Channel. Together, the islands have an area of ​​900 square kilometers. Only the two larger islands and two other islands are inhabited. A total of about 2,500 people live on the islands, of which 1,500 are on the main island of Dahlak Kebir. The inhabitants of the archipelago speak their own language very similar to the Tigray, the Dahalik.

The islands are surrounded by coral reefs and fish are because of their wealth as a diver 's paradise. They form the Dahlak Marine National Park, one of only two national parks of Eritrea.

History

Previously, the islands were the center of the pearl fisheries in the Red Sea, they were probably already known to the Romans. The residents were among the first, the Muslims were in East Africa. As early as the 7th century, an independent Islamic state was formed on the islands. But they soon came under Ottoman rule of Yemen and 1559. At the beginning of the Italian colonial rule 1891/92 there were about Eritrea on one of the islands a camp for opposition from Eritrea and other Italian colonies. In the war of independence of Eritrea against Ethiopia, the use revived. On the islands was at that time a property occupied by the Soviet Union naval base, but which was then briefly used during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 1990-1991 by Israel.

According to a report by Stratfor, Israel has still a " small but significant " Marine and educational presence in the archipelago.