Alexandria
Egypt's second-largest city and the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast, Alexandria, was founded by Alexander the Great on the site of a settlement named Rhacotis at the western edge of the Nile Delta. Alexander's choice of the site for the capital of his newly conquered domain was reputedly based on a strategic position , an abundance of fresh water from a branch of the Nile and a safe offshore anchorage in the lee of the island of Pharos.
Alexander's new city became a significant centre of Hellenic civilisation, scholarship, and science, replacing Memphis as Egypt's capital under the Ptolemaic pharaohs. It retained its status until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 CE.
Alexandria's Great Library made the city the ancient Mediterranean's intellectual and cultural centre of the ancient Mediterranean for much of the Hellenistic age, while the Lighthouse on the eastern tip of the island of Pharos was one of the Ancient World's Seven Wonders.
As one of the major centres in the Eastern Roman Empire, the city was plundered many times before it surrendered to Arab forces in 642 CE. While the new rulers moved the capital to Egypt's interior, Alexandria remained an important centre of naval operations, trade and commerce thanks to its strategic location and the overland connection between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean before epidemic disease and administrative neglect prompted a protracted decline that lasted until the end of the 18th century. When French troops invaded Egypt in 1798, Alexandria had around ten thousand residents.
The city re-emerged as a significant trading centre in the late 18th century. The international demand for Egyptian cotton significantly increased agricultural exports, introduced a foreign-dominated business community and brought an influx of Egyptians from the countryside looking for work as the city expanded.
Modern Alexandria stretches about forty kilometres along Egypt's northern coast. The city's industrial and commercial sectors account for around 40% of Egypt's industrial production.
Image:
Plan of Alexandria circa 30 BCE, based on William Shepherd Historical Atlas (1911) New York Henry Holt & Co. p. 34-35. Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.
Philg88, CC BY-SA 3.0
Links:
Alexander III of Macedon
Library of Alexandria
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
