“The recent history of the Red Sea reads like a macabre thriller, from industrial-scale hostage-taking by pirates to tit-for-tat naval attacks between Israel and Iran in international waters to unchecked drug and arms smuggling,” Nicholas W. Stephenson Smith wrote in 2021, two and a half years before the current Red Sea crisis.

The surge of Houthi militant attacks on container ships that has rattled global trade is only the latest chapter of the Red Sea’s recent troubles. This edition of Flash Points examines the crisis and its geopolitical implications, but also its historic roots and the legacy of colonialism in the region.—Chloe Hadavas