ZAQAZIQ, AZ-

also spelled Zagazig, city and capital of ash-Sharqiyah muhafazah (governorate), Egypt, on the Nile River delta north-northeast of Cairo. The city dates from the 1820s, when cotton cultivation spread to the eastern delta. Located at the junction of two irrigation canals (Tur'at as-Suways al-Hulwah [Sweetwater Canal] and Tur'at al-Mu'iz), az-Zaqaziq is about 1 mile (2 km) north of mounds marking the site of the 4th-dynasty city of Bubastis. An important road and railway junction, the city is a major cotton and grain market. Pop. (1991 est.) 279,000.