The Exodus
Enshrined in the Old Testament and by centuries of tradition, the Exodus of the Israelites is a historical conundrum, as no archeological evidence of their journey through Sinai has ever been found - though excavations at Avaris in the Delta suggest that this was the "City of Bondage" from which they fled. This is generally thought to have happened during the reign of the XIX Dynasty pharaoh, Merneptah (1236-1223 BC), although Egyptologist David Rohl argues that it occurred two centuries earlier (c.1447 BC), under Dudimose of the XIII Dynasty.

To identify their route and various crucial sites, scholars have compared Biblical descriptions with physical features and tried to reconcile myths with realities. The " Red Sea " found in the King James Bible is a mistranslation of the Hebrew Yam-suf, or Sea of Reeds , which fits the salt lakes and marshes to the north of Suez, known today as the Bitter Lakes. From there, the Israelites proceeded down the coast to Ain Musa and followed Wadi Feiran inland towards Mount Sinai ; although a contrary theory has them trekking across northern Sinai and receiving the Ten Commandments at Jebel Halal . Either way, the subsequent forty years in the wilderness are only explicable in terms of a lengthy stay at "Kadesh Barnea", identified as the oasis of Ain Kedirat , where there are extensive ruins.

Christianity and Islam
Over the next millennium or so, Sinai was invaded by Assyrians, Hittites and Babylonians, recaptured by Egypt, and conquered in turn by the Persians and Greeks. While the Ptolemies built ports along the Mediterranean coast, Semitic tribes from Petra established themselves between Aqaba and Gaza, both ultimately succumbing to the Romans . Whether or not the Holy Family had previously crossed Sinai to escape Herod's massacre, the region had begun to attract hermits even before Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity , which rooted itself in cathedrals and monasteries under Justinian's patronage.

In 639-40 the Arabs swept into Sinai, fired with the zeal of Islam . The new faith suited local tribes, which turned to plundering the desert monasteries while the Arabs sacked the cathedral cities. Northern Sinai eventually became a pawn in the Crusades , the area between Aqaba and Rafah belonging to the Frankish Kingdom until its collapse at Acre.

After the Crusades, the victorious Mamlukes reopened Sinai's trade routes but the peninsula remained Egypt's Achilles heel, as the Ottoman Turks and Mohammed Ali demonstrated with their conquests of 1517 and 1831

Twentieth-century Sinai
Sinai's strategic importance increased with the completion of the Suez Canal , and in 1892 Britain compelled Turkey to cede it as a buffer zone. Backed by Germany, the Turks retook it in 1914, laying roads and water pipelines along the northern coast and across the interior. Anglo-Egyptian forces only dislodged them - and went on to take Jerusalem - after a prolonged campaign.

During World War II Sinai witnessed little fighting, but the creation of Israel brought the territory right back into the frontline. In 1948 the Israelis repulsed Arab attacks from all sides and took the Gaza Strip and El-Arish before an armistice was signed, only withdrawing under British pressure. By closing the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping and nationalizing the Suez Canal, however, Nasser brought together British and Israeli interests. It was Israel's advance into Sinai in October 1956 that was the agreed pretext for Anglo-French intervention in the Suez Crisis ; though militarily successful, the three states were compelled to quit by international opposition, UN peacekeeping forces establishing a buffer zone in Gaza and guaranteeing free passage through the Gulf of Aqaba.

But further Arab-Israeli wars were inevitable. When Egypt ordered the UN to leave and resumed its blockade in 1967 , Israel launched a pre-emptive strike and captured the entire peninsula, which it retained after the Six Day War and fortified with the Bar-Lev Line along the east bank of the Suez Canal. In the October War of 1973 , Egypt broke through into Sinai but then suffered a devastating counterattack across the canal.

US-sponsored peace negotiations culminated in President Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem, the Camp David Accords and a peace treaty signed in 1979, which led to Egypt's decade-long expulsion from the Arab League. Under its terms Israel evacuated all settlements founded during the occupation of Sinai and the territory reverted to Egypt; a phased transition completed in 1982, except for the disputed enclave of Taba, finally resolved in 1989. The Multinational Force and Observers ( MFO ) based at Na'ama Bay monitors Sinai's "banded" demilitarized zones from orange-flagged outposts around the peninsula.

Introduced to Sinai by the Israelis, tourism initially suffered from the handover, as the Camp David Accords forbade any development for five years. Since 1988, however, its recovery has shifted into overdrive: where the Aqaba coast once had five hotels it now has 150, with plans for plenty more. While Ras Mohammed and Nabeq are protected by their status as Nature Reserves, the entire coastline north of Nuweiba is under intense development; the area bounded by Taba Heights, Eilat and Aqaba has become known as the "Red Sea Riviera". With new links between Israel and Jordan, and ever more charter flights from Europe, tourism can only increase further. Sinai's days as a wilderness seem to be numbered.