Were there any other waterways or something?
They had to pass around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of the African continent.
The long way :-)
All the way around the continent of Africa…..a very long, time consuming and highly dangerous route.
I think mostly they just wouldn’t bother, or they’d transport the goods by road or rail instead.
There were tedious, long and arduous somethings. See above.
@pcmonkey incase you didnt notice from the above answers, the southern tip of Africa was known for having some of the roughest seas in the world.
A fearsome voyage indeed!
Was it at all common for vessels to offload cargo in Suez and have it shipped north for reloading onto another ship in Alexandria or elsewhere?