GHARBIYAH, AL-

muhafazah (governorate) in the middle Nile Delta, Lower Egypt, bounded on the east and west by the Damietta and the Rosetta branches of the Nile, on the north by Kafr ash-Shaykh muhafazah, and by al-Minufiyah muhafazah to the south. Its area is 750 square miles (1,942 square km); the muhafazah's capital has been at the cultural centre and transportation node of Tanta (q.v.) since 1836. An administrative unit named al-Gharbiyah has existed since the early Muslim period. It formerly included the entire central delta north to the Mediterranean, but in 1949 Fu'adiyah mudiriyah (province), named for former king Fu'ad I, was created out of the northern part of al-Gharbiyah. Renamed in 1955, after the overthrow of the monarchy (1952), it is now the muhafazah of Kafr ash-Shaykh. Southern al-Gharbiyah has a population density exceeding 2,000 persons per square mile (775 persons per square km). The fertile, flat land of the governate has a network of irrigation canals and is a cotton-growing centre. Rice, grains, and fruit are also grown. A barrage at Zifta raises the level of the Damietta Branch to supply irrigation canals within the area and to the north and east. Important market towns with industries largely based on agriculture are Zifta, Basyun, and Tanta; al-Mahallah al-Kubra is a major textile centre. Kafr az-Zayyat on the right bank of the Rosetta Branch has one of the country's largest cotton ginneries as well as soap and chemical works. In the governorate's northwestern section, on the right bank of the Rosetta and north of the village of Sa al-Hajar, is ancient Sais. The railway from Cairo splits at Tanta, with the western branch going to Alexandria and the eastern to Damietta; branches off the main lines serve towns in the governorate. Pop. (1985 est.) 2,847,000.