Sinai Peninsula

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Relief map of Sinai Peninsula.

The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai (/ˈsn/;[1][2] Arabic: سيناءSīnāʼ ; Egyptian Arabic: سينا Sīna, IPA: [ˈsiːnæ]) is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about 60,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi) in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, serving as a land bridge between two continents. The bulk of the peninsula is divided administratively into two of Egypt's 27 governorates (with three more straddling the Suez Canal area), and has a population of approximately 1,400,000 people. In addition to its formal name, Egyptians also refer to it asأرض الفيروز (Arḍ ul-Fairūz), "the Land of Turquoise". The ancient Egyptians called it Mafkat, or "land of the green minerals".[3]

While the Levant region (present territories of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel) has historically been the center of conflict between Egypt on the one hand, and one or the other of the states of Mesopotamia (Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni) and Asia Minor (the Hittite Empire), based largely on its strategic geopolitical location — the Sinai Peninsula has remained under permanent Egyptian control since the First Egyptian Dynasty (ca. 3100 BC). In periods of foreign occupation, it was like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by the Ottoman Empire, or the United Kingdom (which occupied Egypt from 1882 until 1956). Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis (known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression due to the simultaneous coordinated attack by the UK, France and Israel) of 1956, and during the Six Day War of 1967. On 6 October 1973, Egypt launched the October War to retake the peninsula, which was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. In 1982, after the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel withdrew from the entirety of Sinai. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and biblical history. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant places in Abrahamic faiths.


The two governorates of North Sinai and South Sinai comprise around 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) and have a population (Jan. 2012) of 554,000. This figure rises to 1,400,000 by including Western Sinai—the parts of the Port Said, Ismailia and Suez Governorates lying east of the Suez Canal. The name Sinai may have been derived from the ancient moon-god Sin[4] or from the Hebrew word "Seneh" (Hebrew: סֶ֫נֶּה‎, Senneh)[5] The peninsula acquired the name due to the assumption that a mountain near Saint Catherine's Monastery is the Biblical Mount Sinai. However this assumption is contested.[6] Since the arrival of the Bani Sulaiman tribe in the 14th century, its population has consisted largely of desert-dwelling Bedouin Arabs.[7] The peninsula's eastern shore separates the Arabian plate from the African plate.[8]


Sinai Peninsula in hieroglyphs
D58 M17 G1 G43 N37
D58 M17 N42 N25

Bj3w [9]
Mining country [9]






Egypt-Israel border. Looking north from the Eilat Mountains

In 1967, Egypt reinforced its military presence in Sinai, renewed the prohibition of Israeli shipping using Egyptian territorial waters, (including the Suez Canal and western part of the Straits of Tiran), and on 16 May ordered the UNEF out of Sinai with immediate effect. Secretary-General U Thant eventually complied and ordered the withdrawal without Security Council authorisation. Subsequent to Egyptian actions, Israel attacked Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, starting the Six-Day War. Israel captured the entire Sinai Peninsula, and Palestine's Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan (which it had ruled since 1949), and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Suez Canal, the east bank of which was now occupied by Israel, was closed. Israel expelled thousands of Egyptians from Sinai, and commenced efforts at large scale Israeli settlement in the peninsula, concurrently with similar settlement in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.





Also on the rise are kidnappings of refugees. According to Meron Estifanos, Eritrean refugees are often kidnapped by Bedouin in the northern Sinai, tortured, raped and only released after having received a large ransom for the kidnappee.[12][13]



Since the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Sinai became a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and biblical history. The most popular tourist destination in Sinai are Mount Sinai ("Jabal Musa") and St. Catherine's Monastery, which is considered to be the oldest working Christian monastery in the world, and the beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba. Most tourists arrive at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, through Eilat, Israel and the Taba Border Crossing, by train or bus from Cairo or by Ferry from Aqaba in Jordan.

Most of the Sinai Peninsula is divided among two Egyptian governorates, or provinces, named Ganub Sina ("South Sinai") and Shamal Sina ("North Sinai"). Three more governates span the Suez Canal, crossing into African Egypt. el-Sewais ("the Suez") is on the southern end of the Suez Canal, el-Isma'ileyyah in the center, and Port Said in the north.


Large numbers of Egyptians from the Nile Valley and Delta moved to the area to work in tourism, but development adversely affected the native Sinai Bedouin population.[citation needed] In order to help alleviate their problems, various NGOs began to operate in the region, including the Makhad Trust, a UK charity that assists the Bedouin in developing a sustainable income while protecting Sinai's natural environment, heritage and culture.


Canadian and Panamanian UNEF UN peacekeepers in Sinai, 1974. 
Sand dune and rocky exposure on the Sinai Peninsula 
Mount Sinai ("Gabal Musa") 
Dust Storm in the Peninsula 

See also[edit]


  3. ^ "ETUDE de la TURQUOISE de ses traitements et imitations", thesis by Claire Salanne, Université de Nantes, 2009.
  6. ^ See Biblical Mount Sinai for a fuller discussion.
  7. ^ The Human Biology of Pastoral Populations - Page 67, William R. Leonard, Michael H. Crawford - 2002
  8. ^ Evolution of the Levant Margin and Western Arabia Platform Since the Mesozoic, Catherine Homberg, Martina Bachmann - 2010, p 65
  9. ^ a b The translation mining country is not certain, see also Rainer Hannig: Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch : (2800 - 950 v. Chr.). p. 1135.
  10. ^ Jean Claude Goyon, Christine Cardin, Eds. "Joseph Davidovits and Ralph Davidovits Why Djoser's blue Egyptian faience tiles are not blue? Manufacturing Djoser's faience tiles at temperatures as low as 250 °C?". Proceedings of the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists 1. p. 375. 
  12. ^ Meron Stefanos on the torture houses in north Sinai
  13. ^ Sound of torture documentary

External links[edit]

Further reading[edit]
