Djibouti

Djibouti is officially known as the Republic of Djibouti. In local languages it is known as Gabuuti (in Afar) and Jabuuti (in Somali).

The country is named for its capital, the City of Djibouti. The etymology of the name is disputed. There are several theories and legends about its origin, varying based on ethnicity. One theory derives it from the Afar word gabouti, meaning "plate", possibly referring to the area's geographical features. Another connects it to gabood, meaning "upland/plateau". Djibouti could also mean "Land of Tehuti" or "Land of Thoth (Egyptian: Djehuti/ Djehuty)", after the Egyptian moon god.

Under French administration, from 1862 until 1894, the land to the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura was called "Obock". From 1897 to 1967 the area was known as French Somaliland (French: Côte française des Somalis), and from 1967 to 1977 as the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (French: Territoire français des Afars et des Issas).

=== Prehistory ===

The Bab-el-Mandeb region has often been considered a primary crossing point for early hominins following a southern coastal route from East Africa to South and Southeast Asia.

The Djibouti area has been inhabited since the Neolithic. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during this period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East. Other scholars propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there.

Cut stones dated about 3 million years old have been collected in the area of Lake Abbe. In the Gobaad plain (between Dikhil and Lake Abbe), the remains of the extinct elephant Palaeoloxodon recki were also discovered, visibly butchered using basalt tools found nearby. These remains would date from 1.4 million years BCE. Subsequently, other similar sites were identified as probably the work of Homo ergaster. An Acheulean site (from 800,000 to 400,000 years BCE), where stone was cut, was excavated in the 1990s, in Gombourta, between Damerdjog and Loyada, 15 km south of Djibouti City. Finally, in Gobaad, a Homo erectus jaw was found, dating from 100,000 BCE. On Devil's Island, tools dating back 6,000 years have been found, which were used to open shells. In the area at the bottom of Goubet (Dankalélo, not far from Devil's Island), circular stone structures and fragments of painted pottery have also been discovered. Previous investigators have also reported a fragmentary maxilla, attributed to an older form of Homo sapiens and dated to c. 250 Ka, from the valley of the Dagadlé Wadi.

Pottery predating the mid-2nd millennium has been found at Asa Koma, an inland lake area on the Gobaad Plain. The site's ware is characterized by punctate and incision geometric designs, which bear a similarity to the Sabir culture phase 1 ceramics from Ma'layba in Southern Arabia. Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, suggesting that domesticated cattle were present by around 3,500 years ago. Rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho. Handoga, dated to the fourth millennium BCE, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths and plain ceramics used by early nomadic pastoralists with domesticated cattle.

The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Goba'ad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2004 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bovine husbandry and, for the first time in this area, evidence for caprine herding practices. Radiocarbon dating places this occupation at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, similar in range to Asa Koma. These two sites represent the oldest evidence of herding in the region, and they provide a better understanding of the development of Neolithic societies in this region.

Up to 4000 years BCE, the region benefited from a climate very different from the one it knows today and probably close to the Mediterranean climate. The water resources were numerous with lakes in Goba'ad, lakes Assal and Abbé larger and resembling real bodies of water. The humans therefore lived by gathering, fishing and hunting. The region was populated by a very rich fauna: felines, buffaloes, elephants, rhinos, etc., as evidenced, for example, by the bestiary of cave paintings at Balho. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE, few nomads settled around the lakes and practiced fishing and cattle breeding. The burial of an 18-year-old woman, dating from this period, as well as the bones of hunted animals, bone tools and small jewels have been unearthed. By about 1500 BCE, the climate was already beginning to change, with sources of fresh water becoming more scarce. Engravings show dromedaries (animal of arid zones), some of which are ridden by armed warriors. The sedentary people now returned to a nomadic life. Stone tumuli of various shapes and sheltering graves dating from this period have been unearthed all over the territory.

The earliest recorded ancient Egyptian expedition to Punt was organized by Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty (25th century BC), returning with cargoes of antyue and Puntites. However, gold from Punt is recorded as having been in Egypt as early as the time of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty.

Subsequently, there were more expeditions to Punt in the Sixth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Eighteenth dynasties of Egypt. In the Twelfth Dynasty, trade with Punt was celebrated in popular literature in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor.

In the reign of Mentuhotep III (11th dynasty, ca. 2000 BC), an officer named Hannu organized one or more voyages to Punt, but it is uncertain whether he personally traveled on these expeditions. Trading missions of the 12th dynasty pharaohs Senusret I, Amenemhat II and Amenemhat IV had also successfully navigated their way to and from the mysterious land of Punt.

In the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Hatshepsut built a Red Sea fleet to facilitate trade between the head of the Gulf of Aqaba and points south as far as Punt to bring mortuary goods to Karnak in exchange for Nubian gold. Hatshepsut personally made the most famous ancient Egyptian expedition that sailed to Punt. Her artists revealing much about the royals, inhabitants, habitation and variety of trees on the island, revealing it as the "Land of the Gods, a region far to the east in the direction of the sunrise, blessed with products for religious purposes", where traders returned with gold, ivory, ebony, incense, aromatic resins, animal skins, live animals, eye-makeup cosmetics, fragrant woods, and cinnamon. During the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC, ships regularly crossed the Red Sea in order to obtain bitumen, copper, carved amulets, naptha and other goods transported overland and down the Dead Sea to Elat at the head of the gulf of Aqaba where they were joined with frankincense and myrrh coming north both by sea and overland along trade routes through the mountains running north along the east coast of the Red Sea. Together with northern Ethiopia, Somaliland, Eritrea and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Djibouti is considered the most likely location of the territory known to the Ancient Egyptians as Punt (or Ta Netjeru, meaning "God's Land"). The first mention of the Land of Punt dates to the 25th century BC. The Puntites were a nation of people who had close relations with Ancient Egypt during the reign of the 5th dynasty Pharaoh Sahure and the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut. According to the temple murals at Deir el-Bahari, the Land of Punt was ruled at that time by King Parahu and Queen Ati.

The Adal (also Awdal, Adl, or Adel) was centered around Zeila, its capital. It was established by the local Somali clans in the early 9th century. Zeila attracted merchants from around the world, contributing to the wealth of the city. Zeila is an ancient city and it was one of the earliest cities in the world to embrace Islam, shortly after the hijra. Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi, an Arab Muslim scholar and traveler, wrote that the Kingdom of Adal was a small wealthy kingdom and that Zeila served as the headquarters for the kingdom, which dated back to the beginning of the century.

The earliest reference to Adal was following the collapse of the Makhzumi dynasty in July 1288 when 'Ali Baziyu led a campaign in Adal and Mora which was concluded by the killing of the lords of Adal and Mora, the victorious Sultan then annexed Adal and Mora to his Kingdom. Adal is also mentioned by Marco Polo in 1295 as a state continuously in conflict with Abyssinia. According to fourteenth century Arab historian Al Umari, Adal was one of the founding regions of the Ifat Sultanate alongside Biqulzar, Shewa, Kwelgora, Shimi, Jamme and Laboo.

It was used ambiguously in the medieval era to indicate the Muslim inhabitant low land portion east of the Ethiopian Empire. Including north of the Awash River towards Lake Abbe in modern Djibouti–Ethiopia border as well as the territory between Shewa and Zeila on the coast of Somalia. Districts within Adal included Hubat, Gidaya and Hargaya. It also occasionally included the Hadiya Sultanate. The region was mostly located in modern-day Awdal and had Zeila as a capital city but also controlled other interior towns like Abasa or Dakkar extending into the Harar plateau to the south-east and modern day Djibouti in the west.

The Walashma dynasty are regarded by scholars as the founders of the Ifat Sultanate. Ifat first emerged when Umar Ibn Dunyā-ḥawaz, later to be known as Sultan Umar Walasma, carved out his own kingdom and conquered the Sultanate of Shewa located in northern Hararghe. In 1288 Sultan Wali Asma successfully imposed his rule on Hubat, Zeila and other Muslim states in the region. Taddesse Tamrat explains Sultan Walashma's military acts as an effort to consolidate the Muslim territories in the Horn of Africa in much the same way as Emperor Yekuno Amlak was attempting to consolidate the Christian territories in the highlands during the same period.

In 1320 a conflict between the Christian monarch and Muslim Ifat leaders began. The conflict was precipitated by Al-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt. The Mamluk ruler Al-Nasir Muhammad was persecuting Christian Copts and destroying Coptic churches. The Ethiopian Emperor Amda Seyon I sent an envoy with a warning to the Mamluk ruler that if he did not stop the persecution of Christians in Egypt, he would retaliate against Muslims under his rule and would starve the peoples of Egypt by diverting the course of the Nile. According to Pankhurst, of the two threats, the diversion of Nile was an idle threat and the Egyptian sultan dismissed it because he likely realized this to be so. The fear that the Ethiopians might tamper with the Nile, states Pankhurst, was nevertheless to remain with Egyptians for many centuries.

Sabr ad-Din's rebellion was not an attempt to achieve independence, but to become emperor of a Muslim Ethiopia. Amda Seyon's royal chronicle states that Sabr ad-Din proclaimed:

"I wish to be King of all Ethiopia; I will rule the Christians according to their law and I will destroy their churches...I will nominate governors in all the provinces of Ethiopia, as does the King of Zion (Ethiopia)...I will transform the churches into mosques. I will subjugate and convert the King of the Christians to my religion, I will make him a provincial governor, and if he refuses to be converted I will hand him over to one of the shepherds, called Warjeke [i.e. Warjih], that he may be made a keeper of camels. As for the Queen Jan Mangesha, his wife, I will employ her to grind corn. I will make my residence at Marade [i.e. Tegulet], the capital of his kingdom."

In fact, after his first incursion, Sabr ad-Din appointed governors for nearby and neighboring provinces such as Fatagar and Alamalé, as well as far-off provinces in the north like Damot, Amhara, Angot, Inderta, Begemder, and Gojjam. He also threatened to plant khat at the capital, a stimulant used by Muslims but forbidden to Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.

In 1376, Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din Abdul Muhammad, also called Sa'ad ad-Din II, succeeded his brother and came to power, who continued to attack the Abyssinian Christian army. He attacked regional chiefs such as at Zalan and Hadeya, who supported the Emperor. According to Mordechai Abir, Sa'ad ad-Din II raids against the Ethiopian empire were largely hit-and-run type, which hardened the resolve of the Christian ruler to end the Muslim rule in their east. In the early 15th century, the Ethiopian Emperor who was likely Dawit I collected a large army to respond. He branded the Muslims of the surrounding area "enemies of the Lord", and invaded Ifat. After much war, Ifat's troops were defeated in 1403 on the Harar plateau, Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din subsequently fled to Zeila where Ethiopian soldiers pursued him. Al-Maqrizi narrates:the Amhara pursued Sa'd al-Din as far as the peninsula of Zeila, in the ocean, where he took refuge. The Amhara besieged him there, and deprived him of water; at last one of the impious showed them a way by which they could reach him. When they came upon him a battle ensued; and after three days the water failed. Sa'd al Din was wounded in the forehead and fell to the ground, whereupon they pierced him with their swords. But he died happily, falling in God's cause.

After Sa'ad ad-Din's death "the strength of the Muslims was abated", as Maqrizi states, and then the Amhara settled in the country "and from the ravaged mosques and they made churches". The followers of Islam were said to have been harassed for over twenty years. The sources disagree on which Ethiopian Emperor conducted this campaign. According to the medieval historian al-Makrizi, Emperor Dawit I in 1403 pursued the Sultan of Adal, Sa'ad ad-Din II, to Zeila, where he killed the Sultan and sacked the city of Zeila. However, another contemporary source dates the death of Sa'ad ad-Din II to 1410, and credits Emperor Yeshaq with the slaying. His children and the remainder of the Walashma dynasty would flee to Yemen where they would live in exile until 1415. Handoga initially was a marginal semi-permanent settlement in the 13th century, but it transformed into a permanent stone city in the 14th century, coinciding with Ifat's weakening and disrupted trade networks. The fall of Ifat, marked by military defeats, Ethiopian occupation, and the loss of Zeila, disrupted the key trade route linking the Indian Ocean to the interior, prompting the rise of peripheral centres like Handoga. Its growth was likely driven by trade route realignments and the reorganisation of regional commerce until stability was restored under the Adal Sultanate. It had acted as a trade hub in the region for several centuries before being utterly abandoned at the end of the 16th century.

In 1415, Sabr ad-Din III, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, would return to Adal from his exile in Arabia to restore his father's throne. He would proclaim himself "king of Adal" after his return from Yemen to the Harar plateau and established his new capital at Dakkar. Sabr ad-Din III and his brothers would defeat an army of 20,000 men led by an unnamed commander hoping to restore the "lost Amhara rule". The victorious king then returned to his capital, but gave the order to his many followers to continue and extend the war against the Christians. The Emperor of Ethiopia Tewodros I was soon killed by the Adal Sultanate upon the return of Sa'ad ad-Din's heirs to the Horn of Africa. Sabr ad-Din III died a natural death and was succeeded by his brother Mansur ad-Din who invaded the capital and royal seat of the Solomonic Empire and drove Emperor Dawit I to Yedaya where according to al-Maqrizi, Sultan Mansur destroyed a Solomonic army and killed the Emperor. He then advanced to the mountains of Mokha, where he encountered a 30,000 strong Solomonic army. The Adalite soldiers surrounded their enemies and for two months besieged the trapped Solomonic soldiers until a truce was declared in Mansur's favour. During this period, Adal emerged as a centre of Muslim resistance against the expanding Christian Abyssinian kingdom. Adal would thereafter govern all of the territory formerly ruled by the Ifat Sultanate, as well as the land further east all the way from the Bab el Mandeb to Cape Guardafui, according to Leo Africanus. Adal is mentioned by name in the 14th century in the context of the battles between the Muslims of the Somali and Afar seaboard and the Abyssinian King Amda Seyon I's Christian troops. Adal originally had its capital in the port city of Zeila, situated in the western Awdal region. The polity at the time was an Emirate in the larger Ifat Sultanate ruled by the Walashma dynasty.

According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties consisting of Somalized Arabs or Arabized Somalis, who also ruled over the similarly established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia. At its height, the Adal kingdom controlled large parts of modern-day Djibouti, Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Between Djibouti City and Loyada are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape flanked by vertical slabs, as also found in Tiya, central Ethiopia. The Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol. Additionally, archaeological excavations at Tiya have yielded tombs. As of 1997, 118 stelae were reported in the area. Along with the stelae in the Hadiya Zone, the structures are identified by local residents as Yegragn Dingay or "Gran's stone", in reference to Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran"), ruler of the Adal Sultanate. Genasere was a major inland market town of Adal, supplied through the port of Zayla' with goods from across India. Located about 25 days from the coast and 40 days from Gendebelo, it was likely near Lake Abbé.

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi was a military leader of the medieval Adal Sultanate in the northern Horn of Africa. Between 1529 and 1543, he embarked on a campaign referred to as the Futuh Al-Habash, bringing the three-quarters of Christian Abyssinia under the control of the Muslim empire. With an army composed of Afar, Harari (Harla), and Somalis, al-Ghazi's forces came close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom, slaughtering any Ethiopian who refused to convert to Islam. Within the span of fourteen years the Imam was able to conquer the heartland of the country, wreaking havoc on the Christian nation. The Bahri Negash joined Emperor Gelawdewos and the Portuguese in the decisive Battle of Wayna Daga, where tradition states that Imam Ahmad was shot in the chest by a Portuguese musketeer named João de Castilho, who had charged alone into the Muslim lines and died. The wounded Imam was then beheaded by an Ethiopian cavalry commander, Azmach Calite. Once the Imam's soldiers learned of his death, they fled the battlefield. This conflict provided an opportunity for the Oromo people to conquer and migrate into the historically Gafat land of Welega south of the Blue Nile and eastward to the walls of Harar, establishing new territories.

In 1550, Nur ibn Mujahid became the Emir of Harar and the de facto ruler of Adal, fortifying Harar by constructing a defensive wall still present today. In 1559, he led an invasion against the Ethiopian Empire, killing Emperor Gelawdewos at the Battle of Fatagar, while simultaneously repelling an Ethiopian assault on Harar, which resulted in the death of Sultan Barakat ibn Umar Din and the end of the Walashma dynasty. The Oromo then invaded Adal, and Nur's army suffered a defeat at the Battle of Hazalo, though the city's walls kept it safe, albeit under severe famine conditions. Nur died in 1567, and was succeeded by Uthman the Abyssinian, whose peace treaty with the Oromos led to his overthrow. His successor, Muhammad ibn Nasir, attempted an expedition against Ethiopia but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Webi River, marking the end of Adal's aggression. Muhammad's successor, Mansur ibn Muhammad, fought the Oromos unsuccessfully and later reconquered Aussa and Zeila. The death of Nur and the fall of the Walashma monarchs sparked power struggles, with Muhammad Gasa taking the title of Imam in 1576 and relocating the capital to Aussa, founding the Imamate of Aussa, which declined over the next century, eventually falling to the Afar people. In the seventeenth century, Harla people and Doba populations integrated into the Afar identity, leading to the emergence of the Sultanate of Aussa. Enrico Cerulli attributed Adal's downfall to its inability to overcome tribal divisions, unlike the Ethiopian Empire under Sarsa Dengel, resulting in ongoing struggles among the nomadic tribes. The collapse of the Adal Sultanate led to the formation of multiple rump states such as Aussa, Tadjourah and Rahayto.

The Oromo invasion in the sixteenth century caused the most severe social and economic disruption to the Muslim state, dominating traditional Muslim territories from Berbera to Aussa and displacing communities. With Islamic centers destroyed and scholars gone, Islam became largely nominal. In the absence of formal legal authorities, Xeer customary law emerged or reemerged, drawing heavily from Sharia and developing further after the Oromo were defeated. The Xeer helped unite scattered groups to form the Issa tribal confederation. Originating in the 16th century, the Xeer functioned as a foundational legal system that brought diverse groups together under shared laws. It helped introduce principles central to modern political institutions long. The primary lineages of the Issa clan were divided into two main groups: the "three Issa" (saddehda Issa), which consisted of the lineal descendants of Shaykh Issa's three sons Ēlēye (also known as Abgal), ʿAli (also known as Walāldōn and Holleqade), and Hōlle (also known as Fūrlabe), and the "three followers" (saddehda so'rā). Issa's three sons and their descendants were collectively known as Bah Madigan. The "three followers" consisted of the Hōrrōne, Ūrweyne, and Wardiq, whose ancestors were said to be of extraneous origin and not descended from Issa's sons. According to some traditions, the Wardiq were of Sheekash origin, the Hōrrōne of Ishaq origin, and the Ūrweyne were said to have descended from the Afar. The account of ʿAli Kalageeye, a Somali warrior who freed the Issa clan from Oromo domination, is preserved in oral tradition, which recounts how he came from the east and managed to defeat the Oromo monarch Aale Boore. It is said that the site of these clashes was Adigala, a small town located today along the Djibouti–Ethiopian railway between Dire Dawa and Djibouti. In the early 18th century, the Mudaito-led sultanate of Awsa thrived as a mercantile center due to strong rulers, agriculture, and its strategic location. However, by the late 18th century, economic stagnation and political instability led to its decline. In the early 19th century, the Adoimara Afar clan invaded and forced revenue sharing. Meanwhile, Oromo expansion into Dankali lands deepened the north–south division where the region fragmented into small coastal sultanates, the most significant being Tadjoura, which dominated salt trade from Lake Assal.

Mamluk Egypt being conquered by the Ottomans alarmed the Arabian merchants, who were afraid of these new Turkish conquerors hence they chose to travel towards Adal's shores. This was also followed by Indian merchants fleeing from the same enemy. The Ottomans noticing this sudden mass movement, hastidly occupied Zeyla and established a customs house and galleys patrolling the Bab-el-Mandeb. By the 17th century, when the Ottomans were compelled to retire from Zeyla, the town and its environs such as Tadjoura fell under the control of the rulers of Mocha and Sana'a, who had leased the territory to a Sana'a merchant called Sayyid Al-Barr. Zeyla was subsequently ruled by an Emir, whom Mordechai Abir suggested had "some vague claim to authority over all of the Sahil, but whose real authority did not extend very far beyond the walls of the town." Assisted by cannons and a few mercenaries armed with matchlocks, the governor succeeded in fending off incursions by both the disunited nomads of the interior, who had penetrated the area, as well as brigands in the Gulf of Aden. Although Tadjoura claimed complete independence, it was considered subordinate to Zeyla as the sultan would received an annual stipend from the local governor. Abubakr Pasha explained to Vice-Admiral Alphonse Fleuriot de Langle that when the Imam of Sana'a still controlled the Yemeni coast, some soldiers sent to Tadjoura were one day massacred by the inhabitants of the city. The governor of Mocha then dispatched a new detachment to avenge them. Rather than suffer these reprisals, the city preferred to commit to paying the Imam, each year at the time of the fairs, a perpetual annuity which the governor of Zeyla would be responsible for extracting. Tadjourah's vizier Mahammed Mahammed renewed it for the benefit of the Turkish Pasha of Al-Hodeydah although the Ottoman Empire never exercised political right over Tadjoura. Mohammed Al-Barr would later be succeeded as governor of Zeila and its dependencies(Sahil) by Sharmake Ali Salih. In June 1861, the French accused Sharmarke Ali Salih of being involved in the murder of Henri Lambert, a former French consular agent and supporter of Sharmarke's rival, Abubakr Pasha, an Afar slave trader. Although the Turkish Pasha of Al-Hodeydah and the British Residency in Aden believed Sharmarke was innocent, he and some of his supporters were arrested and handed over to the French navy. The trial, originally planned for Constantinople, was later moved to Jeddah.

During the period of Muhammad Ali's domination over the Hejaz and Yemen in the early 19th century, the port of Zeila also fell under the authority of Cairo, depending administratively on Mokha; its governor, named Mohammed El-Barr, kept command of it in exchange for an annual payment of 50 thalers, which he paid each year to Ibrahim Pasha, son of Muhammad Ali. Contemporary Egyptian officials, such as Jamali Bey, expressed anticipation for the reintegration of Zeilaʿ into Egypt and even proposed establishing an independent government there that would unite the villages, coastal regions, roads, and mountains stretching from Zeila to Massawa and up to the Ethiopian frontier under the authority of Khedive Ismaʿil. Abubakr, a key local intermediary, shifted his allegiance from the Ottomans to the Egyptians after failing to secure French support, became an influential figure in Egyptian policy. By the 1870s, he was acting as an indispensable go-between for correspondence between the khedive and regional rulers, including Menelik of Shewa, who relied on Abubakr's mediation while carefully avoiding provocation of Emperor Yohannes IV. On 12 February 1871, the Egyptian corvette Sa'ka anchored at Zeila with Mumtaz Pasha on board, who distributed subsidies on behalf of Cairo, raised the Egyptian flag in accordance with prior agreements, and extended Egyptian influence to Berbera and Tadjoura. Local rulers, such as the Afar chief Hummad, welcomed these overtures, requesting additional arms and supplies while signalling willingness to establish closer ties with Egypt. This period marked the beginning of a short-lived "honeymoon" between Egypt and the East African coast, though Cairo's ambitions faced diplomatic resistance from both Britain and the Ottoman Empire, particularly concerning the still-independent Somali ports of Berbera and Bulhar.

In the 1870s, Egyptian authorities portrayed their collaboration with prominent regional figures, including two influential slave traders Abubakr Pasha and Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, as part of their anti-slavery stance, despite the ongoing slave trade occurring openly. Abubakr, being governor of Zeila, was recognised more for his political influence than his role in the slave trade. After receiving the title of pasha from Cairo, he and al-Zubayr visited the city. In 1875, Zeila became Egypt's strategic base for the planned conquest of Harar. In August of that year, Muhammad Ra'uf Pasha arrived in Zeila with a firman from the khedive, instructing Abubakr to support a "geographic scientific voyage" to Harar which was a diplomatic facade intended to conceal military intentions from the British and maintain regional strategic balance. By the early 1870s, Egypt had been gaining power in the region and, in 1873, the Egyptians occupied Sagallo and other sites such as Tadjoura, but their hold didn't last long.

On October 16 1884, Léonce Lagarde informed the commander of the cruiser Seignelay that the evacuation of Tadjourah and Sagallo by the Egyptians was imminent and advised immediate action. On October 18, as the Egyptians left Sagallo, the Seignelay's steam launch slipped ashore, allowing Legras to seize the site without resistance and install a garrison of 14 men. Over the following days, small posts were set up at Raïssali and Rood-Ali, though 35 Egyptian soldiers remained in Tadjourah. The Seignelay's commander proposed military intervention, believing resistance unlikely, but Lagarde hesitated at the last moment. On November 17, aboard the Brandon, Lagarde entered Tadjoura after the Egyptian withdrawal, raised the French flag, and departed without establishing a permanent post. The positions created in October were soon abandoned, leaving only a symbolic occupation maintained by occasionally hoisting the French flag and sending a ship from time to time.

The boundaries of the present-day Djibouti state were established as the first French establishment in the Horn of Africa during the Scramble for Africa. The March 11, 1862, agreement the Afar sultan, Raieta Dini Ahmet, signed in Paris was a treaty where the Afars sold lands surrounding in Obock. The French were interested in having a coaling station for steamships, which would become especially important upon the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. (Up to that time French ships had to buy coal at the British port of Aden across the gulf, an unwise dependency in case of war.) Later on, that treaty was used by the captain of the Fleuriot de Langle to colonize the south of the Gulf of Tadjoura. On March 26, 1885, the French signed another treaty with the Issas where the latter would become a protectorate under the French.

It was established between 1883 and 1887, after the ruling Somalis and Afar sultans each signed a treaty with the French. An attempt by Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov, a Russian adventurer, to establish a settlement at Sagallo in 1889 was promptly thwarted by French forces after just one month. In 1894, Léonce Lagarde established a permanent French administration in the city of Djibouti and named the region French Somaliland. The construction of the Imperial Ethiopian Railway west into Ethiopia turned the port of Djibouti into a boomtown of 15,000 at a time when Harar was the only city in Ethiopia to exceed that.

Although the population fell after the completion of the railwayline to Dire Dawa and the original company failed and required a government bail-out, the rail link allowed the territory to quickly supersede the caravan-based trade carried on at Zeila (then in the British area of Somaliland) and become the premier port for coffee and other goods leaving southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden through Harar.The 6th Somali Marching Battalion was formed in Madagascar on May 11, 1916, with recruits from the French Somali Coast and renamed the 1st Battalion of Somali Tirailleurs upon arrival in France in June. Originally intended as a staging unit, the battalion's officers responded to the Somalis' desire to fight, leading to their participation alongside the RICM in the October 1916 assault on Fort Douaumont. For their distinguished role, the battalion's companies were awarded the Croix de Guerre, and the RICM flag received the Legion of Honor. Reorganized as a combat unit by December 1916, the battalion fought at Chemin des Dames in May 1917 and later in significant battles such as Malmaison, the 3rd Battle of the Aisne, and the 2nd Battle of the Marne, earning multiple citations and the right to wear the Croix de Guerre fourragère. Of the 2,434 riflemen deployed, 517 were killed and 1,200 wounded in Europe.

After the Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s, constant border skirmishes occurred between French forces in French Somaliland and Italian forces in Italian East Africa. In June 1940, during the early stages of World War II, France fell and the colony was then ruled by the Vichy (French) government. British and Commonwealth forces fought the neighboring Italians during the East African Campaign. In 1941, the Italians were defeated and the Vichy forces in French Somaliland were isolated. The Vichy French administration continued to hold out in the colony for over a year after the Italian collapse. In response, the British blockaded the port of Djibouti City but it could not prevent local French from providing information on the passing ship convoys. In 1942, about 4,000 British troops occupied the city. A local battalion from French Somaliland participated in the Liberation of France in 1944.

In 1958, on the eve of neighboring Somalia's independence in 1960, a referendum was held in Djibouti to decide whether to remain with France or to be an independent country. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, partly due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident French. There were also allegations of widespread vote rigging. The majority of those who had voted no were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later under suspicious circumstances.

In 1966, France rejected the United Nations' recommendation that it should grant French Somaliland independence. In August of the same year, an official visit to the territory by then French president Charles de Gaulle, was also met with demonstrations and rioting. In response to the protests, de Gaulle ordered another referendum.

In 1967, a second plebiscite was held to determine the fate of the territory. Initial results supported a continued but looser relationship with France. Voting was also divided along ethnic lines, with the resident Somalis generally voting for independence, with the goal of eventual union with Somalia, and the Afars largely opting to remain associated with France. The referendum was again marred by reports of vote rigging on the part of the French authorities. Shortly after the plebiscite was held, the former Côte française des Somalis (French Somaliland) was renamed to Territoire français des Afars et des Issas. Announcement of the plebiscite results sparked civil unrest, including several deaths. France also increased its military force along the frontier.

During the 1960s, the struggle for independence was led by the Front for the Liberation of the Somali Coast (FLCS), who waged an armed struggle for independence with much of its violence aimed at French personnel. FLCS used to initiate few mounting cross-border operations into French Somaliland from Somalia and Ethiopia to attacks on French targets. On March 24, 1975, the Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis kidnapped the French ambassador to Somalia, Jean Guery, to be exchanged against two activists of FLCS members who were both serving life terms in mainland France. He was exchanged for the two FLCS members in Aden, South Yemen. The FLCS was recognized as a national liberation movement by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which participated in its financing. The FLCS evolved its demands between the request of integration in a possible "Greater Somalia" influenced by the Somali government or the simple independence of the territory. In 1975 the African People's League for the Independence (LPAI) and FLCS met in Kampala, Uganda with several meeting later they finally opted for independence path, causing tensions with Somalia.

In 1976, members of the Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis which sought Djibouti's independence from France, also clashed with the Gendarmerie Nationale Intervention Group over a bus hijacking en route to Loyada. This event, by showing the difficulties of maintaining the French colonial presence in Djibouti, was an important step in the independence of the territory. The likelihood of a third referendum appearing successful for the French had grown even dimmer. The prohibitive cost of maintaining the colony, France's last outpost on the continent, was another factor that compelled observers to doubt that the French would attempt to hold on to the territory.

A third independence referendum was held in the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas on 8 May 1977. The previous referendums were held in 1958 and 1967, which rejected independence. This referendum backed independence from France. A landslide 98.8% of the electorate supported disengagement from France, officially marking Djibouti's independence. Hassan Gouled Aptidon, an Issa (ethnic Somali) politician who had campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum of 1958, became the nation's first president (1977–1999).

During its first year, Djibouti joined the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), the Arab League, and the United Nations. In 1986, the nascent republic was also among the founding members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional development organization. During the Ogaden War, influential Issa politicians envisioned a Greater Djibouti or "Issa-land", where Djibouti's borders would extend from the Red Sea to Dire Dawa. That dream was dashed towards the end of the war as Somali forces were routed from Ethiopia.

In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict between Djibouti's ruling People's Rally for Progress (PRP) party and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) opposition group. The impasse ended in a power-sharing agreement in 2000.

In April 2021, Ismael Guelleh, the second president of Djibouti since independence from France in 1977, was re-elected for his fifth term.

Djibouti is a unitary presidential republic, with executive power resting in the presidency, which is by turn dominant over the cabinet, and legislative power in both the government and the National Assembly. The Economist Democracy Index rated Djibouti as authoritarian in 2024.

The president, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, is the prominent figure in Djiboutian politics—the head of state and commander-in-chief. The president exercises their executive power assisted by their appointee, the prime minister, currently Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) is responsible to and presided over by the president.

The judicial system consists of courts of first instance, a High Court of Appeal, and a Supreme Court. The legal system is a blend of French civil law and customary law (Xeer) of the Somali and Afar peoples.

The National Assembly (formerly the Chamber of Deputies) is the country's legislature, consisting of 65 members elected every five years. Although unicameral, the Constitution provides for the creation of a Senate.

The last election was held on 23 February 2018. Djibouti has a dominant-party system, with the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) controlling the legislature and the executive since its foundation in 1979 (the party rules as a part of the Union for a Presidential Majority, which holds a supermajority of seats). Opposition parties are allowed (limited) freedom, but the main opposition party, the Union for National Salvation, boycotted the 2005 and 2008 elections, citing government control of the media and repression of the opposition candidates.

The government is dominated by the Somali Issa Dir clan, who have the support of the Somali clans, especially the Gadabuursi Dir clan. The country emerged from a decade-long civil war at the end of the 1990s with the government and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) signing a peace treaty in 2000. Two FRUD members joined the cabinet, and beginning with the presidential elections of 1999, the FRUD has campaigned in support of the RPP.

President Guelleh succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon in office in 1999. Guelleh was sworn in for his second six-year term after a one-man election on 8 April 2005. He took 100% of the votes in a 78.9% turnout. In early 2011, the Djiboutian citizenry took part in a series of protests against the long-serving government, which were associated with the larger Arab Spring demonstrations. Guelleh was reelected to a third term later that year with 80.63% of the vote in a 75% turnout. Although opposition groups boycotted the ballot over changes to the constitution permitting Guelleh to run again for office, international observers from the African Union generally described the election as free and fair.

On 31 March 2013, Guelleh replaced long-serving prime minister Dilleita Mohamed Dilleita with former president of the Union for a Presidential Majority (UMP) Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed. In December 2014, the ruling Union for the Presidential Majority also signed a framework agreement with the Union of National Salvation coalition, which paves the way for opposition legislators to enter parliament and for reformation of the national electoral agency.

Foreign relations of Djibouti are managed by the Djiboutian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Djibouti maintains close ties with the governments of Somalia, Ethiopia, France and the United States. It is likewise an active participant in African Union, United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League affairs. Since the 2000s, Djiboutian authorities have also strengthened relations with Turkey.

Djibouti has been a member of The Forum of Small States (FOSS) since the group's founding in 1992.

The Djiboutian Armed Forces include the Djiboutian Army, which consists of the Djiboutian Navy, the Djiboutian Air Force, and the National Gendarmerie (GN). As of 2011, the manpower available for military service was 170,386 males and 221,411 females aged 16 to 49. Djibouti spent over US$36 million annually on its military as of 2011 (141st in the SIPRI database). After independence, Djibouti had two regiments commanded by French officers. In the early 2000s, it looked outward for a model of army organization that would best advance defensive capabilities by restructuring forces into smaller, more mobile units instead of traditional divisions.

The first war to involve the Djiboutian Armed Forces was the Djiboutian Civil War between the Djiboutian government, supported by France, and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD). The war lasted from 1991 to 2001, although most of the hostilities ended when the moderate factions of FRUD signed a peace treaty with the government after suffering an extensive military setback when the government forces captured most of the rebel-held territory. A radical group continued to fight the government, but signed its own peace treaty in 2001. The war ended in a government victory, and FRUD became a political party.

As the headquarters of the IGAD regional body, Djibouti has been an active participant in the Somali peace process, hosting the Arta conference in 2000. Following the establishment of the Federal Government of Somalia in 2012, a Djiboutian delegation attended the inauguration ceremony of Somalia's new president.

In recent years, Djibouti has improved its training techniques, military command and information structures and has taken steps to becoming more self-reliant in supplying its military to collaborate with the United Nations in peacekeeping missions, or to provide military help to countries that officially ask for it. Now deployed to Somalia and Sudan.

The French Forces remained present in Djibouti when the territory gained independence, first as part of a provisional protocol of June 1977 laying down the conditions for the stationing of French forces, constituting a defense agreement. A new defence cooperation treaty between France and Djibouti was signed in Paris on 21 December 2011. It entered into force on 1 May 2014. By that treaty and its security clause, France reaffirmed its commitment to the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Djibouti. As well before independence, in 1962, a French Foreign Legion unit, the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13 DBLE) was transferred from Algeria to Djibouti to form the core of the French garrison there. On 31 July 2011, the demi-brigade left Djibouti to the United Arab Emirates.

Djibouti's strategic location by the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea and controls the approaches to the Suez Canal, has made it a desirable location for foreign military bases. Camp Lemonnier was abandoned by the French and later leased to the United States Central Command in September 2002. The lease was renewed in 2014 for another 20 years. The Italian National Support Military Base is also located in Djibouti. The country also hosts the only overseas Japanese military base and Chinese support base.

The United States Department of Defense has accused the Chinese of targeting U.S. military aircraft with a high-powered laser near its Chinese military base in Djibouti.

The hosting of foreign military bases is an important part of Djibouti's economy. The United States pays $63 million a year to rent Camp Lemonnier, France and Japan each pay about $30 million a year respectively, and China pays $20 million a year. The lease payments added up to more than 5% of Djibouti's total GDP of US$2.3 billion in 2017.

In its 2011 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House ranked Djibouti as "Not Free", a downgrading from its former status as "Partly Free".

According to the 2019 U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices, Djibouti's significant human rights issues include unlawful or arbitrary killings by government agents; arbitrary detention by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists; criminal libel; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; significant acts of corruption; and violence against women and girls with inadequate government action for prosecution and accountability, including female genital mutilation/cutting. It states also that impunity was a problem, with the government seldom taking steps to identify and punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services or elsewhere in the government.

Djibouti is sub-divided into six administrative regions, with Djibouti city being one of the official regions. It is further subdivided into twenty sub-prefectures.

=== Location and habitat ===

Djibouti is in the Horn of Africa, on the Gulf of Aden and the Bab-el-Mandeb, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It lies between latitudes 11° and 14°N and longitudes 41° and 44°E, at the northernmost point of the Great Rift Valley. It is in Djibouti that the rift between the African Plate and the Somali Plate meets the Arabian Plate, forming a geologic tripoint. The tectonic interaction at this tripoint has created the lowest elevation of any place in Africa at Lake Assal, and the second-lowest depression on dry land anywhere on earth (surpassed only by the depression along the border of Jordan and Israel).

The country's coastline stretches 314 kilometres (195 miles), with terrain consisting mainly of plateau, plains and highlands. Djibouti has a total area of 23,200 square kilometres (8,958 sq mi). Its borders extend 575 km (357 mi), 125 km (78 mi) of which are shared with Eritrea, 390 km (242 mi) with Ethiopia, and 60 km (37 mi) with Somaliland. Djibouti is the southernmost country on the Arabian Plate.

Djibouti has eight mountain ranges with peaks of over 1,000 metres (3,300 feet). The Mousa Ali range is considered the country's highest mountain range, with the tallest peak on the border with Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has an elevation of 2,028 metres (6,654 feet). The Grand Bara desert covers parts of southern Djibouti in the Arta, Ali Sabieh and Dikhil regions. The majority of it sits at a relatively low elevation, below 1,700 feet (520 metres).

Extreme geographic points include: to the north, Ras Doumera and the point at which the border with Eritrea enters the Red Sea in the Obock Region; to the east, a section of the Red Sea coast north of Ras Bir; to the south, a location on the border with Ethiopia west of the town of As Ela; and to the west, a location on the frontier with Ethiopia immediately east of the Ethiopian town of Afambo.

Most of Djibouti is part of the Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublands. The exception is an eastern strip along the Red Sea coast, which is part of the Eritrean coastal desert.

Djibouti's climate is significantly warmer and has significantly less seasonal variation than the world average. The mean daily maximum temperatures range from 32 to 41 °C (90 to 106 °F), except at high elevations. In Djibouti City, for instance, average afternoon highs range from 28 to 34 °C (82 to 93 °F) in April. But at Airolaf, which ranges from 1,535 to 1,600 m (5,036 to 5,249 ft), maximum temperature is 30 °C (86 °F) in summer and minimum 9 °C (48 °F) in winter. In the uplands ranges from 500 to 800 m (1,600 to 2,600 ft), are comparable and cooler to those on the coast in the hottest months of June until August. December and January is the coolest month with averages low temperatures falling as low as 15 °C (59 °F). Djibouti has either a hot semi-arid climate (BSh) or a hot desert climate (BWh), although temperatures are much moderated at the highest elevations.

Djibouti's climate ranges from arid in the northeastern coastal regions to semi-arid in the central, northern, western and southern parts of the country. On the eastern seaboard, annual rainfall is less than 5 inches (130 mm); in the central highlands, precipitation is about 8 to 16 inches (200 to 410 millimetres). The hinterland is significantly less humid than the coastal regions.