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| The interior of Sinai is mountainous; At 2285 m Mt Sinai is one of the highest mountain peak on the peninsula |
The Sinai Peninsula is administratively divided into 2 governorates (muhafazat) - North Sinai (Shamal Sina`) and South Sinai (Janub Sina`).
The Sinai Peninsula, given its hard-to-endure climate and its mountainous relief is largely unpopulated. Only Bedouin tribes wander around it in search of food and since the boom of tourism some of the small coastal towns have grown. A large majority of the population of Sinai today is made up of the Egyptians who came from the African part of Egypt in search of work. Due to the proximity of Israel and its economic strength, very many Israelis spend their holidays in Sinai, some of them also temporarily residing on the peninsula.
Sinai is the region with the highest GDP in Egypt, after Cairo and its surrounds, which attracts large numbers of workers from the rest of Egypt to the peninsula. Its economy is fueled by the oil extraction and the flourishing tourist industry. Apart from pilgrimage and adventure tourism, developed in the interior mountains, mass tourism has been booming in the past few decades in the coastal areas. Scuba-diving in the coral reefs, exotic fishing, camel riding, hiking or just enjoying the beauty of the Red Sea protected areas, where rare species of plants and animals can be seen in the wild.Once known for its mining, the region now relies more on coast are only some of the activities the guests of the luxury hotels are offered. The area features several limestone quarrying than precious stones and copper, whose exploitation has proved non-profitable in modern times. Agriculture is a new branch the government of Egypt has tried to develop through the Northern Sinai Agricultural Development Project (NSADP). The project aims at reclaiming about 400,000 feddans of land from the desert and turning them into arable land. The project includes relocating population from the Nile Valley to Northern Sinai and is financed by the World Bank.
The Sinai Peninsula is a piece of land, which, given it has always been unfertile and largely uninhabited, has played an extraordinary big part in human history. It has always been the bridge, connecting North Africa to Southeast Asia (in ancient times, both scenes of highly-developed civilizations). Archaeological and historical evidence proves, that the Suez Canal had an ancient predecessor, made for the rule of the Egyptian King Senusret III from the 12th Dynasty and maintained until well into the 8th century AD. Recent history of the peninsula illustrates clearly the geopolitical importance of the peninsula in the Middle East and even in the world.
