Alexandria
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1. Alexandria is a seaport in northern Egypt, where the delta of the river Nile meets the Mediterranean. The modern city is mainly on a peninsula and includes Pharos, where the famous lighthouse stood in ancient times. The part of the city on the peninsula today is a characteristically Egyptian town.
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2. The city was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, who planned it as one of the finest ports of the ancient world. His city was large and magnificent. In Alexandria the different peoples of the ancient Mediterranean lived together.
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3. After the defeat of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, the city came under the rule of Rome. Its position made it the centre of commerce between East and West, and fleets of grain ships sailed from Alexandria to Italy year after year.
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4. Later the decline of the city almost became ruin, when the Muslims captured it twice in a hundred years. The city deteriorated further after the opening of the sea route around the Cape of Africa to India.
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5. At the end of the eighteenth century, Alexandria was captured and held by Napoleon. The French occupation lasted from 1798 to 1801, when the British destroyed the French fleet in the battle of the Nile.
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6. In the last hundred years, Alexandria has been Egypt’s gateway to the outside world. The strong European feel of much of the city has combined with the native Egyptian culture to produce a unique atmosphere, wonderfully captured by the writer Lawrence Durrell in his
Alexandrian Quintet.