The Two Ports of Alexandria
as shown on plans and maps from the 14th Century to the time of Mohamed Ali
by Harry E. Tzalas,
Hellenic Institute for the Preservation of Nautical Tradition
Copyright © Hellenic Electronic Center and Harry E. Tzalas (author) 1998. All rights reserved.
From Alexander to the Middle Ages | The 16th Century | The 17th and 18th Centuries | The 19th Century | The evidence of travellers
The ideal position of Alexandria and its ports in antiquity is obvious. It is at this position on the sea-lane between the Orient and Occident, that Alexander decided to establish his new capital, as a connecting point for all the earth.
But in the centuries that followed, besides controlling Mediterranean trade, Alexandria also became an important transhipment centre, as goods arriving from the Far East via the Red Sea could be carried forward by caravans and river transportation to Alexandria. From there, cargoes were loaded onto vessels destined for the markets of the West.
Mariners had the choice of using one of the two ports: the Megas Limin or the Eunostos - which intercommunicated in antiquity - according to the sea conditions and the direction of the winds. The ports of Alexandria flourished during the Hellenistic, and the Roman periods up to the last decade of the 4th century AD.
During the period that followed, called Late Roman, Christian and Byzantine, Alexandria continued to maintain relative importance, and her ports received a large number of trading vessels.
After the Arab conquest, although gradually losing its importance, Alexandria was still a trading centre and the second city of Egypt.
The two centuries of the Crusades saw the ports of Alexandria often attacked by Christian fleets, but it is known that throughout this period, notwithstanding repeated papal interdictions, trade between the Islamic World and the Christian states continued and Alexandria had its share of the traffic.
In 1480 Quaid Bey built the fortress that bears his name, to protect both ports, the Western that was exclusively reserved for Islamic vessels, and the Eastern Port available to the Christian ships.
Although the Mediterranean was infested at that time with pirate ships, there was a gradual increase in travellers calling at Alexandria on board western vessels. From the middle of the 14th century, travellers described their visits in documents which provide valuable information on trade and movement at the ports.
Before the view of Alexandria depicted by the Codex Urbinate of 1472, the scarce representations that survived from ancient Alexandria show a walled city with some buildings that are difficult to identify. So the plan of Comminelli is, as far as we know, the very first panoramic image we have of the town and its ports.
There are over 70 maps and plans showing Alexandria and its ports from the mid-14th century to the mid-19th century. Although most of the early maps and plans are distorted, and in spite of their inaccuracies, when supplemented by the narratives of travellers, they are precious documents that deserve close investigation.
We will not list all the maps that have been the object of our study, limiting this presentation to those few considered of major importance.
We know of two variations of the plan from Ugo Comminelli de Maceriis.
Pierre Belon's plan of 1548 is the very first "real portrait of Alexandria", as its title says.
The Atlas of Abraham Ortelli of 1570 contains a map of Egypt with a more detailed plan of the wider region of Alexandria.
Braun-Hogenburg's map of 1573 is the first grand panorama of Alexandria. It was included in the famous Atlas of Jansson. It seems that this work has been the preferred source, repeatedly copied to illustrate Dutch, English, German, French and Latin books.
Heberer von Bretten's plan of 1585 also shows both ports.
Around 1603 a plan was made by a spy working for the King of the Two Sicilies. It is an extremely interesting document, unpublished to date. This document is part of a manuscript that comprises letters exchanged between the Marquess of Santa Cruz and the King of Naples. It proposes the organisation of an attack on Alexandria by a fleet of ships from Christian states. The attack was never carried out. The importance of this plan lies in the fact that it was made by a spy - perhaps a civil engineer, or an officer in disguise - who was solely concerned with reproducing what he could see, without exaggeration or enhancement. The 1665 plan of De Monconys is rather sketchy. In 1687 the French engineer Razaud drew two plans that can be called scientific. In 1699 two French pilots of the King, Christian Melchien and Antoine Massy, drew two different plans of the two ports giving detailed soundings of the area.
It seems that the French had a particular and continuing interest in the cartography of the ports of Alexandria during the 17th, the 18th and the 19th century.
In 1731, the Russian monk Vassili Barkij, drew a bird's eye panoramic view of Alexandria and its ports giving important details as an eye witness.
That same year the French scholar Bonamy visited Alexandria and drew a map of the city, in a first attempt to show how Alexandria was in antiquity and more precisely at the time of Strabo.
Captain Norden drew two reliable plans in 1738.
Richard Pococke illustrated his "Description of the East" with a plan drawn in 1743.
The "Plan d'Alexandrie" of D'Anville, drawn in 1766, was used by Bonaparte for his landing at Alexandria of 1798.
Savary's plan of 1798 is largely based on the work of D'Anville.
In 1795 Allezard drew two versions of a plan focusing on the two ports.
The French Expedition of Bonaparte produced the known monumental work la Déscription de l'Egypte. Our knowledge of Alexandria as of the rest of Egypt greatly benefited from the detailed and profusely illustrated description of sites and monuments.
The mapping of ports indicates an increase in naval traffic; and the multitude of cartographic documents that followed the French and English presence in Alexandria after 1800 denotes the gradual rise of Alexandria as a commercial centre.
In 1829, several detailed plans were drawn by the French engineer De-Cerisy, who undertook to build an arsenal in Alexandria for Mohamed Ali.
In the 1830s Alexandria started developing as a modern city and the importance of its Western Harbour gradually increased. Maritime traffic boomed. An ever increasing number of foreign vessels unloaded in the Western port - which Mohamed Ali opened to ships of all flags. There was a need for proper charts for navigation in the often treacherous shallows of the Western port, and British and French captains competed in the production of modern charts.
But during the second half of the 19th century there was also an attempt at cartography related to the topography of Ancient Alexandria and its ports. Archaeologists and historians of the 19th and 20th centuries are greatly indebted to Mahmoud Bey el Falaki, who in 1865-66 drew two maps of Alexandria and its ports and vicinity.
The making of maps and plans of Alexandria, is closely related to the use of its ports. As the great majority of the western travellers and merchants arrived in Alexandria by ship, their presence in the town denotes the traffic of its ports - the Eastern in particular, which was reserved for Christian vessels.
An exhaustive study of the commercial activities of the ports of Alexandria from the beginning of the Islamic period to modern times has never been attempted. Such an extended subject cannot be adequately exhausted in this paper.
There are indications that can lead us reasonably to suppose that the ports of Alexandria have never stopped being active, unlike numerous other ancient harbours which in late antiquity and the Middle-ages ceased their activities. To mention only two examples: the ports of Corinth. Kenchrai on the Saronic gulf was submerged, while Lechaio on the Gulf of Corinth was completely silted up. During the middle ages Piraeus itself, with its three ancient ports, saw only Kantharos retaining some maritime activity while the renowned Zea and Mounichia were totally forgotten.
There is certainly a gradual decline of Alexandria starting in late Roman times and culminating during the 15th century. The new sea route via the Cape of Good Hope was a serious blow to Alexandria's maritime activities, but the traffic of its ports, although greatly diminished, never ceased.
According to L. Ashtor, twelve vessels were registered as calling at Alexandria in 1400: 1 Venetian, 6 Genoese, 2 Catalans, 1 Florentine, 1 Napolitan, 2 from Ancona. In 1401 there are 21 calls, 9 in 1402, 9 the following year, 13 in 1404, while in 1405 the number increases to 23. Twenty two years later in 1427 the number is 12, and in 1435 there are 14 entries.
The Veneto-Ottoman treaty of 1517, without putting an end to the antagonism between East and West, marks an improvement in commercial relations.
It is our belief that the presence of travellers is a good indication of the activity of a port. So we have compiled a list of authors who wrote about their visits to and from Alexandria by ship. We are aware of the limitation of this list, as we refer only to western authors who wrote on Alexandria and the period of our research was from the fall of Alexandria to Amr-el-el-Ass until the arrival of Bonaparte expedition.
We count two traveller-authors during the 7th century, none during the 8th century, one during the 9th century, none from the 10th to the 13th centuries. From 8 travellers during the 14th and the 15th centuries, the number increases to 24 for the 16th century, 39 for the 17th century and 42 during the 18th century.
Taking into consideration that this list includes only those few Western authors who wrote of their visits, we must assume that it represents only a very small percentage of those travellers who actually visited Alexandria. However, these descriptions throw light on the traffic of the ports where the coming and going of ships must have been continuous.
We can thus speculate that the figures on our list include only an infinitely small portion of the number of Western ships that entered Alexandria.
The setting of fondiques for the Christians in the centre of the walled town for the accommodation of travellers and the storage of their merchandise, as well as the presence of consular authorities from European states and of a customs service is an indication of trading activities.
The few illustrations that follow, show how Alexandria and its shores looked at the end of the 17th and 18th century.
The revival of the Western port of Alexandria started between 1818-1824. An important factor was also the reopening of the canal of the Nile, as in ancient times, which allowed communication between Alexandria and the towns of the Delta, Cairo and Upper Egypt.
Further research is necessary. It is hoped that studies will be undertaken by the new generation of students to throw light on the over 2 millennia unbroken chain of maritime activities of the most prestigious port of the Mediterranean.
Harry E. Tzalas
Hellenic Institute for the Preservation
of Nautical Tradition,
Skra 94,
Kallithea, Athens, Greece