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Red Sea

seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean

28 dated entries naming Red Sea, drawn from 27 separate years between 290 BCE and 2023 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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3rd century BC

  • 290 BCEBerenice, wife of Ptolemy, is proclaimed queen of Egypt. Ptolemy has the city of Berenice built on the Red Sea in her honour. It becomes a great emporium for Egyptian trade with the East.source
  • 283 BCEThe canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II.source

1st century BC

  • 30 BCEAugust 1 – Octavian Caesar captures Alexandria. This marks the official annexation of Ancient Egypt to the Roman Republic. Cleopatra evacuates her court and treasury to Berenice on the west coast of the Red Sea, but king Malchus of Nabatea attacks from the desert and burns the Egyptian ships.source

3rd century

  • 250The Kingdom of Aksum (Axum) takes control of commerce on the Red Sea.source
  • 274The Kingdom of Aksum attains great prosperity thanks to its control of Red Sea trade.source

4th century

  • 356Anthony the Great (pictured) dies at his hermitage near the Red Sea in mid-January at age 105 (approximate), having preached against Arianism, and having tried to codify guidelines for monastic life. His followers subsequently establish the Monastery of Saint Anthony, beginning the tradition of Coptic monasticism.source

6th century

  • 525Kaleb, king of Aksum, collects a fleet and crosses from Africa to conquer Yemen. He establishes better trade ports on the Red Sea.source
  • 579Khosrau I dies after a 48-year reign, during which he has extended his realm from the River Oxus to the Red Sea. He is succeeded by his son Hormizd IV, who becomes king of the Persian Empire.source

7th century

  • 646Caliph Uthman ibn Affan founds the city of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on the coast of the Red Sea. He establishes a port for Muslim pilgrims making the required Hajj to Mecca.source

8th century

  • 701Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula destroy the then-Axum-controlled port of Adulis, thus causing the decline of Ethiopian Christianity on the African Red Sea coast (approximate date).source
  • 770Caliph al-Mansur orders the closing of the Canal of the Pharaohs (Egypt). The only remaining land routes to transship camel caravans' goods are from Alexandria to ports on the Red Sea, or the northern Byzantine termini of the Silk Road.source

12th century

  • 1116Summer – Crusaders under King Baldwin I of Jerusalem undertake an expedition to Egypt and march as far as Akaba on the Red Sea. After the local inhabitants flee from the town, Baldwin constructs castles in Akaba and on a nearby island. He leaves a garrison in both fortresses. The three Crusader strongholds – Montréal, Eilat, and Graye – secure the control of the caravan routes between Syria and Egypt.source
  • 1182Winter – Raynald of Châtillon, lord of Oultrejordain, orders the building of five ships which are carried to the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea. Part of his fleet makes a raid along the coast, threatening the security of the holy cities on Pharaoh's Island (or Île de Graye).source
  • 1183February – Raynald of Châtillon has at least five ships freighted over the Isthmus of Suez, which he then uses to pillage the shores of the Red Sea around Jeddah.source

13th century

  • 1272August 18 – Nubian forces sack the Egyptian Red Sea outpost of Aydhab and raid the southern frontier city of Aswan. In return, Baibars invades the kingdom of Makuria.source

16th century

  • 1516September 17 – Based in Kamaran, an island in the Red Sea, the Mamluk Egyptian Admiral Selman Reis leads of fleet 19 ships in an unsuccessful attempt to take Yemen and Aden.source
  • 1540December 31 – Estêvão da Gama, Governor of Portuguese India, departs from Goa with a plan to sail into the Red Sea, and destroy the Ottoman Empire's access to the Indian Ocean by plundering Suez. The planned attack fails.source
  • 1541March 8 – At the Battle of Suakin, fought at an Ottoman port city on the Red Sea in what is now Sudan, Portuguese General Estêvão da Gama and his brother Cristóvão da Gama lead an attack against the Ottoman ruler and plunder the city.source
  • 1557Özdemir Pasha conquers the Red Sea port of Massawa for the Ottoman Empire.source

17th century

  • 1616Dutch traders smuggle the coffee plant out of Mocha, a port in Yemen on the Red Sea, and cultivate it at the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens. The Dutch later introduce it to Java.source

19th century

  • 1869November 17 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.source
  • 1869September 12–13 – P&O's runs aground and sinks in the Red Sea; 31 drown.source
  • 1889A huge locust swarm crosses the Red Sea and destroys crops in the Nile Valley.source
  • 1899July 10 – British colonial authorities in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan give control of the Red Sea port of Suakin to Sudan, after having agreed that Egypt would have the right to administer commerce there.source

20th century

  • 1967May 23 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, blockading Israel's southern port of Eilat, and Israel's entire Red Sea coastline.source
  • 1991December 15 – The Egyptian ferry sinks in the Red Sea, killing more than 450 people.source

21st century

  • 2004October 8 – Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people and injuring 171, mostly Israeli tourists.source
  • 2023December 18 – A number of shipping companies announce a temporary suspension of their operations in the Red Sea due to continued attacks on vessels by Houthi rebels.source

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