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If indeed the Red Sea is a sad sea, than in the eighteenth century it became even sadder, deserted and lonely. Those who lived along its shores kept their distance and retreated further inland. The Ottomans retained officially their claim to some coastal strips, but were not really present there. Egypt began reviving its semi-independence under the Mamluk Ali Bey al-Kabir (1754–1773) and his local successors. They still enjoyed the transit trade from the Red Sea to Europe, but paid little attention to the Gulf of Suez. Ethiopia immersed in anarchy during the “era of the judges”, Yemen in her ceaseless intra-tribal conflicts.