Beheira Governorate
Beheira governorate is located on the coast of the Nile Delta in the north of Egypt. Its capital is the city of Damanhur. The name 'Beheira' means 'the Lake' in Arabic, and true to its namesake, the governorate is home to many water bodies of the Delta region. This governorate is particularly important because of the city of Rosetta, one of Egypt's most important port cities. Beheira governorate is not a highly-populated region; the average population density is only approximately 500 per square kilometer. Various vital industries, including textiles, fisheries, carpet weaving, chemical production factories, and electrical power generation, highly influence the economic health of this governorate region. Beheira is also rich in the cultivation of cotton, potato, and dates, giving rise to the related industries of potato processing, picking dates, and cotton ginning.
Features of Some of The Cities of the Beheira Governorate
Beheira governorate consists of 14 cities and 13 centers: Damanhur (the capital), Abu Hummus, Abou El Matamer, Edko, El Delengat, El Mahmoudiyah, Rahmaniya, Etay El Barud, Hosh Issa, Kafr el-Dawwar, Kom Hamada, Nubariyah, Rosetta, Shubrakhit, Wadi El Natrun, and Badr. Egypt's four significant highways interconnect all these cities: the Cairo-Alex.
Damanhur
This prominent city in lower Egypt is the capital of the Beheira governorate. According to the Egyptian script, its name means 'the city of the God Horus,' as this ancient city was dedicated in the name of the Egyptian deity Horus.
This prominent city in lower Egypt is the capital of the Beheira governorate. According to the Egyptian script, its name means 'the city of the God Horus,' as this ancient city was dedicated to the Egyptian deity Horus. It is a densely populated city that recently made headlines as the birthplace of Ahmed H. Zewail, the 1999 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Wadi El Natrun
This town is located in a valley of the same name. It received its name from natron salt, a special kind of salt produced from the eight lakes of the region. In ancient Christian Scriptures, this town was mentioned as Scetis. It is particularly famous for housing some of Egypt's oldest Christian monastery sites. These monasteries are sacred to Christians and were inhabited by some revered Christian saints, including Saint Amun, Saint Arsenius, and Saint Samuel the Confessor.
Abu Hummus
This is a medium-sized town and one of the administrative centers of Beheira. It is named after a well-known local sheik who lived there years ago. Abu Hummus is also famous because it is where you can see the Nakhla meteorite, which fell near the town in 1911, most likely from Mars.
Rosetta
Rosetta is an economically vital port city near Alexandria. In earlier times, it was known as 'Rashid' in Arabic, which means 'Guide'. The town was renamed 'Rosetta' by French invaders in 1249, who named it after the Rosetta Stone, a granodiorite stele, on which a decree of King Ptolemy V was written in 196 B.C. Rosetta is a popular tourist destination due to the presence of a palace built during Ottoman rule called Fort Julien. Fort Julien was created by the French in 1799 and has beautiful architecture and numerous orchards surrounding it of delicious citrus fruits. Rosetta became famous as a tourist location for British tourists in the 19th century.
Kafr el-Dawwar
This is the seat of several key industries, including a power generation plant, textile industries, paints, chemicals, and silk fibers. Misr Spinning and Weaving Company is the largest industrial company in this city. Some ancient pyramids of the rulers of the Ptolemaic period near this city are also well-known tourist attractions.
