Gulf of Aqaba - History

History

Trade across the Red Sea between Thebes port of Elim and Elat at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba is documented as early as the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. Red Sea expeditions crossing the Red Sea and heading south to Punt are mentioned in the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, the Sixth dynasty of Egypt, the Eleventh dynasty of Egypt, the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt and the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt when Hatshepsut built a fleet to support the trade and journeyed south to Punt herself in a six-month voyage. Thebes used Nubian gold or Nub from her conquests south into Kush to facilitate the purchase of Frankincense, Myrrh, Bitumen, Natron, Juniper oil, Linen, and Copper amulets for the mummification industry at Karnak. Egyptian settlements near Timnah at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba date to the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.

At the northern edge, the ancient city of Ayla (in present-day Aqaba) constituted a commercial hub for the Nabateans, the Romans later built the Via Traiana Nova route that met with the King's Highway in Aqaba, that connected Africa to Asia and the Levant and the Red Sea shipping.

The port of Aqaba was a major Ottoman port on the red sea, connected to Damascus and Medina by the Hejaz railway. During World War I, the Battle of Aqaba was the key battle that ended a 500-year Ottoman rule over Greater Syria.