Suez

Suez stands at the northern end of the Red Sea, where a desert route leads west to the Nile Valley. Its harbor connected Egypt with Jeddah, the Arabian coast and the maritime routes of the Indian Ocean. Goods arriving by sea could be carried overland toward Cairo and the Mediterranean.

After the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, Suez became a naval and commercial station. Ships built and maintained at its arsenal served the routes of the Red Sea, while Ottoman fleets contested Portuguese power farther south. Timber was scarce in Egypt and had to be brought from distant lands. In the eighteenth century Indian wood supplied the shipyards, whose vessels helped carry provisions to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.