Farasān

Farasan is the largest island of an archipelago in the southern Red Sea, off the coast of Jazan. Its shores and reefs have long supported fishing and seafaring. A Latin inscription dated to 144 records a detachment of Rome's Second Trajanic Legion and names the port of Ferresan, evidence of a Roman presence far south of Egypt. The islands remained familiar to sailors crossing the southern Red Sea. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries pearl fishing brought new prosperity to Farasan, drawing islanders into a trade that connected the archipelago with other shores. Boats, oyster banks and the experience of divers became part of the maritime life of the islands.