History Of Port Said

Port Said is a coastal Egyptian city nicknamed The Valiant city and represents the administrative capital of the Port Said governorate, which also includes the city of Port-Fouad. It is located northeast of Egypt in a privileged position at the head of the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. Port Said is characterized by being the meeting point between the Asian and African continents, as the city of Port Said represents the northernmost point in northeast Africa, as it is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the East by the city of Port Fouad located on the Sinai Peninsula, to the South by Ismailia governorate, and to the West by three governorates (Damietta governorate from the northwest, Dakahlia governorate from the West, Sharqiya governorate from the southwest). It has an area of approximately 845.445 km2, and its population as of the 2010 census is approximately 524,433, after the administrative conversion of the Porfouad district to a city in 2010. The city is divided into seven administrative districts: South District, AL-Zahoor District, Gharb District, Suburban District, al-Manakh District, Al-Arab District, and Al-Sharq District.

Port Said includes many distinctive landmarks, the most important of which are the port of Port Said, which is one of the most important ports in Egypt, the Suez Canal Authority building, which is one of the most important monuments of the city, and the Old Port Said Lighthouse. In addition to many museums such as the Port Said War Museum, which documents the era of the triple aggression on the city, the Port Said National Museum, which displays antiquities from various Egyptian historical eras as well as the history of Port Said from its establishment in 1859 to the modern era, and the victory Museum of Modern Art, which includes 75 works of art by leading Egyptian artists in various branches of Fine Art. Work on the establishment of the city began during the reign of the governor of Egypt, Khedive said, on April 25, 1859, when Ferdinand de Lesseps began the project of digging the Suez Canal.

Port Said gained international prestige and fame during the period since the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century as a distinguished Seaport, the English writer Rudyard Kipling said about it: "if you want to meet someone you knew, and he is always traveling, there are two places on the globe that allow you to do so, where you have to sit and wait for his arrival sooner or later, namely: London and Port Said".

Naming,
The name Port Said is a compound name from the word PORT or "port", meaning port, and the word" said " is relative to Mohammed Said Pasha, the governor of Egypt. The origin of the name is due to the International Committee formed from England, France, Russia, Austria, Spain and Piedmont, where this committee decided at a meeting held in 1855 to choose the name of Port Said.

History,
Ancient times
The current location of the city was once a fishermen's village, and 28 km away there was a coastal city whose landmarks disappeared, it was called the city of the God Amon, then the Greeks built a suburb of the city they called "Peloz", and the name was extended to the whole city, so the area was called "peloz" (located between FERMA and Tenis), meaning mud, many muds. It was a confrontation with the city of Burmon or Burma, which the Arabs called the Furmans.

Middle Ages,
After the Islamic conquest of Egypt, the Arabs called the city AL-Farma or Al-Farma and it was overlooking the Mediterranean coast, and its location is the eastern end of the Manzala Lake between the lake and the dunes, located 28 km from the current city. The city remained an active fortification, fortress, and port until it was demolished in 1118 by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem during the Crusades. The ruins of the city still exist today in an area known as Tel al-firma. I also found the city of Tanis, which was an important maritime gap, the headquarters of the fleet, and the shipbuilding House, its people were famous for their wealth and wealth, and trade and the manufacture of clothing and furnishings flourished there, and in it the Kaaba cladding was made for centuries, because of the skill of its people in the craft of weaving and knitting. Its people also practiced fishing and birds, and because it was the target of raids by the Byzantines and after them, the Crusaders, King Al-Kamil ordered Muhammad ibn Al-Adil Al-Ayyubi to destroy its walls and castles in the early seventh century AH, so its people abandoned it and its houses, factories and model houses were demolished and became hills and ruins.

De Lesseps
On April 25, 1859, de Lesseps inaugurated work on digging the Suez Canal during the reign of Khedive said, and at the same time, work began on the construction of the modern city of Port Said, which at that time was the village of Gemayel, 9 km from the current site of Port Said, in order to oversee the northern entrance to the canal, and one of the first installations erected in the city was a temporary lighthouse made of wood, and since the coast of Port Said located between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Manzala is not high above sea level, overcoming that obstacle required the dredgers that were working to make the city's Coast suitable for docking and create a basin for the port removed huge amounts of deep Water was added to the lands of Port Said, while the swamps of Manzala Lake were filled with sand dredging products in order to build housing, warehouses, craft workshops and a brick factory to serve the project, and a small canal was dug to connect Port Said facilities to Manzala Lake to facilitate the transportation of supplies and drinking water by boat, and a mosque was built for workers in the Arab village. To protect the port from natural factors, two breakwaters were erected to the West and East, stones were used to erect the pier and barriers, followed by the construction of a new concrete lighthouse was to illuminate for 20 miles.

Port Said witnessed the huge preparations for the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal, took care of the cleanliness of the places to be visited by the guests, and took care of the costumes of the soldiers receiving the invitees, the public streets were cleared, and decorated and lit with lanterns and flags were raised, while Khedive Ismail de Lesseps was tasked to prepare to receive 6 thousand invitees, brought five hundred cooks and a thousand Sudanese and others.

The Egyptian fleet lined up in the port of Port Said to maintain order and increase joy, and three platforms covered with silk and brocade were erected, the largest for kings, princes, and dignitaries, the second to the right for Islamic clerics and the third to the left for Christian clerics.

The first World War
Turkey fought the war on the side of the Central countries against England on the side of the Allied forces, so England worked to strengthen its position in the Middle East by imposing protection on Egypt on December 18, 1914, ending the situation defined by the Treaty of London, which considered Egypt subject to Ottoman sovereignty. The Canal Zone was the target of the Central countries to strike England's bases in Egypt, and thus the city of Port Said and the rest of the canal cities suffered from this aggression.

The Second World War
On August 26, 1936, Egypt and Britain signed the 1936 Treaty in London to end the British occupation of Egypt with the British military forces remaining in the Canal Zone under the pretext of helping the Egyptian forces in defending the Suez Canal, so the Canal Zone was vulnerable to Axis strikes to damage the interests of England and France in the canal, the city of Port Said was bombed with heavy bombs and several sites were hit by torpedoes.

On October 19, 1954, President Gamal Abdel Nasser signed an evacuation agreement with Britain to evacuate the British troops stationed in the Canal Zone, and on June 18, 1956, the last British soldier was evacuated from Egyptian territory, and in December 1955 Egypt accepted an offer from America, England, and the World Bank to obtain a loan to implement the High Dam project, followed by Egypt's request to purchase an arms deal, but this request was rejected, so Egypt turned to the Soviet Union to buy the weapons it needed. America and England saw the Egyptian move as a manifestation of defiance, so they retreated from financing the high dam, citing Egypt's inability to repay the loan due to its weak financial capacity, as a result, Gamal Abdel Nasser announced on July 26, 1956, from Manshiya Square in Alexandria the decision to nationalize the Suez Canal Company in response to withdrawing the offer of financing the High Dam in a humiliating way for Egypt.

In response to the nationalization of the canal, Britain, for its part, froze Egyptian accounts and balances, imposed an arms embargo on Egypt, and determined to arrange a military response, France seized the opportunity and decided to strike Egypt in response to Nasser's assistance to the Algerian revolution, and Israel participated in response to preventing the passage of its ships through the Suez Canal, so it was a three-pronged plan to attack Egypt, the threads of which were woven in the suburb of servers in Paris. After that, a sudden Israeli attack began on October 29, 1956, followed on October 30 by the submission of Britain and France to Egypt of an ultimatum demanding the cessation of hostilities between the two parties, and asking Egypt and Israel to withdraw ten kilometers from the Suez Canal and accept the occupation of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, to protect navigation in the canal, which Egypt immediately rejected, and on October 31, the two countries attacked Egypt and began their air raids on Cairo, the canal and Alexandria. Egypt began to fight on the Sinai and Canal fronts, and Gamal Abdel Nasser issued orders to withdraw all Egyptian troops from the Sinai desert to the west of the Suez Canal. On November 5, the operation to invade Egypt by British and French troops began from Port Said, which was hit by aircraft and naval forces in preparation for parachute airdrops.

Port Said resisted the occupation with ferocity, struggle, and valor that shook the conscience of the world and its movement against the British and French forces. Violent battles took place between the occupation forces and the Popular Resistance forces, during which honorable examples of many Resistance heroes such as Mr. Asran and Mohammed Mehran appeared. On November 2, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to stop the fighting, and the next day the Soviet Union sent an ultimatum to Britain and France and announced its determination to erase the aggression by force, if the two countries did not back down from their position, and the American reaction also denounced the aggression against Egypt, so this international pressure led collectively to the cessation of above the Suez Canal Authority building in Port Said, followed by the withdrawal of French troops On December 22, and on December 23, the Egyptian authorities took over the city of Port Said and recaptured the Suez Canal. This is the date that the city has taken as its national holiday or "Victory Day".

Destroyer Eilat,
On June 5, 1967, the Israeli occupation forces reached the East Bank of the canal, the Red Sea coast, and even south of Port Said, which was one of the neighborhoods of Port Said at the time. On the morning of July 1, 1967, Israeli forces advanced along the Eastern Bank of the canal to reach the Port Said neighborhood facing the city of Port Said on the other side of the canal and occupy it, threaten Port Said, and put it at the mercy of the Israeli occupation, Port Said was the only area in Sinai that was not occupied by Israel during the 1967 war, and when the Israeli forces reached the Ras Al-ish area south of Port when the occupation forces attacked the Egyptian Thunderbolt forces, the latter confronted them It was hit by heavy losses of equipment and personnel, which forced it to retreat south. When the occupation army tried to attack again, it failed to storm the site by confrontation or turning around from the side, and the result was the destruction of some half-tracked vehicles and increased personnel losses, so its forces were forced to withdraw and Israel did not try to occupy Port Said again and remained in the hands of Egyptian forces until the October 1973 war, and the city of Port Said and its port remained far from the direct threat to Israel, and the Battle of Ras Al-ish was the beginning of the war of attrition.

War of attrition,
Main articles: war of attrition and Operation Eilat destroyer
The Port Said naval base participated in the war of attrition with fierce combat activities. The frigate Port Said and the destroyer Suez participated in the defense of the Port Said naval base from July 2, 1967, to October 19, 1967, and participated in repelling the attack on Ras Al-ish by the frigate Port Said with the support of coastal artillery on July 1, 1967, and July 8, 1967, and sinking the destroyer Eilat using two missile boats on October 21, 1967, which was chosen as a holiday for the Egyptian navy.

October War,
Main article: October War
During the October War, the townspeople helped their fellow soldiers of the Armed Forces. The Port Said naval base completely protected the northern coast of Port Said and even Damietta, while rocket launchers came out at close range from the shore and hit Israeli positions.

On October 8, 1973, Port Said witnessed the most intense battles between the Israeli Air Force and the Egyptian Air Defense Forces, as the number of Israeli aircraft attacking Port Said reached more than 50 aircraft, and the Egyptian air defense forces succeeded in inflicting many losses with those aircraft and distracting the Israeli air attack on Port Said.

Openness,
See also: The Politics of Openness
Since January 1976, Port Said has been transformed into a free city to enter the era of openness as a kind of compensation to the city for the war years, a policy adopted by President Mohamed Anwar Sadat after the October War, to change the financial orientation of the state from socialism to capitalism and a free economy. According to this decision, Port Said turned into a commercial community that generally depended on imports, and this situation remained until 2002 when Law No. 5 was issued, which abolished the status of the free city of Port Said.

Contemporary period,
The streets and squares of Port Said witnessed the protests and demonstrations that swept Egypt during the January 25 Revolution. the most famous gatherings were in Obelisk Square, which was the site of the largest gathering of demonstrators on Friday of anger on January 28, 2011, who were keen to be peaceful and reject calls for violence, but events then developed to witness violent events and encroachment on police facilities. On February 1, 2012, unfortunate events occurred inside the Port Said stadium after a football match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly clubs, killing 72 people and injuring 254, making it the largest disaster in the history of Egyptian sports. Following the issuance of death sentences against 21 defendants in the Port Said stadium case in January 2013, violence broke out throughout the city and the vicinity of Port Said prison witnessed bloody confrontations with security forces during the attempt of some residents to break into the prison and smuggle convicts. The events resulted in 42 dead and more than 70 injured. The obelisk or Martyrs ' Square was the scene of the June 30 demonstrations, which saw gatherings of Port said residents condemning the rule of the Brotherhood.

Location
Port Said is located in the northeast of Egypt, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Suez Canal. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the East by the city of Porfouad located on the Sinai Peninsula, to the South by Ismailia governorate, and to the West by three governorates: Damietta governorate (from the northwest), Dakahlia governorate (from the West), Sharqiya governorate (from the southwest). Port Said was a governorate and a city at the same time with an area of 1,351.14 km2, until the conversion of the Port Said neighborhood with an area of 505.695 km2 to a city in 2010, it became Port Said governorate, which stretches between the continents of Africa and Asia followed by two cities (Port Said, and Port Said) and the area of Port Said city became approximately 845.445 km2.

The city of Port Said is divided into seven districts::

Al Sharq neighborhood: it is one of the oldest neighborhoods of the city and dates back to 1880, where it was inhabited by foreign engineers of the canal company, so it was known as the European neighborhood or the French neighborhood. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the South by the communication channel connecting the Suez Canal and Lake Manzala, to the East by the commercial port and the Suez Canal, and to the West by the Arab neighborhood.
Arab district: it is the second oldest district of the city and dates back to 1890, where it was inhabited by Egyptian workers working on the excavation of the canal. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the South by the south district, to the East by the East District, and to the West by the climate district.
Climate district: it is one of the modern districts of the city, as its foundation dates back to 1952. It combines old areas with areas of modern urban sprawl as well as random sprawl. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the South by the suburban neighborhood, to the East by the Arab neighborhood, and to the West by the AL-Zahoor neighborhood.
Population
With the establishment of the city of Port Said the access to fresh water to and the improvement of its living conditions, it became one of the attractive cities for residents to work in, whether with the canal project or working in the port and servicing ships from shipping, unloading and fishing activities, the majority of the population migrated to it from Damietta, which is the nearest city to Port Said at that time, separated by a distance of only 60 km, as well as minorities from the Delta people from Dakahlia, east, west, and Qalyubia, and from the people of the tribal face of Durga, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, and Aswan. The population of Port Said until 2010, when it was a city and a governorate, was 603,787 people, and after the separation of Port Said district as a city with a population of 79,354 people, the population of Port Said city became 524,433 people.

Language
The residents of Port Said speak Arabic like all Egyptians, but the bursaidi dialect differs from the usual Cairo dialect of Egyptians, as it has a peculiarity of some words that distinguish it and express the bursaidi community.

Natural and tourist attractions,

Commonwealth cemeteries
It is one of 16 cemeteries spread across the governorates of Egypt, distributed between Cairo, Alexandria, El Alamein, Port Said, Fayeed, Suez, and Aswan, supervised by the Commonwealth Commission, and receives the attention of thousands of descendants of the victims of the first and Second World Wars in the world in memory of their ancestors. The cemetery is located in the AL-Zahoor neighborhood on the eastern side of the ancient burials of Muslims and Christians and includes 1094 graves, including 983 graves from the First World War and 111 graves from the Second World War containing the remains of soldiers and civilians who inhabited port said in the early twentieth century, the number of English soldiers is 983 victims of the first World War and 11 from the Second World War it says, "he is forgiving, and we are for Allah, and we will return to him," and the British crown is attached to it.

Port Said Lighthouse,

The construction of the Port Said Lighthouse dates back to 1859 when it was temporarily made of wood and was illuminated for 10 miles to guide ships passing through the Suez Canal, but after the construction of the pier for the famous statue of de Lesseps, the lighthouse was built again in its current location in 1869 during the reign of Khedive Ismail, and concrete was used in its construction and is considered the first building constructed with concrete in Egypt and the Middle East.

The lighthouse was designed in the form of an octagon with a gray color, with a height of 56 M, and it was characterized by the presence of a ball on top of the lighthouse tower that was used to set the time, and a lamp powered by desirability gas was used for lighting, illuminating for a distance of 20 miles. The lighthouse is one of the most prominent archaeological and historical landmarks of Port Said. Currently, a new lighthouse has been built after concrete blocks and residential towers surrounded the archaeological lighthouse from three sides.

Suez Canal Authority building
Main article: Suez Canal Authority building (port said)
The authority building, the Naveh house, the fleet house, the Navy house, or the British naval base, is a palace that was the first building built by Khedive Ismail on the shore of the canal in Port Said to receive his guests from Kings and heads of state of the world who came to visit Egypt during his reign.

After the evacuation of the British from Egypt on June 18, 1956 and from the building as their last Base in the Canal Zone and Egypt, President Gamal Abdel Nasser raised the flag of Egypt on it, declaring Egypt's independence and sovereignty.

The building is distinguished by its unique architectural style and is registered as one of the Egyptian monuments in the city, and is currently used as the local headquarters of the Suez Canal Authority and to monitor the movement of ships passing through the canal.

The pedestal of the statue of de Lesseps
The unveiling of the statue was celebrated on November 17, 1899, which marks the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal for international navigation. The statue is located at the western barrier of the entrance to the Suez Canal on Palestine Street at the end of the famous de Lesseps promenade of the city.

The building is one of the registered monuments in Port Said, and the heroes of the popular resistance in Port Said removed the statue of de Lesseps from the base after the tripartite aggression on Egypt in 1956, and the statue still lies in the warehouses of the Suez Canal Authority to this day amid repeated controversy about its return to its base again between a rejectionist and a supporter of the idea.

Obelisk of martyrs
Main article: martyrs ' obelisk (Port Said)
It is a monument in the form of a pharaonic obelisk clad in gray granite, created in memory of the martyrs of Port Said in its battles, the obelisk was erected on a pedestal with a torch above and the victory Museum of modern art below.

On December 23, 1958, President Gamal Abdel Nasser inaugurated the obelisk with which the victory flame is lit to celebrate Victory Day and the second anniversary of the withdrawal of the aggressors from Port Said and also inaugurated the Martyrs ' Square, which is centered on the obelisk.

Victory Museum of Modern Art
The Al-Nasr Museum of Modern Art or the Obelisk Museum was established on December 25, 1995, in memory of the struggle and steadfastness of Port Said and its sons and to document their heroism. The museum includes 75 works of art by leading Egyptian artists in various branches of plastic art, including sculpture, photography, drawing, graphics, and ceramics, on several national themes and war and peace. The museum contributes to the cultural life of Port Said through the holding of artistic and literary seminars, exhibitions, and musical evenings, as well as adopts the communication of the message of art, high creativity, and caring for talented children of Port Said through the art workshops it holds. The museum was closed for four years and was reopened again after its development on April 13, 2013. the development work included the development of security systems, an internal surveillance network, and electronic gates, securing windows and doors, increasing the number of holdings to 150 works of art, in addition to the restoration of walls, floors, paint, and electrical works, storage was added and the fence surrounding the museum was completed, the maintenance of air conditioning and ventilation networks, and the installation of a sound amplification system.

Port Said War Museum
Main article: Port Said War Museum
The Port Said military museum is one of the museums belonging to the Egyptian armed forces and is under the supervision of the Military Museums Department. The idea of establishing the museum began in 1963 to collect the remnants of the 1956 war that narrate the events of the struggle of the people of Port Said, and Bint Al-Nil Park was chosen as the place to set up the museum, which was opened on December 24, 1964.

The museum includes a special Hall of the Suez Canal, which contains works of art about the history of the Suez Canal, documents related to the project and its stages of implementation until its opening, and documentation of the role of the canal in the political, military and economic history of Egypt. After the October War, some remnants of the war were collected for display at the museum, which was opened for the second time on December 23, 1976.

Port Said National Museum
Main article: Port Said National Museum
The museum was established in 1963 on an area of 13,000 meters, and the work inside the museum did not last long, as it stopped for 13 years from 1967 to 1980 after being hit by two missiles during the 1967 war, then the museum was rebuilt and opened in December 1986. In 2009, the Ministry of culture allocated an amount of 75 million pounds to develop the museum and turn it into a tourist attraction for its privileged location at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal next to the passenger ships Marina, and after the completion of the restoration and redevelopment project, the executing company claimed the futility of the restoration, so the decision was made to permanently remove the museum and rebuild it again, and indeed the removal was done, but the construction was not done to stop the project again without known reasons.

Suez Canal Authority Museum
Main article: Suez Canal Authority Museum
On August 6, 2015, the Suez Canal Authority museum was opened in Port Said on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Suez Canal. The museum is located at the intersection of Bazaar and Safia Zaghloul streets, an archaeological building that was previously used as the headquarters of the French consulate, and Empress Eugenie rested there for some time during the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal in 1869. The museum includes several archaeological Holdings, paintings of the Suez Canal, maps of the project, as well as a statue of de Lesseps from alabaster.

The conciliatory mosque
Port Said includes many mosques that are distinguished by the beauty of their architecture, one of the most famous of which is the Al-Tawfiq mosque, which is the first modern mosque in the city and dates back to 1860, where the Suez Canal Company built a mosque for Egyptian workers, and at that time it was a barn for shackles with a minaret on it. In response to the demands of the people, instructions were issued in June 1869 to rebuild the mosque from wood, which did not last long due to sewage. With the expansion of the city and the increase of its population, during the visit of Khedive Tawfik to the city in 1881 and his vision of the village mosque, he issued an order to the Diwan of endowments to re-establish the mosque in its current location, and establish a school attached to it to raise children. The opening of the mosque was celebrated on December 7, 1882. During the reign of Khedive Abbas Helmi II, the population increased, so another mosque was established, the Abbasi mosque, in 1904 to be the second of the city's mosques, and the mosque has undergone several restorations and renovation since its establishment by the Ministry of Awqaf, the last of which was in 2000, and the mosque was registered as an impact after a hundred years since its establishment, and this mosque contributed to the popular resistance operations, where it witnessed meetings and meetings of leaders and members of the popular resistance. As the years passed and the population grew, the wealthy people of the city established several mosques bearing their names, such as the mosque (Abdul Rahman Lotfi "Lotfi Shabara", Saleh Salim, Sobh, Alwan, Lahita), in addition to relatively modern mosques such as the peace mosque and the beach mosque.

Coptic monuments
Port Said is characterized by the presence of several Churches of a remarkable architectural level, the most famous of which is the Church of St. Eugenie, whose construction dates back to March 27, 1867, when the management of the Suez Canal Company ceded to the Franciscan fathers a plot of land to build a church for Catholics in Port Said and completed its construction of wood in 1875, and on March 19, 1890, the church was rebuilt from stone, and the designs were developed and supervised by the Italian engineer Edouard Sebek. The city also has the Roman Cathedral (Latin), which is distinguished by the presence of a fragment of the Cross of Jesus inside it according to local traditions, in addition to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church of Marmina, the Church of Bishop Bishoy, the Church of St. Mark.

Tourist walkway
The tourist walk runs along the coast of the Suez Canal, starting from the Suez Canal Authority building to the beginning of the Statue de Lesseps walk, through which it is possible to view the navigation of the canal and the ships located in it and see the city of Port Fouad, under which several shops are operating various commercial and entertainment activities.

Manzala Lake
The part located within the boundaries of the city of Port Said is characterized by the spread of a group of islands, the most important of which is Ibn Salam island, to which visitors come to visit the Ibn Salam mausoleum, and the lake is also characterized by its richness in fish wealth and migratory birds of various species.