Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

extending about along the coast of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

, north of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

. With an approximate population of 603,787 (2010), it is the fifth-largest city in

. The city was established in 1859 during the building of the Suez Canal. There are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all floors, giving the city a distinctive look. Port Said's twin city is

Port Fuad Port Fuad or Port Fouad ( ar, بورفؤاد ', ) is a city in Port Said Governorate, Egypt. Port Fuad is located in northeastern Egypt at the northwesternmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula on the Asian side of the Suez Canal, across from the city ...

, which lies on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal. The two cities coexist, to the extent that there is hardly any town centre in Port Fuad. The cities are connected by free

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

running all through the day, and together they form a

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...

with over a million residents that extends both on the African and the Asian sides of the Suez Canal. The only other metropolitan area in the world that also spans two continents is

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. Port Said acted as a global city since its establishment and flourished particularly during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century when it was inhabited by various nationalities and religions. Most of them were from Mediterranean countries, and they coexisted in tolerance, forming a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

community. Referring to this fact

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

once said "If you truly wish to find someone you have known and who travels, there are two points on the globe you have but to sit and wait, sooner or later your man will come there: the docks of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Port Said".Port-Saïd : Architectures XIXe-XXe siècles

Name

The name of Port Said first appeared in 1855. It was chosen by an international committee composed of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. It is a compound name which composed of two parts:

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

(marine harbour) and Said (the name of the ruler of Egypt at that time), who granted

Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps (; 19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869 joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times ...

the concession to dig the Suez Canal. Urbanized residents pronounce the first syllable following

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

(); unurbanized residents pronounce it .

History

French sailors and Indian troops at Port Said 1914

Port Said, The Office of the Suez Canal Company (n

Port Said was founded by Sa'id of Egypt on Easter Monday, April 25, 1859, when

gave the first symbolic swing of the pickaxe to signal the beginning of construction. The first problem encountered was the difficulty for ships to drop anchor nearby. Luckily, a single rocky outcrop flush with the shoreline was discovered a few hundred meters away. Equipped with a wooden wharf, it served as a mooring berth for the boats. Soon after, a wooden

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

was built, connecting the departure islet, as it quickly became known, to the beach. This rock could be considered the heart of the developing city, and it was on this highly symbolic site, forty years later, that a monument to de Lesseps was erected. There were no local resources here. Everything Port Said needed had to be imported: wood, stone, supplies, machinery, equipment, housing, food and even water. Giant water storage containers were erected to supply fresh water until the

Sweet Water Canal Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

could be completed. One of the most pressing problems was the lack of stone. Early buildings were often imported in kit form and made great use of wood. A newly developed technique was used to construct the jetties called conglomerate concrete or "Beton Coignet", which was named after its inventor

François Coignet François Coignet (10 February 1814 – 30 October 1888) was a French industrialist and a pioneer in the development of reinforced concrete as the first person to use iron-reinforced concrete to construct buildings.Day, p. 284 Biography Coign ...

. Artificial blocks of concrete were sunk into the sea to be the foundations of the jetties. Still more innovative was the use of the same concrete for the

lighthouse of Port Said The Port Said Lighthouse is one of the most important architectural and tourist landmarks in the city of Port Said in Egypt. Considered a unique example for the evolution of architecture during the nineteenth century in the city, the lighthouse wa ...

, the only original building still standing in Port Said. In 1859 the first 150 laborers camped in tents around a wooden shed. A year later, the number of inhabitants had risen to 2000 — with the European contingent housed in wooden bungalows imported from northern Europe. By 1869, when the canal opened, the permanent population had reached 10,000. The European district, clustered around the waterfront, was separated from the Arab district, Gemalia, to the west, by a wide strip of sandy beach where a tongue of

Lake Manzala Lake Manzala ( ar, بحيرة المنزلة ''baḥīrat manzala''), also Manzaleh, is a brackish lake, sometimes called a lagoon, in northeastern Egypt on the Nile Delta near Port Said and a few miles from the ancient ruins at Tanis.Dinar, p.51 ...

reached towards the sea. This inlet soon dried out and was replaced by buildings, over time there was no division between the European and Arab quarters. Map of Port Said (Baedeker, 1914)

At the start of the twentieth century, two things happened to change Port Said: in 1902, Egyptian cotton from

Mataria El Matareya (also spelled Matarieh or la Matarée) ( ar, المطرية ). Is a coastal town, is a region ('' markaz'') in Egypt. Located in the Dakahlia Governorate, it is located south of Port Said, nicknamed the fishing town. It lies ...

started to be exported via Port Said; and in 1904 a standard gauge railway opened to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

. The result was to attract a large commercial community and to raise its social status. In particular a sizable Greek community grew up. In 1907, the quickly growing city had about 50,000 inhabitants, among whom were 11,000 Europeans "of all nations". During the First World War, Port Said became home to an important Allied hospital. Due to the strategic location of Port Said intersecting Europe, Africa and Asia, thousands of men were sent to this hospital. This included soldiers wounded as a result from the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Following the end of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the directors of the Suez Canal Company decided to create a new city on the Asian bank, building 300 houses for its labourers and functionaries. Port Fouad was designed by the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. The houses follow the French model. The new city was founded in December 1926. Since its foundation people of all nationalities and religions had been moving to the city and each community brought in its own customs, cuisine, religion and architecture. By the late 1920s the population numbered over 100,000 people. In the 1930s for example there were elegant public buildings designed by Italian architects. The old Arab Quarter was swallowed up into the thriving city. Port Said by now was a thriving, bustling international port with a multi-national population: Jewish merchants, Egyptian shopkeepers, Greek photographers, Italian architects, Swiss hoteliers, Maltese administrators, Scottish engineers, French bankers and diplomats from all around the world. All lived and worked alongside the large local Egyptian community. And always passing through were international travelers to and from Africa, India and the Far East. Intermarriage between French, Italian and Maltese was particularly common, resulting in a local Latin and Catholic community like those of Alexandria and Cairo. French was the common language of the European and non-Arab population, and often the first language of children born to parents from different communities. Italian was also widely spoken and was the mother tongue of part of the Maltese community, since the ancestors of the latter had come to Egypt before the Anglicization of Malta in the 1920s. Multilingualism was a characteristic of the foreign population of Port Said, with most people continuing to speak community languages as well as the common French. Admiralty Chart No 234 Port Said, Published 1966

Admiralty Chart No 234 Port Said, Published 1966

Since its establishment Port Said played a significant role in Egyptian history. The British entered Egypt through the city in 1882, starting their occupation of Egypt. In 1936 a treaty was signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egypt called the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936. It stipulated the British pledge to withdraw all their troops from Egypt, except those necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Egypt denounced the Treaty of 1936, leading to skirmishes with British troops guarding the Canal in 1951. The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 occurred. Then in 1956, President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-r ...

nationalised the Suez Canal Company. The nationalisation escalated tension with Britain and France, who colluded with Israel to invade Egypt, the invasion known in Egypt as the tripartite aggression or the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. The main battles occurred in Port Said, which played a historic role in the Suez Crisis. The withdrawal of the last soldier of foreign troops was on 23 December 1956. Since then, this day was chosen as Port Said's national day. It is widely celebrated annually in Port Said. The French-speaking European community had begun to emigrate to Europe, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere in 1946 and most of the remainder left Egypt in the wake of the Suez Crisis, paralleling the contemporary exodus of French-speaking Europeans from Tunisia. Most of the Greek community was also expelled or left the town under the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also called the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

, the Suez Canal was closed by an Egyptian blockade until 5 June 1975, and the residents of Port Said were evacuated by the Egyptian government to prepare for the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

(1973). The city was re-inhabited after the war and the reopening of the Canal. In 1976, Port Said was declared a duty-free port, attracting people from all over Egypt. Now the population of the city is 603,787.

Economy

Port Said has been ranked the second among the Egyptian cities according to the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, w ...

in 2009 and 2010; the economic base of the city is

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

and industries, like

chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

processed food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily p ...

, and

cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

. Port Said is also an important harbour for exports of Egyptian products like

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

and

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, and additionally a fueling station for ships that pass through the Suez Canal. It thrives on being a

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

port, as well as a tourist resort especially during summer. It is home to the

Lighthouse of Port Said The Port Said Lighthouse is one of the most important architectural and tourist landmarks in the city of Port Said in Egypt. Considered a unique example for the evolution of architecture during the nineteenth century in the city, the lighthouse wa ...

(the first building in the world built from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

). Due to its excellent geographic location, Port Said is designed to attract logistics start ups along with import and export businesses. In 2019, the city witnessed the construction of the New Suez Canal, led by the Egyptian President

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mi ...

East Port Said Industrial Zone

The government provides a number of incentives to investors in the scheme including zero tax and duties on tools, machines and raw materials related to the production of goods for export.

Geography

Climate

Port Said has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(BWh) according to

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, but blowing winds from the

greatly moderates the temperatures, typical to the northern coast of Egypt, making its summers moderately hot and humid while its winters mild and moderately wet when sleet and

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

are also common, yet less common than in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

because Port Said is drier. January and February are the coolest months while the hottest are July and August. The highest record temperature was , recorded on June 20, 1988, while the lowest record temperature was , recorded on December 25, 1979. Port Said, Kosseir, Ras El Bar,

Baltim Baltim ( ar, بلطيم ) is a city in the Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, in the north coast of Egypt. History The second part of the town's name preserves "end, furthest part (of Egypt)". Baltim was the beneficiary of a tax reduction und ...

Damietta Damietta ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an easte ...

and Alexandria have the least temperature variation in

, additionally,

Mersa Matruh Mersa Matruh ( ar, مرسى مطروح, translit=Marsā Maṭrūḥ, ), also transliterated as ''Marsa Matruh'', is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highway ...

and Port Said have the coolest summer days of any other cities or resorts, although not significantly cooler than other northern coastal places.

Modern city

Districts

Modern Port Said is divided into seven districts: *Al-Ganoub District: *Al-Zohour District: *Al-Dawahy District: *Al-Sharq District: *Al-Manakh District: *Al-Arab District: *Gharb District: There is also

city under the jurisdiction of the

Port Said Governorate Port Said Governorate is one of the Canal Zone governorates of Egypt. It is located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Mediterranean Sea at the northern gate of the Suez Canal, making it the second most important harbor in Egypt. I ...

forming

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Port Said.

Squares

*Mansheya Square, in Al-Sharq district *Al-Shohda Square, in Al-Sharq district *AL-Mohafza Square (The governorate Square), in Al-Sharq district *AL-Sayed Metwaly Square (formerly ''Al-Estad Square''), in Al-Manakh district *

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

Square, in Al-Manakh district *

Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...

Square, in Al-Zohour district *Haye Al-Zohour Square, in Al-Zohour district *AL-Horeya garden Square, in

Port Fouad Port Fuad or Port Fouad ( ar, بورفؤاد ', ) is a city in Port Said Governorate, Egypt. Port Fuad is located in northeastern Egypt at the northwesternmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula on the Asian side of the Suez Canal, across from the ci ...

city

Recreational

*Ferial Garden *The History Garden *Montaza Gardens *Al-Amal Garden *Al-Farama Garden *AL-Horeya Garden *

Saad Zaghlul Saad Zaghloul ( ar, سعد زغلول / ; also ''Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim'') (July 1859 – 23 August 1927) was an Egyptian revolutionary and statesman. He was the leader of Egypt's nationalist Wafd Party. He led a civil disobedienc ...

Garden *Restaurants Complex

Education

Colleges and universities

Port Said has a number of higher education institutions. Port Said University is a public university that follows the Egyptian system of higher education. The most notable faculties of the university are the faculty of engineering and the faculty of science. In addition, the

Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport The Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT) ( ar, الأكاديمية العربية للعلوم والتكنولوجيا والنقل البحري) is a regional university operated by the Arab League which runs pro ...

is a semi-private educational institution that offers courses for high school, undergraduate level students, postgraduate. It is considered the most reputable university in Egypt after the AUC

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning progra ...

because of its worldwide recognition from (board of engineers at UK & ABET in USA).

Sadat Academy for Management Sciences Sadat Academy for Management Sciences (SAMS) (Arabic:أكاديمية السادات للعلوم الإدارية ''ʼAkādemyāt ʼal-sādāt lil-ʿoloom al ʼedāriāh''), is an Egyptian Public Academy under the authorization of the Ministry ...

is an Egyptian Public Academy under the authorization of the Ministry of higher education.

Schools

Port Said contains about 349 schools in all different educational stages between governmental, experimental, private language schools beside French historical schools.

Transport

Port

The

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

of Port Said is the 28th-busiest

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

for

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

transport, the second-busiest in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

(narrowly behind the port of

Salalah Salalah ( ar, صَلَالَة, Ṣalālah) is the capital and largest city of the southern Omani governorate of Dhofar. Its population in 2009 was about 197,169. Salalah is the third-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

), and the busiest container seaport in Egypt, with 3,470,000 TEU transported in 2009. The port is part of the

Maritime Silk Road The Maritime Silk Road or Maritime Silk Route is the Maritime history, maritime section of the historic Silk Road that connected Southeast Asia, China, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Egypt and Europe. It began by the 2n ...

. It is divided into: *Port Said Port *East Port Said Port The port is bordered, seaward, by an imaginary line from the western breakwater boundary till the eastern breakwater end. And from the Suez Canal area, it is bordered by an imaginary line extending transversely from the southern bank of the Canal connected to Manzala Lake, and the railways arcade livestock.

Navigation channels

; Main channel *Length: *Depth: ; East verge channel *Length: *Depth:

Approach area

Two breakwaters protect the port entrance channel: the western breakwater is about long, and the eastern breakwater is approximately .

Dwelling area

The Suez Canal Dwelling Area is situated between latitudes 31° 21' N and 31° 25' N and longitudes 32° 16.2°' E and 32° 20.6' E. where vessels awaiting to accede Port Said port stay whether to join the North convoy to transit the Suez Canal to carry out stevedoring operations or to be supplied with provisions and bunkers. The dwelling area is divided into two sections: The Northern Area is allocated for vessels with deep drafts. The Southern Area is for all vessel types.

Airports

Port Said is served by Port Said Airport located about away from city centre. The airport was reopened in February 2011 after being modernised to be fit for international flights. Scheduled flights from the airport ceased in 1996.

Motor highways

There are three main highways that connect Port Said to other cities in Egypt: *International coastal road – a east–west highway that connects Port Said to

along the

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

. *Desert Road – a north–south route via Al Ismaileya – Port Saeed and Masr – Al Ismaileya Desert Road from Port Said to

. *International Coastal Road – a east–west highway from Port Said –

Train

The Port Said train station is on Mustafa Kamal Street and was built around 1904 when the Egyptian Railway Authority extended service in the region. There are frequent train services from Cairo, Alexandria and other main Egyptian cities to Port Said. The travel time between Cairo and Port Said is about four hours while the Alexandria – Port Said route can be covered in about six hours. Intercity passenger service is operated by

Egyptian National Railways Egyptian National Railways (ENR; ar, السكك الحديدية المصرية, Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA; ar, الهيئة الق� ...

. Tickets can be reserved online using the Egyptian National Railways website.

Ferry

Port Said is linked by

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

to its twin city

which is considered the Asian part of this Afro-Asian governorate "Port Said" on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal, the ferry is used to cross the canal between the two cities, holding both people and cars as well (for free). The time between the two cities across the canal by using the ferry does not exceed 10 minutes.

Other means of public transport

Public

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es are operated by Port Said Governorate's Agency for Public Passenger Transport. Private Transport also are available referred to as Micro Buses (14 seat

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, ...

). White and blue

saloon car A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 19 ...

taxicabs A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

are comfortable, asking reasonable prices. Earlier

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

es existed in city.

Culture

Libraries

Port Said Library at the time of its inauguration reached about 14,000 books and was supplied by encyclopedias and modern references.

Theaters

Port Said Has about 11 Cinema theatre

* Port Said Opera House was inaugurated on 28 December 2016, where Arabic music, classical music, opera and ballet are performed.

Museums

*Port Said National Museum is located on Palestine Street in front of the tourist jetty, near the centre of the city. It contains about 9,000 artifacts that narrate the story of Port Said and

. *Port Said Military Museum was inaugurated in 1964. It is located in 23 July Street. It narrates the story of the Egyptian resistance in Port Said for the tripartite aggression during the

in 1956, and the wars of 1967 and 1973. It also contains a hall that narrates the genesis of the city and the Suez Canal. * Museum of Modern Art in Egypt is a modern and contemporary art museum, located in Shohada Square, in Port Said, beneath the Obelisk of Martyrs. *Museum of the Authority of the Suez Canal was inaugurated in August 2015. It narrates the story of the

since its establishment.

Parks

Port Said has 23 parks. which includes The Ferial Park 21904

square meter The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

, The Farma Park 12469.4 square meter, The Khazanat Park 2000 square meter, The Aldawlia Park 8 Hektarsbr>

Sports

The main sport that interests Port Saidis is Association football, football, as is the case in the rest of Egypt and Africa, and Port Saidis are known for their enthusiasm in supporting the local team

Al-Masry SC Al Masry Sporting Club ( ar, النادي المصري للألعاب الرياضية) is an Egyptian sports club based in Port Said, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, that competes in the Egyptian Premier L ...

Al Masry Club Stadium Al Masry Club Stadium (), formerly known as Port Said Stadium (), was a multi-use all-seated stadium in Al Manakh, Port Said, Egypt, which was mostly used for football and was the home of Al Masry between 1958 and 2012. The stadium, which had a s ...

is a multi-purpose stadium in Port Said. Built in 1954, it currently seats 17,988 and is used mostly for football matches, including the

1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1997, the seventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Cairo, Ismailia, Alexandria, and Port Said in Egypt between 4 September and 21 September 1997. Players born after 1 January 1980 could partici ...

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004 African Cup of Nations, 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into f ...

, and

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confedera ...

. The 2012

Port Said Stadium riot On 1 February 2012, a massive riot occurred at Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt, following an Egyptian Premier League football match between Masry and Ahly. Seventy-four people were killed and more than 500 were injured after thousands o ...

took place there. The second most popular sport in Port Said is

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

, and the city has a club called Port Said Club that won many local and African tournaments during the nineties.

Port Said Hall Port Said Indoor Hall ( ar, صالة بورسعيد المغطاة) is an Olympic-standard, multi-use indoor sporting arena located in Al-Zohour district in Port Said, Egypt. The capacity of the arena is 5,000 spectators. Hosts competitions of Ha ...

is an indoor hall located in the Sports City in Port Said. It hosts competitions of handball, basketball, and volleyball, and was used for the

1999 World Men's Handball Championship The 1999 World Men's Handball Championship was the 16th edition of the World Championship in team handball. It was held in Egypt, from 1 to 15 June, in the cities of Cairo, Ismailia and Port Said. Sweden won the championship. Qualification P ...

. It holds 5000 people.

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, swimming, and other sports are also practiced on a lower scale.

Language

Among speakers of

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...

, the Port Saidi accent is unique. It is also called Abu Alarabi and Bambooti Accent.

Tourism

Port Said is a main summer resort and

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...

, due to its public and private beaches, cosmopolitan heritage,

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

s and

port, beside the other landmarks like the

, Port Said Martyrs Memorial that has the shape of the Pharaonic ancient obelisks and the building of the

Suez Canal Authority Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is an Egyptian state-owned authority which owns, operates and maintains the Suez Canal. It was set up by the Egyptian government to replace the Suez Canal Company in the 1950s which resulted in the Suez Crisis. After th ...

headquarter in Port Said, also

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

island situated in lake Manzaleh is a destination that attracts tourists to enjoy visiting this ancient Islamic city which was demolished during the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. Ashtoum el-Gamil is a national park and Natural Protected area Location: 7 km west of Port Said on "Port Said-Damietta" coastal road (The Lake Manzalah is in connection with the Mediterranean through Ashtoum El Gamil .In front of the mouth of the Lake is located Tanees Island. All the area is a very important place for birds.) Area: 180 km2 Type: Nature Reserve Year of establishment: 1988 Objective: Conservation of migratory birds Management: The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA). Nearby to El Gameel area will soon launch a real estate mixed use project named "Downtown Portsaid". The project will cater to both residents and tourists as well as investors in the area, and is anticipated to be an attraction hotspot.

Notable people

* Abdulrahman Fawzi, former Egyptian player in Al Masry, participated in the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in w ...

Abdel Rahman Shokry Abdel Rahman Shokry ( ar, عبد الرحمن شكري; 12 October 1886 – 16 December 1958) was an Egyptian poet from the Diwan school of poets. Early life He was born in Port Said and he travelled to England where he got his Bachelor of Arts fr ...

, Egyptian poet *

Amr Diab Amr Diab ( ar, عمرو دياب, link=no, ; born on 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer, composer and actor. He has established himself as a globally acclaimed recording artist and author. He is a Guinness World Record holder, the best sel ...

, Egyptian singer and composer and best-selling Arab recording artist *

El-Sayed El-Dhizui El-Sayed Mohammed Al-Tabei "El-Dhizui" (14 September 1926 – 24 December 1991) was an Egyptian footballer. He was born in Port Said. He competed for Egypt at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics. Al-Tabei was given the nicknam ...

, former Egyptian player in Al Masry and one of the top scorers in the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of t ...

* Ahmed El Shenawy, Egyptian football player * George Isaac, Egyptian activist *

Hans Dijkstal Henri Frans "Hans" Dijkstal (28 February 1943 – 9 May 2010) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and financial adviser. Early life, education, military service and early career Dijkstal was born in Port ...

, Dutch politician "former Deputy Prime Minister" *

Ibrahim El Batout Ibrahim El Batout ( ar, إبراهيم البطوط) is an Egyptian filmmaker, based in Cairo, Egypt. Born in Port Said on 20 September 1963. He has worked as a director, producer and cameraman capturing stories mainly about human loss, suffe ...

, Egyptian director * Kamal Darwish, current president of

Zamalek SC Zamalek Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الزمالك للألعاب الرياضية), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an Egyptian sports club based in Giza. It is one of the most successful football clubs in Africa and the Middle East, an ...

Mohamed Atalla Mohamed M. Atalla ( ar, محمد عطاالله; August 4, 1924 – December 30, 2009) was an Egyptian-American engineer, physicist, cryptographer, inventor and entrepreneur. He was a semiconductor pioneer who made important contributions t ...

, engineer, inventor of

MOS transistor The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...

, founder of

Atalla Corporation Utimaco Atalla, founded as Atalla Technovation and formerly known as Atalla Corporation or HP Atalla, is a security vendor, active in the market segments of data security and cryptography. Atalla provides government-grade end-to-end products in ...

* Mohamed Shawky, professional football player with

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

Mohamed Zidan Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed Zidan ( ar, محمد عبد الله محمد زيدان) (born 11 December 1981), known as Mohamed Zidan, is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Early career Mohamed Z ...

, professional football player with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

* Mosaad Nour, former Egyptian player in

Al-Masry Club Al Masry Sporting Club ( ar, النادي المصري للألعاب الرياضية) is an Egyptian sports club based in Port Said, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, that competes in the Egyptian Premier Leag ...

"the historic star of the team") *

Mahmoud Yassin Mahmoud Yassin ( ar, محمود ياسين; 19 February 1941 – 14 October 2020) was an Egyptian actor. He was an iconic actor in both Egyptian cinema and television, portraying dramatic, psychological and romantic roles. Career Yassin studied l ...

, Egyptian Actor *

Soheir Ramzi Soheir Ramzi (; born 3 March 1950) is an Egyptian actress. Early life and career Her mother is Dorreya Ahmed who is also an actress. Ramzi's first appearance in the cinema when she was approximately six years old, through their appearance in ...

, Egyptian actress * Yves F. Barbaza, born in Port Said, is a French

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

I flying ace, credited with five aerial victories.

Twin towns and sister cities

Port Said is twinned with: *

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

(1962) *

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

(1977)

References

External links

* *
Port Said Governorate
official website
Egypt state information service – Port Said

History of Port Said (1859–1939)

Port Said Port AuthorityPort Said's Free-zonePort Said historyPort Said Online
{{Authority control East Port Said Industrial Zone Governorate capitals in Egypt Archaeological sites in Egypt Populated places in Port Said Governorate Populated coastal places in Egypt Suez Canal Metropolitan areas of Egypt Mediterranean port cities and towns in Egypt Nile Delta Populated places established in 1859 1859 establishments in Egypt 1859 establishments in Africa 19th-century establishments in Africa Cities in Egypt Free ports