The King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) has issued two publications that provide insights into the history of the coffee trade before the colonial era. The publications are translations of a collection of specialized research papers presented by researchers of various nationalities at a symposium held in France in 1997 by the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development in collaboration with the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology. The symposium's research papers drew from a diverse range of sources and evidence, such as historical documents, manuscripts, and judicial records. They entailed a comprehensive historical analysis of the development of the coffee trade in various global regions, examining the interplay of economic, social, and cultural factors. The two publications explore the history of the coffee trade from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, encompassing sections that delve into the consumption of coffee and its transition to a commer cial commodity in Ethiopia, the origins of the first coffee cups in Yemen, the coffee trade in the port of El Tur, in South Sinai, and the development of the coffee trade in Cairo during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Source: Saudi Press Agency