The opening of the red sea to European ships in the late eighteenth century

Abstract

The reopening of the Red Sea to European ships in the second half of the eighteenth century was an event of considerable importance both to the countries bordering that sea and to the European maritime and commercial powers. But, as in the case of so many such events in history, this significant development came about largely as a result of intrigue, of greed, of rivalry between the great European powers of the day. The Sharif of Mecca, the Beys of Egypt, the Porte-all these were involved. But pride of place in the drama which led to the opening of the port of Suez to European ships goes to the French and British merchants, hard, thrusting men of the East India Company, the Levant Company and the Compagnie d'Orient et des Indes who were ever on the lookout for new avenues of commerce, for easier and greater profits. It is these men who eventually broke the Ottoman firman forbidding 'Frankish' vessels to sail the Red Sea, and thus opened up that part of the world to European interests and influence. Ever since the Ottomans had conquered Egypt and Arabia in the beginning of the sixteenth century, Christian vessels were not allowed to sail beyond Mokha, because of the sanctity of the Muslim land to the east of the Red Sea. This decree, however, was allowed partially to lapse and Frankish ships, in particular those of the British East India Company, began bringing Indian wares to Jidda as from the middle of the seventeenth century. The Sharif of Mecca had found the contravention of the Porte's firman to be profitable, and the revenue which this trade brought into his coffers formed an ever-increasing proportion of his income. The firman, therefore, was tacitly modified to forbid the sailing of any Frankish vessel north of Jidda. The Porte and the Sharif of Mecca once more reiterated that such an act would sully the holiness of Mecca and Madina-though no port was nearer to either of these holy cities than Jidda itself, where the 'infidel Franks' were allowed. While the main reason for the Sultan's firm stand on this decree was one of security (the same reason which underlay his efforts to keep the Black Sea closed to Christian shipping), economic reasons played a great part, for it was realized only too well in Constantinople that it would be much easier for the Porte to obtain a fat share in the revenues of the Sharif of Mecca than from those of the increasingly independent Beys of Egypt. But the Europeans, and in particular the French, had for long entertained the prospect of opening up the Red Sea route to India and the Far East. The idea of the Suez Canal had been envisaged already by Richelieu, while Nointel, in the late sixteenth century, had been instructed to negotiate a treaty with the Porte which would open the Red Sea to French ships. Nointel had failed, but the French did not forget their projects.