1.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
2.
Ismailia
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Ismailia is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Known in Egypt as The City of Beauty and Enchantment, Ismailia is situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, the city has a population of approximately 750,000 inhabitants. It is located halfway between Port Said to the north and Suez to the south. The Canal widens at that point to include Lake Timsah, one of the Bitter Lakes linked by the Canal, Ismailia was founded in 1863, during the construction of the Suez Canal, by Khedive Ismail the Magnificent, after whom the city is named. Following the Battle of Kafr-el-Dawwar in 1882 the British established a base there, the head office of the Suez Canal Authority is located in Ismailia at the shore of Lake Timsah. It still has a number of buildings dating from British. Most of these buildings are used by Canal employees and officials. During World War I the British had an air base there, in 1973 the Battle of Ismailia took place in the city. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Ismailia by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928, an underground paramilitary wing was established in the 1940s, primarily to fight British occupation forces. In the early 1950s, Ismailia hosted the British Military HQ, British forces pulled out of Ismailia in 1954. On 1982.12.17 an Eparchy of Ismayliah was established on territory split off from the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria and they face educational problems schools all around Egypt face. Private tutoring is widely accessible and is almost a requirement for all students. Two international schools, Manar Language School and Educational Language Complex School offer American Diploma, Ismailia is the home of Suez Canal University, established in 1976 to serve the region of Suez Canal and Sinai. Suez Canal University now is one of the fastest growing institutions in Egypt with many students studying abroad. The new university of Suez Canal University was established with the help of the Chinese Government, Ismailia hosts two important festivals each year. The first is the International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts that is held in June, in June 2014 the 17th consecutive festival was organized. The second is the Ismailia International Folklore Arts Festival that is held in September, in this festival folkloric troupes from all around the globe meet in Ismailia, where they perform folkloric dances representing the culture of their countries. A major attraction is the Ismailia Museum which was built in 1932, visitors will find a variety of significant archaeological finds especially from sites in the Ismailia governorate such as Tell el-Maskhuta, from North Sinai, and from Upper Egypt
3.
Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, after 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17,1869. It extends from the terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels, in 2012,17,225 vessels traversed the canal. The original canal was a waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it, in general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km to speed the canals transit time, the expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities, the New Suez Canal, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel and this side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. Ancient west–east canals were built to travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II. Another canal, probably incorporating a portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II, the legendary Sesostris may have started work on an ancient canal joining the Nile with the Red Sea. In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote, One of their kings tried to make a canal to it, so he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote,165. Later the Persian king Darius had the idea, and yet again Ptolemy II. This proved to be the canal made by the Persian king Darius I
4.
War of Attrition
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The War of Attrition involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, PLO and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no diplomatic efforts tried to resolve the issues at the heart of the Arab–Israeli conflict. In September 1967, the Arab states formulated the three nos policy, barring peace, recognition or negotiations with Israel and these initially took the form of limited artillery duels and small-scale incursions into Sinai, but by 1969 the Egyptian Army judged itself prepared for larger-scale operations. On March 8,1969, Nasser proclaimed the launch of the War of Attrition, characterized by large-scale shelling along the Suez Canal, extensive aerial warfare. Hostilities continued until August 1970 and ended with a ceasefire, the remaining the same as when the war began. Israels victory in the Six-Day War left the entirety of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula up to the bank of the Suez Canal under Israeli control. Egypt was determined to regain Sinai, and also sought to mitigate the severity of its defeat, sporadic clashes were taking place along the cease-fire line, and Egyptian missile boats sank the Israeli destroyer INS Eilat on October 21 of the same year. Israel responded with aerial bombardments, airborne raids on Egyptian military positions, the international community and both countries attempted to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Fearing the escalation of the conflict into an East vs, in August 1970, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt agreed to an in place ceasefire under the terms proposed by the Rogers Plan. The plan contained restrictions on missile deployment by both sides, and required the cessation of raids as a precondition for peace and these plans would materialize three years later in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Ultimately, Israel would return Sinai to Egypt after the two signed a peace treaty. Various military historians have commented on the war with differing opinions, chaim Herzog notes that Israel withstood the battle and adapted itself to a hitherto alien type of warfare. Zeev Schiff notes that though Israel suffered losses, she was able to preserve her military accomplishments of 1967. The Egyptian Air Force and Air Defense Forces performed poorly, Egyptian pilots were rigid, slow to react and unwilling to improvise. According to U. S. intelligence estimates, Egypt lost 109 aircraft, most in air-to-air combat and it took a salvo of 6 to 10 SA-2 Egyptian anti-aircraft missiles to obtain a better than fifty percent chance of a hit. An Israeli armored infantry company attacks the Egyptian force, the Israeli company drives off the Egyptians but loses 1 dead and 13 wounded. However, another claims that an Israeli attack on Port Fuad was repulsed. July 2,1967, The Israeli Air Force bombs Egyptian artillery positions that had supported the commandos at Ras Al-Ish, july 4,1967, Egyptian Air Force jets strike several Israeli targets in Sinai
5.
Isma'il Pasha
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Ismail Pasha, known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom. His philosophy can be glimpsed at in a statement that he made in 1879, My country is no longer in Africa and it is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions. In 1867 he also secured Ottoman and international recognition for his title of Khedive in preference to Wāli which was used by his predecessors in the Ottoman Eyalet of Egypt. The second of the three sons of Ibrahim Pasha, and the grandson of Muhammad Ali, Ismail, of Albanian descent, was born in Cairo at Al Musafir Khana Palace and his mother was Circassian Hoshiar, third wife of his father. She was reportedly a sister of Valide Sultan Pertevniyal, Pertevniyal was a wife of Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire and mother of Abdülaziz I. In 1861 he was dispatched at the head of an army of 18,000 to quell an insurrection in Sudan, after the death of Said, Ismail was proclaimed Khedive on 19 January 1863, though the Ottoman Empire and the other Great Powers recognized him only as Wāli. Like all Egyptian and Sudanese rulers since his grandfather Muhammad Ali Pasha, he claimed the title of Khedive. Finally, in 1867, Ismail succeeded in persuading the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz to grant a firman finally recognizing him as Khedive in exchange for an increase in the tribute and he greatly expanded Cairo, building an entire new quarter of the city on its western edge modeled on Paris. He launched a vast railroad building project that saw Egypt and Sudan rise from having virtually none to the most railways per habitable kilometer of any nation in the world, education reform more than tenfold increased the education budget. Traditional primary and secondary schools were expanded and specialized technical and vocational schools were created, students were once again sent to Europe to study on educational missions, encouraging the formation of a Western-trained elite. A national library was founded in 1871, one of his most significant achievements was to establish an assembly of delegates in November 1866. Though this was supposed to be an advisory body, its members eventually came to have an important influence on governmental affairs. Village headmen dominated the assembly and came to exert increasing political and economic influence over the countryside and this was shown in 1876, when the assembly persuaded Ismail to reinstate the law that allowed landownership and tax privileges to persons paying six years land tax in advance. Ismail tried to reduce slave trading and extended Egypts rule in Africa, Ismail dreamt of expanding his realm across the entire Nile including its diverse sources, and over the whole African coast of the Red Sea. This, together with rumours about rich raw material and fertile soil, in 1865 the Ottoman Sublime Porte ceded the Ottoman Province of Habesh to Ismail. This province, neighbor of Ethiopia, first consisted of a coastal strip only, here Ismail occupied regions originally claimed by the Ottomans when they had established the province of Habesh in the 16th century. New economically promising projects, like huge cotton plantations in the Barka delta, were started, in 1872 Bogos was annexed by the governor of the new Province of Eastern Sudan and the Red Sea Coast, Werner Munzinger Pasha. In October 1875 Ismails army occupied the adjacent highlands of Hamasien, in March 1876 Ismails army suffered a dramatic defeat after an attack by Yohanness army at Gura
6.
Battle of Ismailia
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Breaking out of their newly established bridgehead west of the Canal at the northern end of the Great Bitter Lake, the IDF launched an offensive from Deversoir toward Ismailia. A combined force of Egyptian paratroopers and commandos fought a battle, falling back upon defensive positions further north under increasing pressure from IDF infantry. By October 22, they were occupying a last line of defense, though outnumbered, they repulsed a final Israeli effort to capture the city, a United Nations ceasefire was then imposed, bringing the battle to an end. On October 6,1973, Egypt launched Operation Badr, which started the Yom-Kippur War and it succeeded in crossing the Suez Canal and establishing bridgeheads on the east bank in Israeli-occupied Sinai, and counter-attacks by launched by Israeli reserves were unsuccessful. By October 10, fighting along the front had come to a lull, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat soon ordered an offensive to seize the strategic Sinai mountain passes, despite protests and objections by his senior commanders against such an offensive. Sadat hoped to divert Israeli pressure from the Syrians, the October 14 offensive was ill-planned and ill-executed, and culminated in heavy Egyptian losses without achieving any objectives. Optimistically planned, the operation began smoothly, but quickly ran into problems, the Israelis faced difficulties in establishing a corridor to the canal due to unexpectedly determined resistance by Egyptian defenses, in what became known as the Battle of the Chinese Farm. After several days of fighting, they were able to secure the roads to the canal. By the next day there were three Israeli armored divisions across the canal, the west bank of the canal was lined with a series of ramparts up to 30 meters high, which the Egyptians referred to as strong points. These were used during the days of the war to allow Egyptian forces to directly fire on the Israelis on the east bank. There were five points between the Great Bitter Lake and the Ismailia Canal, from north to south, a pumping station at Deversoir. The area was agricultural, intersected with dikes and irrigation ditches. There were several villages and numerous farms, especially orchards of mango, the density of foliage made the terrain unsuitable for vehicles. The Israelis called it the jungle or Vietnam, west of the Suez Canal, and running parallel to it, was the Sweetwater Canal, which distributed freshwater to the inhabitants of the canal zone and its cities. It branched from the Ismailia Canal, running east from the Nile River near Cairo to Lake Timsah at Ismailia, there were four bridges across the Ismailia Canal. The first was the Abu Gamus Bridge at Ismailia, two bridges, one railroad and one vehicular, were located at the village of Nafisha, on the western outskirts of Ismailia. Further west was the Upper Bridge, as it was called, engineers had wired the bridges with demolition charges for destruction should they fall to the Israelis. Second Armys reserve included the 10th and 118th Mechanized Infantry Brigades, azmy arrived at Nafisha with the bulk of his brigade at midnight on October 17, where he was briefed by Brigadier General Abd el-Munim Khalil, commander of Second Army
7.
Minya Governorate
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Minya Governorate is one of the governorates of Upper Egypt. Its capital city, Minya is located on the bank of the Nile River. The name may originate from the citys name in Egyptian Menat Khufu. According to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the live in rural areas. Out of an estimated 5,156,702 people residing in the governorate,4,183,284 people live in areas as opposed to only 973,418 in urban areas. The capital of Minya governorate is the city of Minya, the governorate is one of the most highly populated governorates of Upper Egypt. Its remarkable history, including Ancient Egyptian, Hellenistic, Roman, dehnet, Fraser Tombs, Sharuna, and Zawyet el-Maiyitin comprise monuments dating back to the Old Kingdom. The village of Bani Hasan al Shurruq houses 390 rock-cut decorated tombs, the Speos Artemidos is nearby, and hosts temples built by Queen Hatshepsut. Akhetaten was built by Pharaoh Akhenaten and dedicated to the god Aten, Akhenaten lived there in isolation with his beautiful wife, Nefertiti, and daughters, devoting himself to the monotheistic religion that he preached. The glorious remains of the palaces, temples and tombs still exist today, other significant archaeological sites in the governorate of Minya include Deir Abu Hinis, Deir el-Bersha, El-Sheikh Said, and Tuna el-Gebel. El Ashmunein was the capital of the region during this period and it was the main center of worship of the god Thoth. Today, the ruins of a Greek temple, similar to the Parthenon, the tomb and chapel of Petosiris are found near the modern village of Tuna el-Gebel. Antinopolis was built in 130 A. D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian in memory of his favorite cup-bearer Antinous, the Monastery of the Virgin Mary at Gebel el-Teir is an important Christian site near the city of Samalut. Its church was built by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, in 328, oxyrhynchus was an important administrative center during the Hellenistic Period, and remains an important archaeological source for papyri from the Byzantine Egypt. Maghagha hosts the mosque of the famous Muslim Zayid ibn al Mugharah, today, Minya governorate has the highest concentration of Coptic Christians of 50% of the total population. There are also a number of monasteries in the region. In 1981, the Basic Village Service Program of USAID, had several water, in 2013, The United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security helped farmers in Minya by doing consultation work with them and taking soil samples. The national holiday of the Minya governorate is on 18 March and it commemorates those who were executed by the British at Deir Mawas on 18 March 1919
8.
Beheira Governorate
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Beheira Governorate is a coastal governorate in Egypt. Located in the part of the country in the Nile Delta. Beheira Governorate enjoys an important strategical place, west of the Rosetta branch of the Nile and it comprises four important highways, namely the Cairo-Alexandria desert road, the Cairo agricultural road, the international road and the circular road. Beheira Governorate is also home to a number of the most important Coptic monasteries in Wadi El Natrun, beheira consists of 13 centers and 14 cities, and contains important industries such as cotton, chemicals, carpets, electricity and fishing. In 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi appointed the first female governor in the history for Beheiras Governorate. According to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the live in rural areas. Out of an estimated 5,804,262 people residing in the governorate,4,674,346 people live in areas as opposed to only 1,129,916 in urban areas
9.
Lake Timsah
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Lake Timsah, also known as Crocodile Lake, is a lake in Egypt on the Nile delta. It lies in a basin developed along a fault extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez through the Bitter Lakes region. In 1800, a flood filled the Wadi Tumilat, which caused Timsahs banks to overflow, in 1862, the lake was filled with waters from the Red Sea. Lake Timsah lies within a depression that spans the isthmus between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the lowest points of the depression form shallow natural lakes, of which Timsah is one. The surface area of Lake Timsah covers 5.4 square miles, most of the lake is marshy and depth rarely exceeds 3 feet. It has been asserted that, in ancient times, Lake Timsah was the terminus of the Red Sea. March 4,1863, the city of Ismailia, named in honor of the viceroy Ismail Pasha, several beaches overlook the lake, including the Moslem Youth, Fayrouz, Melaha, Bahary, Taawen, and a few Suez Canal Authority beaches. Lake Timsah possibly first became a juncture for canal construction approximately 4,000 years ago during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Suez Canal construction in the vicinity of Lake Timsah began in 1861 on the segment north of the lake. Initial preparations included the construction of sheds to house 10,000 workers, steam sawmills,3,000 laborers dug a channel from the Nile to Lake Timsah in 1861 and 1862, which brought a fresh water supply to the area. It was also proposed to construct a port at this point along the canal. The Ismailia section of the Suez Canal, which connected Lake Manzala to Lake Timsah, was completed in November 1862, construction of the segment was completed with forced labor, which expanded the workforce to 18,000 men. The trench measured 50 feet wide by four to six feet deep, work began south of Lake Timsah in 1862-1863 as expansion continued on the northern segment. Forced labor was used during construction from March 1862 until Ismail Pasha outlawed the practice in 1864. As a result of the canal, waters from Lake Manzaleh flowed into Lake Timsah, expansion continued on the northern segment until 1867 and on the southern segment until 1876. Lake Timsah is a lake that experiences significant variations in salinity. Human engineering projects have impacted salinity, with resulting changes in the lakes biota, the El-Gamil outlet serves as Lake Timsahs principal source of salt water. Timsahs main source of water was annual Nile flooding until the Aswan High Dam interrupted these flows in 1966. Lake Timsah experiences both stratification variations in salinity and seasonal variations in salinity, and in recent decades freshwater taxa have been overtaking brackish taxa
10.
Port Said Governorate
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Port Said Governorate is one of the Canal Zone governorates of Egypt. It is located in the part of the country, on the Mediterranean Sea at the northern gate of the Suez Canal. Its capital is the city of Port Said, it is the home of the Suez Canal Authority headquarters and it is urban with 98. 2% of the area populated. Port Said Governorate also includes Port Fuad, in 2015 a huge natural gas reserve was discovered and was described as the largest ever found in the Mediterranean Sea. It was found off the coast of Port Said, Egypt now has one of the largest areas of natural gas and Italian company, ENI has been contracted to work on the natural gas liquefaction for Egypt. It was welcome news as Egypt has long suffered an energy crisis, the New Suez Canal project launched in 2015 included dredging of the East Port Said Canal. Port Said Port Fuad At the 2006 Census, there were 570,768 people,2015 estimates put that figure at 666,599. With an urbanization rate of 100%, the Port Said Governorate is one of the most urbanized in the country, along with Cairo, in February,2012, more than 70 people died in the Port Said Stadium Riot after a soccer match. Social unrest in early 2013 continued for at least two weeks, while protesting, on March 5,2013, protesters set fire to the governorates headquarters and several people were injured. In October,2016 Egyptians protested the increase in their rent on apartments, one official and several residents were arrested. Port Said Governorate is a transit point for trade, importing and exporting millions of tons of goods each year. Tourism is also promoted for the region, there are several museums in this area. For cultural tourism one may want to visit the Port Said National Museum of Antiquities which opened in 1987 and is located at the confluence of the Suez Canal waters and the Mediterranean Sea. It houses about 9,000 artifacts from all eras, ranging from the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, the Military Museum of Port Said, established in 1964, commemorates the 1956 the tripartite aggression on the city. It features armory and military artifacts, equipment used in the wars fought between 1956 -1967 and in 1973, al-Nasr Museum of Modern Art in Port Said opened on December 25,1995 and includes artwork by Egyptian artists in various branches of Fine Art. This makes it a favorite with tourists, nearby, is the Suez Canal Authority building built on the banks of Port Said at the start of the project. The lighthouse and jetties at Port Said, located at the terminus of the Suez canal. The lighthouse is a monolith 180 feet high, in the construction 120,000 tons of Teil hydraulic lime were used
11.
Giza Governorate
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Giza Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in the center of the country, situated on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Cairo and its capital is the city of Giza. The Giza Governorate is also home to the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza, according to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the governorate live in urban areas, with an urbanization rate of 58. 6%. Out of an estimated 7,585,115 people residing in the governorate,4,446,805 people lived in areas as opposed to only 3,138,310 in rural areas. It is located in the Giza pyramid complex, in a program that began on August 28,2012, the European Union invested 40 million Euros on upgrading the infrastructure of informal areas in Giza Governorate. Media related to Giza Governorate at Wikimedia Commons
12.
Faiyum Governorate
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Faiyum Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt in the middle of the country. Its capital is the city of Faiyum, located about 81 mi south west of Cairo and it has a population of 3,072,181. The name Faiyum comes from Coptic ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ /Ⲡⲉⲓⲟⲙ efiom/peiom, meaning the Sea or the Lake, which in turn comes from late Egyptian pA y-m of the same meaning, a reference to the nearby Lake Moeris. The governorate of Faiyum includes, The large fertile Faiyum Oasis, which comprises farmland, Lake Moeris, south of the Faiyum Oasis, a smaller depression contains the town of El Gharaq el Sulţāni. It is also irrigated from the Nile, a dry barren depression named Wadi El Rayan, which covers 280 mi², west of the El Gharaq el Sulţāni depression. Desert and dry mountains, which surround the depressions. According to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the live in rural areas. Out of an estimated 3,170,150 people residing in the governorate,2,456,368 people live in areas as opposed to only 713,782 in urban areas. Fayoum Governorate Official website This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
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