Aqaba

Aqaba stands at the head of the gulf that bears its name, where the Red Sea meets routes across Sinai and the Arabian desert. The older Islamic town of Ayla gave way to a settlement farther south, protected by a fortified caravanserai. Pilgrims travelling between Egypt and Mecca could find shelter here, while the fort's garrison watched over a point where sea and desert routes converged.

The Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri rebuilt the fortified inn in the early sixteenth century. It housed a garrison and provided a safe place for pilgrims and merchants to leave goods against raids. After the Ottoman conquest in 1517, supply caravans from Cairo continued to meet returning pilgrims at Aqaba. The fort was substantially repaired under Sultan Murad III in 1587, as an inscription at its gate records. Control of the surrounding desert depended in part on agreements with Bedouin leaders, even as Ottoman authorities sought to protect the pilgrimage route.