Red Sea

The Red Sea is in the Middle East, part of the Indian Ocean and is between Africa and Asia.

In its north end, is the Gulf of Eilat and Aqaba, its east is Jordan and Saudi-Arabia and Yemen, and to the west, Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea. The Red Sea is a narrow sea of water which just about separates Africa from Asia, between Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. The Red Sea connects to the Indian Ocean. The Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea was dug to allow ships to travel directly from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, bypassing Africa completely.

This is an interesting question involving English usage. Most English-speakers would probably say with confidence that the Red Sea is a sea and not an ocean.

The terms 'sea' and 'ocean' generally mean exactly the same thing; however, a large inland area of salt water is frequently described as a 'sea', while the word 'ocean' is more usually applied to any one of the five main divisions of the sea (or ocean) which covers most of the Earth's surface: the Antarctic, Arctic, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific, and this is why we'd be inclined to suggest the Red Sea is not an ocean.

We like to think of very large bodies of water as oceans and smaller bodies of water as seas, and this is reflected in the English names given to areas of seawater worldwide.

However, while it can be argued, especially from a literary point of view, that the Red Sea is an ocean, and the Red Sea can certainly be described as an ocean of water, we cannot say with absolute certainty that it is not, by definition, an ocean. We can, though, safely refer to it as a sea without any argument at all, because not only is it by definition a sea, it is also by popular usage a sea.

Popular usage is what, in the end, really counts when it comes to deciding which words are right or, at least, most nearly correct: at the end of the discussion the man in the street (you and me) has the final say: if a majority of people use a word or phrase in a certain way, that way must be accepted as the right way, and the term will eventually appear in dictionaries.

What I am trying, clumsily, to say, is that we cannot state the Red Sea is definitely not an ocean, but we can state that it definitely is a sea. Unless you have some special need to use the term 'ocean' in describing it, you will save possible debate by simply calling it a sea and leaving it at that.

To add some geographical information, the Red Sea is a tropical saltwater inlet between the Indian Ocean (which can also be called a sea) and the Mediterranean Sea (which few people would object to calling an ocean).

The Red Sea divides part of north-east Africa - particularly Egypt and the Sudan, to the west - from the Asian countries of Saudi Arabia and the Yemen, to the east.

The northern part of the Red Sea connects to the Gulf of Suez, which joins the man-made Suez Canal, finally linking the inlet to the Mediterranean Sea.

The southern end of the Red Sea joins the Gulf of Aden via the Bab el Mandeb strait, leading through the Arabian Sea into the Indian Ocean.

There are many theories about the origin of the Red Sea's name; one suggestion, and probably the most popular (which doesn't necessarily mean the most accurate), is that it comes from algae which sometimes give the sea a reddish appearance when in bloom.

Other suggestions include names of early peoples inhabiting its shores, as well as various geographical and other historical associations.

The waters of the Red Sea are extremely warm year-round, and high evaporation makes the inlet one of the most salty bodies of water in the world, with levels between ~36% and 41%. The average salinity worldwide is ~35%. .

The saltiest body of water on Earth is the Don Juan Pond, in Antarctica; its overall salinity level is more than 40%.

The Don Juan Pond is a lake: another example of words we use to describe bodies of water. It is worth noting that the British sometimes refer to the Atlantic Ocean, which they also call the Atlantic Sea, as The Pond.

Moses parts the Red Sea. The army chased the Hebrews to the banks of the Red Sea. They would have been trapped but a miracle happened. God told Moses to lift up his rod and as he did so the waters parted to make a dry path. They were able to make their escape.

•When all the Hebrew's were safely at the other shore, Moses lifted up his rod again and the waters of the sea closed on Pharaoh's army who had been chasing them. God had saved the Hebrews.

Hope that helps.