Abū Qīr, also Abukir, bay in northern Egypt, between the Rosetta mouth of the Nile River and the city of Alexandria. Abū Qīr Bay was the scene of the defeat of the French fleet by British forces under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson in the Battle of the Nile, on August 1-2, 1798. The following year Napoleon defeated an Ottoman army at the village of Abū Qīr, which is on the shore of the bay, near Alexandria. The ancient Egyptian temple city of Canopus was located near Abū Qīr.