BUHAYRAH, AL-

also spelled Beheira, muhafazah (governorate) of the Nile Delta, Lower Egypt. It embraces the whole of the delta west of the Rosetta Branch, with a considerable desert region to the south, and has a total area of 3,911 square miles (10,130 square km). The capital and largest city is Damanhur (q.v.); other principal towns are Idku, Kafr Salim, and Rosetta (Rashid), where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. The area's political history dates from the division of Egypt into provinces by the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir (ruled AD 103694), when Damanhur was made its capital. Agriculture is the principal occupation of the delta portion of the governorate; long-staple cotton is the major crop. Rice, other cereals, potatoes, sugar beets, onions, peanuts (groundnuts), tomatoes, and sesame are also harvested, and there are vineyards near Alexandria. The barrage on the Rosetta Branch at Idfina, 12 miles (20 km) southeast of Rosetta, supplies irrigation water during the low (winter) season and also prevents seawater from entering the irrigation channels. Along the an-Nubariyah Canal, in the western part of the governorate, a large reclamation project has converted unproductive land to vegetable-producing farmland. The Tahrir Authority has also undertaken an extensive agricultural reclamation project in the far western part of the governorate, which includes housing projects and health clinics. Natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) is obtained from the lake-dotted depression of Gharraqat al-Barnuji, 12 miles (19 km) south of Damanhur, and from the an-Natrun Wadi, in the southwestern desert area. At Kafr ad-Dawwar southeast of Alexandria there are cellophane and textile mills. In the mid-1970s a major natural-gas deposit was discovered offshore in Abu Qir Bay, and it has since been developed to power industries in the northern part of al-Buhayrah governorate and in Alexandria. The governorate is crossed by two Suez-Mediterranean oil pipelines. Sadat City, 57 miles (92 km) northwest of Cairo, was built in the late 1970s on the Fu'ad al-Auwa desert highway to house new industries and also to relieve the overpopulation of Cairo. At Kawm Ju'ayf are the ruins of ancient Naukratis, a Greek trading centre that flourished in the 6th century BC. A railway along the north coast links Alexandria to Rosetta and Idfina; the CairoAlexandria highway with a railway parallel to it crosses the governorate. The newer Fu'ad al-Auwa limited-access highway crosses the desert in western al-Buhayrah governorate, bypassing the densely populated delta region. Pop. (1990 est.) 3,602,000.