Rediscovering the Red Sea's Historical Significance

This volume is a comprehensive historical exploration of the Red Sea, a vital maritime route that connects the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. It highlights various pivotal moments and struggles from Aden to Suez, including the conflicts between Islamic powers and European imperialism over the route to India, ultimately leading to Western domination of the oceans. It highlights that the sea remains a theater of global strategy and a site of international trade and security struggles. The book integrates and summarizes relevant studies on the Arab Middle East, Ethiopia, and the Horn of Africa. From biblical times and the medieval struggles for global dominance to the current era of intense international competition along the maritime corridor known as the "Silk Road," it explores this enigmatic waterway. The book illuminates the significance and future importance of the sea's history. It is essential for all researchers interested in maritime borders and Ethiopian and Arab history.

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Sad Sea.- Chapter 2: Refugees Crossing the Sea – Judaism, Christianity, Islam.- Chapter 3: The Children of Israel: Parting the Red Sea.-  Chapter 4: Refugees and Ethiopian Christianity.-  Chapter 5: The Pioneers of Islam: Refugees on the Opposite Shore.- Chapter 6: The Battle on the Silk Road - Egypt and Portugal.- Chapter 7: The Red Sea Abandoned.- Chapter 8: Egypt and the Revival of the Red Sea.

Haggai Erlich is an Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. He obtained a BA in General History and History of the Middle East and Africa from Tel Aviv University 1967, an MA in History of Islamic Peoples from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1969, and his Ph.D. in African history from London University, 1973. Over the years, he has published widely on African and Middle Eastern studies, with a concentration on Ethiopia's relations with the Islamic worlds, awarding him the 2010 Landau Prize in Humanities, African Studies in 2010.