Mahmudiyya Canal
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Maḥmūdiyya Canal (
History
Prior to 1817
The first freshwater canal from the Nile to Alexandria was built under the rule of
The digging process
On 8 May 1817,
After 1820
Within twenty years after the canal was dug, it filled with sand and became almost impassable, and it was only after Muhammad Sa'id Pasha came to power that it was cleared and made navigable again.
A contract between the Prussian Baron de Pentz and the Pasha to use the canal for the provisioning of Alexandria in the first half of the nineteenth century came to an end due to a disagreement over the hoisting of a Prussian flag.[3] In the 1850s, a new steam-tug company was formed with approval from the pasha to use the canal. Its board of directors included Jules Pastré, Alexander G. Cassavetti, Ange Adolphe Levi, Alexander Tod, and Moise Valensin. The pasha ordered the new company to replace the old locks with newer, bigger gates and to provide for the cleaning and upkeep of the canal.[3]
Map from the time of construction
In the French Carte Topographique de l'Egypte,[4] investigated while the canal was built, and published in 1818, the canal is called Canal of Alexandria (الإسكندرية ﺧﻠﻴﺞ — Khalīg al-Iskandariyya). In that map the bifurcation from the Nile is 20[clarification needed] upstream of the modern bifurcation and yet there are no totally straight sections.
Crime in the Mahmudiyya
Due to its vastness and proximity to the city center of Alexandria, the Mahmudiyya Canal became a popular place for murderers to dispose of bodies. In 1904, it was reported in the Egyptian Gazette that an Egyptian woman had been brutally murdered by a butcher and shoemaker, who disposed of her body in the canal.[5] Two years later in 1906, it was reported that the remains of a young Egyptian girl were discovered in a large canvas bag by fisherman along the canal.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "TM Places". www.trismegistos.org. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
- ^ Facts and Detals: Hellenistic period and the Ptolemies Archived 2013-02-16 at archive.today
- ^ a b William Harrison Ainsworth, The New Monthly Magazine, London: Chapman and Hall, 1853, pp. 3-4 [1]
- ^ Nile delta in early 19th century, compilation of 18 from the 45 leaves of Carte topographique de l'Egypte (French), 1818
- ^ "Egyptian Gazette". Egyptian Gazette. April 6, 1904. p. 3.
- ^ "Egyptian Gazette". Egyptian Gazette. September 27, 1906. p. 3.