Talk:Alexandria
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This page needs some drastic updating by someone familiar with the modern city. I'm moving some of the more dated material from the 1911 article here, for reference; some of it may be suitable for working back in, but I'm willing to bet that much no longer applies. Catherine
The customs house and chief warehouses are by the western harbor, but the principal buildings of the city are in the east and southeast quarters. From the landing-stage, by the customs house, roads lead to the Place Mehemet Ali, the center of the life of the city and the starting-point of the electric tramways.
A number of short streets lead from the square to the eastern harbor. Here a sea wall, completed in 1905, provides a magnificent drive and promenade along the shore for a distance of about three miles. In building this quay a considerable area of foreshore was reclaimed and an evil-smelling beach done away with. From the south end of the square the rue Sherif Pasha -- in which are the principal shops -- and the rue Tewfik Pasha lead to the boulevard de Rosette, a long straight road with a general east and west direction. In it are the Zizinia theatre and the municipal palace (containing the public library); the museum lies up a short street to the north. Opened in 1895 this museum possesses an important collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman Antiquities, found not only in the city but in all Lower Egypt and the Fayum. The western end of the boulevard leads to the Place Ibrahim, often called Place Ste Catherine, from the Roman Catholic Church at its southeast side.
In a street running south from the boulevard to the railway station is the mosque of Nebi Daniel, containing the tombs of Said Pasha and other members of the khedivial family. Immediately east of the mosque is Kom ed-Dik, garrisoned by British troops, one of several forts built for the protection of the city. Except Kom ed-Dik the forts have not been repaired since the bombardment of 1882. Equally obsolete is the old line of fortifications which formerly marked the limits of the city south and east and has now been partly demolished. Throughout the central part of Alexandria the streets are paved with blocks of lava and lighted by electricity.
The north quarter is mainly occupied by natives and Levantines. The narrow winding streets and the Arab bazaars present an Oriental scene contrasting with the European aspect of the district already described. This Arab quarter is traversed by the rue Ras et-Tin, leading to the promontory of that name.
This quarter has been pierced by several straight roads, one of which, crossing the Mahmudiya canal by the Pont Neuf, leads to Gabbari, the most westerly part of the city and an industrial and manufacturing region, possessing asphalt works and oil, rice and paper mills. On either side of the canal are the warehouses of wholesale dealers in cotton, wool, sugar, grain and other commodities.
Along the northern side of the Mahmudiya canal, which here passes a little south of the catacombs, are many fine houses and gardens (Moharrem Bey quarter), stretching eastward for a considerable distance, favourite residences of wealthy citizens. A similar residential quarter has also grown up on the northeast, where the line of the old fortifications has become a boulevard. The district extending outside the east fortifications, in the direction of Hadra, has been laid out with fine avenues, and contains numerous garden-cafes and pleasure resorts. Thence roads lead to the east suburb known generally as Ramleh, which stretches along the coast, and is served by a local railway. It begins east of the racecourse with Sidi Gabr, and does not end till the khedivial estates east of San Stefano are reached, some five miles east. All this space is filled with villas, gardens and hotels, and is a favourite summer resort not only of Alexandrians but also of Cairenes.
The eastern bay is rocky, shallow and exposed, and is now used only by native craft. The harbour is on the west of Pharos and partly formed by a breakwater (built 1871-1873 and prolonged 1906-1907), two miles long. The breakwater starts opposite the promontory of Ras et-Tin, on which is a lighthouse, 180 ft. above the sea, built by Mehemet Ali. Another breakwater starts from the Gabbari side, the opening between the two works being about half a mile. A number of scattered rocks lie across the entrance, but through them two fairways have been made, one 600 ft. wide and 35 ft. deep, the other 300 ft. wide and 30 ft. deep. The enclosed water is divided into an outer and inner harbour by a mole, 1000 yds. long, projecting northwest from the southern shore. The inner harbour covers 464 acres. It is lined for two and a half miles by quays, affording accommodation for ships drawing up to 28 ft. The outer harbour (1400 acres water area) is furnished with a graving dock, completed in 1905, 520 ft. long, and with quays and jetties along the Gabbari foreshore. Their construction was begun in 1906.
Alexandria is linked by a network of railway and telegraph lines to the other towns of Egypt, and there is a trunk telephone line to Cairo. The city secured in 1906 a new and adequate water-supply, modern drainage works having been completed the previous year. Being the great entrepot
for the trade of Egypt, the city is the headquarters of the British chamber of commerce and of most of the merchants and companies engaged in the development of the Delta. About 90% of the total exports and imports of the country pass through the port, though the completion, in 1904, of a broad-gauge railway connecting Cairo and Port Said deflected some of the cotton exports to the Suez Canal route. The staple export is raw cotton, the value of which is about 80% of all the exports. The principal imports are manufactured cotton goods and other textiles, machinery, timber and coal. The value of the trade of the port increased from L. 30,000,000 in 1900 to L. 46,000,000 in 1906. In the same period the tonnage of the ships entering the harbour rose from 2,375,000 to 3,695,000. Of the total trade Great Britain supplies from
35 to 40% of the imports and takes over 50% of the exports. Among the exports sent to England are the great majority of the 80,000,000 eggs annually shipped (see also Economy of Egypt.)
The population of the city (1907) was 332,246 or including the suburbs, about 400,000. The foreigners numbered over 90,000. The majority of these were Greeks, Italians, Syrians, Armenians and other Levantines, though almost every European and Oriental nation is represented.
As native influences, however, began to reassert themselves in the Nile valley, Alexandria gradually became an alien city, more and more detached from Egypt;
This sounds like it should be "more detached from Rome", but I'm not sure.
Regarding the Library of Alexandria:
The story of the destruction of the library by the Arabs is first told by Bar-hebraeus (Abulfaragius), a Christian writer who lived six centuries later; and it is of very doubtful authority. It is highly improbable that many of the 700,000 volumes collected by the Ptolemies remained at the time of the Arab conquest, when the various calamities of Alexandria from the time of Caesar to that of Diocletian are considered, together with the disgraceful pillage of the library in 389 under the rule of the Christian bishop, Theophilus, acting on Theodosius' decree concerning pagan monuments.
The story of Abulfaragius
John the Grammarian, a famous Peripatetic philosopher, being in Alexandria at the time of its capture, and in high favour with `Amr, begged that he would give him the royal library.
`Amr told him that it was not in his power to grant such a request, but promised to write to the caliph for his consent. Omar, on hearing the request of his general, is said to have replied that if those books contained the same doctrine with the Qur'an, they could be of no use, since the Qur'an contained all necessary truths; but if they contained anything contrary to that book, they ought to be destroyed; and therefore, whatever their contents were, he ordered them to be burnt.
Pursuant to this order, they were distributed among the public baths, of which there was a large number in the city, where, for six months, they served to supply the fires.
Arabic isn't the native language of Egypt; the sentence comparing it with (among others) Greek is highly misleading, since Greek has been spoken there for far longer than Arabic. Coptic is actually the language with the best claim to be "native" (it evolved from ancient Egyptian languages), but even that is as wrong as saying that English is the native language of the Anglo-Saxons. But I can't really think of a better phrase. "Arabic is the dominant language" perhaps? "majority language"? Suggestions please. PML.
Some things to think about
History to present day.
Think the Egyptian Revolution, Suez Crisis (i.e. when did the British leave?)
Dunc_Harris|☺ 11:19, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
The British Occupation
The entry narrating the justification of the British invasion is biased and rather vague on the details. Either do not attempt to justify anything in this entry or narrate it in more depth. In its current form it is unsatisfactory.