Abu Qir

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Abū Qīr (Arabic أبو قير) (also Abukir or Aboukir) is a village on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, 23 kilometers (14.5 miles) northeast of Alexandria by rail, containing a castle used as a state prison by Muhammad Ali of Egypt.

The name Abū Qīr is pronounced Abū’īr in the local dialect (with a glottal stop in place of the qaf). The name is taken from the name of an Egyptian Christian martyr, named Cyrus.

Near the village are many remains of ancient buildings, Egyptian, Greek and Roman. About three kilometers (two miles) southeast of the village are ruins supposed to mark the site of Canopus. A little farther east the Canopic branch of the Nile (now dry) entered the Mediterranean.

Stretching eastward as far as the Rosetta mouth of the Nile is the spacious Abu Qir Bay (Khalīj Abū Qīr), where on 1 August 1798, Horatio Nelson fought the Battle of the Nile, often referred to as the "Battle of Aboukir Bay". The latter title is applied more properly to an engagement between the French expeditionary army and the Turks fought on 25 July 1799. Near Abū Qīr, on 8 March 1801, the British army commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby landed from its transports in the face of a strenuous opposition from a French force entrenched on the beach.

See also

• Alexandria
• Cyrus and John
• Nelson's Island

References

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Last updated on Friday February 29, 2008 at 15:16:02 PST (GMT -0800)
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