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Fatimid Red Sea Trade Network
In the 1020s the Fatimid Caliphate relied on the Red Sea ports of Aydhab, Quseir, and Aden in Yemen to maintain a spice and luxury goods route linkin…
Timeline
- 1020–1029Aydhab · Red Sea coastThe Fatimids controlled Red Sea ports such as Aydhab and Quseir, from which caravans carried goods overland to Cairo, forming hub nodes linking Egypt's interior with overseas trade.
- 1020–1029Aden · AdenThrough the port of Aden in Yemen, the Fatimids connected to Indian Ocean shipping routes, importing pepper, spices, textiles, and gems, and maintaining regular dealings with merchants of South Asia and the East African coast.
- 1020–1029Cairo · CairoCustoms duties and monopoly profits from Red Sea–Indian Ocean trade flowed into the Cairo treasury, supporting Fatimid court expenditures, military pay, and large-scale religious building projects, forming the economic basis for competing with Abbasid overland trade.
Sources
- Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 — K.N. Chaudhuri (1985)
- The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517 — Carl F. Petry (1998)