BAHR AL-AHMAR, AL-

muhafazah (governorate) of Egypt, comprising much of the Eastern Desert (also called Arabian Desert) east of the Nile River Valley to the Red Sea; its name means red sea. It extends from approximately 29 N latitude southward to the frontier of The Sudan. On the west it is bounded from north to south by the governorates of the Nile River Valley of Upper Egypt. Its total area is 78,643 square miles (203,685 square km), about one-fifth of the total area of Egypt. The well-dissected Eastern Desert consists of a rolling limestone highland that falls away abruptly in bluffs on the Nile River and extends southward to a point roughly opposite Qina, where it breaks up into cliffs about 1,600 feet (488 m) high, deeply scored by wadis (seasonal watercourses). From east of Qina southward, the Nubian sandstone prevails, deeply indented by ravines and wadis. Small seminomadic settlements are scattered throughout. From 50 to 85 miles (80 to 137 km) east of the Nile River, the desert highland merges into a series of volcanic, arid mountain chains generally trending northsouth, rising to 6,0006,500 feet in the south. The northern boundary of al-Bahr al-Ahmar is near the southern extreme of the Jalalah al-Bahriyah Uplands, which rise to 4,183 feet (1,275 m) in southern as-Suways (Suez) governorate. The next group south are the al-Jalalat al-Qibliyah Uplands, which rise to a peak of 4,839 feet (1,475 m). Just west-northwest of the peak is the Christian monastery of St. Anthony (Arabic Dayr al-Qaddis Antun); across the crest of the range to the southeast is the monastery of St. Paul. The Eastern Desert has no artesian wells and possesses only a few mountain springs, but it receives occasional rainfall. Where the mountains fall away to the Red Sea, there is a coastal plain, which supports most of the sedentary population. Nomadic desert dwellers live by herding and trading with the mining and petroleum camps; others make up fishing communities on the Red Sea. In the 1960s mineral deposits began to be exploited in al-Bahr al-Ahmar. Offshore and onshore oil fields, of which the largest is the al-Morgan field, located approximately 125 miles (200 km) south of Suez, have produced most of Egypt's petroleum since the 1970s, and additional fields in the Gulf of Suez have started production. The Eastern Desert also yields asbestos, manganese, phosphates, uranium, and gold. Al-Qusayr, the main Egyptian port in the Red Sea proper south of Suez (because coral reefs fringe most of the coast), has large phosphate deposits and a plant that processes the mined phosphates for shipment. The capital of the governorate is al-Ghurdaqah (see Ghurdaqah, al-), a major oil centre and site of an oil field. Other industrial sites or ports are Bur Safajah, Hamrawein, and 'Ayn Sukhnah, which is the Gulf of Suez terminal of an oil pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea. From the mountains of the Eastern Desert, alabaster, porphyry, granite, and sandstone are still mined as in pharaonic times. A highway along the Red Sea coast links Suez and the Sudanese frontier, and four highways lead across the desert to the Nile Valley. Pop. (1986 est.) 74,000.