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History of Hurghada

In Hurghada one won’t find the remains of the old Egyptian civilization, neither pyramids nor antique temples attract historical interested tourists into this city at the Red Sea.

In the years 1900 to 1920 Hurghada was a lay-by for Arab Fishers, who came from Saudi Arabia. In 1908 Hurghada consisted of only 6 simple huts, which were built with camel wool and camel hair. At that time the dried fish was sold to the Egyptians, who came with camel caravans from Upper Egypt.



The place started to become interesting in 1931, after the discovery of oil in this area. During this time the structure of the oil-processing industry were also in need of other trades, like transport enterprises, settled building industry, Fishers and Dealers.

The expansion of the tourists’ industry began in the 1980’s. Due to the natural and environmental conditions, as for example the nearby protected groups of islands, the 30 km long coast with fine sand beaches, coral reefs with a multiplicity of tropical fishes, as well as sun warranty were enough reasons for Arab, European and American investors to begin their tourist projects into this area. The numbers of inhabitants quadrupled in the past years from 20.000 to more than 87.000, and there are still coming regularly around 140.000 "commuters", who are involved directly or indirectly in the tourism industry. If one considers that meanwhile 1 million tourist visit Hurghada per year, then you can imagine which enormous development took place in this region on the Red Sea within the past years.

Today's name of Hurghada is called Al-Ghardaka in Arabic. It has a short and inconspicuous prehistory. Until the 1920's the Arabs came from Saudi Arabia and fished near from the Egyptian coast. There was a place as a meeting point before the time for the home back sailing was reached. This rendezvous was close to a large desert tree, which was already visible from a long distance. This tree was called Gharkad. Therefore, this place was called Al-Gharkad by the Arabian Fishers and later became Al-Ghardaka. In the same place, where once this tree stood, to which Hurghada owes its name, established later a holiday residence was established for the last Egyptian king, king Farouk (until 1952) later on. Today the buildings are used as a water sport club for military members. Its location is in front of the current tourism information office.