Short answers, pulled from the story.
Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea to the north, and the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to the east. It sits by the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, controlling access to busy shipping lanes.
Djibouti gained independence after a referendum held on the 8th of May 1977, in which 98.8% of the electorate supported disengagement from France. Hassan Gouled Aptidon became the nation's first president and served from 1977 to 1999.
Djibouti is named for its capital, the City of Djibouti, though the etymology is disputed. One theory traces it to the Afar word gabouti, meaning plate, another to gabood, meaning upland or plateau, and a third reads it as Land of Tehuti, after the Egyptian moon god Thoth.
The land north of the Gulf of Tadjoura was called Obock from 1862 until 1894. The area was known as French Somaliland from 1897 to 1967, and as the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas from 1967 to 1977.
Djibouti's location by the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which guards the approaches to the Suez Canal, makes it a prized site for foreign bases. The United States pays $63 million a year for Camp Lemonnier, France and Japan each pay about $30 million, and China pays $20 million, together exceeding 5% of Djibouti's GDP in 2017.
Djibouti's population was 1,066,809 at the census held on the 20th of May 2024, the smallest in mainland Africa. The Somalis and Afar are the two largest ethnic groups, with Somalis forming the majority, and about 94% of Djiboutians adhere to Islam.
Ethiopia depends on Djiboutian ports as its main maritime outlet, with 95% of Ethiopian transit cargo handled by the Port of Djibouti as of 2018. The electrified Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway opened in January 2018 to carry freight between the Ethiopian hinterland and the Port of Doraleh.