Republic du Djibouti

In 1862, French merchants purchased Obock, a small port on the Red Sea. In 1868, Marseille shipowners settled in the Gulf of Tadjourah. These territories were transferred to the French government in 1884, and the French extended their protectorate over this desert region, the sole advantage of which was its strategic position by the sea following the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1896, the territories of Obock, Tadjourah, Damakil, and Somali became the French Coast of the Somalis, with Djibouti as its capital. Also known as French Somaliland, this administrative territory of the French colonial empire later became the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (1967-1977), and then the Republic of Djibouti after gaining independence.