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In modern times dredging of the channel has revived Damietta 's port; construction has taken place to upgrade the port facilities to relieve the overcrowding at Alexandria. The centre's industries include leatherworking, flour milling, and fishing, with a sardine-canning factory at 'Izbat al-Burj on the Damietta mouth. The city has several fine mosques. |
The name Damietta is a
corruption of the ancient Coptic "Tamiatti". Damietta was an
important city of ancient Egypt and was formerly closer to the sea than
at the present. It declined with the development of Alexandria (after 322
BC). In AD 638 the Arab made it a commercial centre famous for textiles.
Frequently attecked by the crusaders, it was briefly in their hands
(1219-21; 1249-50). The settlement's vulnerability to sea attacks led the Mamluk Sultan (Baybars
I reigned 1260-77) to rase the town and fortification, block access to
the river, and erect a new Damietta 6.5 km inland on the present site.
During both Mamluk and Ottoman periods the centre was used as a place of
banishment.
After the construction of
Mahmudiyah canal in 1819, which diverted much of the Nile trade to
Alexandria, Damietta lost mush of its important as a trade centre,
although it retained some trade, principally with Syria.