Abu Qir
31°19′N 30°04′E / 31.317°N 30.067°E
Abu Qir
ابو قير | |
|---|---|
   Top left: 10th of Ramadan Mosque Top right: memorial statue of a muslim warrior Bottom: beach at the north of the town | |
  Abu Qir Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates: 31°19′N 30°04′E / 31.317°N 30.067°E | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| Governorate | Alexandria Governorate |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Abu Qir (Arabic: ابو قير, Abu Qīr, [æbuˈ] or [æbo-ʔiːɾ], Template:Lang-cop Apakyri), formerly also spelled Abukir or Aboukir,[1] is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the ruins of ancient Canopus and 23 kilometers (14 mi) northeast of Alexandria by rail. It is located on Abu Qir Peninsula, with Abu Qir Bay to the east.
Name
The town's present name is Arabic for "Father Cyrus", an Egyptian Christian martyr.[1]
History
Near the village are many remains of ancient buildings, Egyptian, Greek and Roman. About 3 kilometers (2 mi) southeast of the village are the ruins of Canopus. A little farther east, the now-dry Canopic branch of the Nile entered the Mediterranean.[2]
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 under Mustapha Pasha fought on 25 July the following year; see Battle of Abukir of 1799.[3] Later in the war, on 8 March 1801 at the beginning of the Battle of Alexandria, units of the British army commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby landed from their transports near the town, and faced strenuous opposition from General Louis Friant's French forces entrenched on the beach.[4] The battle continued on down the peninsula toward Alexandria and didn't end until 22 March.[4]
The town contains a castle that was used as a state prison by Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century.[2] The prison was known as Liman Abu Qir.[5]
In 2000, an Italian archaeological team discovered the remains of British officers, sailors, marines, women, and children on Nelson's Island, which lies in the bay.[6][7]
Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh), but it lies at the northern coast of Egypt, moderating its temperatures. Due to its proximity to Alexandria, it has a very similar climate. The wettest places in Egypt are Rafah, Alexandria, Abu Qir, Rosetta, Baltim, Kafr El Dawwar, Mersa Matruh.
| Climate data for Abu Qir | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 17.8 (64.0) |
18.4 (65.1) |
20.6 (69.1) |
23.5 (74.3) |
26.6 (79.9) |
29 (84) |
29.7 (85.5) |
30.6 (87.1) |
29.7 (85.5) |
28.2 (82.8) |
24.5 (76.1) |
20.1 (68.2) |
24.9 (76.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.7 (56.7) |
14.3 (57.7) |
16 (61) |
18.5 (65.3) |
21.6 (70.9) |
24.6 (76.3) |
25.9 (78.6) |
26.5 (79.7) |
25.5 (77.9) |
23.5 (74.3) |
20 (68) |
15.9 (60.6) |
20.5 (68.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 9.7 (49.5) |
10.2 (50.4) |
11.4 (52.5) |
13.6 (56.5) |
16.7 (62.1) |
20.3 (68.5) |
22.1 (71.8) |
22.5 (72.5) |
21.4 (70.5) |
18.9 (66.0) |
15.6 (60.1) |
11.7 (53.1) |
16.2 (61.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 52 (2.0) |
31 (1.2) |
9 (0.4) |
2 (0.1) |
2 (0.1) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
7 (0.3) |
28 (1.1) |
52 (2.0) |
183 (7.2) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org[8] | |||||||||||||
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Griffith (1911).
- ^ a b Chisholm (1911).
- ^ Connelly, Owen (2006). Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns (third ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-0-7425-5317-0.
- ^ a b Farwell, Byron (2001). "Aboukir / Abukir". The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Land Warfare: An Illustrated World View. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-393-04770-7.
- ^ Fahmy, Khaled (2004). "Chapter 15: Towards a Social History of Modern Alexandria". In Hirst, Anthony; Silk, Michael (eds.). Alexandria, Real and Imagined. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. pp. 281–306, page 285. ISBN 978-0-7546-3890-2.
- ^ Slope, Nick (17 February 2011). "Women in Nelson's Navy: Burials on Nelson's Island". BBC News.
- ^ "Reburial for Nelson's comrades". BBC News. 18 April 2005.
- ^ "Climate: Abu Qir - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
References
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 23
- Griffith, Francis Llewellyn (1911), , in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 203
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Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Aboukir", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 1 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 69
External links
Texts on Wikisource:
- Vailhé, Siméon (1908). "Canopus". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3.
- "Aboukir". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
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