The Dead Sea has been a source of chemicals since ancient times. Large scale production of potash by solar evaporation started in 1931 and today the Dead Sea is intensively exploited by Israel and Jordan as a major source of potash, bromine, and magnesium, for agriculture and the chemical and automotive industries. A smart coupling of solar evaporation and knowledge of the complex phase diagram allows a one-to-one easy separation of the principal salts present in the brine. A description of the properties of the Dead Sea is provided together with a chemical engineering analysis of the processes used to realize its commercial potential.