Dahabiya in Egypt

The story of Dahabiya In Egypt starts with The Nile River the lifeblood of political, and economic purposes in Upper Egypt. Boats were used in trade and in the transportation of foodstuffs of every kind, as well as for the movement of state officials responsible for measuring land after each flood, collecting taxes from crops, searching for quarries to bring building stones for pyramids and temples, as well as for transporting soldiers. The priests and the administrators took over the establishment of holy ceremonies and rituals. In ancient Egypt, the possession of boats was popular with every person, if the means were available to him.

The civilization of the Egyptians and their urban buildings depended to a large extent on water transportation.

Dahabiya in Egypt Navigation at sea

There has been trading between Egypt and its neighbors on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea since the pre-dynastic era, and war disputes occurred between them at sea with Palestine and Syria.

From that time there is also evidence of commercial activity with Puntland in the south to import gold and incense. The ancient Egyptians were interested in strengthening their trade relations during the Middle Kingdom with Palestine and Syria. And after the trade exchange with Puntland declined during the first transitional Egyptian period, it returned and became active again During the modern state, Egypt had become a superpower controlling Palestine and Syria in the north, and Nubia in the south.

And it joined forces with the Hittites in a competition for Syria, and it carried out commercial activity with Greece and the islands of the Greek Sea, as well as with the countries of the Horn of Africa, even Somalia. The boats were used for transportation.

Dahabiya In Egypt Boats and its building

The ancient Egyptians had a long history of building boats over a long period of time extending from the pre-dynastic era until the era of the modern Egyptian state. It is believed that shipbuilding during the Old Kingdom was influenced by shipbuilding in the eastern Mediterranean, beginning with the reign of King Akhenaten.

This is indicated by drawings in the Temple of Ramses III in the city of Habu of boats involved in a naval battle with the so-called Sea Peoples.

The ancient Egyptians made ships from acacia and sycamore wood, they also imported cedar and cypress wood in particular for the manufacture of ships.

As for the ropes, they were made from palm hair, papyrus, and other plant fibers. We know boats from the Badari era that were made of belts of sandy stems or reeds, as the ancient Egyptians used to make spectrometers from them. We also know the likes of those boats from the Naqada era and they were made of papyrus, From that period, we also know that the ancient Egyptians began making boats out of wood.

The crescent-shaped pharaonic boats appeared for the first time, with a high rear. With this design, the boat was high from the front above the surface of the water. The length of these boats is about 17 meters, the construction of boats began with the construction of the outer boat nave with wooden planks, and then reinforced from the inside with a structure that held and strengthened them.

As for the cracks between the wooden boards forming the body of the boat, ropes were inserted into them, which acted as a stopper that prevented seawater from leaking into the inside of the boat. At the end of the Predynastic period (about 4000 BC), the sail of the boat began to appear for the first time.

Dahabiya In Egypt of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut was interested in the Egyptian merchant fleet, so she built large ships and used them in internal transportation to transport the obelisks that she ordered to be added to the Karnak temple in glorification of the god Amun or to send ships on missions to exchange trade with her neighbors, and her reign was characterized by prosperity and peace in Egypt. Trips to Puntland in the south of the Red Sea were recorded on the walls of her funerary temple at Deir el-Bahari, The mission brought incense, perfumes, tropical trees, predators, and leather.

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