Sinai

Camel in Sinai, Egypt. Camels are well-adapted to desert conditions as they can withstand extreme weather conditions and go for long periods without drinking. There are two species of camel, the single-humped Arabian camel (pictured), and the twin-humped Bactrian camel from Asia.

Mountainous region in southern Sinai, Egypt. Among the highest peaks are Mount Catherine (2,642 m/8,668 ft), Umm Shawmar (2,585 m/8,482 ft), and Mount Sinai (2,285 m/7,497 ft).

Egyptian peninsula, triangular in shape and largely desert, at the head of the Red Sea to the south and bordering the Mediterranean to the north; area 65,000 sq km/25,000 sq mi. Resources include oil, natural gas, manganese, and coal; irrigation water from the River Nile is carried under the Suez Canal. The main towns are Al-Arish (the capital of South Sinai governorate) and Al-Tur (capital of North Sinai governorate). It is the ancient source of turquoise. Tourism is of increasing importance.

Sinai was occupied by Israel from 1967-82. After the Battle of Sinai in 1973, Israel began a gradual withdrawal from the area, under the disengagement agreement of 1975 and the Camp David peace treaty of 1979, and restored the whole of Sinai to Egyptian control by April 1982.

Ancient inscriptions The inscribed monuments and the stone inscriptions and writings found in the Sinai peninsula fall into two groups: (1) the inscriptions known as Palaeo-Sinaitic, belonging probably to the 15th century BC and found in 1904-05 and 1928 in Serabit el Khadem, are written in a script which the American archaeologist William Albright claimed to have deciphered; (2) the Neo-Sinaitic inscriptions and writings belonging to the 1st-3rd centuries AD and written in a script (Neo-Sinaitic) which may be considered as the link between the Nabataean and the Arabic alphabets.