Tom Spencer, age 13, of Colombia, Tenn., for his question:

HOW LONG IS THE RED SEA?

The Red Sea is a narrow arm of the Indian ocean that separates Africa from Asia. It stretches from the Suez Canal up near the Mediterranean Sea south for 1,300 miles to the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

In the south the Red Sea is 190 miles wide but it narrows to 130 miles in the north just before it becomes two arms: the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. It has an average depth of 1,611 feet but the central channel is more than 3,000 feet deep. Its deepest point is 9,580 feet.

Early in history the Red Sea had always been a gateway from Europe to Asia. However, after Vasco da Gama discovered the routs to India around the Cape of Good Hope, use of the Red Sea declined since it always involved a difficult overland transport across the Isthmus of Suez.

After the Suez Canal was completed in 1869, a more direct line to India was established. The Red Sea was called the lifeline of the British Empire.