ALEXANDRIA

city, seat of Douglas county, western Minnesota, U.S. The city lies in a lake-resort and dairy-farm region. Settled in 1858 on land that was once part of Ojibwa and Sioux camping grounds, it was organized as a township in 1866 and named for Alexander Kinkead, an early pioneer. The controversial Kensington Stone, with runic inscriptions describing a visit by Norsemen to the area in 1362, is in the Runestone Museum. A 28-foot (9-metre) statue of a Viking and the Kensington Runestone Monument, a gigantic reproduction of the original, promote the belief in early Norse exploration. Diversified farming, light industry, and tourism are the city's economic mainstays. Lake Carlos State Park is a few miles north. Inc. village, 1877; city, 1908. Pop. (1990) 7,838. city, adjoining Arlington and Fairfax counties, northern Virginia, U.S. It lies on the Potomac River (there bridged at the Maryland state line), 6 miles (10 km) south of the District of Columbia. A fort was built on the site in 1676 to defend the area from attacks by Susquehanna (Susquehannock) Indians. The site was settled in the late 1600s, and a community known as Belhaven was founded there in 1731. English and Scottish merchants then established a tobacco warehouse in Belhaven, and the settlement soon became an important shipping centre. It was organized in 1749 and renamed for John Alexander, who had originally been granted the land, and in 1779 it was incorporated as a town. Alexandria has the unique distinction of being designated an independent city (without county affiliation) by an act of Congress (1852). George Washington helped to lay out its streets and drilled troops there during the French and Indian War. From 1789 to 1846 Alexandria was part of the District of Columbia, after which it was ceded back to Virginia. Throughout the American Civil War (186165), Alexandria was occupied by Union troops. Its postwar development as a river port for shipping flour and tobacco was overshadowed by the growth of Baltimore, Maryland. Local trade and commerce were flourishing by World War I, when the Naval Torpedo Station was constructed there and the shipyards were reopened. Although now mainly residential, Alexandria has large commercial and freight-rail operations and some manufactures (agricultural equipment, fertilizer, chemicals, lumber products). Many colonial-era buildings survive, some of which are associated with George Washington and with Henry (Light-Horse Harry) Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. Carlyle House (1752) was headquarters to British General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War. Gadsby's Tavern (1770 and 1792), two buildings that were frequented by Washington, has been restored as a historic site and musuem. The Alexandria Academy was established in 1785 and still exists. Washington, who maintained a house (now reconstructed) at Alexandria, served on the town council. Washington's estate, Mount Vernon (9 miles south), is a national historic landmark and contains his grave and that of his wife, Martha. The 330-foot (100-metre) George Washington Masonic National Monument (192332), modeled on an ancient Egyptian lighthouse, holds objects and relics owned by Washington. Pop. (1990) 111,182; (1998 est.) 118,300. Arabic Al-Iskandariyah city and urban muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. Once the greatest city of the ancient world and a centre of Hellenic scholarship and science, Alexandria was the capital of Egypt from its founding by Alexander the Great in 332 BC to AD 642, when it was subdued by the Arabs. It is now the second largest city, the centre of a major industrial region, and the chief seaport of Egypt. It lies on the Mediterranean Sea at the western edge of the Nile River delta, about 114 miles (183 km) northwest of Cairo. Alexandria has always occupied a special place in the popular imagination by virtue of its association with Alexander and with Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Alexandria also played a key role in passing on Hellenic culture to Rome and was a centre of scholarship in the theological disputes over the nature of Christ's divinity that divided the early church. The legendary reputation of ancient Alexandria grew through a thousand years of serious decline following the Arab conquests, during which time virtually all traces of the Greco-Roman city disappeared. By the time Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, Alexandria had been reduced to a fishing village. The modern city and port that flourished on the back of the cotton boom in the 19th century has, therefore, little in common with the Alexandria of the past. The free port status granted Alexandria by the Ottoman Turks accentuated the cultural ambivalence inherent in the city's locationextended along a spit of land with its back to Egypt and its face to the Mediterranean. This idea of a free city, open to all manner of men and ideas, was something the new Alexandria had in common with the old. It was a theme the Greek writer Constantine Cavafy, drawing heavily on its legendary past, developed in his poems of the city. This idea of Alexandria, and Cavafy's take on it in particular, was highlighted by the English writer Lawrence Durrell in his four-part novel, The Alexandria Quartet (195760). After the 1952 coup in Egypt, most of Alexandria's foreign community departed. Nevertheless, the city remains a thriving commercial community, an important industrial centre, and Egypt's principal holiday resort. Arabic Al-iskandariyah, city and capital of al-Iskandariyah muhafazah (governate), Lower Egypt. It is the country's chief seaport and the centre of a major industrial region. The city was the capital of Egypt after its founding by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and in antiquity was a centre of Hellenic scholarship and science. Alexandria lies along the Mediterranean Sea at the western edge of the Nile River delta, 114 miles (183 km) northwest of Cairo. It is built on a strip of land separating a low salt lake (Maryut, or Mareotis) from the sea and on a T-shaped promontory extending into the Mediterranean. The stem of the T was originally a mole leading to the island of Pharos, but over time it was widened by silt to become an isthmus forming two harboursthe old harbour on the east and the modern harbour on the west. Alexandria has a Mediterranean climate with occasional heavy storms in the winter. The inhabitants of Alexandria are mostly occupied in the trade of merchandise, harbour work, manufacturing, shipping, and fishing. The city's industries produce cotton textiles, paper, chocolate, processed foods, asphalt, and oil. Cotton is the most valuable export, followed by cereals and vegetables; imports include tea, coffee, timber, raw wool, and machinery. At the heart of the city are the ancient quarters: Bruchium (Greek), Rakotis (Egyptian), Regio Judaeorum (Jewish), and Pharos. On the eastern tip of Pharos once stood the great lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Midan at-Tahrir (Liberation Square; formerly Muhammad 'Ali Square) serves as the focal point of the modern city. Though little of the early city remains, Pompey's Pillar and the Hadrianic catacombs of Kawm ash-Shuqafah are two of the surviving structures. The famed Alexandrian libraries have long been destroyed. Educational institutions include the University of Alexandria (1942) and the Mu'assah Hospital and College of Nursing. Other institutions in the city include the Library of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Greco-Roman Museum. A beach-lined road, Al-Jaysh (Army) Street, runs for approximately 9 miles (14 km) along the coast. Alexandria is headquarters for the development of the Nile River delta and has extensive rail, road, and air service. The port is well developed, with vast networks of breakwaters, quays, and wharves. Area city and muhafazah, 1,034 square miles (2,679 square km). Pop. (1990 est.) city and muhafazah, 3,170,000. town, capital of Teleorman judet (county), southern Romania. It lies along the southward-flowing Vedea River in the Danube floodplain. Alexandria is a regional marketing centre for agricultural produce, mostly grain. The town also has flour mills and other food-processing plants. Manufactures include construction materials, chemicals, and rubber products. The town has a historical museum. Highways and railway connections extend throughout the county, from Alexandria to Rosiori de Vede, Videle, and Turnu Magurele. Pop. (1992 prelim.) 58,382. city, seat of Rapides parish, central Louisiana, U.S. The city lies along the Red River, opposite Pineville, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Baton Rouge. It was laid out (1805) at the rapids that then marked the head of river navigation and was named for the daughter of Alexander Fulton, on whose Spanish land grant the first settlement was made in the 1780s. Prior to the American Civil War, the community thrived on river commerce (cotton, sugarcane, and lumber). In May 1863 and again in March 1864 it was occupied by Union forces under Admiral David D. Porter and General Nathaniel P. Banks. When finally vacated (May 1213, 1864), Alexandria was burned, and all civic records were lost. Railroad expansion and exploitation of the dense pine and hardwood forests of the area helped in the town's restoration after the war. Alexandria, with Pineville, is a distribution centre for farm products, timber, and livestock. Light manufacturing (chemicals, soap, and fertilizers) also is important. The two-year Louisiana State University at Alexandria was opened in 1960; Louisiana College (1906; Baptist) is in Pineville. Nearby are the Hot Wells Health Resort, Cotile Lake Recreation Area, and units of Kisatchie National Forest (headquartered in Alexandria). Inc. town, 1818; city, 1882. Pop. (1990) city, 49,049; Alexandria MSA, 131,556; (1998 est.) city, 45,800; (1996 est.) Alexandria MSA, 126,290. Additional reading E. M. Forster, Alexandria: A History and aGuide (1922, reissued with a new afterword, 1986), is a classicguide to the city, which describes it, quarter by quarter, as itwas in the 1920s and includes notes on how the same places lookhalf a century later; included is a detailed account of the Greco-RomanMuseum. Anthony De Cosson, Mareotis (1935),is an authoritative, well-written history and description of theMaryut district. Gareth L. Steen (ed.), Alexandria: The Site & the History (1993), compiles essaysexploring the city's cultural and intellectual heritage. Mary Rowlatt J. Alan Mackie The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica History Foundation and medieval growth The Greek period Alexander the Great founded the city in 332 BC after the start of his Persian campaign; it was to be the capital of his new Egyptian dominion and a naval base that would control the Mediterranean. The choice of the site that included the ancient settlement of Rakotis (which dates back to 1500 BC) was determined by the abundance of water from Lake Maryut, then a spur of the Canopic Nile, and the good anchorage provided offshore by the island of Pharos. After Alexander left Egypt his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the creation of Alexandria. With the breakup of the empire on Alexander's death in 323, control of the city passed to his viceroy, Ptolemy I Soter, who founded the dynasty that took his name. The early Ptolemies successfully blended the religions of ancient Greece and Egypt in the cult of Sarapis and presided over Alexandria's golden age. Alexandria profited from the demise of Phoenician power after Alexander sacked Tyre (332 BC) and from Europe's growing trade with the East via the Nile and the canal that then linked it with the Red Sea. Indeed, Alexandria became, within a century of its founding, the greatest city in the world and a centre of Greek scholarship and science. Such scholars as Euclid, Archimedes, Plotinus the philosopher, and Ptolemy and Eratosthenes the geographers studied at the Mouseion, the great research institute founded by the Ptolemies. Alexandria also was a centre of Jewish learning; and, according to tradition, the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek was produced there. The Roman period The decline of the Ptolemies in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC was matched by the rise of Rome. Alexandria played a major part in the intrigues that led to the establishment of imperial Rome. It was at Alexandria that Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, courted Julius Caesar and claimed to have borne him a son. Her attempts at restoring the fortunes of the Ptolemaic dynasty, however, were thwarted by Caesar's assassination and her unsuccessful support of Mark Antony against Caesar's great-nephew Octavian. In 30 BC Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) formally brought Alexandria and Egypt under Roman rule. To punish the city for not supporting him, he abolished the Alexandrian Senate and built his own city at what was then the suburb of ar-Raml. Alexandria, however, could not be ignored, since it held the key to the Egyptian granary on which Rome increasingly came to rely; and the city soon regained its independence. St. Mark, the traditional author of the second Synoptic Gospel, is said to have been preaching in Alexandria in the mid-1st century AD. Thenceforth, the city's growing Christian and Jewish communities united against Rome's attempts to impose official paganism. Periodic persecutions by various early emperors, especially by Diocletian beginning in 303, failed to subdue these communities; and, after the empire had formally adopted Christianity under Constantine I, the stage was set for schisms within the church. The first conflict that split the early church was between two Alexandrian prelates, Athanasius and Arius, over the nature of Christ's divinity. It was settled in 325 by the adoption of the Creed of Nicaea, which affirmed Christ's spiritual divinity and branded Arianismthe belief that Christ was lower than Godas heresy. Arianism, however, had many imperial champions, and this sharpened the conflict between the Alexandrian church and the state. In 391 Christians destroyed the Sarapeum, sanctum of the Ptolemaic cult and what Cleopatra had saved of the great Mouseion library. In 415 a Christian faction killed the Neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia, and Greek culture in Alexandria quickly declined. After the ascendancy of the patriarchate of Constantinopleto which the see of Alexandria answered after the division of the Roman Empire in 364the local church adopted Monophysitism (belief in the single nature and therefore physical divinity of Christ) as a way of asserting its independence. Although Monophysitism was rejected by the Council of Chalcedon (451), the Alexandrian church resisted Constantinople's attempts to bring it into line. An underground church developed to oppose the established one and became a focus of Egyptian loyalties. Disaffection with Byzantine rule created the conditions in which Alexandria fell first to the Persians, in 616, and then to the Arabs, in 642.