French Somaliland (later to become the French Oversees Territory of Afars and Issas, and then independent Djibouti) was located in northeast Africa at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Suez Canal and the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It had an area of 8,494 sq. mi. (22,000 sq. km.). Capital: Djibouti. ,French interest in the area began in 1839 with concessions obtained by a French naval lieutenant from the provincial sultans. French Somaliland was made a protectorate in 1884 and its boundaries were delimited by the Franco-British and Ethiopian accords of 1887 and 1897. It became a colony in 1896 and a territory within the French Union in 1946. In 1958, it voted to join in March 1967. Its name was changed from French Somaliland to the French Territory of Afars and Issas on July 5, 1967. ,, ,On June 27, 1977 French Afars and Issas became Africa?s 49th independent state as the republic of Djibouti.,, Rulers:,,, ,French to 1977,, Monetary System:,,, ,1 Franc = 100 Centimes,,