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DAMIETTA , a See also:town of See also:Lower See also:Egypt, on the eastern (Damietta or Phatnitic) See also:branch of the See also:Nile, about 12 M. above its mouth, and 125 M . N.N.E. of See also:Cairo by See also:rail . Pop . (1907) 29,354 . The town is built on the See also:east See also:bank of the See also:river between it and See also:Lake Menzala . Though in See also:general See also:ill-built and partly ruinous, the town possesses some See also:fine mosques, with lofty minarets, public See also:baths and busy bazaars . Along the river-front are many substantial houses furnished with terraces, and with steps leading to the See also:water . Their wooden lattices of saw-See also:work are very graceful . After Cairo and See also:Alexandria, Damietta was for centuries the largest town in Egypt, but the silting up of the entrance to the See also:harbour, the rise of See also:Port Said, and the remarkable development of Alexandria have robbed Damietta of its value as a port . It has still, however, a See also:coasting See also:trade with See also:Syria and the See also:Levant . See also:Ships over 6 ft. See also:draught cannot enter the river, but must anchorin the offing . Lake Menzala yields large supplies of See also:fish, which are dried and salted, and these, with See also:rice, furnish the See also:chief articles of trade .
Damietta is a Levantine corruption of the Coptic name Tamiati, Arabic Dimyat
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The See also:original town was 4 M. nearer the See also:sea than the See also:modern See also:city, and first See also:rose into importance on the decay of See also:Pelusium
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When it passed into the hands of the See also:Saracens it became a See also:place of See also:great See also:wealth and See also:commerce, and, as the eastern See also:bulwark of Egypt, was frequently attacked by the crusaders
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The most remarkable of these sieges lasted eighteen months, from See also:June 1218 to See also:November 1219, and ended in the See also:capture of the town, which was, however, held but for a brief See also:period
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In June 1249 See also: |
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