The highest point in Djibouti is Moussa Ali (2,028 m).
Lake Assal, the lowest point in Djibouti, is also the lowest point in Africa (approximately 155 m below sea level). The lake is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world.
Djibouti is a geologically active region, situated at the convergence of two tectonic plates.
Djibouti is located in a strategic position on the southern access route to the Red Sea.
The nomadic way of life in Djibouti goes back thousands of years.
The people of Djibouti traded with merchants from China, Egypt and India.
Islam arrived in the region around the ninth century.
In 1862 the Sultanates on the Somali coast sold the port of Obock to France.
By the end of the 1880s the French had established French Somaliland.
In 1892 the French capital was moved from Obock to Djibouti.
A treaty between France and Ethiopia gave part of the French Colony to Ethiopia (1897).
Construction of a railway linking Djibouti to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia began in 1897. The railway was completed in 1917.
After the Second World War French Somaliland became an Overseas Territory within the French Union (1946).
In 1967 French Somaliland was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas.
The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became independent in 1977. The country was renamed Djibouti.
In April 2004 a storm in the capital caused structural damage and flash flooding. Over fifty people were killed and many lost their homes.
In April 2006 a boat from Djibouti capsized in the Gulf of Tadjoura killing over seventy people.
The first case of human infection with H5N1 avian flu in sub-Saharan Africa was confirmed in Djibouti in May 2006.
Some inland areas of Djibouti suffered severe drought in 2007.
A seventeen mile long bridge, linking Djibouti in Africa and Yemen in the Middle East, is under consideration by investors. (2008)