Alexandria

Alexandria is the third-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and Giza, the seventh-largest city in Africa, and a major economic centre. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" by locals, Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the fourth-largest city in the Arab world, and the ninth-largest urban area in Africa as well as the 79th largest urban area by population on Earth. The city extends about 40 km at the northern coast of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea. Alexandria is a popular tourist destination, and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria was founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great in the vicinity of an Egyptian settlement named Rhacotis. Alexandria grew rapidly, becoming a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, and replacing Memphis as Egypt's capital during the reign of the Ptolemaic pharaohs who succeeded Alexander.