MINYA, AL-

also spelled Menia city and capital of Al-Minya muhafazah (governorate), in the Nile River valley of Upper Egypt. Al-Minya is linked to Cairo (140 miles north-northeast) by rail; it is a trading and administrative centre on the west bank of the Nile. Besides serving as a market and financial centre for the governorate, Al-Minya has cotton gins and flour mills, a sugar refinery, and a carpet- and rug-weaving industry. The city has a television station, a university, and an automobile ferry to the east bank of the Nile. Because of its road and rail links, it has become a transit point for tourists visiting Middle Egypt, and there are several hotels in the city. Across the Nile to the southeast, at Zawiyat al-Amwat, lie ruins of the ancient town Menat Khufu, from which Al-Minya derives its name. It was the ancestral home of the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575c. 2465 BC). Remains of the Gerzean prehistoric period have been found, and a small pyramid of the 3rd dynasty stands there. About half the population is Coptic Christian. Pop. (1986 prelim.) 179,136. muhafazah (governorate) in Upper Egypt, between Bani Suwayf governorate to the north and Asyut governorate to the south. It occupies a settled area of 873 square miles (2,262 square km) in the floodplain of the Nile River and extends for about 75 miles (120 km) along the river but also includes a section of the Western Desert, extending out toward the oases. To the west and east it merges into desert terrain, and the cultivated floodplain on the eastern bank is very narrow. Iron ore is found in the desert west of the river valley, and limestone is quarried on the eastern bank, north of Al-Minya city. The area is heavily agricultural, the chief crops being cotton, corn (maize), wheat, dates, sugarcane, millet, and onions. Industrial activities include cotton ginning and flour milling. Al-Minya city, Abu Qurgas, and Shaykh Fadl have sugar mills. Other towns include Mallawi and Bani Mazar. Sites with antiquities are located at Bani Hasan ash-Shuriq, Ash-Ashmunein (ancient Hermopolis), and Tunat al-Jabal, all south of Al-Minya city. Mallawi has a regional museum with antiquities from sites in the governorate. Pop. (1986 prelim.) 2,648,043.