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In the aftermath of the 1866 conference in Constantinople and the opening of the Suez Canal three years later, the Canal fell under sanitary control and scrutiny by the Egyptian authorities. These, in turn, were under British dominance and supervised by the other European Great Powers. The quarantine camp on the Island of Kamaran at the southern end of the Red Sea, which was run by Ottoman authorities, became the main supervisory body for pilgrims from India and Southeast Asia. For Ottoman and North African pilgrims, as well as those coming from Southern Russia, the most important checkpoint became the Egyptian quarantine camp of El Tor, on the Western shore of the Sinai Peninsula.