- Tanta
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/tahn"tah/, n.a city in N Egypt, in the Nile delta. 240,500.
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▪ Egyptcity and capital of Al-Gharbīyah (Gharbīyah, Al-) muḥāfaẓah (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 Cairo–Alexandria superhighway. It is also a junction for railways leading to Alexandria and Damietta and serving the flat, alluvial muḥāfaẓah.A centre of Arab learning and pilgrimage, Ṭanṭā's most revered possession is the mosque and tomb of Aḥmad al-Badawī, a 13th-century Islamic marabout (holy man) born at Fès (Morocco). Three important annual feasts are celebrated in Ṭanṭā, including the birthday of the marabout. In addition to the Islamic schools attached to Al-Aḥmad Mosque, there is the Arabic college of Al-Aḥmadi (renamed Ṭanṭā 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. Ṭanṭā University opened in 1972, and another college opened in the early '80s. Ṭanṭā 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. (1996) 371,010.* * *
Universalium. 2010.