Mersa Matruh (Arabic: مرسى مطروح), also transliterated as Marsa Matruh (Standard Arabic Marsā Maṭrūḥ, [ˈmæɾsæ mɑtˤˈɾuːħ]), is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located 240 km (150 mi) west of Alexandria and 222 km (138 mi) east of Sallum on the main highway from the Nile Delta to the Libyan border. The city is also accessible from the south via another highway running through the Western Desert towards Siwa Oasis and Bahariya Oasis.
Mersa Matruh was a major grain port under the Romans and a military base of the British Empire. During World War II, several battles were fought around its environs as the Italo-German Panzer Army Africa attempted to capture the port. It fell to the Axis during the Battle of Mersa Matruh but was recaptured following the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Mersa Matruh is served by Mersa Matruh International Airport. The city features soft white sand beaches and calm transparent waters; the bay is protected from the high seas by a series of rocks forming a natural breakwater, with a small opening to allow access for light vessels.
Mersa Matruh[clarification needed] began as a small fishing town but was important enough to host an Egyptian temple under Ramesses II c. 1200 BC. It prospered as the port for the 8th-century BC oracle of Amun Ra at the Siwa Oasis.
It became known as Ammonia (Greek: Ἀμμωνία, Ammōnía)[citation needed] after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great of Macedon in the 4th century BC. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty and Romans, it was also known as Paraetonium[2][3] (Koinē Greek: Παραιτόνιον, Paraitónion; Coptic: ⲧⲡⲁⲣⲁⲧⲟⲛⲓⲟⲛ, Tparatonion).[4] It served as a major transit port for Egyptian grain to Rome. Ovid wrote that its patron goddess during his era was Isis.[5]
The city was Christianized by the 6th century, when a chapel was built in the Byzantine style.[6]
After the 7th-century conquest of Egypt by the Caliphate, it became known as Baritun (Arabic: البارتون, al-Bāritūn). The city also bore other names from at least the beginning of the 20th century: Berek Marsa, Port Mhaddra (Mithr), and Port Bardiah.[7]
During World War II, the British Army's Baggush Box was located to the east of the city. Starting with the completion of an extension from the previous railhead at Fuka in February 1936,[8] Mersa Matruh was the terminus for a single-track railway, which passed through El Alamein. Mersa Matruh served as a vital British military base during World War II and was a major objective of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, which captured it during the Battle of Mersa Matruh.
During the Arab Spring in early 2011, protests broke out in the city. On the evening of 2 October 2023, during the lead up to the 2023 Egyptian presidential election, a Nation's Future Party (Mostakbal El-Watan) rally in support of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi turned into Anti-Sisi protests with protesters burning photos of El-Sisi and chanting chants against him.[citation needed]
Mersa Matruh has a dry-summer hot desert climate (BWhs) according to Köppen climate classification, but winds blowing from the Mediterranean Sea greatly moderate the temperature, making its summers moderately hot and humid while its winters are mild and moderately wet. Summers are sunny and dry, while in the colder months, there is some rain and cloud cover. Sleet and hail are common in winter.[citation needed]
Mersa Matruh and Port Said have the coolest summer days of all Egyptian cities and resorts, although not significantly cooler than other northern coastal places. Additionally Rafah, Alexandria, Abu Qir, Rosetta, Baltim, Kafr el-Dawwar and Mersa Matruh are the wettest in Egypt.
