Alexandria, Arabic Al-Iskandariyyah, City (metro. area pop., 2006: 4,110,015) and chief seaport, northern Egypt. It lies on a strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Maryūṭ (Mareotis). The ancient island of Pharos, whose lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is now a peninsula connected to the mainland. Alexandria’s modern harbour is west of the peninsula. The city was founded in 332 bce by Alexander the Great and was noted as a centre of Hellenistic culture. Its library (destroyed in the early centuries ce) was the greatest in ancient times; a new library was opened in 2002. The city was captured by the Arabs in ce 642 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. After a long period of decline, caused by the rise of Cairo, Alexandria was revived commercially in the 19th century when Muḥammad ʿAlī joined it by a canal to the Nile River and introduced the production of cotton. Modern Alexandria is a thriving commercial community; cotton is its chief export, and important oil fields lie nearby. Cultural institutions include the Museum of Alexandria and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
