Minya Governorate

Minya Governorate (Arabic: محافظة المنيا) sits in Middle Egypt, straddling the Nile about 245 kilometres south of Cairo. Its capital, Minya, stands on the west bank and is often called the Bride of Upper Egypt. The governorate holds 6,337,595 people (mid-2023 CAPMAS estimate) across 32,279 km², making it the most populous governorate in Middle Egypt.

Towns and Villages in Minya Governorate

This directory lists 481 mapped settlements in Minya, grouped under the markaz they sit nearest to. A few villages on a markaz border may belong to the neighbouring markaz. Populations are mid-2023 CAPMAS estimates.

Maghagha

Maghagha is the northernmost markaz, with 683,559 people. Maghagha town has about 118,000 residents, a sugar refinery and a railway station. 29 settlements are mapped.

• Abā al Waqf
• ‘Abbād Shārūnah
• Al ‘Abbāsīyah al Jadīdah
• Al Fānit
• Al Kawm al Akhḑar
• Ash Shaykh Ziyād
• Bilhāsah
• Dahrūţ
• ‘Ezbet Muhammad Gâd
• Ishnīn an Naşārá
• ‘Izbat ‘Abd al Mun‘im
• ‘Izbat al Amīrah Nāzli
• ‘Izbat ‘Alī al Liwā’
• ‘Izbat aş Şa‘āydah
• ‘Izbat Iţnīyah
• ‘Izbat Jirjis
• ‘Izbat Qarārah
• Jazīrat Shārūnah
• Kafr al Madāwir
• Kafr ash Shaykh Anas
• Maghāghah
• Malāţyah
• Mayyānah al Waqf
• Nazlat Awlād ash Shaykh
• Nazlat Bilhāsah
• Nazlat Dahrūţ
• Shārūnah
• Ţanbidī
• Zāwiyat al Jidāmī

El Idwa

El Idwa markaz counts 320,746 people on the west bank below Maghagha. Its town is small, near 26,000 residents, and the markaz is farming country throughout. 70 settlements are mapped.

• Abū Bisht
• Al Bājhūr
• Al Basqalūn
• Al Bilā‘izitayn
• Al ‘Idwah
• Al ‘Izbah al Khāmisah
• Al Jarnūs
• Al Qaryah Khamsah
• Al Qāyāt
• Ash Shaykh Mas‘ūd
• ‘Aţfat Ḩaydar
• Az Zawarah
• Bān al ‘Alam
• Banī ‘Āmir
• Banī Khālid al Baḩrīyah
• Banī Khilf
• Banī Wāllams
• Banī Wirkān
• Barmashā
• Burţubāţ al Jabal
• Dahmarū
• Dayr al Jarnūs
• ‘Izbah Sittah
• ‘Izbat Abū Gharrāqah
• ‘Izbat Abū ‘Uqaylah
• ‘Izbat al ‘Aqlīyah
• ‘Izbat al Fallāḩ
• ‘Izbat al Kāshif
• ‘Izbat al Malā’
• ‘Izbat al Masīd
• ‘Izbat al Mulk
• ‘Izbat as Sab‘ah al Baḩrīyah
• ‘Izbat as Sab‘ah al Qiblīyah
• ‘Izbat as Silḩadār
• ‘Izbat at Tawfīq Raqam Sab‘ah
• ‘Izbat ‘Azzām
• ‘Izbat Isḩāq
• ‘Izbat Kilānī Maḩmūd
• ‘Izbat Mū’nis
• ‘Izbat Qāsim
• ‘Izbat Qaşr ar Raqīb
• ‘Izbat Şādiq
• ‘Izbat Sayf ‘Abd al Jawwād
• ‘Izbat Sulaymān
• Kafr ‘Abd al Khāliq
• Kafr al Maghribī
• Kafr aş Şāliḩīn
• Kafr Mahdī
• Kawm al Ḩāşil
• Minshāt Ḩalfah
• Minshāt Niyāzī
• Nazlat Aḩmad Yūnus
• Nazlat al Azharī
• Nazlat ‘Aşr
• Nazlat Banī Khilf
• Nazlat Mūsá
• Nazlat Ramaḑān
• Nazlat Shīḩah
• Nuqţat Muqaydim al Fa’r
• Qaryah Sittah
• Qaryat at Taḩrīr
• Qaşr Lamlūm
• Şafānīyah
• Sakanāt ‘Arab ‘Alī ‘Abd al Karīm Ruḩayyim
• Sakanāt ‘Arab ‘Alī ‘Abd as Sayyid
• Salāqūs
• Shamm al Başal al Baḩrīyah
• Shamm al Başal al Qiblīyah
• ‘Urbān ash Shaykh Mas‘ūd
• Zāwiyat Barmashā

Beni Mazar

Beni Mazar holds 731,649 people, one of the larger marakiz. Beni Mazar town has about 116,000 residents and a long-running Monday market. 71 settlements are mapped.

• Abţūjah
• Abū al ‘Abbās
• Abū Jirj
• Al Bahnasā
• Al Fārūqīyah
• Al Jarābī‘
• Al Jundīyah
• Al Manshīyah al Jadīdah
• Al Mawaddah
• Al Qays
• Ashrūbah
• Ash Shaykh Faḑl
• As Sa‘dīyah
• Banī ‘Alī
• Banī Mazār
• Banī Sāmiţ
• Bardūnat al Ashrāf
• ‘Ezbet Nâshid
• Ḩamāḑah
• Ibshāq al Ghazāl
• ‘Izbat Abū al Hudá
• ‘Izbat Abū Jalāl
• ‘Izbat Abū Rajab
• ‘Izbat al Bābā al Gharbīyah
• ‘Izbat al Bābā ash Sharqīyah
• ‘Izbat al Jadādiqah
• ‘Izbat al Kawthar
• ‘Izbat al Ma‘ţan
• ‘Izbat al Mu’ayyad
• ‘Izbat ash Sharīf
• ‘Izbat aş Şa‘īdī
• ‘Izbat as Sayyid ‘Abd al Ḩāfiz
• ‘Izbat as Silsilah
• ‘Izbat ‘Azmī
• ‘Izbat Būlis
• ‘Izbat Fawzī Nāshid
• ‘Izbat Fayşal
• ‘Izbat Ḩaddād
• ‘Izbat Ḩassān ‘Abd ar Rāziq
• ‘Izbat Ḩusayn ‘Abd ar Rāziq
• ‘Izbat Kāmil Ibrāhīm
• ‘Izbat Khaţţāb
• ‘Izbat Raḑwān
• ‘Izbat Sab‘
• ‘Izbat Sayyid Aḩmad
• ‘Izbat Ţulbah
• ‘Izbat Waqf Salīm
• ‘Izbat Yannī al Gharbīyah
• ‘Izbat Yannī ash Sharqīyah
• ‘Izbat Zakī ‘Abd ar Rāziq
• ‘Izbat Zakī Murquş
• Kafr Abū al ‘Amūdayn
• Kafr ash Shaykh Ibrāhīm
• Kafr el Gharbâwi
• Mahmûd Galâl
• Mawqif al Qays
• Minshā’at al Yūsufī
• Minshāt Bakīr
• Naj‘ ‘Arab al Firjān
• Nazlat ad Dalīl
• Nazlat ‘Amr
• Nazlat Jalf
• Nujū‘ ‘Arab Ghālib Abū Ḩasab Allāh
• Qufādah
• Şafţ Abū Jirj
• Şandafā al Fār
• Sāqūlah
• Shulqām
• Ţanbū
• Umm as Sās
• U‘ţū al Waqf

Matai

Matai markaz counts 367,597 people. Matai town, with about 82,000 residents, sits on the west bank between Beni Mazar and Samalut. 40 settlements are mapped.

• Abū ‘Azīz
• Abwān az Zabādī
• Al Atlāt
• Al Himmah Numrah Wāḩid
• ‘Arab Najm Ḩamad
• Ar Rawḑah
• As Sinnārīyah
• At Tawfīqīyah
• Awlād ash Shaykh ‘Alī
• Banī ‘Ammār
• Bardanūhā
• Billah al Mustajiddah
• Dayr as Sanqūrīyah
• ‘Ezbet Ḥabîb Luṭfalla
• Hawwārah
• Ḩulwah
• Ibjāj al Ḩaţab
• Idqāq al Misk
• ‘Izbat ‘Abdah Abū al Jūd
• ‘Izbat as Suwāyţah
• Kafr al Kawādī
• Kawm Maţāy
• Kawm Wālī
• Kufūr aş Şūlīyah
• Marzūq
• Ma‘şarat Ḩajjāj
• Maţāy
• Minbāl
• Minshāt Fu’ād
• Naj‘ ‘Arab al Jawārī al Ḩumur
• Nazlat Abū Ḩusaybah
• Nazlat Abū Shiḩātah
• Nazlat Ḩannā Mas‘ūd
• Nazlat ‘Inānī
• Nazlat Nuşayr
• Nazlat Saylah
• Nazlat Thābit
• Nazlet Aulâd Dura
• Saylah al Gharbīyah
• Saylah ash Sharqīyah

Samalut

Samalut was divided into two marakiz, Samalut West with 552,908 people and Samalut East with 363,039. Samalut town, about 142,000 residents, serves both. The limestone quarries east of the river feed cement plants across Middle Egypt. The rock-cut Church of the Virgin at Gabal el-Teir draws pilgrims each August. 60 settlements are mapped.

• Abū Sīdhum
• Al ‘Awāyisah
• Al ‘Azīmah
• Al ‘Azīmah Numrah Khamsah
• Al Bayahū
• Al Ḩatāḩitah
• Al I‘tizāz
• Al Qaţūshah
• Al Wafā’ Numrah ‘Ithnayn
• Ash Sharāyinah
• Ash Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh
• As Sarīrīyah
• Aţ Ţayyibah
• Banī al Ḩakam
• Banī Ghanī
• Banī Samraj
• Būjah
• Dafash
• Dāqūf
• Dayr Samālūţ
• Dilqam
• ‘Ezbet el-Higâra
• ‘Ezbet Gadalla Ḥanna
• ‘Ezbet Muṣṭafa Ḥarrân
• ‘Ezbet ‘Omar Sulṭân
• ‘Ezbet Qalînî Manṣûr
• ‘Ezbet Shireif
• Isţāl Al Qiblī
• Iţsā
• ‘Izbat al Kharbānah
• ‘Izbat al Maqārīn
• ‘Izbat al Mashāriqah
• ‘Izbat al Qamādīr
• ‘Izbat al Yamāmah
• ‘Izbat Ḩusayn Ḩusnī
• Jabal aţ Ţayr al Qiblī
• Jawādah
• Kawm al Lūfī
• Kawm ar Rāhib
• Manqaţīn
• Manshīyat ash Shiray‘ī
• Ma‘şarat Samālūţ
• Nag’ ‘Ali’ Abd el-Hâdi
• Nag‘ Ghîdân
• Nag‘ Ḥusein Minâzi
• Nag‘ Suliman el-Manfi
• Naj‘ ‘Abd al Qāwī Şāliḩ
• Naj‘ Abū Sayf Al Aşhab
• Nazlat ‘Abd aş Şālḩīn ‘Allāj
• Nazlat al ‘Amūdayn
• Nazlat an Naşārá
• Nazlat aş Şurmānī
• Nazlat Hārūn
• Nazlat Isţāl
• Nazlat Shādī
• Qulūşanā
• Samālūţ
• Sāqiyat Dāqūf
• Shūshah
• Ţarfā’

Minya

Minya markaz surrounds the capital and holds 769,485 people. Minya city is split into three urban kisms with 298,021 residents between them, and New Minya adds 18,357. Minya University, opened in 1976, is the largest employer in the city. 77 settlements are mapped.

• Al Amal Numrah Thamāniyah
• Al Birjāyah
• Al Ḩawārtah
• Al Ḩawāşilīyah
• Al Ikhşāş
• Al Kamāl Numrah Sab‘ah
• Al Manshīyah al Qiblīyah
• Al Maţāhrah al Baḩarīyah
• Al-Minyā al-Jadīdah
• Al Qarāyshah
• Banī Aḩmad
• Banī Ḩasan al Ashrāf
• Banī Khiyār
• Bihdāl
• Damārīs
• Damshīr
• Dayr ‘Aţīyah
• Dimshāw Hāshim
• ‘Ezbet ‘Ali Abû Ḥimeid
• ‘Ezbet ‘Alî Sha’râwî
• ‘Ezbet ‘Asim
• ‘Ezbet el-Ḥakîm
• ‘Ezbet Fahmî Ṭulba
• ‘Ezbet Ḥanna
• ‘Ezbet Mangûb el-Anqat
• ‘Ezbet Muhammad Hasan
• ‘Ezbet Sultân
• ‘Ezbet Yûsef ‘Abd el- Nabi
• Hahyā
• Ḩasan Bāshā
• Idmū
• ‘Izbat Abū Fīlībū
• ‘Izbat al Kawm al Aḩmar
• ‘Izbat Bushrá Ḩannā
• ‘Izbat Ḩāmid ‘Azzaqāh
• ‘Izbat Ḩāmid Maḩmūd
• ‘Izbat Ḩarabī
• ‘Izbat ‘Ibayd Şārūfīm
• ‘Izbat Raslān
• ‘Izbat Şāliḩ Bāsil
• Kafr al Manşūrah al Qiblī
• Mahdīyah
• Māqūsah
• Minya
• Nag’ Abû Shinâf
• Nag’ el-Halfâya
• Nag’ Ḥamad ‘Iraq
• Nag’ Saiyid Muftâḥ
• Naj‘ ‘Arabī
• Nazālī Ţāḩā
• Nazlat ad Dāwūdīyah
• Nazlat al ‘Asākir
• Nazlat al ‘Awwām
• Nazlat al Fallāḩīn
• Nazlat al Ḩājir
• Nazlat ‘Alī
• Nazlat ash Shurafā
• Nazlat Banī Aḩmad ash Sharqīyah
• Nazlat Faraj Allāh Mattá
• Nazlat Ḩusayn ‘Alī
• Nuqţat Raḩīl
• Rīdah
• Şafţ al Gharbīyah
• Şafţ al Khammār
• Şafţ al Laban
• Şafţ ash Sharqīyah
• Sawādah
• Surayr
• Ţāḩā al A‘midah
• Ţahnashā
• Tallah
• Ţawwat Banī Ibrāhīm
• Ţihnā al Jabal
• Ţūkh al Khayl
• Zahrah
• Zāwiyat al Amwāt
• Zāwiyat Sulţān Bāshā

Abu Qirqas

Abu Qirqas markaz counts 690,958 people south of the capital. The Middle Kingdom rock tombs of Beni Hasan overlook the east bank here. 70 settlements are mapped.

• Abū Qurqāş
• Abyūhā
• Al Birbā al Kubrá
• Al Ḩassānīyah
• Al Karm al Gharbī
• Al Karm ash Sharqī
• Al Madīnah al Fikrīyah
• Al Maţāhirah ash Sharqīyah
• Al Maţāhrah al Qiblīyah
• An Naḩḩāl
• An Nu‘mānīyah
• Ash Shaykh Timay
• As Saḩāllah
• As Sinbillāwayn
• As Sulţān Ḩasan
• Balanşūrah
• Banī Ḩasan ash Shurūq
• Banī Khālid
• Banī Muḩammad Sha‘rāwī
• Banī Mūsá
• Banī Rūḩ
• Banī Sa‘īd
• Banī ‘Ubayd
• El-Karm
• ‘Ezbet el-Mikassarî
• Hūr
• Ibshādah
• Ismant
• Itlīdim
• ‘Izbat Abū Janāḩ
• ‘Izbat adh Dhi’ābah
• ‘Izbat al Ḩimāyah
• ‘Izbat al Jaḩshah
• ‘Izbat an Nakhl
• ‘Izbat ash Shaykh Mubārak
• ‘Izbat ash Shaykh Sulaymān
• ‘Izbat Isḩāq Barsūm
• Jarrīs
• Kafr al Fayalah
• Kafr al Fuqqā‘ī
• Kafr Libs
• Kawm al Maḩraş al Baḩrī
• Kawm az Zuhayr
• Manharī
• Mansafīs
• Mantūt
• Minshāt al Ḩawāşilīyah
• Minshāt Di‘bis
• Naj‘ ‘Arab al Farjānī
• Naj‘ ‘Arab as Sulţān Ḩasan
• Naj‘ Shībah ash Sharqī
• Nazlat Abū aş Şafā’
• Nazlat as Sarw
• Nazlat Awlād Juwaydah
• Nazlat Ḩamzāwī
• Nazlat Ḩirz
• Nazlat Ismant
• Nazlat Jarrīs
• Nazlat Makayn
• Nazlat Sharmūkh
• Nazlat Tādrus
• Nuwayr
• Qaşr Ḩawr
• Rayḩānah
• Safāy
• Şannīm
• Sāqiyat Mūsá
• Sharārah
• Za‘farānah
• Zāwiyat Ḩātim

Mallawi

Mallawi is the most populous markaz at 847,075, with a further 223,435 in Mallawi town itself. The town is the second city of the governorate. Ashmunein, the ancient Hermopolis Magna, and the necropolis of Tuna el-Gebel both lie within the markaz. 37 settlements are mapped.

• Abū Qaltah
• Al ‘Arīn al Baḩrī
• Al ‘Arīn Qiblī
• Al Ashmūnīn
• Al Barājīl
• Al Barshā
• Al Bayāḑīyah
• Al Maḩraş
• Al Ma‘şarah
• Ar Rayramūn
• Ash Shaykh ‘Ibādah
• Ash Shaykh Shubaykah
• As Sawāhijah
• Dayr Abū Ḩinnis
• Dayr al Barshā
• Dayrūţ Umm Nakhlah
• Dirwah
• El-Sawâlhga
• Itqā
• ‘Izbat al Idārah
• ‘Izbat Şādiq Bāshā
• Mallawī
• Minshāt al Maghāliqah
• Naj‘ Abd Allāh Abū ‘Ammār
• Naj‘ ‘Arab al Burj
• Naj‘ ash Shaykh Shubaykah
• Naj‘ Shaybah
• Nawá
• Nazlat al Barshā
• Nazlat Ḩāfiz̧
• Nazlat Tūnah
• Qalandūl
• Qulubbā
• Sinjirj
• Tandah
• Tūnah al Jabal
• Umm Qummuş

Deir Mawas

Deir Mawas is the southernmost markaz, with 470,766 people. Tell el-Amarna, where Akhenaten built his capital, sits on the east bank opposite the town. 27 settlements are mapped.

• Al ‘Amārinah
• Al Badramān
• Al Ḩājj Qandīl
• An Nāşirīyah
• Awlād Sarḩān
• Banī Ḩarām
• Banī ‘Umrān wa Nazlat Samhān
• Daljā
• Dayr Mawās
• ‘Ezbet el-Hagg Yûsef
• ‘Ezbet el-Teil
• ‘Ezbet Muh Arif
• Ismū al ‘Arūs
• ‘Izbat Ayyūb Sharārah
• ‘Izbat Ūdah Bāshī
• Kafr Khuzām
• Minshāt Samhān
• Naj‘ al ‘Āqūlah
• Naj‘ ‘Ammār
• Naj‘ Mubārak
• Naj‘ Muḩammad Ḩarīdī
• Naj‘ Mu’min
• Nazlat al Badramān
• Nazlat Tandah
• Tall Banī ‘Umrān
• Tānūf
• Ţūkh

Geography

Minya city sits at 28°06′N 30°45′E. The governorate runs about 135 kilometres along the Nile, with a floodplain 15 to 20 kilometres wide. The Bahr Yusuf canal shadows the river on the west bank and waters most of the farmland. Limestone escarpments close in on the east bank, which is why so many pharaonic tombs and quarries are cut there. Beyond the escarpments the land is desert in both directions.

Minya borders Beni Suef to the north, Asyut to the south, Red Sea across the Eastern Desert, and New Valley across the Western Desert. A short northern boundary meets Giza.

Demographics

The 2017 census recorded 5,497,095 residents. The mid-2023 estimate of 6,337,595 is 15 per cent higher. Minya is strongly rural. The four urban kisms and the new city hold about 534,000 people, under 9 per cent of the total. More than nine residents in ten live in a village or a market town inside a markaz.

Minya has one of the largest Coptic Christian communities of any Egyptian governorate, concentrated in Mallawi, Abu Qirqas and Samalut. Density across the full area is 196 people per km², but the cultivated strip carries well over 2,000 per km².

Economy and Local Life

Farming leads. Sugar cane, cotton, wheat, maize, onions and garlic are the main crops. The sugar refineries at Maghagha and Abu Qirqas process the cane each spring. Limestone quarrying around Samalut supplies cement plants, and Minya has its own cement works north of the city.

Tourism is smaller than the archaeology deserves. Beni Hasan, Tell el-Amarna, Tuna el-Gebel and Ashmunein sit within an hour of each other, and a visitor centre at Amarna opened to serve them. Weekly markets in Beni Mazar, Matai and Maghagha remain the trading centre for surrounding villages.

History

Around 1346 BC Akhenaten moved Egypt’s capital to Akhetaten, on open desert at what is now Tell el-Amarna. The city lasted under twenty years. Hermopolis Magna at Ashmunein was the cult centre of Thoth and stayed important into Roman times, with its animal catacombs at Tuna el-Gebel. The rock tombs at Beni Hasan, cut in the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, carry the wrestling scenes copied in textbooks worldwide. Christianity took hold early here, and desert monasteries have operated continuously since the fourth century.

Getting There

Minya is about 245 kilometres south of Cairo, roughly three and a half hours by road. The Cairo–Aswan railway calls at Maghagha, Beni Mazar, Samalut, Minya, Abu Qirqas, Mallawi and Deir Mawas, with several daytime trains each way. Drivers use the Western Desert Road for speed or the Agricultural Road for access to the towns. Intercity buses run from Cairo’s Torgoman terminal.

FAQ

What is the capital of Minya Governorate?

Minya city, on the west bank of the Nile. Its three urban kisms held 298,021 residents in the mid-2023 estimate.

How many villages are in Minya?

This page lists 481 mapped settlements across the nine marakiz. Registered village councils are fewer, because a council usually covers several hamlets.

What is the population of Minya Governorate?

6,337,595 in the mid-2023 CAPMAS estimate, up from 5,497,095 at the 2017 census.

How far is Minya from Cairo?

About 245 kilometres south, three and a half hours by road or four by train.

What is Minya known for?

Sugar cane and cotton farming, limestone quarrying, and the archaeology of Tell el-Amarna, Beni Hasan and Tuna el-Gebel.

Which markaz in Minya has the most people?

Mallawi, with 847,075 in the markaz and a further 223,435 in Mallawi town.