The importance of the Red Sea for global trade is documented at least since the 1st century of the Common Era, when it was already an important node of the trade flows connecting the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. This is because it is conveniently located at the western end of the monsoon system, which facilitates the movement of goods and people across the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea is also the only waterway in the world to have two of the so called “choke points” for global trade: to the north, the Suez Canal, to the South, the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. This became all too evident in March 2021, when a container ship blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week, interrupting the passage of almost 10 billion dollars’ worth of goods per day. However, the Red Sea is not only an important passageway, but also an economically and culturally integrated region, whose local events also reflect global process of integration and disruption. The involvement of the Houthi movement in the events that followed Israel’s military operation in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, is a contemporary reminder of the way in which complex local dynamics and global events are intertwined in the globalized world. Grounded in the analysis of a variety of archival sources and media, these seminars will explore four case studies from the early modern period to the peak of European imperialism, and from the postcolonial era to the present, illustrating the global relevance of some of the events that occurred on the Red Sea and its shores.