Centuries of European traders and Arab merchants had to sail around the ape of Good Hope the southern most tip of Africa in order to travel East from Europe and the Mediterranean Sea thereby avoiding dangerous treks across the treacherous desert. Ancient Egyptians recognized this problem and the records of Herodotus, ancient Greek historian, bare evidence of a canal that was built around 600 B.C. connecting the Gulf of Suez with the Nile river. After several starts and stops, the project was finally completed about a century later. The canal was used during the time of Alexander the Great, left to ruin, then restored and reopened during the Arab domination around 645 A.D

It was primarily used as a trading route connecting the Nile Valley with the trade center in Mecca, on the western coast of Saudi Arabia. No traces of this canal remain today as the sands of time have buried it forever. Finally, in 1859 upon French insistence, the manual digging of the Suez Canal began. It remained an independently run entity under European authority until Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal in 1956. Now crossing into Sinai is made easy by ferry, the A.H. Tunnel, or by plane. There are daily flights from Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and several major European cities that fly directly into the domestic and international airport at Sharm el Sheikh.