ALEXANDRIE (Egypte)
It is in 332 Before J.C. when "Alexander the Great" asked Dinocratès to base a new town which would bear its name on the location of a poor village of sinners and Egyptian shepherds. The city developed very fast under the dynasty of "Ptolémées", successors of Alexandre, who made it their capital. It so became the intellectual and commercial metropolis of the World of period.
Romain, by making of Alexandria the point of communication obliged between Egypt and rest of the empire, was only stressing the importance of the city the superiority of which on all the Mediterranean East (jointly with that of Constantinople) remained until the grip of the city by the Arabs in 645.
After several centuries of relative disappearance, the commercial activity became again prosperous in XIV ° and XV ° centuries thanks to the business of spices. The new period of decline which followed ended only in XIX ° century with Mehemet Ali, then with the opening of the Suez Canal. The city found then an intense activity, and its exchanges with countries European as with Ottoman Empire developed again considerably. Today, this metropolis of two million inhabitants (whose Arabic name is " Al Iskandariya ") is always the main market square of Egypt.
Because of the commercial importance of the big Egyptian port(bearing), a French Office was created there from 1830. This Office was transformed into Office of Direction from May 1st, 1837.
A circular of February 21st, 1844 announced the next opening of the direct line of liners: " Marseille - Alexandria " (via Malta); this opening became effective from the month of Mars, with a departure of Alexandria of the liner " Osiris " 20 Mars. From October 4th, 1851, the line of Egypt was taken care by the company of the " National Messaging ", become shortly after " Imperial Messaging ". Then, in 1862, the intermediate stopover of Malta was transferred in Messina. The normal frequency of the crossings between Marseille and Alexandria was two journeys a month.
The Office of Alexandria was the French Office of the East which knew the longest period of activity because its permanent closure intervened only 31 Mars 1931. (Source: Robert Dessert)
Diamond of Points : Small Figures 3704 and Big Figures 5080
Letter of Alexandria (Egypt) of April 30th, 1861 for Naples (Italy) two-colored mixed postage
In 90 centimes with one 80c and one 10c empire cancelled ND PC 3704