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History of Sinai
he Sinai has borne witness to many visitors who have crossed the land in both directions. Bronze Age Semites from Mesopotamia mined copper and turquoise here some 8000 years ago. |
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Places to visit Rest of Egypt
Cairo Only an hour by plane or 6 hours by car or bus, the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Cairo and capital of Egypt is a must for all visitors to the country. The largest city in Africa, |
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 Mangroovy History of Sinai |
As the crossroads from Africa into Asia,
the Sinai has borne witness to many visitors who have crossed the land in both directions. Bronze Age Semites from Mesopotamia mined copper and turquoise here some 8000 years ago.
The Sinai has long been venerated as a holy land by Christians, Jews and Muslims. Many prophets and pilgrims have traversed the Sinai. Around 1400BC, the Israelites are said to have made their exodus from Egypt, led by Moses, through the ‘wilderness’ of the Sinai where they were destined to wander for forty years. It was during this time that Moses is believed to have received the Ten Commandments from God at Mt. Sinai.
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Later the Romans visited the region, followed by the Christian Byzantines. It was the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, who had the Monastery of St. Catherine built at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
However, it was not until the completion of the Suez Canal in 1892 that the strategic importance of Sinai became apparent. In 1948, the creation of Israel focused attention on the Sinai Peninsula. During the 1960s and 70s a series of Arab-Israeli conflicts saw the Sinai fought over by the two opposing sides with the Sinai falling into Israeli hands. Eventually, in 1982, the territory of Sinai was returned to Egypt, following a peace treaty. |
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Tourism in the region started slowly in the late 1980s. However, by the mid-late 90s Egypt’s leaders had realised the potential of the Sinai as a tourist destination on account of its natural heritage in terms of the pristine coral reefs supporting a vast marine life, which had become popular with scuba divers from all over the world, and the stunning desert mountain scenery which provided the antithesis to the underwater world and scope for land-based tourist activities.
The tourist resort of Sharm El Sheikh is now firmly established as major holiday destination but, thankfully, measures have been introduced to protect key environmentally sensitive areas within the region with the creation of Ras Mohammed National Park, Nabq Protectorate and Abu Galum. More recently, the area around St. Catherine’s Monastery has been given protected status, too. |
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