Sinai

Triangular peninsula linking Africa with Asia and occupying an area of 23,500 square miles. It lies between the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal on the west and the Gulf of Aqaba and the Negev desert on the east, and it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north and the Red Sea to the south. Occupied since prehistoric times, the earliest written information about it dates from 3000 BC, when the ancient Egyptians recorded their explorations there in search of copper ores. From very early times it was an important source of malachite, turquoise, and copper. Certain inscriptions associated with the copper mines are believed to be among the earliest examples of the alphabet, c 16th century BC.

The peninsula between the Gulfs of Akaba and Suez on the Red Sea. It is a barren desert area and was never important for settlement, but it has sources of turquoise and malachite (exploited both as a colouring agent and for copper) which were sought after by the Egyptians from the Predynastic period onwards.