Elat is first mentioned as one of the points along the route taken by Moses and
the Hebrews (Deuteronomy 2:8). Specific mention is made of it during King Solomon's
reign when he ``built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber, which is near Eloth on
the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom'' (1 Kings 9:26). This may have
been 12 km. south of the modern town where there is a natural, current-free
harbour between the island and the main land.
The Judaean kings also used Elat as a port but under the
Ptolemies it was renamed Berenice. The Nabateans called it Aila while the
Moslems named it Aqaba, the name retained for the modern Jordanian port city 5
km. east of Elat.
Jews are thought to have lived here until the Crusaders
captured it in 1116. It was of great strategic importance, being on the
principal land route linking Egypt and Syria, where Moslem pilgrims and traders
crossed on their way to Medina and Mecca.
The Crusaders built a fortress on Coral Island, 12 km. south
of Elat. In those days the granite rock, 300 m. off the mainland, was known as
Jazirat Fara'un (Pharaoh's Island) or al-Qureiye, which they corrupted to Ile
de Graye. Before Saladin captured the island in 1170, the Crusaders sailed from
it to attack Arab ships in the Red Sea. Later the Mamelukes and the Turks
fortified the island but it gradually became deserted.
Elat was a mere British police outpost known as Umm
Rash-rash when the Israeli Army raised the flag in March 1949. But development
was painfully slow until the blockade of the Straits of Tiran was lifted in the
Sinai Campaign of 1956.
Thereafter, Elat became the country's lifeline to Africa and
the Far East. The town's existence was again threatened when Egypt closed the
Straits at the mouth of the Gulf of Elat in 1967. Shipping was safeguarded with
the capture in the Six Day War of the islands in the Straits, together with
Sharm el-Sheikh on the mainland.
However, Elat's ports were idle again in 1973 when Egyptian
war vessels blockaded the Bab el-Mandab Straits (Gate of Tears), at the
southern entrance to the Red Sea, during the Yom Kippur War.
Elat now has a modern port, and oil pipelines run from here to Haifa and Ashqelon. After the overthrow of the Shah of Iran early in 1979, and the subsequent opening of the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping, activity at Elat's oil port was considerably reduced.