Egypt Tips & Trips

Sharm el-Sheikh




(Sharm El-Shiech) is a city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate-Egypt, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is on average 35,000 (in 2008). Sharm El-Sheikh is the administrative center of Egypt's South Sinai Governorate-which includes the smaller coastal towns of Dahab and Nuweiba as well as the mountainous regions of St. Catherines Monastery and Mount Sinai.

Sharm El-Sheikh ('Bay of Sheikh' in Arabic) is sometimes called 'The City of Peace', referring to the large number of international peace conferences that have been held here. She was known as' Sarm-üs-Seyh during the Ottoman rule, and as' Ofira 'during the Israeli occupation between 1967 and 1982. When Egyptians and Israelis, the name of the city is often' Sharm 'abbreviated (ägy.arabisch: (lölö ), Hebrew (lölölö). Before 1967, Sharm was not much more than an occasional basis for local fishermen, the nearest permanent settlement was in Nabk, north of Ras el-Nasrani ('the streets of Tirana')

The commercial development of the area began during the Israeli presence in the region. The Israelis built the town of Ofira, with views of the Sharm El Maya Bay and the Nesima region, and opened the first tourist-oriented businesses in the area of Naama Bay and six kilometers north. These included a marina hotel in the south of the bay, a 'Nature Field School' in the north, diving schools, a popular promenade and the Naama Bay Hotel.

After Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982, the Egyptian government had a an initiative to develop the city. Foreign investors, some of whom recognized the potential of the location already during the Israeli occupation, contributed to a flurry of construction projects. Ecological zoning regulations limit the height of the buildings now in Sharm el-Sheihk to prevent the 'blackout' of the natural beauty of the surroundings.

The city was host to many major peace conferences of the Middle East, as well as the Peace Treaty of 4 September 1999, which should restore the self-determination of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A second summit was held in Sharm el-Sheikh on 17 October 2000, when the so-called. 'Second intifada broke out in Palestine, but this also failed, and could not stop the violence. Another summit was held in the city on 3 August 2005, this dealt with the development in the Arab world, such as the situation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 2007, an important ministerial meeting in Sharm took place again, where the delegates discussed the reconstruction of Iraq. The World Environment Conferences of the Middle East also found in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2006 and 2008 instead. In the midst of the Egyptian protests in 2011 Präsdent Hosni Mubarak is known to have fled to Sharm el-Sheikh and finally also thanked there from 11 February 2011.