QALYUBIYAH, AL-

also spelled Kalyubia, small muhafazah (governorate), just north of Cairo at the apex of the Nile River delta, Lower Egypt. It is bounded on the northeast by Ash-Sharqiyah muhafazah and on the northwest by the Damietta Branch of the Nile. With a total area of 387 square miles (1,001 square km), it is densely populated. About three-fifths of its population relies on agriculture. The alluvial farmland is irrigated mainly by the At-Tawfiqi Canal, which parallels the Nile, and by the Al-Isma'iliyah Canal to the east. The principal crops are corn (maize), cotton, wheat, and clover. There are also market gardens and orchards catering to the Cairo markets. The muhafazah's mineral resources are phosphates and basalt, at Abu Za'bal, on the eastern fringe of the cultivated zone. There is also a chemicals plant, producing fertilizer, sulfuric acid, oleum, and aerosols. The principal towns are Banha, (q.v.), capital of the muhafazah, and Qalyub. At Musturud there is an oil refinery, located on the Suez-Mediterranean oil pipeline. Pop. (1986 est.) 2,514,244.