 The European demand for agricultural products and industrial commodities stipulated maritime activity and international trade to an unprecedented extent . The Ayyubids played a leading role in this as they controlled sea @-@ trade routes which passed through the ports of Yemen and Egypt via the Red Sea . The trade policy of the Ayyubids placed them in a position of great advantage ; although they cooperated with the Genoans and Venetians in the Mediterranean Sea , they prevented them from having access to the Red Sea . Thus , they kept the trade of the Indian Ocean exclusively in their hands . In the Mediterranean trade , the Ayyubids drew large benefits in the form of taxes and commissions which they learned from the Italians . 
