TANTA

city and capital of al-Gharbiyah mu- hafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt, in the Nile Delta. It lies on an irrigation canal almost midway between the Rosetta (west) and Damietta (east) branches of the Nile on the CairoAlexandria superhighway. It is also a junction for railways leading to Alexandria and Damietta and serving the flat, alluvial muhafazah. A centre of Arab learning and pilgrimage, Tanta's most revered possession is the mosque and tomb of Ahmad al-Badawi, a 13th-century Islamic marabout (holy man) born at Fs (Morocco). Three important annual feasts are celebrated in Tanta, including the birthday of the marabout. In addition to the Islamic schools attached to al-Ahmad Mosque, there is the Arabic college of al-Ahmadi (renamed Tanta Institute), one of the oldest in Egypt. It was founded in 1276 and was reorganized in 1769 as an affiliate of al-Azhar University of Cairo. Tanta University opened in 1972, and another college opened in the early '80s. Tanta was one of two Coptic bishoprics created in 1895 under the Patriarch of Alexandria. Industries include petroleum refining, cotton ginning, cottonseed oil extracting, wool spinning, flour milling, and the production of tobacco products and pasta (macaroni). The older Suez-Mediterranean oil pipeline runs through the city. Pop. (1986 prelim.) 334,505.