Rosetta

Rosetta, also known by its Arabic name Rashid, is a port city in the Nile Delta region of Egypt, in Beheira Governorate, about 65 kilometers east of Alexandria. It was founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient Ptolemaic city of Bolbitine and flourished as a commercial center especially after the decline of Alexandria following the Ottoman conquest in 1517. The city is best known as the place where the Rosetta Stone was discovered in nearby Fort Julien in 1799, a find that proved essential to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Rosetta enjoyed a further revival as a destination for British tourists in the 19th century, drawn by its Ottoman era architecture and citrus groves, though its importance declined again after the revival of Alexandria following the construction of the Mahmoudiyah canal in 1820. It had a population of about 301,795 across 196.6 square kilometers at the 2021 census.